Refusing to eat

When I've done that with Sadie in the past she expected it all the time and tried refusing to eat till she got it. I stopped giving her any kind of treat with her dinner for this reason. I think that starting that again would reinforce her already picky behavior. :no:
 
From what I've skimmed through, it sounds like you are feeding twice a day. Once in the morning, and once at night. If this is correct, you should probably stop. Not only do dogs not need to eat 2 times a day, but feeding only once a day could get into their minds that THIS is meal time, so I better eat now. Hopefully nothing is wrong with her and that she is just being picky. So you might want to try this. And if she'll eat the food with water on it, then keep doing that. I have my dogs on the same dry dog food, same vitamins, but Roxy likes hers dry and Cisco likes his with water. They would fuss with me if I changed it. And I try not to baby them with food. If they leave a few bites in their bowl after a while, then it gets thrown away. If they refuse to eat, then they will be hungry tomorrow because they aren't getting their bowl back. A day of not eating won't kill them. It will make them hungry, but nothing that would hurt them. Just think of how it is in the wild; sometimes wolves don't eat for multiple days. And they surely don't always eat the same amount of food.

I hope that whatever is going on, you can figure it out! Good luck :)
 
Two of mine love twice a day feedings -- but Layla has finally switched to once a day feeding. And since Beckon copies everything Big Sister does... :rolleyes2:
 
Sumac3890 said:
I feed mine twice a day, I give half at one meal and the other half for dinner.
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M

This is usually what I do, its never been a problem before.

I wonder if it would be worth investigating if there's been any changes to the Wellness food too. I guess it can't hurt at this point.
 
Noneeds4me said:
We have been told the opposite and that it can cause stomach problems if they are only fed once a day.
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Neither of my dogs have stomach problems and they are fed once a day... I have also seen a full kennel be fed once a day with no stomach problems at all. Who did you get your information from?
 
OntarioSheltie said:
Sadie is STILL trying to refuse to eat. I'm beginning to really think that she's just waiting for me to feed her something better and that there's nothing wrong with her. Her nose has been out of joint since I was taking Ginny to training and giving her good treats.

She's continuing to act completely normal. Its been very hot lately so I've been keeping the girls indoors where its cool.

She's still refusing meals, but she's ALWAYS hungry by the time the next meal comes around and resorts to grudgingly eating her food.

I tried giving her a different flavor of Wellness and while she ate it, she didn't have any more enthusiasm for it than her usual flavor. She never misses more than one meal in a row and I pick up her bowl after 10 minutes.

Feeling VERY frustrated with her. Given all of the digestive issues that Sadie had in the past, I am just not ready to switch her food when she's been doing SO WELL on this one.

I've stopped trying to entice her to eat because I don't want this to be about attention or other goodies. I guess I'm just going to have to wait it out and hope that she stops being so stubborn, which is hard since I'm not even seeing an end in sight.

Sadie isn't losing weight yet and could stand to lose a few pounds, so I guess the battle continues...
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Have you tried feeding sadie by hand? When Vash got his Upper Respitarory Infection he was unable to smell the food, so when I put it in his bowl he was unintrested and just walked away. However if I hand fed him is food he would eat every last bite.

Afterwards I started using items that had a very strong smell to intice him into eating his kibble from his bowl, for example I dipped a few peices of kibble in peanut butter and dropped them in the bowl.
 
Gina said:
Neither of my dogs have stomach problems and they are fed once a day... I have also seen a full kennel be fed once a day with no stomach problems at all. Who did you get your information from?
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I heard it from our vet, and also saw it on an emergency vet type of show on t.v... If memory serves me correct...it has something to do with it possibly causing bloat, and/or twisting of the intestines???? I could have the possible potential problem wrong.. Anyway, we've just always done the two feedings after they get out of puppyhood. During puppyhood...we did 3 x a day.
 
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