Very hard time feeding :( NEED URGENT HELP AND SUGGESTIONS
 

I have a 1.600 gr, 2 year old Yorkshire Terrier who has always been a picky eater since she was 6 months old. I was feeding her dry food by my hand. She was never touching her plate (not for drinking also) She is scared of her plates even though they are very small. So when she was thirsty she was staring me in the eye and I was bringing her water cup and making her drink her water. And most of the time she was drinking from my glass.

I know this sounds as if she is spoilt but no. She is one of the most easy going (loveable, never barking or biting, no problem) dogs (except eating) And I was ok hand feeding her since I love her to death. Couple weeks ago all of a sudden she stopped eating her normal food (her dry food) I did everything: changed her food, tried feeding her with spoon. She was just turning her head away and refusing to eat. But jumping to me when I was eating and was even willing to eat broccoli and a veggie burger (I am a vegetarian) just because I was eating. Thank god that only lasted around week. Now she is eating wet canned food but guess what. Still with spoon. We are feeding her as if she is a baby.

Now must of you might suggest that I should take away the food and give it back to her in certain hours. But no way!!! Since she has hypoglycemia she trembles, jiggles and faints. One time we had to hospitalise her and put IV to her. Since the time we started to feed her canned food she stopped drinking water also. She hasn't been drinking water since Friday (right now it is Monday night) When we bring the water cup towards her mouth she just licks 2-3 times. That's all. Licks not drinks.

I really don't know what to do and waiting to hear your suggestions.
Thank you

I would say try parmesan cheese on her food ( sprinkle kind)! Or you could go to a pet store and some walmarts and get Nutri-Cal which is high in calories and is like a paste gel substance!! That way she is getting the calories she needs and will help keep her blood sugar up!! Also once I had to call the poison control center and I had to get Cooper to drink a lot of water and they said you could put some chicken broth in the water to make them want to drink more water!!! I hope this will help you some!!

The reason many dogs become finicky around 6 months is that they have stopped doing the bulk of their growing and don't need so much food. They may only be eating half the food they were eating before, and people panic. They try lots of new foods thinking their poor dog is starving, when in reality, they just aren't as hungry as they once were. You have found a food the dog likes, and do you know how much she should get each day to maintain her weight? If so, divide that into three or so portions and put out the food three times a day. I feed my boys at 5:30 or 6:00 again at 4:00 and a little more at 9:00 before bedtime. I have to feed three times because one of my boys has a little acid reflux, and three small meals work better than two. Anyway, put out the food, if she doesn't eat, take it away if 15 or so minutes. You could try it again in a couple of hours or wait until the next feed time. If she starts to exhibit the symptoms of hypoglycemia, give her a little white Karo corn syrup, or nutria-cal, this is sugar that will go to their blood stream faster than regular sugar. My guess is you are just feeding too much and she's learned food is too easily available and if she waits it out, she can get something she like better. Also, take her for a walk, that will stimulate her appetite. Don't forget, if she gets overly hungry, and experiences hypoglycemia she will lose her appetite, so that's why the nutri-cal or karo syrup can come in handy, just a little, and then give the food about 10 minutes later. If she's afraid of her plates, I'd use paper, they don't make as much noise.

Thank you so much. The thing is she stopped eating just couple weeks ago (she is almost 2.5 years old) It is very hard for me since she is always out with me. When she was eating her dry food it was convenient. I could carry her food with me every where. Now it is so hard since it is kind of messy to travel with wet food. :(

Yeah, I think that's where dry food wins, in convenience, it's nice if they will eat both, there are some freeze dried foods that all you have to do is add water and many people here say that their fussy eaters will gobble them down, so maybe that's an option for you. The main thing is for you to know exactly how much foods she has to eat before she starts experiencing hypoglycemia because you need to know when she's not really hungry due to an episode of hypoglycemia or if it's just due to her being fussy. My Joey use to be very fussy until I had to put him on a diet. I took a tricks training class and I feed him his regular food along with lots of high calorie treats and he gained a pound, he had to go on a diet where we took away one third of his food, and he became much more food oriented after that, now I can use his kibble as "treats".

Did you say her weight was 1.600 grams?

Or did you mean her weight was 1600 grams - which would make her about 3.5 pounds.

I had a little girl who weighed about that who would get hypoglycemic. I put small amounts of very small dry kibble down for her about 4 times a day and left it down for a out 20 minutes and then would pick it up. I also weighed her daily.

If the kibble was too big she would have trouble chewing it.

I have a 2 1/2 lb poodle that was always very difficult to feed. She is now almost 9 years old and has finally settled on a food, but boy! Did I have a time. I cooked for her, I bought just about every kind of food there was, and I could never get her to eat. I tried just putting the food down and taking it back up about 15 minutes later. She lost weight she couldn't afford to lose. I tried hand feeding her. She would take about 2 bites. And on and on it went, for years. I finally found that she would sometimes, somewhat regularly, eat satin balls, so for a couple of years we made satin balls for her. Then she would eat her satin balls (sometimes) and a little wet food. Then she quit eating satin balls but would still eat the wet food. Then for some reason she started eating the other girls' dry food, and she still does (knock wood!). I reached a point where I didn't care what she ate, as long as she ate something.

If your dog is hypoglycemic I would free feed. I would also try giving your dog cooked chicken, they usually love that. Also try different kibble to see if she likes another one better and make sure the kibble size isnt too large. If your pup still isnt drinking water then you may want to go to the vet.