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For your picky eater, see if your vet will prescribe you "Purina's ENT Gastroenteric Canine Formula" canned dog food (you can only get it at the vet's.) I don't know what's in the ENT formula that makes it so tasty to my Yorkie, but it ROCKS !! Here's the history on my picky eater, which is similar, in a lot of ways, to your picky eater's history: I got my Yorkie pup, Miss Kitty, when she was 12 weeks old. Although she appeared extremely healthy and playful at all times, she nevertheless was extremely disinterested in food. I, too, had to feed her by hand, or she would just sniff her food, then walk away and play. She might come back and sniff several times, but never actually eat. I speculate that the reason she ate while still at the breeder's was because of her litter mates' interest in and competition for the puppy food being offered to them. As soon as Miss Kitty came home with me, and thus had no competition for the food being offered, she became totally disinterested in food. About the only way I could coax her to eat anything was to get my Welsh Corgi involved --giving my Corgi a bite or two of Miss Kitty's food, then trying to coax Miss Kitty to follow my Corgi's example and eat a bite. (If I just left her food in the container and merely "exposed her to the food--even for two or three hours, Miss Kitty would continue to ignore it except for occasional sniffs at it). I tried all manner of food containers -- a plate / bowl / putting her food directly on the floor, and putting it on a very shallow plastic lid -- in case one of her issues was that her ID tags were "hitting" the side of the ceramic or metal or glass container and scaring her away from attempting to eat her food. I speculated that this was why she would eat "a little" from my hand -- none from the container. With respect to her general "food pickiness" --- and the issue as to whether I "manufactured" that pickiness myself--when I first got Miss Kitty, I spent about three or four days offering Miss Kitty ONLY the exact same puppy food that the breeder used. Then, after those first few days of her eating only a tiny bit, and that only by hand, I followed the additional advice of the breeder, by adding into Miss Kitty's standard puppy food some "newborn" baby food (sometimes chicken, sometimes beef). I rotated that with a tiny portion of boiled chicken livers (mixing in first one, then another supplemental food choice into her "standard" puppy food). Miss Kitty was still eating very little, maybe a teaspoon or two a meal. When that failed to work long term (Miss Kitty usually showed some interest in "new" foods for a few days, but then turned her nose up at even the specialty foods), I went on to try just about every high-end puppy food known to mankind (some of them suggested in this forum for "picky eaters). She would eat a "new" food very sparingly for a day or so--then turn her nose up at it for several days in a row. Then, a few days later on, I could go back to that food, and she might or might not eat it again. In desperation, at each meal, I finally ended up offering Miss Kitty a very small portion of four different foods each night, so she would at least eat some of one of those four (invariably, she would pick one, and eat most of that very small portion, then turn her nose up at the rest). The next night, her choice would be something different out of the four choices. It was totally impossible to second guess her about which food she would choose for that meal. Just like you, people questioned whether I had made her picky by offering so many choices, when, in reality, I was afraid of her starving to death and I was just trying to find something / anything she would eat. (I had experience with picky dogs before, and it's true for most dogs--that when they get hungry enough, they'll eat. But since I was literally watching my puppy get thinner and thinner as she grew longer and taller, but put on no weight due to no eating, I had to try to intervene.) (Does all of this sound spookily familiar?). As stated above, I tried following various suggestions of food for picky eaters offered in this forum, still to no avail. In the month since I picked her up from the breeder, Miss Kitty had gained no weight whatsoever, and still weighed only 1.75 lbs. Finally, maybe because she hadn't been eating / maybe because the food she was choosing to eat was too high fat and triggered a pancreatic reaction, and maybe for a totally unrelated reason -- Miss Kitty got really sick, throwing up a lot over 24 hours, and I had to hospitalize her. While there at the vets, she was put on an IV, and when she got better, the vet had Miss Kitty fed the Purina ENT -- Gastroenteric Canine Formula. It is a canned dog food which is a low fat, low protein food which is good for puppies with pancreatic issues as well as kidney problems (but still is a food with plenty of "sustenance" for puppies without those issues) . When I picked Miss Kitty up, the vet told me that the assistants had to hand-feed Miss Kitty to get her to eat, but that she was eating the Purina ENT formula well when being hand-fed. I took a couple of cans home, certain that Miss Kitty would follow her normal history of tiring of the food in only a couple of days. However, it has now been over a month, and Miss Kitty still LOVES the Purina ENT formula. Just so you won't think she had always been sick, and now she was well, her appetite is finally "right," and that she would eat just about anything tasty/that it is merely a coincidence that she is eating the ENT formula, I offer the following observation: --- due to as-yet unresolved "vaguely high" kidney values, the vet later prescribed another Purina canned dog food, "the NT formula," which is lower protein, and better for dogs with kidney issues. Miss Kitty won't touch that canned food. Even when I mix that with the ENT formula -- she turns her nose up at both of them. So, I think the Purina ENT formula really is special -- at least for Miss Kitty. Hope you try it, and it works as well for your little picky eater. (By the way, in the month she has been on ENT, Miss Kitty has gained from 1.75 lbs to 2.3 pounds--not much, but certainly better than not gaining at all.

Sorry for the extra long history, but I wanted to encourage you to try "my" recommended food. I'm sure you'll get lots of recommendations, but I challenge anyone to have a pickier eater than mine!! P.S. Miss Kitty eats out of a bowl now, doesn't have to be hand fed, since she likes he ENT formula so well. Hoorah!