My yorkie won't eat anything that smells like dogfood !?
 

Hi!

I recently got a yorkie that my father bought from one of his friends.
The yorkie showed up at his friends house about three weeks ago, and wasn't in good condition. He had either been lost for a long time or abandoned.

They told my dad they couldn't get the yorkie to eat anything but table scraps.

Once he would get the table scraps, he'd eat some and then hide the rest.

Now that I have him we immediately got him dogfood.
Beneful, and some other brand thats really soft.
We also got him milk bones.


He will NOT eat the dogfood at all. However, he will eat the milkbones if i crunch them up small enough. [ I'm assuming because they don't smell like dogfood ]

I had been feeding him ham lunchmeat, but the lady at petsmart told us that pork would give him heart worms so I've fed him cooked haburger meat.

We believe he is about three years old, maybe 2.

I've tried mixing it with other food, nothing works.

Any ideas?

Is there any dogfood that doesn't actually smell like.. dogfood?

Please help, ASAP.:confused:

Dont listen to Petsmart people. Pork doesnt give heartworms. They get heartworm from mosquitos. Pork can giv them pancreatus same as any fatty food. If he wont eat dogfood you may have to homecook or feed raw. If you homecook you also have to suppliment

First of all no table scrapes; you must stop this if you ever wish to get him to eat the dog food. I don't think all dog food smells the same, but there are probably very few that can compete with table scrapes. Finding a dog food that is nutritious and one they will eat is no easy task. The more nutritious they are said to be the less likely some dogs seems to like it, but if hungry enough, they will eat it. Do you have any dried Parmesan cheese? Dogs love the smell of it and many people say that their dogs would eat the dog food with this sprinkled on top. Parmesan cheese is a really low fat cheese, and won't be bad for them, they also can't pick it out and only eat that. A dog, not a puppy, can go 24 hours without food. So I would hold out at least that long. I would also try giving some by hand. If he still wouldn't eat after 24 hours with Parmesan sprinkled dog food, I would try another brand. Keep your receipts, most pet stores will allow you to return them.

Ham lunch meat is too processed and has too much salt. Hamburger should be boiled not fried, and it isn't a complete diet. Dogs need more vitamins and minerals then what protein alone can provide.

Here are some homecooking recipes http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/yor...od-treats.html

I've went 24 hours without him eating, and he never touched it. He just got weak and laid around. I was told if he was hungry enough he'd eat it, but he never did.
I may be just freaking out..
I tried putting it in his mouth today as well, and letting him get it out of my hand, he spits it out.

Don't try putting it in his mouth; offering it in your hand is different. I'd try sprinkling it with the cheese and if that didn't work, I'd try another brand. Joey likes Royal Canin for Yorkshire Terriers, but it's not considered one of the highest rated foods nutrition wise. Many people say that their dogs love the various raw foods, and that might be something you'll want to read up on. There are even some specially made dog food raw diets, or you can do it yourself. You do need to read up on this to learn the pros and cons of each. Home cooked is another option, but from all I've read you have to supplement with vitamins and minerals, there is just no way to get a canine balanced diet unless you do this. They need way more calcium than a human, and there is no human food that gives them enough calcium.

I just tried the cheese on both brands, no different. :[
Thank you for your help though!

my girl is having the same problem. Since coming to a new home she is full of anxiety. She is 2 years old and very skiddish. She goes a long time with out eating. I have tried almost everything.. wet, dry, warm, cold. Today I could hear her little tummy growling. And I put 1 small piece of a hot dog (super small and cubed, like you cut for babies) and I mixed it in.. with her already mixed wet with kibble.. and she ate it! I am going to try the yogurt and the parma cheese thing tonight/tomorrow and see what happens. And if not.. I am cooking for her! LOL...

I have been to the vet, and they said she is fine.. althought no extensive tests have been done. I believe she is depressed and has way too much anxiety.

Let us know what works!

Michelle

I've read A LOT where most dogs like kibble!!
I think I'm going to try that with Ziggy.
Yeah, I'd warm him up hot dogs ( all beef kind ) and give it to him.
I'm going to try the kibble, maybe it'll work.
I have also heard mericks is good.
I just think he doesn't like the smell of dogfood! :(

When was the last time he ate? I wonder if 1/2 of a raw egg might work, poured over the concoction.

I would try something that smells like fish. ;) Here is the link to a poll that was done recently that other members feed their babies.

http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/pol...ur-yorkie.html

ohhhhh you can also try mashing up some banana and putting that on the food. Most of the yorkies on here LOVE bananas... Hope this helps!!!! :)

FYI....

I tried the banana's for supper tonight,... and no go.. but the parm cheese was a HIT! I wonder how long it will last tho!

Mich

Yay! at least it worked for now! :)

Ok, if you got him to eat it, that's great. My guess is that after eating dog food in the past he got violently ill. Not just a little sick, and it may or may not have had anything to do with the food, but animals learn to associate certain smells with illness, and if they get really really sick, after a meal, they won't want to touch that food again. If he doesn't get sick, the next few times he eats the food, he will be gradually grow more comfortable with the total smells of the food. I think one of the reasons the cheese works is because it's so strong smelling it masks other smells. Don't give any human food, for at least a couple of months. Good luck.

boy its awful when they don`t eat. its upsetting. molly has always been real picky. she wouldn`t eat dog food either but i bought some can food an added warm water it makes a gravy like an she is eating it. almost for a week now. thats the longest she has eaten the same food. holding my breath wondering when she decides she don`t like it anymore. might try warm water on it. good luck

I tried the cheese.. no go.
I tried bananna.. no go.
I melted some cheese on bread, he liked it kinda.
Mom's getting him some chicken breast and turkey breast lunch meat tomorrow.
Think that's okay?
Anything else that maybe would be good for him? He just wont do dogfood =[

maybe some boiled chicken and rice and add some non fat cottage cheese to it??? that way his tummy wont be upset.....

My Maddie is very picky also but only with dry food tho. I found that if i add water to her kibble and let it get really soft, she'll eat it.

Good Luck!!

I would say no on lunchmeats -- too full of sodium and saliclycates/ preservaties. You will find that just buying some chicken breasts and cooking them yourself ismuch better for them and cheaper anyway. I also mixed any chicken with brown rice. They seem to eat the brown better than white and it is better for them. But if you are going to homecook and not feed a commercially prepared food -- please read up on how to suppliment so they get sufficient calcium and vitamins. Chicken & rice alone won't give them everything they need. Try adding a little full fat yogurt -- soothes the stomach and adds calcium.

Did you ever buy the kibble? You said your dog did like the milk bones broken in pieces. Maybe he was used to dry dog food -- which is the best choice anyway. I would find a quality kibble. Some of the smaller pet stores even have sample bags of several brands to try. That is what I did with mine. I had several sample bags and let them pick the one they liked best. I have mine on Canidae. Wellness, Merricks, and Innova are also quality brands. Many of the dogs like Royal Canin. The only real down side is the corn content and as it turns out few dogs actually have any sensitivity to corn anyway.

I would not feed foods like Beneful. Not quality food. Remember yorkies do not eat much, so what they do take in needs to be high quality.

I did get a rehomed Yorkie once that had been hand fed chicken and rice only. I started adding a little high quality kibble to the home-cookd chicken & rice. Little by little I would add more kibble, less chicken & rice. At first she would pick out the chicken & rice and leave the kibble. But she was getting some here and there and eventually she started eating it. Finally I went to all kibble and she was fine with that.

I have also had to wait out a dog who refused to eat. They will finally give in. Keep the Nutrical handy and rub on their gums if they have not eaten all day. That will help with low blood sugar problem. Also make sure they are drinking plenty of water. Keep offering the food you want them to eat (as long as it is quality!) Table scraps are not good for yorkies. Almost everytime I read about a dog that has had a bad bout of pancreatitis, someone has fed it table scraps or human food.

I wouldn't do the lunch meats :rolleyes:. Right now i'm battling chronic pancreatitis with Bailey and I never gave him fatty foods. Lunch meat has a high content of fat in it. I would try boiled chicken and rice (at least it's not dog food then). You can boil a whole chicken and use it to feed him for quite a while with the rice. Any fat can set him off into any health issue and then you will have a bigger problem on your hands, just my opinion. I know you're frustrated as i've been in the past too, but I really feel this would be the best thing for your baby. :)

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup: I have Bailey on Natural Balance Fish and potatoes with supplements. Pureed greenbeans and canned pumkin :).

Sophie will get a snoot up about her kibble also from time to time (right now, actually). I buy Pet Botanics organic food at my local PetSmart. It comes in a roll. Similar to a summer sausage. They make it in Chicken & Brown Rice, Lamb & Brown Rice and Beef and Brown rice. It contains rosemary and some natural spices that actually make it smell very much like people food. I will either cut this into tiny pieces or shred it over her kibble. Often this will work for me. And of course, hand feeding works too as Nancy has suggested. When I get really desperate...I mix in just a bit of Peanut Butter as my Sophie LOVES peanut butter. Good luck. I feel your pain. I've not gotten Sophie to eat much kibble since this past Saturday. She is eating the Pet Botanics, but not much kibble.

I remember when I went through this with Snickers...this is 1 way I chose a kibble when he stopped eating his Merrick Puppy Plate. I picked up about 5-6 bags of samples of the kibbles I wanted to feed him based on nutrition and the fact that I wanted to feed a grainfree kibble. So I chose EVO, NV Instinct, Solid Gold Barking at the Moon, Natural Balance, Taste of the Wild, and Orijen. I put small piles of them all out. There were about 4 that Snick would not even taste or sample, so those were out. He did try 2 of them so I saved those 2 for the next feeding. I left the remaining 2 kibbles out all day...and I monitored which one he was eating and that's the one I chose.

I leave his kibble out all day (Innova Evo.) He also gets his raw once or twice a day, but he will always eat some kibble everyday.

Good luck...I know how hard it can be...

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

Great post!

DON'T FEED LUNCH MEAT VERY VERY BAD....SALT INTAKE IF YOU WHAT TO USE MEAT USE THE REAL STUFF. You might try making a stew - boiled a chicken breasts or hambuger skim the fat off while boiled then added carrots, celery, bean, sweet potatoes, cranberry, blueberry, half a banana, if using grain, brown rice, flaxseed, little olive oil, barley, simmer for two or three hours, separate the meat and vegetables, I puree the vegetable mixture and put into ice cube trays. The meat I divide into portion that will only last two day at a time. Now take 1 ice cube mixture and about 2 tablespoon of meat add to kibbles I use Wellness Core no grain, once the vegetable mixture is melted (in microwave) mix with the kibble let in soak in, that I shed the chicken spread on top of the mixed kibble stir a little. My girls eat the chicken first and leave the kibble, than we go for a walk when we’re back I put a little squirt of Grizzly Salmon oil great for their coat mix well with the kibble they gabble that up.

Please be careful with Parmesan cheese look at the sodium intake on it. Same with all human foods before giving to dogs check fat and sodium contents..

Good news!!
 

Ziggy FINALLY ate Dogfood!!:D

:)

I was SO SO SO excited when I brought it home and he actually ate it!!

It's the Ceaser's kind.

He mainly likes the chicken kind.

Man, it's been great!!

Even though, I still have to put it on a plate and warm it for him. :)

Hmm you got a stubborn little thing.My dogs use to do that to me as well they didn't want to eat their dog food. I tried a bunch of different brands everything i could to get them to eat and They still wouldn't eat it. Table scraps are horrible for dogs its like eating McDonalds everyday for a human. I decided that my dogs will eat what i give them and that's it no if ands or butts about it. Go into his next feeding feeling like this. Dont ask him to eat it don't hand feed it to him just put it down make sure he knows where it is and that's it. I had to wait three whole days for my little 3 pound yorkies to eat their dog food. I gave them nothing but their dog food. My dogs never had a problem with hypoglycemia so i wasn't to worried. But i did watch them to make sure they were drinking and they didn't get sick or look sick. I would give them a little syringe of their food blended up and stick that in their mouth when the second day came around and they didn't eat. on the third day they ate. And they don't give me any problems anymore. they eat what i give them. I may sound a bit cruel but little dogs get away with so much they know we will give in you have to be strong. He will eat it may take three days but a healthy dog will not starve itself to death.

Oh i feed my dogs Nature's Variety. check it out its a nice way to feed picky eaters. You have choices of dry food wet food and raw however you want to feed them that day my dogs love it now and cant get enough.

very frustrated at this point...
 

I seem to have the same dilema. :confused:The difference with my Yorkie puppy is that she is now 13 and 1/2 weeks old. I got her when she was 8 weeks old. She was the tiniest one in the litter and never would eat kibble for the breeder..so the breeder finally got her to eat canned food (Pedigree)...and that is what she was on when I bought her home. I wanted to get her off of canned food so I started trying different kinds of kibble. When I first got the Orijen sample (the #1 rated dog food)...she ate it in the car like she loved it. Thought I had it made. Next day, she would not touch it and hasn't since.
Tried the parmesean cheese but all Callie did was lick it off of the kibble. Tried raw egg mixed in...nope. Tried some garlic powder another time...heard that would work...it did not. Tried moistening the food with water....tried a gravy over it....Tried mixing the dry food in with the canned...no.Nada, zip, zilch.:thumbdown
Since she is so young and there's still such a risk of Hypoglycemia..I can't very well "starve" her so of course I have had to resort to feeding her home cooking (stewed chicken w/brown rice and veggies....ground beef with broth and brown rice...etc..) and she will eat that no problem.:animal36 But ultimately I want her on dry food to assure that she is getting maximum amount vitamins and nutrients. I've tried just leaving the dry food out all day lately and nothing else...by the end of the day she is literally lifeless. Too risky....too scary for me.
Here's a list of ALLLLL the other foods we have tried:

Canidae
Taste Of The Wild
Orijen
Natural Balance
Evangers
EVO
Instinct
Merrick
...even Puppy Chow
Any suggestions???????????????

I always have to warm up Bailey's food a little bit before giving it to him. He's a picky eater too. He won't eat it unless it's warmed up!