My dog wont eat dry dog food?

Question

My 4 month old lab and german mix won't eat her dry food. I bought her beneful and she didn't seem to eat it, so I would always mix in canned food with the dry food and she would eat it. When it finished I decided to buy a better brand and I bought her Eukanuba thinking she might eat it without canned food, She ate it the first day like crazy, but the second day she didn't even eat a little bit! I don't want her to eat canned food, I want her to learn to eat dry food but she is so picky! What can I do to have her eat the dry food?

Answer 1

I work for Eukanuba. If you're going to use one of our products, I would recommend our Large Breed Puppy formula. This food is specifically formulated to meet the needs of the growing large breed pup (which is what you've got). I've included links to 2 articles on large breed puppy nutrition, below.

As for your pup not eating: Dogs have an instinct to eat as many calories as they need and then stop. It may be that your pup did not need the calories. Or it may be that your pup was holding out for the canned food. You need to decide what you're going to feed, and then stick with it. Put your pup on a feeding schedule--at her age you could feed twice a day. Put the food down for 20 minutes. If she doesn't eat then she has to wait until the next meal time. And be careful of treats because they add calories that might cause problems with her appetite.

Lastly, if you're not happy with the Eukanuba be sure to call the 800 phone number listed on the bag. We guarantee our product at 110% satisfaction, and we'll be happy to help you with questions about our food and your puppy.

Answer 2

Royal Canin has a puppy and adult dog formula for German Shepherd Dogs. It's a good idea to get breed specific because the different breeds do have different needs for growth and optimum health specific to their breed.
Another good brand since GSD's are prone to allergies, is Nature's Recipe Venison and Rice, and you can vary the diet with their other atypical meat source brands like Rabbit, Duck and Fish.
It doesn't hurt to add some canned food but stick to the same brand to avoid stomach upset, and if you decide to change, do it gradually and add a bit of pumpkin pie filling to the diet for a week. It's great whenever there is any stomach upset in dogs, either diarrhea or constipation.
If you don't want to add canned food, you could add a bit of Dan Active yogurt or cottage cheese, just a few tablespoons. Another option is adding a partial raw diet. Here's a site with info on that: http://www.rawdogranch.com
GL with your dog

Answer 3

like kids they push all your buttons. If you continue to feed her only one kind of dry dog food then eventually she will get hungry and eat. At 4 months she should be having dry food to get her teeth stronger so you are doing the right thing. Just put it out for her at feeding times and remove it after 30 minutes or so. You will have to be stronger than her by not giving in and she will soon enough eat because she is hungry.

Answer 4

My aunts dog is the same way. They have to mix some water with the dry food, just enough to soften it, before Boo Boo will touch it. Or you could leave the dry food there without doing anything. She'll eat it when she gets hungry enough. I don't know about your dog, but Boo Boos problem was that she was just spoiled.

Answer 5

some dog food company's have what i would call "doggie salad dressing". It comes in a container just like human salad dressing and comes in flavours like bacon, chicken , beef.. u get the idea. We use it at the vet clinic with dogs who are boarding and protesting the idea by not eating. If you consider it a treat on top of the food then you're good to go... but obviously don't get carried away because it is adding fat to your dogs diet. But if your dog is well exercised it won't be a huge deal.

Answer 6

dog wont eat dry dog food

Answer 7

Buy plain yogurt, and put 2 table spoons on the top of dry food. Don't mix hard, just slightly. She will like it better. Our vet technician told us to do it. But buy plain yogurt, not vanilla or anything.

Our dog is not very fond of dry food either. I think they all are not.
Also we give her a little whip cream on the top of her dry food. Not much though.
Good luck!

Answer 8

I agree with one of the other answers, Nutro brand puppy food. Even though you may think by buying a "brand name" food like Eukanuba, read the ingrediants. You want to STAY AWAY from any dog food that has beef or poultry by products, these are the left over parts such as beaks, bones, hooves, cartlidge that is ground up and it is not easily digestable by your pet. Another thing to stay away from is "meal" such as poultry meal. Nutro is a good brand that uses only quality ingrediants and can be found at most Petcos, Petsmarts, and some Ace hardwares. Another really good brand is Dick Van Patton's Natural. It uses only human grade ingrediants designed for a dog's special need.
Now, with all that said, my Alaskan Malamute (who is now 13 years old) would not touch any kind of dry food as a pup. Mix can food with it she would eat only the can food and leave the dry. Water, milk, broth, nothing would work. Even leaving it down for two days. Finally I discovered she had a sensitive stomache. She wasn't being difficult, she just did not want to hurt. I wouldn't eat something I knew gave me cramps either!
I kept her on canned food for sensitive stomache for a couple of years, then eventually, slowly, switched to Nutro for sensitive tummies and mixed it half wet, half dry and she actually ate it! Now she only eats dry food and even asks for seconds. But I will only feed her dry food WITHOUT the ingrediants listed above and only sensitive tummy brand. I know a petstore that sells this brand may be far away from home and a supermarket that doesn't carry it could be just around the corner, but remember, your puppy didn't choose you, you chose him, he depends on you and you took the responsibility for him. He can't pick his food so he is depending on you to give him the best possible care and highest grade food, the same you would yourself or your children. In return he will give you years of love and loyalty. I hope this helps!

Answer 9

I would recommend Nutro Natural Choice, Lamb and Rice PUPPY! Don't give her a lot, just like a cup and a half, you dont want her to get full, the next day give her the same amount, and so on. Don't keep her dish full. You can also try to put a 1/4 of the amount of food to warm water. Not enough to drench it but enough to get the taste out, and slowly work your way backwards from there. Hope that helps.

Answer 10

Try to continue mixing it with canned food. Then slowly, lower the amount of canned food you're mixing to help ease the transition until she starts to get used to eating the dry food only.

Try IAMS first. Our dog loves it. :)