My cairn, ToTo won't eat his dry food?

Question

I have tried Purina, Ol Roy, now Iams, which my mom sez is the only food she feeds her Shih Tzu and his is 16 years old. Is the more expensive food better for a dog vs. cheap (walmart brand)? Also does if affect an purebred in a different way than a mixed dog?

Answer 1

It will TOO!!!
Grow up & get some GUTS!
Dogs CAN'T open the frig OR go to Mickey D's!!
IT WILL ***NOT*** STARVE!

YOU are the problem,NOT the DOG!!
ALL *YOUR* FAULT!
Pick ANY DRY *ADULT* feed & STICK W/IT!!!
Pure bred or MUTT/MONGREL is NO DIFFERENT!! A SPOILED *ROTTEN*DOG is same ,no matter what sort!

Answer 2

How long have you had your cairn terrier?? What was the brand of food that he was on last? You need to find a food and transition him over a 4 week period.
Week 1- 25% new, 75% old
Week 2- 50% new, 75% old
Week 3- 75% new, 25% old
Week 4- 100% new

Also, does your dog get a lot of treats? This could also lead to him being finicky towards a staple diet.

I think feeding a higher quality food is beneficial and will save you money in the long run (i.e. vet bills, health related problems). With cheaper foods, the ingredients can change as can the sources and the company that makes it does not have to ensure that the label reflects it. This can lead to finicky eating.
Higher quality foods are more selective about their sources, so their recipes are more consistent.

I feed a holistic all natural diet. It costs more than your chain store food, but I can see the difference. They have wonderful coats, they are not overweight, their teeth are in good shape, they are active, etc.
Personally, I wouldn't feed any of my pets any of the foods that you mentioned. The ingredients are terrible, many of them contain preservatives that is illegal to use in human foods, plus you pay a lot for a low quality food.
That's just my personal preference. My dog is on Canidae

Answer 3

Purina, Ol Roy, and Iams are terrible foods. Any dog food you can find in the supermarket or at Wal-Mart are not suitable for health. This includes Purina, Pedigree, Ol Roy (*gag*), Science Diet, Iams, and Eukanuba. Look for foods with no corn, wheat, soy, sorghum, etc. Foods that fit this are brands like Chicken Soup, Canidae, Innova, Solid Gold, Wellness, Natural Balance, California Natural, etc. The cheapest good food I would even remotely consider feeding is Diamond Large Breed or Chicken and Rice, which I can get at the feed store for $21 for a 40 lbs bag. That's almost half the cost of Science Diet and it's a better food.

Answer 4

A dog is a dog, purebred or mixed. Purina and Olroy are pretty nasty foods. Generally the more you pay for a food, the better the ingredrients.

High quality food will lead to a healthier dog, less vet bills, and you'll usually feed much less of a high quality food than you would a not high quality food. You'll also have less to clean up as well.

If you are feeding a low quality food your dog may very well have a good reason to refuse eating it.

Either find a high quality food and stick with or switch to a healthy raw diet. A healthy dog will not starve itself. Put the bowl of dog food down for 20 mins twice a day. Pick up the food whether he its or not. Repeat. No snacks in between meals, he will get the point to eat what he is given when its given.

Here is information on choosing a high quality food, as well as information about raw diets as well.

Nothing you find at a grocery store is going to be a good food. High quality foods can be found at large pet store chains, or online. A couple of foods I like are Nutro Natural, Innova, and Cannidae.

There are other high quality dog foods. Here's how to spot them:

A high quality food will have little or no fillers such as corn, wheat or soy. These aren't very digestable for dogs, and are common food related allergens. Since you were seeing corn meal in the first few ingredients, those are not high quality foods. Foods list ingredients by content, with the ingredient it contains most of at the top.

A high quality food will not contain BHT, BHA or Ethoxyquin, these are all chemical preservatives that have been linked to cancer.

A high quality food will not contain by-products of any kind. Meat meals are ok as long as the source of the meat is listed, such as Chicken Meal.

A high quality diet should have meat as at least the first ingredient., and be made from human grade ingredients. Foods that don't use human grade ingredients often get their ingredients from less than desirable sources, such as meat from animals that were diseased, or euthanized.

There is another diet option other than dog food. Some people choose to feed a raw diet. This involves feeding the dog raw meaty bones and organ meat. However it is not as simple as throwing a couple chicken bones in a bowl everyday. If you wish to feed this type of diet, do lots and lots of research first. Switching to this diet without knowing what your doing can lead to nutritional problems for your dog. I'll give you some links as a starting point in research if you are interested in this type of diet.

http://www.willowglen.com/barf.htm.........

http://www.bestfrisbeedogs.com/diets.htm...

http://www.rawlearning.com/rawfaq.html.....

http://www.rawfed.com/myths/index.html.....

http://www.rawdogranch.com

What's Really In Pet Food
http://www.api4animals.org/facts?p=359&m...

Answer 5

I'm sorry, but Ol Roy is no better than a store brand.

The Iams is a fairly decent food. We had a foster dog that would not eat dry kibble. I bought some swanson chicken broth and drizzled a LITTLE over the dry food and he loved it. Eventually by splitting the broth with water, then more water than broth, he was eating just dry kibble.

Maybe that'll work.

Answer 6

buy a good quality brand and feed the dog twice a day. split the feeding in half. put down the morning feed give the dog about 5 min. to eat and than take it away and feed again in the evening. after about 2 day the dog will decide that it better eat its food and not mess around. do not feed what the bag says to feed the dog it is to much. ask you vet or the breeder of you dog how much he should eat i hope this helps

Answer 7

Check out the nutritional info carefully on the packages. Read the ingredients as well. Some less-expensive dog foods are just fine, while others are not. Check them out carefully.

If your doggy won't eat any dry food you've tried, perhaps he'd prefer it with a little sauce. They make special sauces to put on dry dogfood. A little leftover gravy would also probably do the trick just as well. Our dog liked a little of whatever sauce or gravy we were having poured over his dry food.

Be sure to check out your dog's teeth and mouth health. Sometimes dogs won't eat dry food because their teeth or gums hurt.

Answer 8

The expensive food is better than the off brand. It gives them all the things they need to stay healthy. Some say the off brand is good to, but I only get my pug the good food. Even the vet that I take her to told me to give her Pedigree and that's what I have been giving her since she was a puppy. Since your dog is way older than mine, I would say the reason why he isn't eating the dry food anymore is because he can't chew it. When dogs get older their teeth isn't as strong and sometimes fall out. I would mix the wet and dry food and see if he eats that. If he don't see if he will eat the wet. I would try many things and see what he eats.

Answer 9

Generic foods like the one you can purchase at Walmart (Ol Roy) have about the nutritional content of a piece of cardboard. The healthiest dog foods can be found by clicking on the link below. They are analyzed and published on this list.
Be sure not to create "picky eating" by switching foods. If you find a healthy food, stick with it. He won't starve himself. You can try spicing it up for him by adding warm water or sodium free chicken broth (my dogs like swanson's).
Good luck!

Answer 10

My dog went through the same - wouldn't eat any dogfood and I tried them all. I finally found he likes the IAMS but only the small bit size. He also prefers Moist and Meaty - a moist (not wet, not dry) food.

Answer 11

Soak the dry dog food in water and mike it till it gets luke warm.
That worked for our dog. We gave her Science Diet.