We went thru the whole not eating thing with our little girl when we got her and then at various intervals up til now. She's 6 mos and finally seems to have developed an appetite altho she still doesn't just chow down totally on her food.
When we got her, the breeder said she just eats kibbles. Well, three kibbles two or three times a day is not enough to live on. So we started feeding her soft food. She really went for that for about 2 days and then turned up her nose. So we got a different canned food, and again she ate it for a day or two and then turned her nose up. Then she started teething, and completely turned up her nose at food.
So there we were cooking for her when we don't even cook for ourselves. We went through chicken, chicken livers (she really liked those) ground lamb patties, ground veal, ground venison, ground bisson, pieces of baby carrots, a few raw green beans, more canned foods. The only one she has really seemed to care for over the long run is Cesars. Everyone says that's no good, and they are probably right, but if she eats anything at all, I'm thrilled.
So here's what we do now and it seems to work. We cut chunks of Cesars and put them on a saucer (she does not like eating from a bowl, and in fact prefers the floor to anything like other Yorkies I've read about on here) on the floor for her. My husband takes one of her favorite treats (Wellness lamb, cut up) and holds it out to her, so that she wants it, then he leads her more or less to the saucer and sticks it in one of the chunks of Cesars. She usually hunts around for the treat, finds it and eats it and then starts in on the Cesars. We also keep crunchies out for her all the time if she wants them and she will eat them now and then in between.
If she won't eat at all, we have now got a back-up system. We bought a syringe, one of those plastic ones that you give babies their medicine in. We mix up a recipe we read that one breeder recommended to another Yorkie owner with feeding problems and keep it in the fridge. And if she hasn't eaten in over 6 hours, out comes the syringe and the mush which we put in her mouth and give her a couple of syringes full. Usually once we get her started, she will start licking it voluntarily. Here's the recipe:
1/2 cup half and half
1/2 cup baby cereal (sometimes rice, sometimes oatmeal) instant
1 whole jar of Gerber's baby meat (anything but turkey)
1 tsp. karo syrup or maple syrup
Heat up the half and half in the microwave and mix in the cereal, meat and syrup. Cool to room temp or lukewarm and fill syringe. After it's refrigerated, I usually put a small amount in a cup and warm it to lukewarm in order to feed it to her.
The interesting thing is that I think, since we have the back-up plan, we are more relaxed about her eating, and the more relaxed we are, the better eater she is. Hope this helps. |