My new 1 year old staffie won't eat dog food, wet or dry. What do I feed her???

Answer 1

Contact the PERSON you got your dog from!

Answer 2

What has she been eating so far?

Feed her at the same time every day, and try to stay with one brand of dog food (I recommend Nutro.) Give her some time to sniff at it, try enticing her a little bit (feed her by hand, etc.) but don't spend too much time doing that. If she doesn't eat, then put her food away. When she's hungry enough, she'll eat.

I have an AmStaff - she used to be pretty picky about food. Sometimes she'd go a day or two without eating (which worried me). For some strange reason, she insisted on eating off the floor. So I'd put a little bit of food on the floor, and make a trail to her bowl, and eventually she got used to eating what I gave her. She's gotten to like it, and has quite the appetite now - give it time, be consistent, and don't pamper her too much.

You can also try livening her food up a little with some bits of boiled chicken. (Although I found when I tried that, my dog would dig out and eat the chicken and leave the rest.)

Answer 3

Your dog needs time to adjust to her new home and so I shouldn't worry too much at first about her eating. Make sure she has free access to food and, more importantly, water at all times. Some things you could do to encourage her:

1 Find out what she was eating at her old home and feed her that, at least at first. Many dogs take time to adjust to a new diet so if you plan to change their food you must give a little more each meal mixed in with their old food and gradually increase the proportion of new to old until it's 100% new food.

2 Add a little (cold) meaty gravy or Marmite/Bovril/stock cube mixed in with hot water allowed to go cold. This will make the food smell and taste more appetizing. Other things to try to tempt her are pilchards/sardines/tuna, just a little, mashed in with her regular food.

3 Make sure she's getting plenty of exercise. Take her for lots of walks, play with her, spend time with her. If she's using up energy in a positive way (rather than in a stressful way) she'll be looking to replace it with food.

3 Give her time and space of her own and don't fuss her about eating. Be up-beat. If you're anxious, she'll be anxious. Leave her alone with food. She may have an aversion to eating in public - some dogs do!

4 If she really won't eat any kind of dog food, try raw fresh meat, chopped into bitesize chunks (with the fat trimmed off and no bones) and raw or slightly blanched vegetables and a handful of crunchy dogmeal. Terrible faff, but it may be all she'll eat for the moment. Don't give her "human" food as it's generally not very good for her.

5 If your dog hasn't eaten after two or three days (it might take her this long to settle), then take her to the vets. Usually though, dogs will eat when they get hungry enough and it's not dangerous for them to go for more than this without eating. If however, she's not drinking this is a different matter as it is dangerous for dogs (or any animals) to become dehydrated.

Notwithstanding all this, if any other aspect of her behaviour is worrying to you (for example, she's listless, aggressive, restless, over-anxious, or whatever), you need more expert and specific advice and should contact your vet in the first instance for a recommendation depending upon the problem. As long as she seems reasonably happy though, just be patient. Good luck.

Answer 4

Though it is recommended that dogs eat raw meat and other natural foods, that does get expensive for us to feed Fido. But I don't think that wet food, let alone Kibble and Bits is good for your dog. Dry food is better for their teeth, because it doesn't stick and cause tartar, and it generally has better ingredients. As far as getting him to eat dry food, you need to mix in his wet food so that he'll eat the dry food. Each day, put in less and less of the wet food, until he's finally only eating the dry food.

Answer 5

Leave the food down. If she refuses it then take it away.

When it comes to feeding time again - put the same food down....

She will be so hungry - she'll eat it....

Hopefully then you won't have to keep trying new things.

Good luck and you'll need plenty of patience.

Answer 6

Try mince, raw chicken frames, boiled liver, cubed steak and raw chicken breasts. All this can be mixed with slightly boiled veges like peas, carrots, corn etc. but they have to have fibre too so try weetbix mixed with an egg and some milk. Before you try that have you tried adding something to the dog food like egg or milk or a bit of meat in itself etc. You can also add some supplements to their food to make sure their getting all the nutrition and vitamins they need. Consult the vet as well as they can tell you things we cant. good luck

Answer 7

I presume that she is othewise quite healthy.
So,although I do not wish to sound cruel, my advice is to keep putting the same type of food in front of her until she eventually eats it, and don't say that it's no good because you have already tried that, becuase mother nature will ensure that she takes it in the end. This is a tried and tested procedure.

Answer 8

Your dog will eat when it gets hungry enough. To hell with all the special recipes, how long would you be willing to keep THAT up for? Just put out whatever it used to eat, and when she's ready, she'll eat.

Answer 9

We buy lambs hearts from the butcher for our dogs, as they both tend to react badly to tinned food (disgusting wind!).
Microwave 2 for about 2 1/2 to 3 minutes with splash of water, cool & cut up. Our dogs love them. You could also try cooked, cooled rice too & add this to the hearts.
Pigs or lambs kidneys or liver also go down well....

Answer 10

VET advised me to feed my dog with Whiskers(cat food) because it has high protein content. My dog is nine years old and very healthy and he has never eaten dog food.

Cats eat small amount being the size they are, hence the high protein diet. Try and see if he likes it.

Answer 11

DRY DOG FOOD!!! It will TOO EAT!

Don't be a pushover. Grow a spine.