Tiny Yorkie Won't Eat Dogfood
 

Hi all. We have two female yorkies that we breed about a litter per year. We have had about 5 litters so we are by no means experts. The last litter we had was about 18 months ago - although we are about to have another soon; we kept one of the males from the litter because he was so small we couldn't locate a buyer that seemed responsible enough for a match. By the time he was old enough to go 8 hours without food, we were too attached to let him go so he is now a permanent part of the family. Everything was fine until last March when we took a road trip, but after letting someone keep our Pip, he has been very finicky about eating dog food. They fed him stuff off the table so it's been a battle ever since. Our other dogs went back to the regular dogfood easily, but Pip would only eat a little since then. The original dog food was Natural choice lamb and rice small bites. We switched to Iams small breed and he ate more of it for a day or so and we had the same issue. We use kibble and bits as treats for our dogs so we tried to see if he would eat it and it worked for a while but the problem just keeps getting worse. He currently weighs 1 lb 12 oz, so he'll have blood sugar issues if he refuses to eat a couple of days - so withholding food is not an option. He had a blood panel run and everything comes back normal so the vet thinks it is all him being finicky.

We have tried microwaving, mixing with canned food, straight canned food, soft bagged food, blending canned food and mixing, soaking with broth, etc. With quite a bit of coaxing, we used to be able to get him to eat enough but I read somewhere that you could do a cooked diet (equal parts meat,carbs,and veges) and put over the dog food and slowly reduce the cooked food to get them back onto a dog food diet. We tried this and we now have a dog that will clean every piece of dog food pellet in his bowl to eat the cooked food, but he won't eat any kibbles now. We've had to increase the amount of cooked food because he won't eat the kibbles, instead of the other way around.

We are out of ideas, but maybe someone has an idea. We plan to try to soak the food in whey, but havent' tried it yet. Is there a dog food, doesn't have to be high quality, that anyone has found that dogs just absolutely love - hopefully a small kibble? We don't mind doing the cooked diet, but we would like to have something we can leave out for him too. Do any of the pet food stores have a food buy back policy so you can try all their brands without so much waste?

Our dog is very picky and small (though not as tiny as yours). Anyways, we tried so many different dog foods and finally found some he likes. For kibble, he likes Origin's puppy formula and for raw, he loves Stella and Chewy's dehydrated raw. He's even gained a little on the stellas.

Hi, I'm not sure it's an issue of the feed type, and I never change my feeds, as it can cause upset stomach's, things like collitis etc. I am not sure if you can get "Butchers" brand tinned dog food, they have a "Meatloaf" type in a tin. All my clan love it, it comes in Tripe/Chicken and Beef flavours. I had to hand feed Kiki when I first got her, but not any more...well that was until we went on holiday and my daughter said she was ok for the first three days then got a bit picky, luckily my son had seen me hand feeding her, so jumped in and helped out. I was back after 7 days, and yes you got it Kiki went straight back to her normal eating routine (she is a little piggy, loves her food)
Do you feed in a group, separate dishes etc.... could it be a social issue....I never leave wet food down all day, only kibbles. If one of my clan for whatever reason does not eat their breakfast...of Butchers Meatloaf Tripe/Chicken/Beef, they only have their kibbles in the day, when I feed again at 4pm their evening Butchers tripe meat loaf.....it's all eaten..... I know how worrying these feeding issues are, I hope you find a solution soon x

Have you checked "The Honest Kitchen"? Their food is human-grade and is slowly dehydrated at a low temp and you simply re-hydrate with very warm water to maintain the integrity of the food. Our Toto is very picky and we have been giving this to her for several years. I re-hydrate about 1 T. Force, 1 t. each, cooked, minced carrots, green beans, boiled chicken and a little chicken broth. I sometimes just give her re-hydrated Force with a couple t. lowfat cottage cheese. I measure every bite that goes in her mouth because of weight issues. She gets a little over a tablespoon kibble [Innova Small Bites] a day in addition to her Force [from The Honest Kitchen]. You can order Force in very small quantities or they may even send samples to try. We have yet to have a problem with this diet and it is strictly enforced ... her health is way more important to us than the "whims" of others! :rolleyes: We aren't cruel about it, we just love her way too much to allow her to eat herself to death. She gets an occasional "forbidden" food and she also gets a little piece of Kona's Chips chicken before bedtime. Good luck with your little one!! :thumbup::thumbup:

Thanks for the quick response. I am off to see if petco carries any of these brands.

When I first got Cali she had hypoglycemic episodes because she wouldn't eat. I finally gave her Cesar's, which is a bad food, but I had to get her to eat. I slowly got her to eat good food and know she is a little chow hound. I hope one of the better foods works out but if not try the Cesars.