Why won't my dog eat her dry food?

Question

I have tried all kinds of food on her.She is 10 mths old and she would rather eat the cat's food.

Answer 1

She probably doesn't find it smelly enough. Dogs taste mostly by smelling (similar to people) and cat food is generally smellier than dog food. Also, when you let her have cat food, she'll get used to it and try and wait you out until you give it to her again.

Don't give in!

Make sure you keep the cat food out of the way, so she can't eat it. No healthy puppy will starve themselves to death, so at some point she will get hungry enough to eat the dog food.

Also, to help her stomach it, there's lots of squirt-on flavors for dry and canned foods that will make the dog eat every bit of it and want more. Some of the squirt-ons can add health benefits too (dogs LOVE salmon oil squirt-ons, and it will make their coat really shiny and reduce shedding for you).

Good luck!

Answer 2

Do what I did with my dog... Start her off on soft food, then start adding hard food which you've softened a little with water. After a week or so, stop wetting the food. Then over the next couple of weeks, add less and less soft food. She should be on hard food before you know it!! Good luck!! My dog is now almost 8 months old and he has done just find on hard food since I've done that. You can also buy gravy at petsmart or any pet store to try to get her to eat the hard food if you don't want to do that, but some dogs just lick the gravy off the food. But just figure out what works and what doesn't with your little girl. Best of luck! :)

And about the cat food, definitely keep her away from that... it has so many calories in it and can make a dog obese. Plus the kitty won't have any food if the dog eats it all :(

Answer 3

Dogs in general are not crazy about dry food. Try this instead: use a little less of the dry stuff and top it every morning with some canned food. (I have not had a single dog yet who turned this down.) Sometimes they leave the dry stuff - but eat it later in the day instead. Use a decent canned food - I use Pedigree that has real chicken and beef, vegetables, etc. Does this add to the cost? Yes, but if you love your pet it's worth every penny.

Answer 4

Dry dog food is almost completely flavorless...(just take my word for it and don't ask how I know...) That being said, dogs will normally eat whatever tastes best if you give them the choice. "People food" (and apparently cat food) tastes much better to your dog than its own dry dog food so that's what she eats.

If you want to make sure your dog eats only her dry dog food, then only feed her dry dog food. The only way my dog eats dry food is if no other food is made available - including table scraps etc.

It might also help to try several different brands of dry food since not all brands are the same. For example, my dog will eat Iams dry food but not most other brands.

Answer 5

Careful. I learned the hard way. Cat food has too much protein for a dog. The dog will get sick.

Feed them in seperate rooms. She'll eat when she's hungry enough. Try adding a bit of quality canned dog food to mix in like Natural Balance, etc.

Answer 6

Make sure to keep the cat food away from the dog. it is way too fattening and doesn't contain enough nutrition for your dog. get a young adult kibble and possibly some cans of cheap wet food. mix 1/4 cup wet food with a cup of dry food and she will eat it.

as she gets older, she will get used to eating dry food all the time.

Answer 7

Maybe she just thinks the dry food is too plain. That was my problem...I gave my 2 year old Mini Schnauzer Eukenuba Lamb & Rice Puppy Chow (which he never cared much for) and then switched him to Iams Mini Chunks (which he also never cared much for). He was real picky...wouldn't eat it sometimes, eventhough I knew he was hungry. Finally a couple weeks ago, we switched to Purina Beneful...and he loves it. Scarfs it right down. Which makes my life a lot easier...I was willing to keep trying different brands, but would have been reluctant to give him any can food.

So my advice would be to keep trying different brands. Purina in particular makes all kinds of "flavored" dog chow.
http://www.purina.com/products/dogs.aspx

What brands have you tried so far?

Answer 8

chose a good quality kibble and stick with it. Try feeding twice a day put it down and after 5 minutes pick it up and try feeding again in the evening. After a day or two she will eat the food. Yes please keep her out of the cat food.

Answer 9

Maybe she finds it bland and not as appealing? Try mixing it up with some wet food, or as it is at my house, we mix it with a bit of shredded non-marinated steamed chicken breast. That usually gets my dog interested enough to finish off everything else.

Answer 10

Try mixing the dry with the wet food.