- Joined
- Jun 4, 2012
- Reaction score
- 1,361
We got Noshie at the beginning of May. We're having a lot of trouble getting her to eat. There's nothing wrong with her health-wise (she's been checked) she just won't eat!
We've tried everything we can think of. We've mixed in tinned meat (we've tried different types and brands), wetting the food, mixing in gravy, giving her food in a treat-dispensing toy (all she does is get all the food out, leave it on the floor and then plays with the toy).
We've changed the food we feed her twice (now on the third brand since we got her). We've tried the 15 minute routine thing where we put her food down for her, give her 15 minutes to eat it (as if), picking it up and then not giving her any food or treats until her next meal and doing the same 15 minute thing. That doesn't work. Day 1 she won't touch her food either at breakfast or in the evening, day 2 she won't eat her breakfast but she will eat her evening meal. Then day 3 is the same as day 1 and it's just a cycle of only eating once out of 4 meals.
We've only found two ways of getting her to eat and there is no way we're going to do either of them. The first way is by hand feeding her by playing fetch with every single piece of the food (we did that last night with her because Mum was getting quite desperate as she hadn't eaten in 3 days) and the second way is to get Ebbie, our labrador, to come sit in the room with her and then Noshie will eat all her food (but it takes her about 15 minutes to do so). Again, we've only done that once because it really is not fair on Ebbie (Ebbie is trained to sit and wait while we put her food down and she's only allowed to start eating it when we say she can). We feed the dogs in separate rooms (separated by a glass door. We've also tried putting Ebbie in a different room where Noshie couldn't see her. Still won't eat) as Ebbie wolfs her food and would also eat Noshie's if she could get to it.
The only other food she gets is 3 biscuits at bedtime. 2 before she goes up the garden and then 1 in her crate for her when she goes to bed (we crate her at night) and it's part of the routine all our dogs have. She will happily eat them everyday without fail.
We're getting quite worried now as she is losing weight.
So any ideas on how to get her to eat?
We've tried everything we can think of. We've mixed in tinned meat (we've tried different types and brands), wetting the food, mixing in gravy, giving her food in a treat-dispensing toy (all she does is get all the food out, leave it on the floor and then plays with the toy).
We've changed the food we feed her twice (now on the third brand since we got her). We've tried the 15 minute routine thing where we put her food down for her, give her 15 minutes to eat it (as if), picking it up and then not giving her any food or treats until her next meal and doing the same 15 minute thing. That doesn't work. Day 1 she won't touch her food either at breakfast or in the evening, day 2 she won't eat her breakfast but she will eat her evening meal. Then day 3 is the same as day 1 and it's just a cycle of only eating once out of 4 meals.
We've only found two ways of getting her to eat and there is no way we're going to do either of them. The first way is by hand feeding her by playing fetch with every single piece of the food (we did that last night with her because Mum was getting quite desperate as she hadn't eaten in 3 days) and the second way is to get Ebbie, our labrador, to come sit in the room with her and then Noshie will eat all her food (but it takes her about 15 minutes to do so). Again, we've only done that once because it really is not fair on Ebbie (Ebbie is trained to sit and wait while we put her food down and she's only allowed to start eating it when we say she can). We feed the dogs in separate rooms (separated by a glass door. We've also tried putting Ebbie in a different room where Noshie couldn't see her. Still won't eat) as Ebbie wolfs her food and would also eat Noshie's if she could get to it.
The only other food she gets is 3 biscuits at bedtime. 2 before she goes up the garden and then 1 in her crate for her when she goes to bed (we crate her at night) and it's part of the routine all our dogs have. She will happily eat them everyday without fail.
We're getting quite worried now as she is losing weight.
So any ideas on how to get her to eat?