Dog doesn't like food suddenly? Suggestions for something new?

[amt813]

I have a 1.5 year old boxer who I adopted six months ago. For the six months she has been with us she has been eating Pioneer Naturals Grain Free Chicken Dry Dog Food - which she loved for about five months. About a month ago I noticed that she wasn’t as interested in her food; leaving some of it behind, not eating at all when it was put down and just picking at it. So about a month ago I started adding a few pieces of Stella and Chewy’s meal mixers (raw freeze dried chicken pieces) to her regular food. Just adding this little bit made her love her food again - licking the bowl clean.

But now, after about a month of the Stella and Chewy’s, she is no longer interested. She will pick out the Stella and Chewy’s and leave the rest of her food. I also tried mixing in some canned food and she picked around to eat that and literally sucked it off the dry food without chewing it. She will eat hard treats and still chews on her toys with no problem, so I don’t think her teeth are bothering her. She doesn’t seem ill at all, and begs for and eats anything that isn’t her food.

I am happy to switch her but wanted to see if people thought this was strange - or if dogs not liking their food is something that happens … Also, can I just switch her to a whole new food, or will this cause digestive upset? Should I try a different protein? Any suggestions on a food that people that have had success with? I would like to stay in the $50 - $65 dollar for a 30 lbs bag range if possible. TIA.

[hoopoe]

it could be that the manufacture run of the bag you are using has something amiss with it. It could be they changed an ingredient ( they are not required to change label for 6 months) or it could be a bad formulation run.

I would get a small bag of the same product and see if she still refuses.

[amt813]

That’s an interesting thought hoopoe - and now that you mention it, I was ordering the food online and then bought the most recent bag from a local pet store (to support local commerce). Wonder if he had a bad bag b/c it corresponds with the timeline of her starting to be questionable of the food. I will get a smaller bag somewhere else and see if she starts enjoying it again.

[Altermyne]

have her teeth and mouth checked.

[AliCat518]

Same thing happened to my dog. I had his teeth/mouth checked, started adding the raw on top (and it helped!) and discussed it with my vet. He suggested that since we rescued (and dog was underweight when we got him), that he simply realizes that he gets two meals a day no matter what, and doesnt need to scarf every meal.

My dog always ends up finishing it, sometimes 4-5 hours later, but it works.

[wireweiners]

Dogs don’t get to be picky. If you give in to this, you will be catering to this dog for the rest of his life. If he is otherwise healthy, you can approach this two ways. First way, feed dog normal amount at appropriate time. Dog gets 15 minutes to eat. If he is not finished by that the, remove food and give dog nothing until next scheduled feeding. Rinse, repeat until dog is cleaning up food.

Second method, reduce amount of food by half. Give dog 15 minutes to eat. If he doesn’t clean it up, remove food. Again no food until next feeding. If he doesn’t clean up half serving, reduce again by half. Rinse, repeat until dog is cleaning up food, then gradually increase portion back to full amount.

That said, sometimes adolescent dogs go through this. I had an adolescent male dachshund that drove me crazy because he was picky and I was trying to keep him in show weight. They do grow out of it and won’t starve to death, so hang tough.

[BuddyRoo]

Could be a bad bag.

If she was a good eater til bag X, I wouldn’t consider her picky, I’d think there might be something wrong with the food.

FWIW, I feed Fromm Gold and they’ve never had a recall. That’s why I’m with them now. I kept researching foods and having them recalled and got tired of it.

Found one that is pretty good and hasn’t had issues.

[MtnDrmz]

My dog was actually a picky eater as well, ever since he was a puppy! We did the whole, is it a bad bag test as well (which you should do) and he was healthy according to the vet. He was the only Lab that we could have free fed and not gotten obese! He would eat, but just as much as he wanted/needed I guess. If he exercised more, he ate more, if he exercised less he ate less, but he was definitely dissinteredted. If only I could have that mind set! He would also get bored with the same thing week in week out. We switched him to a mostly raw diet with some kibble about a year and a half ago, and he has gobbled his food every time, every day, ever since! We do get to mix up the proteins, but we do it in batches (Beef for a week, poultry for a week, etc) so we don’t upset his tummy too much. His teeth are amazing, always have been, and while he does have a couple medical issues (seizures and skin sensitivites to things liek pesticides used at the parks), which is why we switched him in the first place, we couldn’t believe the difference in his eating patterns with the raw. I think he just wasn’t that excited about the kibble.

Raw is expensive, but there are a couple kibble companies that do formulate their food so you can easily switch back and forth between flavors to keep things interesting. Ii I recall correctly, Merrick is one of the brands that does this! We used them for a bit until we went raw actually and I think they are in your price range!

[pony_baloney]

I read somewhere that you shouldn’t have a bag for longer than 2 months. If the food is a quality one with natural preservatives, that could cause the food to go rancid or off before you’ve finished it.

[amt813]

Thank you everyone - I appreciate all your insights. I think I will get rid of what I have left that she is not eating out of caution that it is bad. And thank you for all the food recommendations - I will look into those!

[BuddyRoo]

FWIW, I agree that dogs shouldn’t “get” to be picky in most situations. I feed on a schedule and it’s one of the ways you can assess if there’s an issue.

If a dog suddenly stops eating, I get very concerned. Is the dog sick? Is the food bad? I know there’s SOMETHING wrong because my dog(s) eat on a schedule. If it’s in the bowl for more than 2 min, Houston, we have a problem!

That said, there are only two issues I’ve found when a dog stops eating:

1. sick dog
2. bad food

It’s never been an issue of “oh, I just don’t like that food anymore.” These are critters that eat sticks, dirt and poop. Their palate isn’t exactly refined. Usually there’s a prob if they’re not eating.

[Where_sMyWhite]

I also feed Fromm Gold. One 15lb bag lasts 2 dogs 1 month.

My younger dog (just about 17 months old) has decided to be a picky eater. So, he gets put in the crate (he’s much slower than my older dog) and gets to eat or not. Bowl gets picked up and nothing until the next meal.

As my vacuum (aka older dog) continues to suck down the food like it is going out of style, I’m blaming picky eater. Particularly since vacuum at one point did stop eating a food I was feeding and that freaked me out. Switched food to Fromm and haven’t looked back.

[BuddyRoo]

[QUOTE=Where’sMyWhite;8676006]
I also feed Fromm Gold. One 15lb bag lasts 2 dogs 1 month.

My younger dog (just about 17 months old) has decided to be a picky eater. So, he gets put in the crate (he’s much slower than my older dog) and gets to eat or not. Bowl gets picked up and nothing until the next meal.

As my vacuum (aka older dog) continues to suck down the food like it is going out of style, I’m blaming picky eater. Particularly since vacuum at one point did stop eating a food I was feeding and that freaked me out. Switched food to Fromm and haven’t looked back.[/QUOTE]

I have rarely entered into “best dog food” discussions because there are a lot of good foods out there and lots of opinions. But I have to say, I’ve been feeding Fromm for several years and have been so pleased.

Additionally, their company is amazing. Last year when I thought we were moving to Africa for a few years, they helped me come up with a plan to ship all of the food I’d need including canned for my (now deceased) elder dog and were going to make sure I had the newest cans on a big shipment so they’d last. They were AMAZING to deal with. Granted, it was about a 10k dog food order for two years but they were all over it.