Ann
Moderator
Merricks is a high quality product too, and dogs do seem to love the taste. Let us know what happens when it comes. PetFoodDirect ships pretty quickly, I've found. Good luck!
We are having food problems~
- Thread starter mbfrench
- Start date
Merricks is a high quality product too, and dogs do seem to love the taste. Let us know what happens when it comes. PetFoodDirect ships pretty quickly, I've found. Good luck!
OntarioSheltie
Forums Celebrity
Wellness is great also. Sadie had digestive issues but has never had trouble with their Super5Mix. They only use high quality grains, no corn or by-products. They also have grain free formulas which are supposed to be excellent, called Wellness Core. I've not tried them, they are a little too expensive for us.
Sadie went off her food starting about a month before her paralysis. As mentioned earlier, she did not starve herself. When she got hungry enough she ate. I did, however, get tired of watching her walk away from her food and eventually began a switch. I've since gone back to Wellness because I prefer them and now that she's on prednisone Sadie will eat anything she deams edible.
take4roll10
Moderator
I just finished reading Lew Olson's book on homemade meals. She talks about dogs, who all of a sudden show less interest in their food. Besides medical conditions, one of the reason is a female in heat within "scenting range". Also, changes in his life can cause stress. You did mention in another thread that Trapp was troubled by your long work hours.
I didn't see this mentioned but I didn't read every single post on the thread..but I'll add in my 2 cents.
There have been a few times where Vash has simply doesn't seem all too excited about eating I'll give you the run down. But there are so many causes for something like this that it's hard to narrow down one specific thing.
1) The first time Vash ever "lost intrest" in his food was when he started getting used to my schedule. I wake up, take Vash out to walk/potty, we come back inside and I feed him breakfast, then we play until 7:30. The play time varies depending on how big of a pain in the bottom Vash wants to be on our walk, if he sniffs every flower it is 10 min and if he doesn't we usually get about 20-30 min to play. After that I put him in a safe area, get ready for work then leave.
At some point Vash decided that he would rather have a few moments extra play time than eating time, so he'll ignore his food and come running over to play.
I just left his food bowl in his safe area then left for work and it was empty by lunch.
2) The second time I noticed Vash losing intrest in his food was 4 days before he got diagnosed with an upper respiratory infection. He wouldn't eat any kibble unless I hand fed it to him, and it was simply because he was having a hard time smelling an aroma from the food.
A scoop of peanut butter seemed to get the point across to Vash that there was food in his bowl.
I honestly found this the most intresting, because he'll eat rocks off the sidewalk that have no smell but wouldn't eat his kibble.
3) Another time I noticed it was when Vash simply wanted to "play" with the stegging egg or other food dispensing toy. He would ignore his food, walk over to the egg and start pushing it with his nose.
Simply putting the food in the egg seemed to solve that problem.
I'm sure there are other reasons a dog can lose intrest in food. Just like they have high-reward treats and low reward treats the more often they have something the less valuable it is going to become. If this is the case then perhaps the best thing you could do is mix things up to keep the dog intrested. Be it adding water one day, and chicken stock the next, or putting a treat in the bowl, adding a topper, etc.
You probably don't want to do the same thing every day because then the dog will expect you to do it every day and god forbid one day you don't have the topper...but if you do something different every day, the only thing he can really expect is something a little different in his food bowl.
There have been a few times where Vash has simply doesn't seem all too excited about eating I'll give you the run down. But there are so many causes for something like this that it's hard to narrow down one specific thing.
1) The first time Vash ever "lost intrest" in his food was when he started getting used to my schedule. I wake up, take Vash out to walk/potty, we come back inside and I feed him breakfast, then we play until 7:30. The play time varies depending on how big of a pain in the bottom Vash wants to be on our walk, if he sniffs every flower it is 10 min and if he doesn't we usually get about 20-30 min to play. After that I put him in a safe area, get ready for work then leave.
At some point Vash decided that he would rather have a few moments extra play time than eating time, so he'll ignore his food and come running over to play.
I just left his food bowl in his safe area then left for work and it was empty by lunch.
2) The second time I noticed Vash losing intrest in his food was 4 days before he got diagnosed with an upper respiratory infection. He wouldn't eat any kibble unless I hand fed it to him, and it was simply because he was having a hard time smelling an aroma from the food.
A scoop of peanut butter seemed to get the point across to Vash that there was food in his bowl.
I honestly found this the most intresting, because he'll eat rocks off the sidewalk that have no smell but wouldn't eat his kibble.
3) Another time I noticed it was when Vash simply wanted to "play" with the stegging egg or other food dispensing toy. He would ignore his food, walk over to the egg and start pushing it with his nose.
Simply putting the food in the egg seemed to solve that problem.
I'm sure there are other reasons a dog can lose intrest in food. Just like they have high-reward treats and low reward treats the more often they have something the less valuable it is going to become. If this is the case then perhaps the best thing you could do is mix things up to keep the dog intrested. Be it adding water one day, and chicken stock the next, or putting a treat in the bowl, adding a topper, etc.
You probably don't want to do the same thing every day because then the dog will expect you to do it every day and god forbid one day you don't have the topper...but if you do something different every day, the only thing he can really expect is something a little different in his food bowl.
Dusty can also be a finicky eater and yes he is intact. I never switch his food or try and bribe him into eating. I know he is healthy so I just put the bowl down if he eats, thats great if not sorry about your luck bub, you had your chance. Interestingly he goes through these phases every 6 months even though Belle's cycles are every 10 months. I am just guessing it is in a males nature that females are supposed to go into heat every 6 months so he is anticipating that, so he doesnt eat well at them times.
sable
Forums Enthusiast
There was a re-call on Iams.
I have posted before I feed Wellness 5 Mix to my two, they sell it at Petsmart now. A new company bought them out also, but have not changed the receipe. I called Petsmart and they are selling a 26 lb bag for $51 now.
The company has been sold twice.
Coupons are available on their site. Right now I have a $5 coupon they sent me. Mail in your receipt and they will send a coupon for the next bag of food
also. Instead of a $3 coupon, I received a $5 one.
Whats up with the dog food going up and up in price?
I have posted before I feed Wellness 5 Mix to my two, they sell it at Petsmart now. A new company bought them out also, but have not changed the receipe. I called Petsmart and they are selling a 26 lb bag for $51 now.
The company has been sold twice.
Coupons are available on their site. Right now I have a $5 coupon they sent me. Mail in your receipt and they will send a coupon for the next bag of food
also. Instead of a $3 coupon, I received a $5 one.
Whats up with the dog food going up and up in price?
Emmasmom
Forums Sage
Supply and demand - the better a food will sell, the more it will cost. Also the materials are probably going up in price, wages are going up, costs to produce the food are going up, etc. With recalls and buyouts, it gets difficult enough to find a food that our dogs will eat that is of good quality without it costing more and more. And then to compound the problem, our pups go through stages where they do not want to eat.
sable
Forums Enthusiast