My dog will only eat off my hand and not out of the bowl? he is a minitaure schnauzer but is very stubborn. He has had a liver shunt so is on vegetarian dry food and some vegatables. He won't eat so much that he will be shaking and we will have to feed him ourselves. Lately when his is meant to be eating his second meal he doesn't eat so is eating later and later have no idea what to do with him? He is only 8 months so maybe the food is too hard on his teeth?
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My dog won't eat
- Thread starter Chlo36005
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It may be worth while speaking to your vet and potentially changing his food. It may not be agreeing with him and making his tummy hurt perhaps?
There could be something in the food that is making him feel poorly and now doesnt like eating?? It could be a host of things.
If it isnt the food and her health is good then try and make meal times more fun.
You can buy toys that when played with they let out treats as they are rolled around. It makes meal times fun! And he wont see it as meal times either as its a toy to play with with nice little treats inside!
You can also buy a different bowl. A more interactive bowl that again taxes the brain and makes meal times a little more challenging and fun. However this may not be the best solution at the moment if he is not eating much at all.
Try not to give in to the eating out of your hands. You have one of the most stubborn terrier breed on your hands so it will quite literally be a battle of the wills (to be honest that goes for all breeds that are in adolescents! lol!). However, if your dog starts to drop weight then you may not have a choice if it means getting food into him. This would be a discussion with your vet again no doubt.
I have attached a couple of links for the treat toys I mentioned and the bowls.
Hope your boy starts eating properly soon. Please let us know how he gets on.
Sophie xx
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kong-PW1-Wobbler/dp/B003ALMW0M/ref=sr_1_8/280-4766507-5217004?ie=UTF8&qid=1433709497&sr=8-8&keywords=kong+toys+dog
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00UUPNNPO?psc=1
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Company-Animals-Interactive-Feeder-Green/dp/B009CKHXYU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1433709594&sr=8-1&keywords=interactive+dog+bowl
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Slo-Bowl-Feeder-Interactive-Dog-Orange/dp/B00FPKNRCS/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1433709594&sr=8-3&keywords=interactive+dog+bowl
There could be something in the food that is making him feel poorly and now doesnt like eating?? It could be a host of things.
If it isnt the food and her health is good then try and make meal times more fun.
You can buy toys that when played with they let out treats as they are rolled around. It makes meal times fun! And he wont see it as meal times either as its a toy to play with with nice little treats inside!
You can also buy a different bowl. A more interactive bowl that again taxes the brain and makes meal times a little more challenging and fun. However this may not be the best solution at the moment if he is not eating much at all.
Try not to give in to the eating out of your hands. You have one of the most stubborn terrier breed on your hands so it will quite literally be a battle of the wills (to be honest that goes for all breeds that are in adolescents! lol!). However, if your dog starts to drop weight then you may not have a choice if it means getting food into him. This would be a discussion with your vet again no doubt.
I have attached a couple of links for the treat toys I mentioned and the bowls.
Hope your boy starts eating properly soon. Please let us know how he gets on.
Sophie xx
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kong-PW1-Wobbler/dp/B003ALMW0M/ref=sr_1_8/280-4766507-5217004?ie=UTF8&qid=1433709497&sr=8-8&keywords=kong+toys+dog
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00UUPNNPO?psc=1
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Company-Animals-Interactive-Feeder-Green/dp/B009CKHXYU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1433709594&sr=8-1&keywords=interactive+dog+bowl
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Slo-Bowl-Feeder-Interactive-Dog-Orange/dp/B00FPKNRCS/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1433709594&sr=8-3&keywords=interactive+dog+bowl
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Hi Chlo36005, and welcome to DogForum 
There are lots of people who will tell you that a dog won't starve themselves if you give them access to food, that eventually they will decide to eat even if that means changing their behaviour. Unfortunately for these people I come from the world of German Shepherds, the dogs that are renowned for sleeping next to owners' graves for the rest of their lives and refusing even water if the right human isn't there to tell them that it's OK to eat or drink, so I don't underestimate the problems with a dog that has very set food ideas.
Have you tried not feeding him until he starts wondering why he's hungry? What happens when you DON'T try to persuade him to eat and don't put food down at all?
If he's a good weight then he can easily go a few days before he's going to cause himself any damage from not eating, so try not to blink and give in to feeding him by hand. I'd start with putting food down in a bowl or a toy and encouraging him to eat that, then take it up again half an hour later and try again at the next meal time. Of course during all of this time all treats and titbits off plates (if there are any normally) disappear too.
Then I'd try putting out some food in his bowl and then if he acts like he doesn't want it I'd pick the bowl up, bring it up to my face and 'eat it' myself (although you'll actually be eating something else carefully substituted through the gap between bowl and face- he doesn't know that!) and watch his face. It's one thing choosing not to eat your food yourself and completely a different one having competition for your food, and a human who instead of pandering to my whims is taking my food away and EATING IT HERSELF has clearly changed the rules when it comes to food. Maybe the next time she puts the bowl down I'd better eat it before she does?
As soon as you've got him eating out of a bowl at all, even if just a little bit, all hand feeding and fretting around his food then can stop. Either he eats what is in his bowl or he goes hungry, and he'll get that message quite quickly once you have seen him eat anything at all out of his bowl. The food is there and it will only be there for a short time before the human picks it up and eats it instead.
Molly is really not food orientated and she will quite often ignore food until the next meal time, and I'm fine with that. I don't have to do the picking up her food and 'eating it' part because I've also got 4 cats, and so I know that if she's really not hungry then 2 of the cats meandering in and eating her food out of her bowl in front of her just won't bother her at all. If, however, she's dithering about eating then Billymonster (the head cat, who outranks Molly in our house) coming into the room and heading meaningfully towards a lovely meal of raw mince is a great motivator on the 'eat your food or someone else will' front
There are lots of people who will tell you that a dog won't starve themselves if you give them access to food, that eventually they will decide to eat even if that means changing their behaviour. Unfortunately for these people I come from the world of German Shepherds, the dogs that are renowned for sleeping next to owners' graves for the rest of their lives and refusing even water if the right human isn't there to tell them that it's OK to eat or drink, so I don't underestimate the problems with a dog that has very set food ideas.
Have you tried not feeding him until he starts wondering why he's hungry? What happens when you DON'T try to persuade him to eat and don't put food down at all?
If he's a good weight then he can easily go a few days before he's going to cause himself any damage from not eating, so try not to blink and give in to feeding him by hand. I'd start with putting food down in a bowl or a toy and encouraging him to eat that, then take it up again half an hour later and try again at the next meal time. Of course during all of this time all treats and titbits off plates (if there are any normally) disappear too.
Then I'd try putting out some food in his bowl and then if he acts like he doesn't want it I'd pick the bowl up, bring it up to my face and 'eat it' myself (although you'll actually be eating something else carefully substituted through the gap between bowl and face- he doesn't know that!) and watch his face. It's one thing choosing not to eat your food yourself and completely a different one having competition for your food, and a human who instead of pandering to my whims is taking my food away and EATING IT HERSELF has clearly changed the rules when it comes to food. Maybe the next time she puts the bowl down I'd better eat it before she does?
As soon as you've got him eating out of a bowl at all, even if just a little bit, all hand feeding and fretting around his food then can stop. Either he eats what is in his bowl or he goes hungry, and he'll get that message quite quickly once you have seen him eat anything at all out of his bowl. The food is there and it will only be there for a short time before the human picks it up and eats it instead.
Molly is really not food orientated and she will quite often ignore food until the next meal time, and I'm fine with that. I don't have to do the picking up her food and 'eating it' part because I've also got 4 cats, and so I know that if she's really not hungry then 2 of the cats meandering in and eating her food out of her bowl in front of her just won't bother her at all. If, however, she's dithering about eating then Billymonster (the head cat, who outranks Molly in our house) coming into the room and heading meaningfully towards a lovely meal of raw mince is a great motivator on the 'eat your food or someone else will' front
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