How can I make my dog eat?

Question

My dog Hershey, is a mini dachshund. He just went to the vet on Saturday 9-8-07. He had some back trouble. He is taking 2 different kinds of medication. The only way I can get him to take one of his medications is put it in a marshmallow. The question I am asking is, How can I get my dog to eat his dog food? I just changed his food the other day to Pedigree Healthy Maturity. He won't eat it. Know he did eat his food on Sunday afternoon, but he hasn't eaten since then. How can I get him to eat again?

Answer 1

Before and after ops is never a good time to change any part of your dogs' routine - especially the diet. The body needs to concentrate on staying calm and healing, not as easy as it may sound. Your dogs' body knew where to find the various bits of goodness it needs, from the old diet, and the new one will have flummoxed it. I would say to go back to the OLD diet until Hershey is feeling himself again, and then, if you still want to, change it slowly.

Answer 2

Well change of dog food is the obvious answer so to try to sort it out mix a small amount of that dog food with a small amount of plain yogurt do that for a few days and slowly add less yogurt but when he eats all of him food(make sure u are there with him when he finishes it)give him his marshmallow with his medication so it seems like a treat...make sure he knows that it is a reward and not his daily marshmallow when u stop giving yogurt carry on giving him the marshmallow until he doesn't need medication anymore and then start rewarding him with dog biscuits do this for only two or 3 weeks or he will think it is permanent and if he comes to u for his treat when u have stopped giving them to him after eating it all then take him out and play to take his mind off it and he will soon forget and eat normally... this may sound all weird and complicated but i had a dog that was rescued and he had been fed on raw meat that wasn't good for him but he ate biscuits as well and we used that method to get him to eat dog food and it worked well however can i point out that pedigree aint a good dog food really...i would recommend your local vets food supply my dogs hated pedigree and i stopped giving it to them... my friends dog took weeks and weeks to eat it using that method and still isnt very fond of it.And dachshund's should have a brilliant diet anyway because of the type of dog they are... it should be 30 % protein and 19 % fat..and should have real proper meat and not replacements in it to make it stretch further...it really is rubbish stuff pedigree,i would switch to your vets recommended food

Answer 3

You have to change a dog's food slowly, by putting a bit more of the new food in his regular food every day.

By the way, Pedigree is NOT good dog food, it is supermarket junk, mostly fillers like corn meal and by-products, not real meat.

Dachshunds need really good food with meat listed as the first ingredient, and no by-products or artificial additives to give the stuff the shelf life of plastic.

Switch to something like Canidae or other high quality food you get at large pet stores or feed stores. Ideal should be protein 30% and fat 18%,
with meat as the first product --- no corn meal, that's cheap fillers used in most supermarket junk.
Spending more on quality food costs less than vet bills from a poorly nourished dog in the long run.

I have dachshunds and put their pills in a bit of lowfat liverwurst. I roll up the liverwurst around the pill and they all take it gladly.

Good luck, start new food a little at a time, and get your dachsie some good food.

Answer 4

When changing foods it is best to do the switch over a three week period.
First week 25% new food 75% old food
Second week 50-50
third weed 75% new food 25% old food
then over to all new.
It is easier on their stomachs and most times the slow switch will get them more used to the new food. If it looks different or smells different it will have been mixed and they most times will accept it better.
Do ont give in feed only the food you are wanting him to eat and nothing else. If you give in a give him something else you are teaching him that if he waits long enough something better will come. It is very hard but be strong and do not give in. Most dogs will not starve themselves to death but they will try to make you think they will.
Keep presenting the food and give him about 20 minutes to eat then pick it up and give nothing until the next feeding time. NO treats or anything. He will eat when he gets hungry.

Answer 5

I don't know about dog nutrition, but I do know about cat nutrition and your cat will not be healthy on dog food. It doesn't contain taurine which is essential to a cat. Aslo I'm sure it's full of grain, which is basically carbohydrates and your cat can develop diabetes and become fat. You need to be strict for their own sake and feed them high quality species appropriate diet. Feed them at the same time in different rooms. Take the food away after 30 minutes if they don't eat it and refrigerate it. Try again in a few hours. No animal will starve itself just out of being fussy about their food. The cat would be harder to adjust, but the dog will give in pretty fast. Pour some tuna juice over the cat's food, it should make it more appealing. You can try mixing it gradually, but you need to make a change or you are risking your pets' health in the long run. More about cat nutrition here:

Answer 6

TRy buying some of the dog gravy taht Iams puts out and several otehrs and putting that over his food. You may also try wetting his food one of my boys wiull get tired of it being hard and will go off of his food and I wet it and look out for he gobbles it right up. As well if he should continue not to eat I would suggested calling the vet for the medicine could be causing him to have some stomach or other issues and I have had some get ulcers and not want to eat. Anyways there are several good products such as liquid dyne and nutri-cal that you can purchase at petsmart and even the vet to feed him to help keep his weight up and vitamins and make sure he is drinking to. But I would suggest calling the vet. Also did you swap his food gradually? Its never a good idea to swap there food fast it should be done over time. Was he eating ok before you changed his food if he was maybe consider tasting the dog food and see if it taste alright. Bought some horse feed a few years back and none of the horses would eat I found out after tasting the horse feed that it was VERY salty I called the mill and they told me they had a problem with one of the machines ... Hope it all works out for you. Worse case scenario if he ate the old stuff alright give it back to him or bait this new food with the stuff I mentioned above or even canned dog food.

Answer 7

When my dog went through something similar, the Vet told me to boil some chicken (then shred it, all bones gone) and cook some rice in the broth. It is like chicken soup, but with rice - NO spices. It is mostly liquid, so it will be easy on his tummy. Be warned, you might have to add a spoon or two into his dry food for awhile - just lessen the amount over time.

Answer 8

Never feed dogs Marshmallows. They are sticky. too sweet and make his stomach upset.
When switchen dog food, make sure to split it in half, with the old one and the new one til he get's adjusted. After three day's or so , depending on his liking switch it to full new doggy food. Dog owner long time.

Answer 9

I would suggest two methods. First, add half his old food, and half the new food. I'd also use a bit of low sodium chicken broth on the food to encourage him to eat.
If this does'nt work, see if he wont eat his old food until he feels better before switching foods.

Answer 10

Usually when my dog doesnt eat, I give him Nutrical in order for him to at least get the vitamins he needs. Then I start with plain, white rice with chicken (boiled and without any skin) After he begins to eat, I slowly change it back to his regular food. Maybe you could try that...