Weird eating habits
 

So I've had my new adopted baby now going on two weeks. I really lucked up when I got her. She is healthy, happy and very energetic. She's only 2 years old so I guess that's normal.

Anyway during that time I have been struggling to find something for her to eat. I thought she was just being picky. I went to the pet store and would buy one can of several brands. I would feed her a small portion only to have her walk away from it. I tried dry food with the same result. She was not eating anything. At best she would only eat a few bites.

So I got the brilliant idea to text her previous owner (not sure why I didn't think of this sooner)to ask her how she got her to eat because she wasn't even eating the food she came home with. The owner says she is a little weird with food. I have to mix the wet food and the dry food together and then pour warm water on it and mush it up. I fed her this weird combination and she ate it right up and has been eating normally ever since. She is not picky it just has to be the right combination......go figure. I don't know how her previous owner figure that out but it is working. She completely forgot to tell because she was a little emotional when I went to pick her up.

It can't be just wet food, and can't be just dry food. It has to be both mix together in warm water....not cold water. If it's cold water, she won't eat. It has to be warm water. :eek: I guess I will be doing this for hopefully the next 15 yrs or so. Unless I can figure out how to break that habit. I don't want her to become overweight. She is definitely energetic now but as she gets older she will probably slow down. Oh and she got a clean bill of health from the vet. She still needs to get spayed though. I will do that within the next few months.

Congrats on the adoption of your new baby. Maybe try decreasing the can food slowly? Decrease can increase kibble until she gets used to it. I think you will have to make this a slow process. Just a thought.

Actually, what you described is the definition of a picky eater lol. Until she gets used to her new home I would continue this, but if you want to get her on all dry it is possibly. Just might take a while and gradually. If you don't mind doing this mix, then that's okay too!

Thanks guys. That was my thought too. I was going to try decreasing the can food gradually. It is definitely going to be a long process though because even when I tried just dried food and water she didn't eat.

When I think about it now I guess she is a picky eater. She will eat anything as long as it is in the right combination. Any deviation and she will stop eating. Yeah....that is definitely a picky eater. :D

My Cody is adopted, I have him now 7 months. When I got him I felt he was under weight, his spine, ribs & hip bone were protruding big time, I wanted to put a little weight on him (he was 9 1/2 lbs age 2 1/2 y/o) When I first got him I went through the same thing. I started him off with dry dog food, he wouldn't eat it, I gave him just canned food, he wouldn't eat it. I started mixing canned food (1/4 cup) with dry food. The dry food (1/3 cup) I would add a little warm water drain it off then add 1/4 cup can food. He wouldn't eat it, to moist. The next feeding I didn't add water to the dry, just the canned food, he ate it. I was constantly rubbing and feeling his body to see if I could still feel his spine, ribs & hip bones. I can't recall how long I was feeding him 1/4 cup of the canned food mixed with the dry maybe 4 weeks. His weight increased to 12 lbs, I also weighed him everyday to see if he was gaining weight. He reached 12 lbs, I could barely feel his spine, ribs & hip bones, I was happy with his weight and kept him on the same amount of food weighing him every 3rd day. He went up to 13 lbs, not what I wanted, I started cutting back on the canned food at 1/2 a TSP at a time until I was at 1 1/2 TBLS mixed with the dry food. His weight came back to 12 lbs. My vet was ok at 13 lbs, but I was not lol. He is stable at 12 lbs, 1 1/2 TBLS of canned food mixed with & 1/3 cup dry food, feed 2 times a day. So you can gradually cut back on the canned food, depending on how my food you feed her,when you see she will not eat, then you will know what she prefers. It's not a long process, well for me it wasn't. I am even thinking of cutting back on the canned 1/2 TBLS and increasing a little bit more on the dry. I prefer giving more dry then canned and he is a hungry lil boy. Well that's my experience, it's all trail & error, it worked for me. Good luck

Fortunately "Cosuin It" (still haven't figure out a name for her) is a solid 6.8 lbs. If anything I am trying to keep her from gaining too much weight. I am trying to figure the right amount to feed her. We do walk 2 miles and we live in a 3 sty townhome where she is constantly running up and down the stairs. She's getting plenty of exercise, it's the only thing that calms her down. We just got back from a 2 mile hike and she is knocked out. Without that walk she would of been bouncing of the walls

Long walks,that's great exercise for her, and the stair climbing as well. They are a hyper breed and plenty of exercise will clam them down. If the dry food "cousin it " lol doesn't have the recommended amount of food for a 7 lb dog on it, google it. I have always watched all my dogs weight. When I am at the vet and see ppl come in with dogs so over weight you can't tell what breed they are, I say to my self they don't know what harm they are causing these poor babies down the road. I am a weight conscious person and do so with my babies. I weigh myself and Cody several times a week to make sure we are both mainlining our proper weight. My Cody was not meant to be a small yorkie, he has a beautiful slim body. I had a gorgeous female, I had to put her down this past Oct. 2013 at the age of 16 y/o, she was sleek and beautiful. Weight and exercise are important in maintaining healthy dogs and the proper diet. I only mentioned the food feeding of my pup because you stated you wanted to cut down on the canned dog food. I wrote the way I cut back on the canned, it's not a long process. I had 2 puppies that had no name for months also lol, I called them "the baby" until I found the proper name, all the puppies I got were never planned on except the last female I just put down. I would see, feel sorry for them, so home they came with me, so a name would take time lol. You will find the perfect name for your lil girl, and the correct amount of food for her.Good luck.

Something to try is using kibble as treat, if you use cookies for example, let her adapt to new home a few weeks, month, using cookies to train/retrain sit, down and such. When she gets comfortable start using kibble as alternate treat, getting her real excited for doing trick, give her a kibble, you'd be surprised she might gobble the kibble. Also try a bowl with kibble in food area and be late refilling her regular meal, she might snack, if she does start converting her main dish over. The older the dog the slower you should do this, because the don't like changes sometimes and depending on food differences it could upset their tummy.