Advice needed

[Djet]

Hi all, (hope this is in the right Forum) wonder if anyone could help I decided to start feeding Diesel (11weeks yesterday) Taste of the wild he was on Natural choice am doing a 80/20 mix right now, I started the change last week Friday so I could be home with him over the weekend and give him a little more extra attention which he loves!! He has no problem with the food change but last night when I fed him he was not interested in eating out of his bowl if I fed him by hand he would take it or if I put it on the ground in front of him, thinking it was his bowl I washed it and that still didn’t work so I changed the bowl for one of our bowls still nothing he will only eat from my hand… I need him to start eating by himself or he will start messing up our routine his included.
Any good advice?

 

[CrazyCharlie]

Was this the first time he hasnt eaten it out of his bowl? Did you add more of the new food and less of the old?

Maybe Diesel doesn't like the flavor so much or the food it too hard for him to chew? Are you softening it with a little water? Not a lot just enough so the dog food softens a little, at 11 weeks they still have a bit of a hard time with hard kibble.

Charlie has never refused food except once and he was sick. Jersey on the other hand is extremely picky about her food. She started on one thing but wasn't really into it (from the beginning) and so we changed her food over to Nutro Naturals (which is the brand Charlie eats and has always eaten) and she did really well with that and then she started to refuse her food again and we changed the flavor and she was fine. She gets bored with the flavor and wont eat it, so I rotate the flavors around so she will eat them.

 

[BoozerBaby]

When my Boozer was a puppy we put a little water and a tablespoon of plain yogurt suggested by our breeder that's what they had him on and for 8 yrs he loved his yogurt straight from the container.

 

[Djet]

thanks for the info, the first week we got Diesel i did put a little water on his food and even then he would turn his nose up and then we went back to dry food and he eat that now with the slow change 80/20 from NC to TOTW he is just being a little fussy i think will try the water again and a little yogurt ;-)

 

[Jerrybobby]

I would stop hand feeding immediately. You don't want diesel only getting food from your hand.

If you know he likes the food then you just need to keep it in the bowl. Give him an hour. If he won't eat, toss it. Eventually he will get it.

How many times and how much are you feeding? This could be an issue.

You can try to wet the food with a bit of warm water which is pretty standard for us. On the rare occasions our pup does not want to eat - usually when the kids are eating or I am cooking human food - I will add some plain yogurt to her food or some diced chicken which works every time.

 

[CrazyCharlie]

Chicken broth or cottage cheese is always well loved by any puppy. Good luck!

 

[Djet]

Thanks for the input guys, Diesel gets 1-1/4 cups of food and we try to feed him at least 3 times a day, his second meal is around midday when when my son comes home for lunch but i know they play more than anything else so that meal he might eat half of that and in the evening when we are eating he gets his 3rd meal. I thought it was maybe the TOTW but like i said he will eat it from my hand.
Last night i mixed in some yogurt and had NO problems my only concern is will he be expecting yogurt every time? i guess time will tell.

 

[CrazyCharlie]

on him expecting yogurt every time, you can gradually take it away and he shouldn't care and will continue to eat the kibble without it. Keep in mind that it could still be the food and you feeding it to him by hand and the yogurt makes enough of a difference for him to eat it anyway.

When you are giving him the food from your hand you are adding your skin salt and oils to the food also, they can pick up on that. Every dog is different, some are picky eaters and some will eat anything, I have one of each.

 

[starzNJ]

yeah skip out on the hand feedings; you won't want to start that habit.

I used cheese, the stinkier the better. Just a little bit mixed in.

He'll get hungry enough and eventually eat. I've gone through a few bouts with Starz especially post-spay we had a rough 2 weeks. Turned out it was "suspected" acid reflux and 2 weeks of pepcid she was back to normal and we've since stopped the pepcid.

 

[Djet]

on him expecting yogurt every time, you can gradually take it away and he shouldn't care and will continue to eat the kibble without it. Keep in mind that it could still be the food and you feeding it to him by hand and the yogurt makes enough of a difference for him to eat it anyway.

When you are giving him the food from your hand you are adding your skin salt and oils to the food also, they can pick up on that. Every dog is different, some are picky eaters and some will eat anything, I have one of each.

I have STOPED feeding by hand i know that was a bad mistake on my side it was more of why are you not eating from your bowl but from my hand. I can’t see that it’s a skin salt or oil thing, i just take a handful from his bowl and he eats it from my hand, throw it back into the bowl and he is not interested.
I tried last night with some stock poured over the kibble and he just licked up the stock and left the kibble, this morning I mixed in some yogurt into the kibble and he woofed it down.

Today I will be starting a 50/50 mix of his old food and TOTW and see if there is a difference. Thanks again for all the input.