New dog won't eat

[Eleanorld]

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So my family have recently adopted a beautiful 2yr old spaniel and we've called her Isla. We didn't get her from a shelter, we actually found an ad for her online because her original family were moving and couldn't take her with them. She has been good as gold, loves her toys, walks and is such a daddy's girl!

She drinks plenty of water throughout the day, but we just cannot get her to eat a meal. She'll eat treats when we're on walks (for training recall etc.) - she doesn't get lots maybe 5-10 nail-sized pieces a day. We've had to give her flea/worm pills wrapped in chicken/ham/peanut butter so no issues there.

Her original family gave us the bag of dry food she would normally eat, but when we got home she wouldn't eat it, so we've bought some different kinds of dry and nope she won't eat that either, we bought some tins of Pedigree wet food and she won't eat that either. The only time we can get her to eat it is literally piece by piece hand fed. I've tried drizzling peanut butter on it - nope. Mixing in some treats - nope. I read somewhere to maybe try getting her to eat the same time as us and nope she didn't eat a thing.

We're still getting used to her cues/body language but it really looks as if she's scared of the food. We've tried putting it in a bowl, on a plate, on a mat (i.e. slow feeder) or plain on the floor - and it legit looks like she's terrified of the food. We don't mind hand feeding her if that's what we have to do for a while but we just don't want her to think that's going to be forever!

Any advice or ideas would be great, thanks

 

[Hemlock]

Good idea to hand feed for the moment. Are you able to get in touch with her previous owners?

First thoughts from me are: pain in the mouth, pain that stops her reaching down comfortably so a raised bowl may help while you sort that out, something about the food bowl that frightens her e.g. is it shiny, clattery, something about the place you put the bowl which makes her nervous, so try moving it - I understand that you have already tried some of that. Others I'm sure will have other suggestions.

 

[Eleanorld]

Good idea to hand feed for the moment. Are you able to get in touch with her previous owners?

First thoughts from me are: pain in the mouth, pain that stops her reaching down comfortably so a raised bowl may help while you sort that out, something about the food bowl that frightens her e.g. is it shiny, clattery, something about the place you put the bowl which makes her nervous, so try moving it. Others I'm sure will have other suggestions.

Yes we still send updates with her last owners but they said she was a really fast eater, which is why they gave us a slow feed mat. The bowls/plates we have are just plain pottery bowls so nothing shiny or loud.

We've taken her the vets to do a whole check up and the vet didn't see anything wrong with her mouth/teeth and she chews her treats just fine.

We've tried putting her food in the kitchen (by her water) but thought maybe it was a bit loud in there, so we moved it to the quieter living room but she's not interested.. I'm thinking maybe the next idea would be out in the garden?

 

[JudyN]

I was just thinking of suggesting you try feeding her in the garden - maybe scattered on the lawn so it feels more 'serendipitous' rather than a 'proper meal' if that makes sense.

Did she live with other dogs before? I have heard of dogs who only ate after the dog they lived with had eaten, and when the other dog passed away, the owners had to put food down for the departed dog, then remove it, and only then would they eat their meal...

If she will take her normal kibble as treats in the house, you could try feeding as training treats with a very fast treat rate, then a small handful for following a cue, then a few on the floor, then a bigger pile on the floor, then on a plate...

 

[Eleanorld]

I was just thinking of suggesting you try feeding her in the garden - maybe scattered on the lawn so it feels more 'serendipitous' rather than a 'proper meal' if that makes sense.

Did she live with other dogs before? I have heard of dogs who only ate after the dog they lived with had eaten, and when the other dog passed away, the owners had to put food down for the departed dog, then remove it, and only then would they eat their meal...

If she will take her normal kibble as treats in the house, you could try feeding as training treats with a very fast treat rate, then a small handful for following a cue, then a few on the floor, then a bigger pile on the floor, then on a plate...

She did live with at least 2 other dogs before, maybe she feels she's not entitled to first pickings of food.

After I posted this I tried something like her 'accidentally' stumbling on her kibble, I kinda dropped half a handful on the floor like bird food and she comes and eats it every now and again when she walks past. We also went back to the pet shop and got a more paste-like food on a new textured mat which she's been picking at too.

I'll definitely try incorporating her normal kibble as rewards on walks - anything to get her eating

 

[JoanneF]

How long have you had her? Maybe she is still quite unsettled after her move?

 

[Eleanorld]

How long have you had her? Maybe she is still quite unsettled after her move?

We've had her for about a week now and she seems fairly settled in every other way

 

[Eleanorld]

Another thing I've thought about is would it help if we fed her in a crate?
She seems to get distracted really easily from her food and just doesn't go back to it. She had a crate in her last home but I'm not sure if she was fed in it..

 

[JudyN]

I wonder if it would help if you asked her previous owners about any routines round feeding, any competition between the dogs, and that sort of thing? (It could be something quite obscure so you may need to think outside the box.)

But at least you have found strategies for getting her to eat, so the important thing for now is for you to give her those opportunities and make it all as relaxing as possible. Although hand-feeding is fine if necessary, avoid 'cajoling' as that might increase the pressure on her.

 

[Eleanorld]

I wonder if it would help if you asked her previous owners about any routines round feeding, any competition between the dogs, and that sort of thing? (It could be something quite obscure so you may need to think outside the box.)

But at least you have found strategies for getting her to eat, so the important thing for now is for you to give her those opportunities and make it all as relaxing as possible. Although hand-feeding is fine if necessary, avoid 'cajoling' as that might increase the pressure on her.

Yeah ok I'll contact them and ask, I'll come back here and relay what she said so we can figure a routine out lol

I mean there's always some kind of food out for her so if she was desperately hungry I'm sure she'd go eat it, especially since she's already nibbled on it

 

[JoanneF]

If she was fed in the crate in her last home, it may well help to feed her in there. During the settling in period, it's probably helpful to keep routines as similar as possible to her last home.