Picky Eater

[michy14]

My yorkie paris just turned 5 months yesterday. We got her when she was 2 months old & when we got her from the breeder she was on purina. After a few weeks we switched her onto halo & she loved it for the first 3 months then stopped eating it altogether. Now she is currently on royal canin. But for the past 2 or 3 weeks I am having the same issue. She just does not want to eat it.

Sometime she will eat it if i let it soak in water. She loves scrambled eggs so once a month i mix 1/2 of a scrambled egg with a TINY bit of salt & mix it with the kibble but she'll just eat the egg & leave the kibble.

She LOVES human food so my question is, is it okay to make dogfood for her using human food? I found one site but most of the recipes actually say to put either onions or garlic powder but i heard that those are bad for dogs.

[lexi43]

I also have 3 picky eaters. They all stared out eating Health Extension, then we switched to Wellness. The only one they really like is Chef Michael and I heard it was low on the dogfood totem pole, but at least it's dog food. I usually boil chicken breasts and chop meat to get the fat out, sometimes I add chicken broth and sweet potato to it. I tried vegtables but they don't like vegtables in any form. Sometimes I even have to hand feed them. It's very exaspering.

[Suze225]

[QUOTE=lexi43;3433401]I also have 3 picky eaters. They all stared out eating Health Extension, then we switched to Wellness. The only one they really like is Chef Michael and I heard it was low on the dogfood totem pole, but at least it's dog food. I usually boil chicken breasts and chop meat to get the fat out, sometimes I add chicken broth and sweet potato to it. I tried vegtables but they don't like vegtables in any form. Sometimes I even have to hand feed them. It's very exaspering.[/QUOI

I too have picky eaters. We are on wellness puppy for both Bella and Jett. But Bella will be a year here next month and thinking we may have to transition her to an adult food soon. (Not looking forward to that). I hand feed both of my dogs, (pretty much because Jett will eat much quicker if I am hand feeding Bella too, he wants what his older sister is getting!!) it doesn't take long, and neither one eats a whole lot, so I hand feed them a couple of times a day. Its the only real way I know that they are eating!! Hopefully in the next few months, once Jett starts growing a little, I won't have to hand feed them as often.

[crispyk]

My dogs (now almost 11 months old and I got them at 8 months) are super picky as well.. I've tried many home-made foods and they won't touch any dried foods.. royal canin, acana etc.. no canned dog foods of any kind. I thought I had them finally happy when they would wolf down the raw food from tolden farms but now they won't eat that either.

Boiled chicken, hamburger/rice etc is a no-go and they once loved eggs but no longer eat them either.

At xmas time when I made a turkey they enjoyed the turkey and I started giving them both cooked and raw poultry.. now they don't enjoy it

They only thing they ravenously enjoy is the baked duck treats. I give them to them as treats.. and am almost considering making them their food source. Even then I'm sure they will eventually turn up their nose at them at this rate.

They do eat veggies.. baby carrots and cucumbers. They loved raw sweet potato when I first got them but no longer.. yeesh..

Do you have to change up their food weekly? I"m running out of things to try.

It's been suggested that I give them nothing but the dry food in a bowl to eat and when they're hungry enough they will eat it.. but when I got them they were on dry food and wouldn't eat it either.. and were very underweight so I'm concerned they will go the same way again.. and I've just got them to a healthy weight.

Thoughts? How long will yorkies go on a hunger strike if they don't get what they want? should I remove all food until they eat the dry food?

[ArmaniMan]

I have a picky eater- I switch up what I mix in her kibble and that has gotten her to be a pretty good eater- I mix all kinds of veggies, different kinds of baby foods, yogurt, cottage cheese, lots of varieties of canned dog food, egg, baked fish, sardines, boiled chicken- by varying the additives she has gotten to be a pretty good eater. Never add any salt to the dogs food though!

[babbsiam44]

Welcome to the Yorkie Picky Eater Club!!! They sure can make you exasperated when it comes to food. My little momma will starve herself if I don't do different things for her when it comes to her food. I leave dry kibble out all the time and sometimes I get an attitude, just like she does, and I don't cook her nothing so she will eat her kibble you know, something that she is SUPPOSE to have....until the next day when I give in to her little princess butt and get to cooking. Brat face!!!

[107barney]

Originally Posted by michy14

My yorkie paris just turned 5 months yesterday. We got her when she was 2 months old & when we got her from the breeder she was on purina. After a few weeks we switched her onto halo & she loved it for the first 3 months then stopped eating it altogether. Now she is currently on royal canin. But for the past 2 or 3 weeks I am having the same issue. She just does not want to eat it.

Sometime she will eat it if i let it soak in water. She loves scrambled eggs so once a month i mix 1/2 of a scrambled egg with a TINY bit of salt & mix it with the kibble but she'll just eat the egg & leave the kibble.

She LOVES human food so my question is, is it okay to make dogfood for her using human food? I found one site but most of the recipes actually say to put either onions or garlic powder but i heard that those are bad for dogs.

Yes it is ok to home cook for your dog but you have to make sure that you are balancing the diet properly. You should not just mix this or that to commercial dog food or feed human food without supplementation in most cases. For $25 you can buy a diet certified to be be balanced by a veterinary nutritionist, Dr. Remillard, through her website Welcome to Pet Diets

This is the nutritionist I use to help me with home cooking.

[Cerise]

Originally Posted by michy14

My yorkie paris just turned 5 months yesterday. We got her when she was 2 months old & when we got her from the breeder she was on purina. After a few weeks we switched her onto halo & she loved it for the first 3 months then stopped eating it altogether. Now she is currently on royal canin. But for the past 2 or 3 weeks I am having the same issue. She just does not want to eat it.

Sometime she will eat it if i let it soak in water. She loves scrambled eggs so once a month i mix 1/2 of a scrambled egg with a TINY bit of salt & mix it with the kibble but she'll just eat the egg & leave the kibble.

She LOVES human food so my question is, is it okay to make dogfood for her using human food? I found one site but most of the recipes actually say to put either onions or garlic powder but i heard that those are bad for dogs.

It is very much okay to cook for her using real food, but no onions or garlic. Use herbs, dried or fresh. I use Herbs from Provence when I boil Cerise's chicken or turkey, and on top of her baked lamb. We don't eat a lot of beef.
Sometimes I use other spices for exotic flavors She loves indian spices, mediterranean spices and thai spices...the little eclectic Yorkie that she is no soy sauce!

[Lori-M]

I am having the same issues. When I got Louie 5 weeks ago the breeder had him on Royal Canin mixed with some canned Cesar to make it appealing. He ate it and then quit. I finally gave in and just gave him the Cesar. He loved it and now won't eat it. I've added parmesan cheese and some shredded cheese and he will take one bite or so. I went to buy Blue Buffalo dry puppy food. Won't touch it. Last night I bought Blue Buffalo Wilderness canned and he seems to like that but I'm sure not for long. I'm worn out trying to make sure he eats! I wonder what causes the finicky eating? Most dogs just eat anything and everything. LOL

[SassfrassYorkie]

I too have a picky eater. I've tried Wellness, Iams, Science Diet, Eukanuba, Three Dog Bakery, Wilderness, and Royal Canin brands dry food and Wellness, Caesar, and Science Diet brands wet food. I've tried a homemade concoction my bro-in-law made of sausage/beef, scrambled eggs, cooked rice, cooked carrots. I've tried the "gravy" that goes on top of the dry foods. I've tried boiling a beef bouillon cube, putting it over the dry food. She doesn't eat certain "treat" snacks. No cheese, no carrots, and, now, no more sweet potatoes. She's a year old now and I've been going through this with her since she was 12 weeks old.

Here's what I've come up with after countless reading in books and online and about five conversations with my vet: (she's a small yorkie who is 3.6 lbs currently) I take a spoon full of wet food and put it in her bowl alongside a 1/4 cup of Royal Canin in the morning. I leave this out for her all day. Once she eats this or it's getting low, I put another 1/4 cup of Royal Canin in her bowl. I give her Zuke's treats for everything (coming back inside from outside, sitting, laying down, being calm when the hair dryer is going) every day. If I eat meat for dinner, I'll put a couple of tiny pieces with the dry food. Every once in a while, I fill her kong toy with peanut butter.

I've come to the realization that she has a tiny stomach and will eat when she's hungary. As long as I provide food and water for her at all times, then I don't feel like I'm being a bad owner. She stills eats random stuff when she's outside- it drives me crazy, but I can't control her with everything.

That's how I've solved the picky-ness issue. Any other thoughts or suggestions would be fantastic...although, I think a lot of this is the breed and their size.

[TxVicki]

I'm having the same problem now with my rescue Willow. She was doing so good and now with-in the last week she has started being really picky. I have a number of things. She doesn't like people food at all. But she will eat boiled Chicken Breast, but come on she has to eat more than that.
I'm making a Vet appt for her to see if anything is going on with her. She acts fine and runs around, poop is really good.
So maybe it's the weather change.

[_Chrissy_]

They can be picky little pups!
Had to run out and get Mickey some Acana Grasslands because he was really picking at his food yesterday and today. Sending me a boycott of the change to Nature's Variety Prairie Chicken.
UGGH

[AlicetheYorkie]

My Yorkie is 6 months old and I've had her for a month. I've been searching these forums for like 2 hours trying to find a solution to her not wanting to any type of dog food the last 3 days. I tricked her into eating a few pieces of kibble last night and this morning because I chopped up chicken breast and put it with it but I literaly had to hand feed her the 1 piece of kibble with a tiny piece of the chicken stuck to it and even then she only ate about 5 pieces. So, I offered the food a few more times today but she wouldn't touch it (kibble mixed with chicken - she wouldn't pick the chicken out of the bowl either) tried Verus (which she was eating pretty good untill Sunday) and Merrick. I even resorted to a little of Pedigree (I know blah) canned only because that's what the breeder fed- nope. So, ok she'll eat when she's really hungry right? she vomited a tiny bit of bile ugh. So I gave her some Cheerios and she ate about 10 of those after I broke them in pieces and when I gave my other 2 dogs some peanut butter and blueberry treats so gobbled one of those so I crushed one up and sprinklled it on the wet food mixed with chicken and parmasan cheese and she just skimmed some of the treat off the top. My normal phylosophy is - they'll eat it when they get really hungry but she's a puppy and on the skinny side and vomits bile when she refuses to eat her dog food so I have to get her to eat something. Soooo frustating. Gonna head down to the pet store yet again and pick up some raw patties and maybe Nature's Variety kibble this time and see if she'll eat that tonight since now she's probably full from cheerios and treats.

[amymelissa]

omg i know i have had my princess since october and she wont eat her food unless i sit on the floor and take a spoon and feed her and tell her good girl and then she will eat lol i dont know why but if i dont she will starve herself for days and i dont want that what else can i do she is so spoiled drives me nuts but i love my babby so i gatta do that

[Lisey]

Sophie and Bo Just started eating their food Saturday night because I sprinkled parmasion cheese on it. I was feeding Bo by hand before that and Sophie would hardly eat. Now they gobble it up.