Border Collie Feeding Problems

[cathsam]

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my 6 yr old border collie has started playing around with his dried food he stares at it then tries to hide it by pushing it under the radiator or covering it with anything around if i stay with him and keep talking to him asking him to eat he has the odd one or two taking the green ones out with his mouth and spitting them on the floor. i think he must not like it yet if i feed him with my hands he eats it what do i do

 

[Strix]

Is it bakers you are feeding? Our beagle used to 'spit the peas out' when we were feeding him that

Is it possible you're slightly overfeeding, so he's storing it for when he may be hungry later?

Do you leave food down all the time, or do you do the advised thing and take it up after 10 mins?

 

[cathsam]

It was bakers at first but i changed it to another type of dry food. i take the food up after 10 mins . or should i say scoop it off the floor as thats where it ends up. i measure out the food as reccommended on the bags, coud it be that he just does not like dry food and wants to hide it so he doesnt have to eat it ? he is hungry as he wants to eat my tea.

 

[Andrea s]

He isnt a bad judge, most dried food is awful ( sorry but i did a lot of research into dog food and was disgusted with what goes into it ) can you afford a better quality food, Bakers is just like giving kids Smarties, its full of crap and if you have switched to a comparable priced product it will be much the same,

Also have you checked his mouth is'nt sore meaning chomping on the dry old kibble is hurting his mouth or maybe a tooth is giving him pain !

If you are happy with the food you buy then you could just soak the food by adding water about 20 mins prior to feeding , this plumps up the kibble , some dogs prefer the softer texture.

The amount of water should just be enough that you can see it under the dry food.

 

[Strix]

I agree with Andrea... and would add that an ear infection or neck injury could also lead to a preference for hand feeding... Although if he's using his nose in any of this burying activity, that's unlikely

It's probably best to have the vet check it's nothing physical before trying to persuade him to behave differently

 

[banana]

Welcome Cathsam!!

 

[cathsam]

Thanks for all the comments spent today in pet s at home looking through ingredients of the dry and wet dog food and picked up a wet food that had no additives high meat and veg content and vit and mins quite expensive but well worth it . he ate it all and seemed quite happy so im sticking with this

 

[Strix]

you do know it's advisable to change food gradually so as not to upset their tummy? Especially moving from dry to wet

I hope he's a happy dog now, and doesn't give you any more food worries