Welcome and thank you for rescuing him.
How long have you had him? I know my rescue yorkie took a few days before they started eating regularly. If has been awhile, make sure he doesn't have an physical issues first. If you didn't get a vet check, you should get one to rule out any physical reasons why he's not eating. If everything checks out okay, I would entice him to eat by putting on a topper like boiled chicken or parmesan cheese. If that fails, you may have to try a different brand
I've rescue yorkies and was able to turn them into shy, timid yorkies into bonafide divas. My first yorkie came from a backyard breeded and was very shy and timid. She was used for breeding and probably didn't have much human contact. I let her adapt to me on her own time. The yorkie I have now is so goofy, as soon as I got in the house she was off and running like she had been living there for years but then again, she came from a loving home.
Patience is the key. Normally what I did in the beginning was gave her a safe place (a little memory foam doghouse) all to herself where she could watch what was going and feel safe. I went about my normal routines, just sort of ignoring her until she was ready to come to me. I never forced myself on her. I didn't try to pet her and I didn't approach her. I let her approach me. Once she figured out that I was not going to hurt her, she slowly began to approach me and that was when I was able to put her harness and leash on. It took awhile for me to gain her trust but she eventually became by Velcro baby.
Also I was aware of how I approached her in the beginning. When I needed to approached her, I would also get on the floor so she wouldn't feel so intimidated. I notice she wouldn't back away from me when I did this. |