This question was a bit too long for Twitter so I figured I’d post it here. Any advice that anyone can give me would be greatly appreciated.
Daffy is currently on doggy anti-anxiety meds (yes, we’re under advisement of a vet AND behaviorist and yes, they’re necessary – for now). The last few days, she’s not been interested in eating her dinner, which is a side effect of the meds. The first few nights, we’d give her some out of our hands and then try to get her to eat out of the bowl. She’d eat what was in our hands but wouldn’t touch the bowl until around 7:00 pm. Saturday and Sunday, she didn’t eat it until almost 10:00 pm. Today, I tried putting her food into a Buster Cube and it worked for a little while. I think she ate about 1/3 of her dinner but hasn’t touched anything in the bowl. Again, I know this is a side effect of the meds and she’ll eventually eat. Here are my questions:
1) Should we leave her bowl of food out so it’s there when she’s ready for it?
2) If so, how do we keep that from becoming a habit? (normally, we feed her around 5:00 every day)
A few times in the past I’ve taken her food away if she’s just being stubborn and won’t eat. Then, I’d put it back down later and if she still didn’t eat it I’d take it away again until the next day. (I’m not evil – I’d give her abt. 1/2 a cup in the AM so she didn’t starve waiting for dinner time). Because she’s not being stubborn and just not ready to eat due to the meds, I’m concerned about taking it away from her. What are your thoughts?
So, you feed her 1x/day, I take it. All I can tell you is what we do for Loki. We feed him 2x/day. I do leave his food as sometimes he just wants to graze, while other days he inhales all his food at one.
What is your concern with leaving her food out all day if she doesn’t eat it? Is it that you are afraid she will get used to a different eating schedule?
I think if you want to make sure she eats, I would leave it. No expert opinion, just speaking as a dog mom. I hope everything returns to normal soon.
Yes, we only feed her 1x/day, as suggested by her old vet. Maybe I’ll ask the new one his thoughts on how to feed her.
I guess it’s “one of those things I heard sometime somewhere”. I was under the impression that to reinforce your leadership, dogs eat when you give them their food. If they don’t eat it, you take it away. Maybe I’m totally wrong. My biggest concern is losing any leadership we have over Daffy. She’s the type of dog you HAVE to assert your leadership with. She’s really crazy and unruly if you don’t. Actually, I guess my biggest concern right now is really her not eating.
With feeding, it seems that there is no one right way to do it. We just did it the way Loki’s previous owner told us they did it. But, I think any bad habits can be worked on after she starts eating regularly. I would definitely check with the vet, but in the meantime, I think I would do whatever I could to get her to eat.
This may sound kinda crazy, but is it possible the meds effect her taste buds and she doesn’t like the food now? Check also with @askspikeonline.
I agree with b2ween about checking with the vet and leaving food out. (Split ration-1/2 AM & 1/2 PM?) I also want to say again how much I admire you for not giving up on Daffy! You are to be commended.
I didn’t even think of that! I have to give her the meds 2x a day and I wonder if she eats after the 1st one’s worn off, which may change the taste back to normal? Hmm…something to think about.
I think I will call the vet tomorrow and see what he says.
Thank-you again! We made a commitment to her when we adopted her and I won’t break it. She’s one of the greatest things that ever happened to us and we’ll do what we need to do to help her though this!
Thanks for your help!
It sounds like you’re feeding dry food. I’ve got two jack russells at roughly a year old each who were dry food fed as puppies and ate a lot like you describe. We tried feeding them out of kongs, out of buster cubes, and even out of busy buddy tug-a-jugs to make eating interesting. It worked sometimes, but most of the time they’d just graze all day, which was fine but it made housetraining really difficult. And, being puppies who share their lawn with all the other dogs in our condo complex, they used to get sick all the time.
We did two things: one, started putting a tablespoon of organic yogurt (vanilla, usually) on their food or in a bowl, which they really like and which would draw their attention to dry food when we were feeding that. It did a great job of settling their stomachs when they were on antibiotics, and put an end to the constant puking Chance used to do.
The other thing we did was upgrade their food to human-quality food. This isn’t for everyone, and it really depends on how big your dog is, how much you’re willing to spend, and how much time you’re willing to take to feed the dog, but if you’re interested, check out http://www.sojos.com/for their foods.
If fresh food isn’t your thing, you might also want to look at just upgrading to a better quality food (if you’re not feeding it already) – like one of these: http://dogs.about.com/od/nutrition/bb/choosedogfood.htm
I did a ton of reading about dog food before getting the terriers, and everyone seemed to agree that the better quality the food, the fewer health issues would develop. It’s definitely true of my two — as soon as I switched to natural food I saw healthier coats, fewer illnesses, and they were a lot less snappy. I can’t guarantee miracles, but it’s worth a shot.
Yep, it’s dry food and she normally doesn’t have a problem with it, which is why I think it’s the meds causing the issue. I think they’re finally starting to kick in because we’re seeing changes in her.
We definitely give her high quality food. We get the Blue Buffalo. Our friend’s vet said it’s one of the best foods you can get and she seems to really like it alot.
I may start putting the yogurt on it again. I was doing that for a while when she was having stomach issues and it really helped. She loved licking the spoon off after I put a bit in her bowl.
Thank-you for the advice!!!
Oooo, I’ve heard awesome stuff about the Blue Buffalo. Yay for good food!
I was thinking about that on the way up to training. Out of my 2 concerns, the one in the forefront would be her not eating.
I put her bowl down 1/2 an hour after we got home (so it was an hour total since training) and she ate it all up.
Thank-you for the help!