I have had Sam for about 2 and 1/2 years. Feeding him has always been a bit of a problem, because he is a picky eater. I have usually had two dogs and it is usually easier to feed two, because they don’t want the other to get their food, so they would eat it quickly. I have always fed half a can apiece in the mornings, and dry in the evening. None were ever starved or fat. It has always worked. I started doing that with Sam, and then the reproachful looks began. He has decided he will NOT eat the dry. A year ago or so, he decided, after I had bought a case of canned, no I won’t eat that. So he has been on dry since then. I have tried to reintroduce canned food, and he has liked it,. So I have bought more. He REALLYlikes the tubs from Rachael Ray but they are about $3 apiece. I simply cannot afford to feed him that every day. So I have bought the very small cans of another brand, and he likes those, but that is not a meal, more of a snack. I have put down his dry, and he won’t eat it. I generally leave it so he will at some time eat it.
He is about 7 or 8 years old, and in good health. He weighs about 60 pounds. He is perfect with the cats, he even let the late Puddin eat from his bowl of canned food and not warned her off. Even if I did manage to feed him a 6 oz tub a day, he would still need more food.
Does anyone have any ideas about how to feed a picky eater? I have read the nearby posts abut the nightmares some of you had with your parents. It is different, but I am not trying to punish him, and it isn’t like I can explain to him.
Make some bone broth (soup for the dog) to pour over his kibble. Save chicken bones (or other bones) in the freezer, then add enough water to cover and cook. Just be sure to strain all the bones out carefully once it’s cooled. You can add veggies (celery leaves and stalks, carrots, root veggies, etc) or the giblets. If you add the neck, be sure to get ALL the tiny bones out.
Add a spoonful of yogurt or a sprinkle of parmesan to his meal. Whatever intriges your dog that isn’t unhealthy.
It usually (not always) works better Not to free-feed (leaving food down all the time) but to have set mealtimes. You’ll be hungry at mealtime if it’s always at the same time of day, but if it varies, you often don’t get that pang of habit.
You might have better luck if you add the canned to his kibble every meal, rather than splitting them and feeding only canned or kibble at a given meal.
The majority of dogs tend to be overweight, so if he’s at a good weight for his structure at 60lbs, I wouldn’t worry about it too much.
I find picky eaters to not be very picky after treating them for ulcers with famotidine or omeprazole. Both are available OTC, cheaply. Worth a shot.
how can you tell if he has ulcers?
and thanks LFS!
I guess you could anesthetize and scope but that’s a major expense and unnecessary. Just treat. Improvement means he had ulcers. If he doesn’t a course of pepcid won’t hurt him. I’ve always seen improvement in treating inappetent dogs & cats.
Since Sam likes the canned food, maybe try this. We’ve done this with our dogs. Take maybe two tablespoons of a canned food he loves. Add some water, mix it up. We put ours in a mug and microwave it for 20 seconds. We pour that over the dry food, and they usually really enjoy that.
We’ve also added parmesan cheese sprinkled on (Like LookinForSpace mentioned).
Maybe he has a tooth bothering him. One of mine got funny about his dry food and that’s what it was.
A batch of bone broth always helps my good eaters that sometimes turn a nose up to their food. I freeze in ice cube trays (that I ONLY use for this purpose) and then pull out when needed. I also had turmeric in my bone broth on top of what LookingForSpace listed. Personally, I steer clear of chicken just because I am lazy and don’t want to mess with the splintered bones so I always do beef.
I have an instapot that was handed down to me (you can get them cheap at thrift stores too) and I have a bone broth only instapot.
Greek yougurt is also good to plop down on food to get them going again as well as canned pumpkin.
Keep the routine as others said and try not to make big changes to get him to eat.
I would not throw too many remedies out.
Pick up the bowls, wash them and put them away for a day.
I am sure doggy would eat cheese and hot dog all day long, while turning his nose up at good food. For my taste they are just not that hungry.
While I do have a bowl with dry food out all the time, it is more for the cat (I don’t like almost any small dog kibble, too much food coloring. My pup is only about 10 pounds) Canned food is often left standing. The chickens enjoy it but that’s not on their daily menu.
I lost my 2nd dog last December, and I have to say the feeding regiment went down the drain. Jealousy cleans bowls out better than bone broth.
However
If you start cooking especially for the dog, why not go all in.
Brown rice, assorted veg, etc. cheap cuts of meat.
On the other hand, have you tried Aldi’s dogfood?
At one time they had a deliciously stinky salmon recipe, even the cats devoured.
one kind is chunks in broth.
maybe set a timer: 15 minutes after you put the food down you pick it up. He might learn to eat in the allotted time.
I mean, I have kibble out most of the day, but frankly, I don’t think that it is the best choice.
It is mega convenient, sure, but it is just ultra processed!
Wow guys, thanks a lot. Red Dust, I have a TINY kitchen, and have a lot of gadgets. I recently did buy an instapot, but it came with nothing. As I have gotten older, I am shamelessly afraid of EVERYTHING. I am afraid of the instapot and have only used it to heat egg rolls and tortillas so far. I need to pick up something I can use inside of it, but I am still pretty much in the dark about it.
I do buy small bites kibble, because I just refuse to feed the boulders that pass as large/medium dog food. I have always done that.
Sorry about losing your pup. It is hard to lose one.
I will think hard abut cooking for the dog, but I barely cook for myself, so it will be a work in progress.
Can you try to mix the wet and the dry with a little hot water? That might be enticing enough, it’s not bad for them to only eat once a day.
You can also try Pepcid, 1 regular pill a day. My dog and I both take it, he’s a delicate little (big hairy) thing and gets the pukies out of nowhere every so often and the Pepcid helps.
Do you have an Instant Pot pressure cooker? Because this sounds more like you have an Instant Pot brand air fryer… I can’t envision how you’d be warming up egg rolls or tortillas in the pressure pot, unless you have it plus the air fryer lid?
yeah, it is an air fryer. Takes up a lot of room.
About the pepsid, he isn’t puking. Everything I read on pepsid indictes to me it is for puking dogs. I can ask my vet, but I think I will try the bone broth first. I just had a $700 vet bill for my cat. I don’t begrudge the money, but I swallowed hard on that.
I was just working in the kitchen, (making spanakopita!) and he ate his dry food. He wants me to stand over him while he eats. So sometimes even when I put something down he really likes, he will follow me out of the room.
If I do dishes, he will look up at me like he is asking for permission to eat. He has always done that. I have tried to encourage him to just eat, but I think the only thing he will wolf down are the tubs of Rachael Ray.
Mine prefers I sit right with him so his bowl is in the living room, lol.
For bone broth in an Instant Pot you want the pressure cooker, not the air fryer.
You can buy pre-made bone broth marketed for dogs.
No need to buy a new kitchen appliance.
Try it by buying a container and see how it works for you that way.
They even have it at my local grocery store (in the dog aisle for dogs).
I keep telling myself my husband needed her more than I. A month later I had a white bunny by the front door.
it took me a while to get used to the idea to getting an air fryer. Then I bought one and grabbed 2 cookbooks to go with it. Currently we just do the regular stuff, fries, eggrolls, etc. but there are some good looking things in the cookbook.
There are nice Instapot cookbooks out as well.
I just recall a conversation 30 years ago when I had a Dalmatian, how people dealt with their metabolism abnormality regarding certain proteins. One lady started feeding raw only. She stated that as a side benefit she and her spouse ate better as well.
When I mean ‘going all out’ I did not mean to make enough to last for the year. 
just throw some brown rice on the boil, some chicken hind quarters, a bag of mixed vegetable
You can eat the same things. just season them after you split doggo’s portion off.
I haven’t gotten an insta pot yet either. Might have to consider it.
