Likes a food for a few days then changes her mind?? - YorkieTalk.com Forums

AlicetheYorkie · 04-02-2011, 05:57 AM

I was sooo happy a few days ago when I thought I'd finally found a food my puppy would eat (I even reccomened it on another forum to another picky eater she liked it so much), but now today she wants nothing to do with it

. At first I was feeding Verus kibble and she would eat it pretty well but not great, then she wouldn't eat it at all. So I try a few different brands/flavors of kibble and canned food that she didn't want until finally I though I hit the jackpot

- Orijen puppy dry and Evenger's canned beef & liver and she LOVED them both. Been eating them GREAT for 4 days, until today

. She's hungry though, looking around and at me for something so I tried her favorite treat just to see if she was hungry or not and she gobbled it and wanted more but won't touch the food that just yesterday (and for 3 days before)she ate like it was the best thing ever

I even tried crushing the treat and sprinkled it on the food - nope. When she stopped eating the Verus I tried mixing it in with many different things to entice her (chicken, ground beef, treats, different canned foods, warm water, parmesan cheese) and she still wouldn't eat it. What am I supposed to do?

Please help if you have experienced this and know a trick. Do I have to find a brand with numerous different flavors and switch every few days? That would be kinda tricky though because she needs puppy formula. The treats she loves r peanut butter, I thought about mixing the food with natural peanut butter, but I'm thinking that's prob not gonna be good long term? UGH I'm at my witts end here HELP PLEASE

Britster · 04-02-2011, 06:08 AM

No dog will starve

She has you trained well... she doesn't touch her food, looks up at you, you give her a treat. She figures, this is great! So all I have to do is not touch my food and this lady gives me something better.... lol

If she doesn't touch it, just let it sit for a few minutes. If she doesn't start eating after 15 minutes, pick it up for a while. Then you can put it back down. She will figure out if she's hungry- she'll eat.

Don't get me wrong, I like to find a food that Jackson loves taste-wise too but there comes a point where you just have to stop letting them be so picky. I do rotate foods after each bag is done to keep it interesting!

AlicetheYorkie · 04-02-2011, 06:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Britster

No dog will starve

She has you trained well... she doesn't touch her food, looks up at you, you give her a treat. She figures, this is great! So all I have to do is not touch my food and this lady gives me something better.... lol

If she doesn't touch it, just let it sit for a few minutes. If she doesn't start eating after 15 minutes, pick it up for a while. Then you can put it back down. She will figure out if she's hungry- she'll eat.

Don't get me wrong, I like to find a food that Jackson loves taste-wise too but there comes a point where you just have to stop letting them be so picky. I do rotate foods after each bag is done to keep it interesting!

Ya know it's funny, I'm not usually such a sucker lol but I've never had a toy breed before and I'm just scared of her blood sugar dropping since she's only 6 months old and 4 lbs. That's basically the point I'm at though- here's your food, it's the best stuff I can possibly get you and you're gonna eat it! LOL The only thing that stinks is I've been doing that too, give it, if she doesn't want it then I leave it for a few minutes then take it away and try later, but she ends up vomiting a little bit of yellow bile (sorry 4 being gross

) so that's what gets me concerned. Even if that happens and she still won't eat the food, should I just let her go still and try again later? I'm really trying not to spoil her but I also don't want to make her sick

Britster · 04-02-2011, 08:23 AM

I understand

Have you tried different canned foods? Jackson gets a new flavor and/or brand of canned food once a week. I use up a can for a week, then switch to another, etc. That seems to help.

Or, you could sprinkle a little paramesan cheese over her food.

yorkietalkjilly · 04-02-2011, 11:27 AM

Maybe her food is too rich for her tummy and it's upset, hence the avoidance and foamy stuff. Try feeding her just one thing for a week and take it up after 15 mins., then re-offer until she gets the idea she has 15 mins. to eat. Unless she's got a serious medical condition, at her age, she won't get hypoglycemia or otherwise suffer ill effects. Just some simple food and a schedule might be worth a try just to see.

AlicetheYorkie · 04-02-2011, 11:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Britster

I understand

Have you tried different canned foods? Jackson gets a new flavor and/or brand of canned food once a week. I use up a can for a week, then switch to another, etc. That seems to help.

Or, you could sprinkle a little paramesan cheese over her food.

Tried the parmesan cheese (among other things) and that didn't work. I've tried 5 different brands of canned food so far and the evengers was the only one she ate, but that's what she turned her nose up at this morning. Same thing with kibble, tried a few different ones, found one she liked a few days ago and now today, no. I know alot of people "rotate" foods, which I'm ok with but every few days??

I just got her to eat some of the orijen and evenger's by literally sitting on the kitchen floor with it and when she walked away, I brought her back until finally she took a piece but wanted to walk away with it into the other room (not gonna work, my beagle or cat will take it from her and seriously, I'm not gonna follow her around the house for 20 minutes twice a day with a bowl of food in my hands and make sure the other pets don't get her food) so I had to keep blocking her to stay put. I got her to eat enough that way for now but it was a little rediculous and I can't keep doing that. It's "eat here and now" in this house or somebody else is gonna get it as soon as I'm not looking. Each pet eats in their own designated area and leave the other's alone but they all "eat up" when I give it, even the 2 cats. I stay right by Alice when I give her food so she doesn't follow me away from it and she's not bothered by the others while she's eating, but if she leaves it there, forget it, I have to take it up.

Idk, I'm really frustrated, I'm just gonna stick with the origen and rotate diffrent flavors of Evenger's and the days she won't eat i'll just give a tiny bit of nutri-cal just so I'm not worried about her blood sugar level and hopefully that will help and she will evenually in the day realize she has to eat what it give and that's the end of it.

AlicetheYorkie · 04-02-2011, 12:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yorkietalkjilly

Maybe her food is too rich for her tummy and it's upset, hence the avoidance and foamy stuff. Try feeding her just one thing for a week and take it up after 15 mins., then re-offer until she gets the idea she has 15 mins. to eat. Unless she's got a serious medical condition, at her age, she won't get hypoglycemia or otherwise suffer ill effects. Just some simple food and a schedule might be worth a try just to see.

Ya, I'm putting my foot down here, lol. I'm going to talk to my vet too about how long he thinks is ok for her to go on with her little "hunger strikes" before I have to bite the bullet and get something in her. I don't think her tummy hurts at first because she WILL eat a treat and wants my food (which she does NOT get) or goes sniffing around the house looking for something. It's only when she won't eat breakfast that she brings up the bile a few hours later. If she eats in the morning, she's fine and then eats the second meal (same food) normaly.

Britster · 04-02-2011, 05:56 PM

Personally, I think you're trying too hard.... we go through this with my dads JRT mix still and I find that when we are 'pushing' her to eat, she decides not to, lol. She will go up, smell it, walk away and then we would be like pushing her towards her bowl.... alot of times even if it has chicken, or cheese, or something yummy in it. So now we just put it down and if she decides not to eat it by the time the other dogs are finished their meals, we just pick it up for a while. Eventually she just always eats it.

Sweet Girls · 04-03-2011, 03:46 AM

I agree with Britster. I went through a period of time with my puppy that I was actually hand feeding her because she wouldn't eat and I thought it was because she was "afraid" of her bowl...I went through a fortune in bowls

But NOPE, she had me fooled!! She just liked all the attention. I did the whole put down, leave down for 20 mins, pick up until the next meal no treats in between. Nearly killed me

(She was ready to eat by dinner) But she started eating, and has never refused a meal again until she was very sick...and that was how I knew she was sick! I think you should contact your vet to see how long he feels the puppy can go without food...yellow bile is usually a sign of an empty tummy...and then BITE that BULLET....and make sure no-one in the family sneaks her any food...and that she doesn't steal from the cat or beagle. Best of Luck...I know holding out is very difficult thing to do, with those soft brown eyes, and little bodies...and and and...

lil fu fu girl · 04-03-2011, 12:41 PM

I know that some may question my practice , but here goes nothing. I feed my pups raw, but I also free feed kibble. Their kibble currently consists of a combination of between 3-4 different kibbles: TOTW pacific NW, VeRUS, Natural instinct, and sometimes Pinnacle.
I started this mixing about 4 months ago because we were running out of Evo red and I did not want to re-purchase another bag as they were sold to PG, which I was not happy with. So I picked up some sample bags to try out on my two pups to find out which would be there favorite; and placed 3-4 different kibbles down at one time during the first week.

Well....needless to say they started nibbling on All of them equally. I thought from everything that I had read that they would have digestive upset....but it did not happen. Confused....I left All varieties down and kept refilling each day to see how it would affect their GI tract. It did not upset their stomachs or their intestinal tract at all. So I continue on with the practice, to this day.

The one thing I have found out through this process, is that sometimes things work differently for different pups.....and that finding the particular niche that works for yours, might require experimentation.
Good luck......

AlicetheYorkie · 04-03-2011, 04:40 PM

thanks for the advise everyone

I figured out that if I put down the food in a corner of the kitchen and make her stay there, after a few seconds of turning her nose up at it she does start eating as long as I stay there and kind of let her know, hey this is what you get, there's nothing else better anywhere else in the house and it's time to eat NOW lol. I need to get her a pen type thing anyway (think I've heard it refered to as an x pen?) for when I have to leave her home alone so that's gonna be her eating area also and she's just going to go in it at meal times like the rest of the pets have their own "spot" to eat and I'd imagine she'll learn the routine quickly as long as I'm firm about it and don't cater to her. It was just frustrating because of her bringing up the bile because I know it was only because her tummy was empty and if she'd just eat the darn food...........lol. I'm so glad I found YT since Alice is so different than any dog I've had, it's great to have so many people who love their pets willing to offer advice to a Yorkie newbie

Thanks for your honest and sound advise

Foxsha75 · 04-06-2011, 05:29 AM

I am having the same issue with my yorkies (Pickles and Snickers) I had them on Blue puppy food and they liked it for a little while. Then one day they stopped eating it. I tried using the food as a game (tossing it to them and they would eat it) but that only worked a little while too. Then someone told me to use wet food so I incorporated Nutro wet puppy food with the Blue and they ate it for a little while....sigh.

Now I am at wits end. I want to mix the wet/dry food together (keep teeth clean, other nutrients) but they are not budging. I dont want them to starve, but I dont know what to do. I even put their food in little saucers thinking the bowl was too big!! Any tips? Thank you so much.

Sincerely,

Shanesta, Pickles and Snickers

AlicetheYorkie · 04-06-2011, 03:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Foxsha75

I am having the same issue with my yorkies (Pickles and Snickers) I had them on Blue puppy food and they liked it for a little while. Then one day they stopped eating it. I tried using the food as a game (tossing it to them and they would eat it) but that only worked a little while too. Then someone told me to use wet food so I incorporated Nutro wet puppy food with the Blue and they ate it for a little while....sigh.

Now I am at wits end. I want to mix the wet/dry food together (keep teeth clean, other nutrients) but they are not budging. I dont want them to starve, but I dont know what to do. I even put their food in little saucers thinking the bowl was too big!! Any tips? Thank you so much.

Sincerely,

Shanesta, Pickles and Snickers

My original post was only less than a week ago, and now, Alice is practically gobbling up her food

I took everone's advise and stopped making a big deal out of it. Canned food definatly helps with her, at the very least it gets her started on her meal and entices her to look in the bowl and taste (I'm using Evenger's and she likes the beef and liver). She does eat the dry food (Orijen puppy) really well now too, but sometimes I have to kind of spread it out on the kitchen floor but then she vaccuums it up lol.
What I did was just put the bowl down and I didn't let her walk away. If she wouldn't start eating (that only happened first day of trying this) I'd sit down and put a few pieces of kibble with the canned food stuck to it on the floor. If she tried to take 1 piece and take off with it somewhere else, I blocked her and made her stay there to eat it. It seems like it was just a matter of "training" almost to make her understand that she was expected to eat what she was given when I give it

. Now, a few days later I have no problem at all, she knows it's meal time and eat now or don't eat. I have her on the same strict schedual as my other pets twice a day instead of constantly trying many times a day to get her to eat a few pieces (can't even believe I was that gullable lol) She really did have me trained and fooled lol. i know some people like free-freeding but for Alice, it was all about the schedual and getting her used to it

Good luck and try the Evenger's canned, it's a really mushy consistancy which works well for mixing and Alice loved it from the first time

LDMomma · 04-06-2011, 08:34 PM

I have a female Chi that doesn't like to have the same meal too many times in a row. We just rotate her meals so that they are different AM and PM. It doesn't bother her tummy and it's not any extra work for us.

You can also rotate with All Stages Food in addition to puppy food.

04-02-2011, 05:57 AM	#1
AlicetheYorkie YT 500 Club Member Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 889	Likes a food for a few days then changes her mind?? I was sooo happy a few days ago when I thought I'd finally found a food my puppy would eat (I even reccomened it on another forum to another picky eater she liked it so much), but now today she wants nothing to do with it . At first I was feeding Verus kibble and she would eat it pretty well but not great, then she wouldn't eat it at all. So I try a few different brands/flavors of kibble and canned food that she didn't want until finally I though I hit the jackpot - Orijen puppy dry and Evenger's canned beef & liver and she LOVED them both. Been eating them GREAT for 4 days, until today. She's hungry though, looking around and at me for something so I tried her favorite treat just to see if she was hungry or not and she gobbled it and wanted more but won't touch the food that just yesterday (and for 3 days before)she ate like it was the best thing ever I even tried crushing the treat and sprinkled it on the food - nope. When she stopped eating the Verus I tried mixing it in with many different things to entice her (chicken, ground beef, treats, different canned foods, warm water, parmesan cheese) and she still wouldn't eat it. What am I supposed to do? Please help if you have experienced this and know a trick. Do I have to find a brand with numerous different flavors and switch every few days? That would be kinda tricky though because she needs puppy formula. The treats she loves r peanut butter, I thought about mixing the food with natural peanut butter, but I'm thinking that's prob not gonna be good long term? UGH I'm at my witts end here HELP PLEASE __________________ Jenn, mom to: Dayton , Alice ,Darla, Miya , Summer & Chooch

04-02-2011, 06:08 AM	#2
Britster Action Jackson ♥ Donating Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Maryland Posts: 17,815	No dog will starve She has you trained well... she doesn't touch her food, looks up at you, you give her a treat. She figures, this is great! So all I have to do is not touch my food and this lady gives me something better.... lol If she doesn't touch it, just let it sit for a few minutes. If she doesn't start eating after 15 minutes, pick it up for a while. Then you can put it back down. She will figure out if she's hungry- she'll eat. Don't get me wrong, I like to find a food that Jackson loves taste-wise too but there comes a point where you just have to stop letting them be so picky. I do rotate foods after each bag is done to keep it interesting! __________________ ~ Brit & Lights! Camera! Jackson! CGC ETD TKP ~ Follow Jackson on Instagram: https://instagram.com/jacksontheterrier

04-02-2011, 08:23 AM	#4
Britster Action Jackson ♥ Donating Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Maryland Posts: 17,815	I understand Have you tried different canned foods? Jackson gets a new flavor and/or brand of canned food once a week. I use up a can for a week, then switch to another, etc. That seems to help. Or, you could sprinkle a little paramesan cheese over her food. __________________ ~ Brit & Lights! Camera! Jackson! CGC ETD TKP ~ Follow Jackson on Instagram: https://instagram.com/jacksontheterrier

04-02-2011, 11:27 AM	#5
yorkietalkjilly ♥ Love My Tibbe! ♥ Donating Member Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: D/FW, Texas Posts: 22,140	Maybe her food is too rich for her tummy and it's upset, hence the avoidance and foamy stuff. Try feeding her just one thing for a week and take it up after 15 mins., then re-offer until she gets the idea she has 15 mins. to eat. Unless she's got a serious medical condition, at her age, she won't get hypoglycemia or otherwise suffer ill effects. Just some simple food and a schedule might be worth a try just to see. __________________ Jeanie and Tibbe One must do the best one can. You may get some marks for a very imperfect answer: you will certainly get none for leaving the question alone. C. S. Lewis

04-02-2011, 05:56 PM	#8
Britster Action Jackson ♥ Donating Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Maryland Posts: 17,815	Personally, I think you're trying too hard.... we go through this with my dads JRT mix still and I find that when we are 'pushing' her to eat, she decides not to, lol. She will go up, smell it, walk away and then we would be like pushing her towards her bowl.... alot of times even if it has chicken, or cheese, or something yummy in it. So now we just put it down and if she decides not to eat it by the time the other dogs are finished their meals, we just pick it up for a while. Eventually she just always eats it. __________________ ~ Brit & Lights! Camera! Jackson! CGC ETD TKP ~ Follow Jackson on Instagram: https://instagram.com/jacksontheterrier

04-03-2011, 03:46 AM	#9
Sweet Girls YT Addict Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Ontario Posts: 273	I agree with Britster. I went through a period of time with my puppy that I was actually hand feeding her because she wouldn't eat and I thought it was because she was "afraid" of her bowl...I went through a fortune in bowls But NOPE, she had me fooled!! She just liked all the attention. I did the whole put down, leave down for 20 mins, pick up until the next meal no treats in between. Nearly killed me (She was ready to eat by dinner) But she started eating, and has never refused a meal again until she was very sick...and that was how I knew she was sick! I think you should contact your vet to see how long he feels the puppy can go without food...yellow bile is usually a sign of an empty tummy...and then BITE that BULLET....and make sure no-one in the family sneaks her any food...and that she doesn't steal from the cat or beagle. Best of Luck...I know holding out is very difficult thing to do, with those soft brown eyes, and little bodies...and and and...

04-03-2011, 12:41 PM	#10
lil fu fu girl No Longer a Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Maryland Posts: 2,410	I know that some may question my practice , but here goes nothing. I feed my pups raw, but I also free feed kibble. Their kibble currently consists of a combination of between 3-4 different kibbles: TOTW pacific NW, VeRUS, Natural instinct, and sometimes Pinnacle. I started this mixing about 4 months ago because we were running out of Evo red and I did not want to re-purchase another bag as they were sold to PG, which I was not happy with. So I picked up some sample bags to try out on my two pups to find out which would be there favorite; and placed 3-4 different kibbles down at one time during the first week. Well....needless to say they started nibbling on All of them equally. I thought from everything that I had read that they would have digestive upset....but it did not happen. Confused....I left All varieties down and kept refilling each day to see how it would affect their GI tract. It did not upset their stomachs or their intestinal tract at all. So I continue on with the practice, to this day. The one thing I have found out through this process, is that sometimes things work differently for different pups.....and that finding the particular niche that works for yours, might require experimentation. Good luck......

04-03-2011, 04:40 PM	#11
AlicetheYorkie YT 500 Club Member Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 889	thanks for the advise everyone I figured out that if I put down the food in a corner of the kitchen and make her stay there, after a few seconds of turning her nose up at it she does start eating as long as I stay there and kind of let her know, hey this is what you get, there's nothing else better anywhere else in the house and it's time to eat NOW lol. I need to get her a pen type thing anyway (think I've heard it refered to as an x pen?) for when I have to leave her home alone so that's gonna be her eating area also and she's just going to go in it at meal times like the rest of the pets have their own "spot" to eat and I'd imagine she'll learn the routine quickly as long as I'm firm about it and don't cater to her. It was just frustrating because of her bringing up the bile because I know it was only because her tummy was empty and if she'd just eat the darn food...........lol. I'm so glad I found YT since Alice is so different than any dog I've had, it's great to have so many people who love their pets willing to offer advice to a Yorkie newbie Thanks for your honest and sound advise __________________ Jenn, mom to: Dayton , Alice ,Darla, Miya , Summer & Chooch

04-06-2011, 05:29 AM	#12
Foxsha75 Yorkie Talker Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Tampa, FL Posts: 16	I am having the same issue with my yorkies (Pickles and Snickers) I had them on Blue puppy food and they liked it for a little while. Then one day they stopped eating it. I tried using the food as a game (tossing it to them and they would eat it) but that only worked a little while too. Then someone told me to use wet food so I incorporated Nutro wet puppy food with the Blue and they ate it for a little while....sigh. Now I am at wits end. I want to mix the wet/dry food together (keep teeth clean, other nutrients) but they are not budging. I dont want them to starve, but I dont know what to do. I even put their food in little saucers thinking the bowl was too big!! Any tips? Thank you so much. Sincerely, Shanesta, Pickles and Snickers

04-06-2011, 08:34 PM	#14
LDMomma YT Addict Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: FL Posts: 410	I have a female Chi that doesn't like to have the same meal too many times in a row. We just rotate her meals so that they are different AM and PM. It doesn't bother her tummy and it's not any extra work for us. You can also rotate with All Stages Food in addition to puppy food.