Cry for help... Ready to give up....

[MaddiesMommie]

I'd say most Yorkie owners have experienced this We went through this not so long ago with Maddie. She wanted people food and no kibble. I was at my wits end and didn't know what to do. I finally had to practice tough love. She begged for food while we ate dinner but refused to touch her kibble. After abouta week or so, and my sticking to one food, she finally started eating again.

In my attempts to love her, I spoiled her in the process and made her rotten. Being a good mommy is a hard job...butoh so worth it!

____________________
IMaddie!!

[yorkiepuppie]

there are a lot of advice on the thread about being tough and being strict. i agree with it to a certain extent.

i mean, it your yorkie is not too skinny and can afford to not eat for that long. milu is very skinny, so if i were to take the food away, then i need to either feed her nutri-cal or force feed her 'something'.

i did try that take away food if she doesn't want it method. (my vet told me to do that) but milu was fine with not eating. and became hypoglycemic and scared me to death. that's why i stopped doing the "eat this or eat nothing" trick. it doesn't work for all dogs.

i understand the frustration when your fur baby won't eat. don't worry too much if the puppy is not TOO skinny, but be careful if she is already really skinny.

[Lexismom09]

Originally Posted by yorkiepuppie

there are a lot of advice on the thread about being tough and being strict. i agree with it to a certain extent.

i mean, it your yorkie is not too skinny and can afford to not eat for that long. milu is very skinny, so if i were to take the food away, then i need to either feed her nutri-cal or force feed her 'something'.

i did try that take away food if she doesn't want it method. (my vet told me to do that) but milu was fine with not eating. and became hypoglycemic and scared me to death. that's why i stopped doing the "eat this or eat nothing" trick. it doesn't work for all dogs.

i understand the frustration when your fur baby won't eat. don't worry too much if the puppy is not TOO skinny, but be careful if she is already really skinny.

The same happened to us with Lexi (and also at the advice of our vet tech). She is just 5 months and to skinny, even though she is 5 lbs.
And yes it is to scary. Now, we had a yellow Lab......holds true there, he would never starve, would've ate rocks if we fed him that! I think sometimes people (yes vets included) lump all breeds and all dogs into one diagnosis. Not a good thing...in my opinion.

[yorkiepuppie]

Originally Posted by Lexismom09

The same happened to us with Lexi (and also at the advice of our vet tech). She is just 5 months and to skinny, even though she is 5 lbs.
And yes it is to scary. Now, we had a yellow Lab......holds true there, he would never starve, would've ate rocks if we fed him that! I think sometimes people (yes vets included) lump all breeds and all dogs into one diagnosis. Not a good thing...in my opinion.

i am glad that you shared your experience as well. for picky eaters, it's really hard on the moms. it is very frustrating and emotional for the moms, because they need their dogs to eat, and try so hard, but the dog won't eat.

i know the logical advice. my vet told me "a healthy dog will not starve itself" but i am the one that has to take care of my puppy and witness the scary scene when her blood sugar drops too low!

to the op, hang in there, and see if the advice offered to you here is helping the situation!

good luck!

[rebecca127]

Hey guys,

Well guess what she doesn't want to eat the Solid Gold Wee bits at all anymore. She is actually hardly eating any dog food.

I even tried mixing a little bit of Canine Caviar (had one can left) with her hard food and she just wont eat anything.

Today I received my samples from The Honest Kitchen... so lets see what happens. I will feed her some of that and hopefully she would like it...

I have no idea what I am gonna do anymore if she doesnt like The Honest Kitchen or Halo...

I am so stressed about this I really do not want to force feed food...

Hanging in there,
Rebecca

[Nancy1999]

Originally Posted by rebecca127

Hey guys,

Well guess what she doesn't want to eat the Solid Gold Wee bits at all anymore. She is actually hardly eating any dog food.

I even tried mixing a little bit of Canine Caviar (had one can left) with her hard food and she just wont eat anything.

Today I received my samples from The Honest Kitchen... so lets see what happens. I will feed her some of that and hopefully she would like it...

I have no idea what I am gonna do anymore if she doesnt like The Honest Kitchen or Halo...

I am so stressed about this I really do not want to force feed food...

Hanging in there,
Rebecca

Joey went through a very fussy period; looking back I think he was just not that hungry, and I know he didn't grow much at that time. He seemed to have his main growth spurt after 6 months and at that time he was less fussy. Remember, that they don't need very much food to sustain them. There should be no reason to force-feed. Sometimes sprinkling the food with a little Parmesan cheese gets them interested. Good luck.

[Potter]

Originally Posted by rebecca127

Hey guys,

Well guess what she doesn't want to eat the Solid Gold Wee bits at all anymore. She is actually hardly eating any dog food.

I even tried mixing a little bit of Canine Caviar (had one can left) with her hard food and she just wont eat anything.

Today I received my samples from The Honest Kitchen... so lets see what happens. I will feed her some of that and hopefully she would like it...

I have no idea what I am gonna do anymore if she doesnt like The Honest Kitchen or Halo...

I am so stressed about this I really do not want to force feed food...

Hanging in there,
Rebecca

I'm sorry to hear that. Just wondering what type of exercise does she do every day? Do you walk her? Sometimes it opens up their appetite after a long walk as it makes them hungry and they eat more. This is proven true with mine so maybe you can try it. Pao also eats more when his friends are here and they spent a lot of energy playing. I think she isn't just very hungry.

[rebecca127]

Well,

The Honest Kitchen - FAILURE

She smelled it and just walked away...

She has lost weight because of me practicing tough love... This is becoming to difficult for me to deal with. I literally do not know what to do anymore. I have tried everything and she just wont have it.

And as for exercise i play fetch in side my apartment so get her running until she is exhausted LOL I do not walk her because it is freezing out here and I kow she would freeze outside LOL... Plus she hates boots so her being in the snow/ rain is a no no... In the spring and summer i do walk her twice a day...

O god, I really am going to lose my mind...

Rebecca

[yorkiepuppie]

Originally Posted by rebecca127

Well,

The Honest Kitchen - FAILURE

She smelled it and just walked away...

She has lost weight because of me practicing tough love... This is becoming to difficult for me to deal with. I literally do not know what to do anymore. I have tried everything and she just wont have it.

And as for exercise i play fetch in side my apartment so get her running until she is exhausted LOL I do not walk her because it is freezing out here and I kow she would freeze outside LOL... Plus she hates boots so her being in the snow/ rain is a no no... In the spring and summer i do walk her twice a day...

O god, I really am going to lose my mind...

Rebecca

did you try this?

Originally Posted by yorkiepuppie

omg! i have to try the honest kitchen if it's a miracle like the above poster said!

milu is very picky eater, and i got all the same type of advice you received but still it was really hard for me, because i just can't starve her to teach her a lesson. i couldn't do it! no matter how many people suggested that was the right thing to do.

milu is now 3 lbs. and i am very proud of her lol
she still doesn't like to eat all that much, but we've compromised. i feed her NV raw medallions. and since she does like human food, what i would do is cut up chicken or beef or cheess into tiny tiny little pieces, i prepare her food one bite at a time. i put the topping on her raw food, and she would eat it, and when she gets tired of that topping, i would change it to another topping, so yes, sometimes i would have to go through 3 different toppings just to feed her one medallion, and yes it's a lot of work, but at least she is eating. and somewhat happy about her food.

i know it's not the best to feed human food. but i feel like what i am doing is ok, since i am not giving her too much human food.

she is still pretty darn skinny, but i am not as worried about her now. and it's a good feeling!

maybe that will help her? does she like human food?

[broodizt]

Do you have a Vet that you really like and have faith in? Have you talked to the Vet about her not eating and losing weight? If so, could you share with us what they said?

[rebecca127]

Originally Posted by stedmansmommy

I have not read through all of the replies so I'm sure that something similar to what I am about to post has already been posted but, here goes...

My Stedman was always a REALLY picky eater - not only with his dog food, but even with his treats. He had gotten soo skinny at one point that it literally looked like I was starving him. Obviously I wasn't, it's just that HE didn't want to eat. When I would give him a bath and he was soaking wet, you could just SEE how skinny he was - his little ribs and even his spine. I mean he didn't look MALNOURISHED like some of these dogs do that you see on all the animal cop shows on Animal Planet, but he was *extremely* skinny none the less - way TOO skinny. And I knew he was hungry because I could hear his stomach growling soo loudly all the time - and he would throw up the yellow bubbly bile because he was just so darn hungry.

Like you, I tried a gazillion different foods and like your baby, my Stedman would eat the new food and love it for the first few days, and then he would show absolutely NO interest in it what so ever and he would just flat out stop eating all together.

I used to feed twice a day, and then I decided that because he was like this, that I had to start free feeding again and just leave the food out all day long - literally, day and night - never taking it up. Since I have started this he now eats whenever he is hungry. He still isn't a big eater, but he DOES eat and he doesn't look nearly as skinny as he used to. He is still a very tiny guy, but not so skinny to where I can actually see a bunch of bones sticking out anymore.

My advice is this - find a food that she seems to really love and eat the MOST at one time. Once you find that food, STICK WITH IT. *Do not* give her a new/different food 3 or 4 days after she stops eating the other food. You have to let her know that her pickiness is not going to get her whatever she wants. Once you find a food that she seems to enjoy, stay with that exact food and leave it down where it is accessible to her 24/7 and do not take it up. Once she knows that this is ALL she will be given, she will learn that she has to eat it when shes hungry because nothing else is going to be given to her. Trust me, after a while, she will catch on and get the hang of it and she WILL eat when her little tummy tells her that enough is enough of being hungry. It worked like a charm with my Stedman and he was the pickiest dog I had ever seen in my entire life. He would even turn down HUMAN FOOD - now what the heck kind of dog actually turns down HUMAN FOOD when you offer it to them? Not many.

Good luck with your baby girl. And by the way, I feed Natural Balance Potato & Duck Small Bites (it is Grain Free and is great for allergies as well, which my Tatum has) - and my Stedman really seems to love this food. He was a little picky with it at first, but now he eats it really well

Originally Posted by yorkiepuppie

did you try this?




maybe that will help her? does she like human food?

Hey Yorkiepuppie,

I actually did that tonight with the honest kitchen (force sample). I fried up (no oil on the pan) a piece of chicken breast and i cut into tiny pieces and mixed it up together and she smelled it and walked away. So no, I doesnt work.

[PrestigeousYT]

I have found Nutri Cal can be a problem, its like kids eating candy before they eat their meal, they tend to NOT want to eat when I give Nutri Cal.
Lil Sis pulled that on us, once we stopped Nutri Cal she actually eats now.
Her breakfast she eats scrambled egg/cheese not much but thats her breakfast.
She gets Eagle Pack Dry Chicken Rice out at all times. Then she gets boiled Chicken at 5:30 and she gets more boiled chicken at bedtime.
She is under 2 lbs and is 9 months old.
I know how frustrating and worriesome it can be.
I also tend to forget how they don't eat as much as a bigger Yorkie.

[QuickSilver]

I'm so sorry to hear she's still not eating. I had really hoped you'd have some success with your new methods.

I'm having some of the same trouble with Thor, though not nearly to the same degree. My trouble with him is that I do a lot of obediance training, and we've definitely had some "treat inflation". He used to think carrots were treats. Now he turns down cheese. What dog doesn't love cheese?

Now that we in high gear potty training, we're going into treat hyper-inflation. The only thing he reliably eats is sauteed meat - sausage, chicken, turkey, anything like that. Of course this constipates him dreadfully so I try to mix in some type of veggie or beans to keep him regular. At this rate, I'm going to have to hope for some manna to fall from heaven.

[QuickSilver]

Oh, I also wanted to mention: you may want to look around your area and see if there are local "gourmet" food producers. My local pet store has a refrigerator/freezer and some suppliers who hand-cook all their food. I got a free 2-oz sample and Thor wolfed it down. He has awful teeth, so I'm still hoping to get him on kibble at least some of the time. Otherwise, I'd go with that option.

[yorkiepuppie]

Originally Posted by rebecca127

Hey Yorkiepuppie,

I actually did that tonight with the honest kitchen (force sample). I fried up (no oil on the pan) a piece of chicken breast and i cut into tiny pieces and mixed it up together and she smelled it and walked away. So no, I doesnt work.

well, what i did was use chicken that is flavored. because if your baby likes human food, then maybe you can use it as a condiment (since it's not good to just feed them human food with all the flavoring and fat)

worst case scnerio, you will just have to feed her human food. (just make sure that you don't have any harmful ingridients in it such as onion...etc.) someone else also gave me this advice when i was struggling to feed milu. i was told that it is still more important that she IS eating something.

i know it's frustrating, especially since we are all offering you different suggestions, many are contradicting each other.

i don't know what else to say. i wish you good luck with your baby!!! maybe you need to go with your mother instinct and let it tell you what you think is best?

keep posting here if you are still struggling. someone WILL be able to help you!