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Lack of appetite

hannahireland

hannahireland

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Good evening all! Maisy is 8 months and always scoffed her food. She stayed in a doggy hotel the last weekend of April and has been picky about her food since.

She will maybe eat half of her kibble and ignore the rest, sometimes going back for more later. I've added jelly food to her kibble a couple of times and she eats it all straight away.

Any suggestions? How long do i leave it before I take her to the vets? Someone has suggested she may be coming into heat?

Thanks

Hannah
 
Hi Hannah,
This information below is all my own knowledge not from other sources unless stated.
From the above it sounds like the dog hotel has some how put her off the food. If so you can change it to something more tasty such as Simpsons Premium or Orijen. It also could be that she is going into heat, as many dogs loose their apatite when in heat. You could try her with dog treats or food with really strong odours, but if she then get diarrhea feed her beef with the grease drained and feed her with some rice (DO NOT feed this everyday.) This link may be helpful, if you are worried take her to the vet where they can run test and confirm she is in season. - Symptoms of a female dog in heat
Speak to the vets and book a consult they will be more than happy to help you.
If you require anything else just ask :) - Violet Turner
EDIT: Maisy is super cute small paws :rolleyes:
 
Last edited:
Please do not feed your dog a piece of beef burger - particularly if she already had diarrhoea (I know you didn't suggest that). It is likely to contain a lot of salt and other preservatives that are not particularly healthy.

Having got that out of the way, it is possible the kennel hotel added a little wet food to tempt her if her appetite dropped while she was left. That isn't a terrible thing, but she may have got accustomed to it. I am fairly soft in relation to dog food; i would rather my dog enjoyed what he eats rather than just live on it. So if a teaspoon or dessert spoon of decent wet food makes the dry more palatable, i am ok with that. But if you feel otherwise, let her eat half her food then lift it - put it down at next mealtime and she will learn. Dogs don't starve themselves.
 
What was she eating at the dog hotel, and what do you feed her normally? Does she seem herself otherwise - has she as much energy as usual, and is she as enthusiastic as normal about treats and food that's tastier than her kibble?

Also, some dogs lose their appetite in warmer weather - if that's the case she may pick up very soon!
 
I didn't mean to put burger it just popped into my head and typed it @JoanneF
She didn't have diarrhea i just put that as if she gets diarrhea.
 
JoanneF said:
But if you feel otherwise, let her eat half her food then lift it - put it down at next mealtime and she will learn.
Click to expand...

That reads a little as if you take the bowl away when it's still half full even if she's still eating it - I assume that's not what you meant, @JoanneF?
 
Violet Turner said:
Hi Hannah,
This information below is all my own knowledge not from other sources unless stated.
From the above it sounds like the dog hotel has some how put her off the food. If so you can change it to something more tasty such as Simpsons Premium or Orijen. It also could be that she is going into heat, as many dogs loose their apatite when in heat. You could try her with dog treats or food with really strong odours, but if she then get diarrhea feed her beef with the grease drained and feed her with some rice (DO NOT feed this everyday.) This link may be helpful, if you are worried take her to the vet where they can run test and confirm she is in season. - Symptoms of a female dog in heat
Speak to the vets and book a consult they will be more than happy to help you.
If you require anything else just ask :) - Violet Turner
EDIT: Maisy is super cute small paws :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Thank you for your advice, Violet She seems ok otherwise so I do think she may have got a little spoilt at the dog hotel even though her own food was left with her!
Ps she is alot bigger now haha
 
JoanneF said:
Please do not feed your dog a piece of beef burger - particularly if she already had diarrhoea (I know you didn't suggest that). It is likely to contain a lot of salt and other preservatives that are not particularly healthy.

Having got that out of the way, it is possible the kennel hotel added a little wet food to tempt her if her appetite dropped while she was left. That isn't a terrible thing, but she may have got accustomed to it. I am fairly soft in relation to dog food; i would rather my dog enjoyed what he eats rather than just live on it. So if a teaspoon or dessert spoon of decent wet food makes the dry more palatable, i am ok with that. But if you feel otherwise, let her eat half her food then lift it - put it down at next mealtime and she will learn. Dogs don't starve themselves.
Click to expand...
Hi Joanne!

Thanks for that. I may switch up her food as i just feel like she has got bored with it. Either that or she is not happy we left her for a weekend I did think about lifting the food too as i know she will eat when she is hungry! A little worried as to when to say enough is enough and take her to the vet.
 
JudyN said:
What was she eating at the dog hotel, and what do you feed her normally? Does she seem herself otherwise - has she as much energy as usual, and is she as enthusiastic as normal about treats and food that's tastier than her kibble?

Also, some dogs lose their appetite in warmer weather - if that's the case she may pick up very soon!
Click to expand...

Hi Judy
I left her food with her which is Nutts About Pets Ambassador, a local brand. She's been eating it for quite a few months now so not sure if she's just got bored of it?

She seems herself as far as I can see and is more than enthusiastic about non kibble treats! Thanks for the reply!
 
As long as she is drinking, and not losing condition it isn't anything to worry about.
 
I've had a look at the ingredients in Nutts about Pets food and not loving it... Meat meal isn't a great ingredient, and it contains grains and sugar beet that are regarded as merely fillers. It isn't listed on the Dog Food Advisor website but if you check out the ingredients against this page on their site you'll get an idea: Dog food ingredient glossary - now listing 126 ingredients!

That might not be linked to her fussiness but if you're interested in changing, you can search for suggestions of good foods on their front page: All About Dog Food.co.uk Or you could even consider going raw, which most dogs are very enthusiastic about!
 
Misty went off her food around that age, but it was after a stay in doggy hospital. I thought maybe she associated her food with being poorly. It took a lot of trial and error to find something that she would happily eat. Anything new was ok with her for a couple of days, then she’d refuse to eat it again once I’d stocked up on whatever it was :mad::D She finally settled on Applaws and has half wet and half dry twice a day. I like the fact that adding a tin of the wet food gives a bit of variety as she can have different flavours without getting bored.
Also going back to not eating, it turned out we were giving her too much food, so she simply wasn’t hungry. She had the right quota at meal times, but had so many treats during the day that come dinner time she just didn’t want it. By cutting the treats down really helped.
I agree with JudyN about the warm weather and not wanting to eat, in fact Misty hasn’t had her breakfast this morning even with her favourite treat of a sprinkle of Crunchy Nut on the top :p
 
Harri also became much more picky at that age ( he's 9 1/2 months now) and it was a real battle to get him to eat anything some days. As he used to inhale his food I was really worried. I was weight checking him every few days.

He is however totally passionate about the Nature's Menu sachets of wet food at the moment and I'm hoping that he is coming out of the phase as I have a freezer full of rejected dog food.

We are also down to effectively one meal a day. He is not the least bit interested in breakfast (and hasn't been for about 2 months now) and lunch won't be eaten unless it's a raw egg or chicken wing.
 
Sezzy said:
Misty went off her food around that age, but it was after a stay in doggy hospital. I thought maybe she associated her food with being poorly. It took a lot of trial and error to find something that she would happily eat. Anything new was ok with her for a couple of days, then she’d refuse to eat it again once I’d stocked up on whatever it was :mad::D She finally settled on Applaws and has half wet and half dry twice a day. I like the fact that adding a tin of the wet food gives a bit of variety as she can have different flavours without getting bored.
Also going back to not eating, it turned out we were giving her too much food, so she simply wasn’t hungry. She had the right quota at meal times, but had so many treats during the day that come dinner time she just didn’t want it. By cutting the treats down really helped.
I agree with JudyN about the warm weather and not wanting to eat, in fact Misty hasn’t had her breakfast this morning even with her favourite treat of a sprinkle of Crunchy Nut on the top :p
Click to expand...
Thank you very much! This makes me feel a bit better :)
 
Caro Perry said:
Harri also became much more picky at that age ( he's 9 1/2 months now) and it was a real battle to get him to eat anything some days. As he used to inhale his food I was really worried. I was weight checking him every few days.

He is however totally passionate about the Nature's Menu sachets of wet food at the moment and I'm hoping that he is coming out of the phase as I have a freezer full of rejected dog food.

We are also down to effectively one meal a day. He is not the least bit interested in breakfast (and hasn't been for about 2 months now) and lunch won't be eaten unless it's a raw egg or chicken wing.
Click to expand...

Thank you! I think I will bring her down to one meal per day to see if it makes a difference, she doesn't want to look at her dinner!
 
You could put a full bowl of dry food down then leave it down all day.
 
In general, it's healthier to feed twice a day rather than once, so I'd try the other ideas mentioned before cutting down to one a day. Leaving food down all day also isn't recommended. Some dogs can find the constant presence of food stressful even when they're not hungry - it's like having all your money sitting as cash in full view of anyone coming to the house. And it means the dog is never 'properly' hungry so will never develop a naturally good appetite. Training can also be easier if done when your dog is a little peckish.

And of course, if your dog finds kibble boring and appreciates something a little tastier added, for which you can hardly blame her, you don't want wet food hanging around all day.
 
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