No Food For 3 DAYS?!
 

I saw my vet today & one of the things we spoke about is my crazy finicky puppy Yoshi. I've tried EVERYTHING short of back handsprings in a pink tutu to get my Yoshi to eat. Yes, I waited 20 minutes & took the food away...yes, I tried ricotta/yogurt/chicken/cheese/dehydrated liver/shredded carrots/etc mixed with kibble...no, I do not give him any people food & his only treats are cheerios & pieces of green beans...yes, I did raw...I did dehydrated raw, moistened & straight out of the bag...I tried Sojos, Grandma Lucy's, FreshPet...Orijen, Fromm, TOW, even Royal Canin. I've homecooked & hand fed. I've tried treat dispensers & scattered bits of kibble all over the house. He even sniffs & walks away from Weruva 3x a day...whether it be on a plate, in a bowl, on the kitchen floor, in his crate, under the dining room table, wherever. We even walk or exercise prior to meal time. You name it, I did it.

Vet says...
Put down the same food at the same time 3x a day. Check.
Take it away after 20 minutes. Check.
Give NutriCal only he seems tired/lethargic & make sure he's drinking.
Let him go 3 DAYS with no food. Then call him.

My Yoshi is 6.3 pounds. I told him that I wasn't comfortable letting him go for 3 whole days & that I was going to ask "my friends" before doing it. So far, the longest I've gone is 1 1/2 days. However, I have been giving him about an inch of NutriCal if he goes longer than 6 hours without eating. Vet says no NutriCal unless he seems lethargic & give him 3 days.

Btw, my vet sees mostly small/toy breeds. So he isn't unfamiliar with the breed.

Does this seem reasonable? Should I at least put out a saucer of some chicken broth if he doesn't eat? Or am I just an overprotective Mommy?

Ziva is a picky eater, small appetite, she was little so the breeder hand fed her-spoiled! She is 3 and eats way better now that she has a sister (Abby 1yr) who is a little piggy ,opposite type of breeder, put out the food for a litter of 5 and let them fight it out, poor Abby was starving!
Ziva gets 15 minutes and I pick up her dish, offered twice a day, 8am and 4pm- rarely gets a treat. If I catch my DH giving her "a cookie" I know she will not be eating her dinner. No snacks, no nutrical!

Yes, it sounds reasonable! Once a pup realizes that holding out will make you give in, you start the cycle you are now in with him. The longest you have gone is 1.5 days...you probably will have to go 2 - 3 to win....but you will win! :) He just needs to know he is not getting a replacement if he doesn't eat.

BTW, I have done this and never had a pup go so long that he was hypoglycemic. It is rare for a healthy pup to do that.

My sticking it out story:

Last year, I dog sat my friend's dogs while my friend was having a knee replacement operation. Both the husband and wife warned me that one of the dogs named Zoey would not eat for awhile. They were so right and glad they told me. It took Zoey two and a half days to eat, but she finally did. It was tough sticking it out, but I did and it was amazing how she never skipped another meal after that. :)

Good luck with your dilemma and bet it will all work out.

I could never let Callie go three days with out food. She can be pretty picky but I found that hand feeding her works best for us so that what I do twice a day. I am so sorry you are having problems.

I so agree! Excellent advice. I think many of us indulge our puppies too much. I know I do.

It's like my mom used to fuss at me because I indulged my skin kids...they will do what they can get away with. The doctor said the same...food on the table if the wont eat do not give dessert!

I agree with your vet. Nutrical can makes things more dangerous and harder to do.

There is a small risk. Giving this advice (accept my vet says longer than three days), my vet has only had one that made itself sick by not eating. A healthy dog can tilerate this. Anyway, there is a big risk going on this way with incomplete meals, unbalanced meals, a healthy dog being so dependant on an owner to feed it, giving nutrical all the time messing with glucose, etc.

Here the food is put down and my kids eat. And if they don't they will eat when they are hungry enough.

Thanks everyone for the advice! I don't work. So I guess that gives me too much time to cater to him. I suppose I am an overprotective Mommy. I can accept that. So I've made a decision. It's time for some tough love & I'm starting the 3-day experiment tomorrow.

Here's the thing...do I feed him straight, dry kibble? Same kibble/3x a day? The kibble I choose for him to eat? If so, I pick Fromm. I like the kibble size, the variety & I like the company. Or should I mix the kibble with some boiled diced chicken? Or Weruva? Something else?

Another thing...I have a bag of Fromm Surf & Turf. But I don't really know if he likes it. Like I said, he turns his nose up at everything. What if he really doesn't like it? Should I just stick it out & make him eat it? I can't even remember if he's ever eaten more than a few bites of it. I do remember that he ate a full serving of the Game Bird once. So he must like it. Right? Should I go out & buy a bag of the Game Bird?

Just kibble.
Don't show him that you care if he eats. Put it down, be excuted, and walk away.
you can keep using the same dish of kbble if you cover it in between.
I would use what you already have...or the food you would like him to maintain on for several monts.

Thanks Ellie May! It's a good thing that I have one of those Martha Stewart bowls from PetSmart that actually comes with a cover. I always thought it was cute. And now, practical too! :p

1/4 cup of plain kibble is going in the bowl at 9am. Day One has officially begun.

Thanks everyone!

Good luck! Stay away from the bowl and don't worry! :D

We have that same feeding dish! I use those covers all the time! I really like the visual appeal of most of the Martha Stewart pet stuff (ridiculously overpriced but I always snag stuff on sale...I have my eye on those dog beds in her line). Keep us updated on Yoshi! Hopefully he won't make you wait too long :)

Thanks ladies :) It's going to be a rough 72 hours for me. He didn't eat at 9am, but he tried to bury his dish under his cloth place mat. So I'm thinking that he does like the Fromm Surf & Turf and will eventually eat. Fingers crossed!

My money says he will eat. ;)

My Gina was a picky eater. I just filled her bowl with kibble and if it took her three days to eat it - so be it. Six and a half lbs in not too thin. As you know you can drive yourself nuts trying to get them to eat. Thankfully, my Zoey is a pig. Will eat anything put in front of her in 20 seconds.

I have SIX toy dogs, including Yoshi, my 2 year old Japanese Chin who is a real Diva. The only food that I have found that ALL of them will eat is Acana Wild Prairie Grain-Free Dry Dog Food. Yoshi eats this like most of us would a t-bone steak!!

They ARE coming out with a new formula. I just ordered a huge bag of the old one because I am afraid they won't like the new one.

This isn't much help for the not eating, although my Yoshi will go a whole day without eating (but then I give her something I KNOW she likes) but I dont know if she would eat if I waited.

Just wanted to let you know about the one food that ALL of my kids will eat which has always been impossible to find.

Louise

I was actually considering feeding my Yoshi Orijen Regional Red. My Lab eats that & Yoshi has eaten it (not a full serving, but he'll eat it). He'll even prop himself up on my Lab's elevated food bowl to snag a piece of kibble every now & then. It's hysterical. I know Yoshi likes it. The thing is, I have a new puppy coming soon & I'd like to keep the Yorkies on the same food. I'm afraid that the new little girl won't be able to handle the kibble size & density of the Orijen. That's one of the reasons I chose the Fromm. I really don't want to crush the kibble. This eating thing is driving me NUTS & it would make me so happy be able to just lay down a bowl of kibble down and have him eat it.

I heard about that Acana formula change. Is it so much of a change that it will change the flavour? But I suppose our finicky little ones would be able to sniff out ANY kind of change.

fuss pots
 

At least you made me laugh with the handsprings and tutu quote.My Reuben has to be hand fed chicken ,thought that was bad enough x

I did all the things you mentioned with Gracie when she was a puppy. She refused all kibble. When I cooked for her she would eat it the first time but walk away from it the next time I tried to get her to eat it. Did the hand feeding, too. I actually found YT when I was searching online for some info on how to make a healthy food for a small dog.

I tried the starvation thing as a last resort. Yes, they may eat after having nothing for a long period of time but it seemed to me that there was something wrong if I had to starve my puppy to get it to eat. I read an article about using sweet potatoes instead of grain in her food so I tried it. She ate like you would expect a starving dog to eat. She even ate it the next day. Leftovers for the first time! So I found a way to get her to eat home cooked food but I really wanted her on a balanced commercial food.

Finally I tried Stella & Chewy's freeze dried raw. She loves the stuff! Some people say it is too high in fat and protein but that is because it is freeze dried. The process of freeze dried takes all the moisture out and that changes the percentage rates. It is a concentrated food. I usually rehydrate it with water or sodium free broth. She still loves it. I actually buy the frozen Stella & Chewy's now. The percentages are in an excellent range simply because it is not dehydrated. I sometimes mix some of the freeze dried into her thawed frozen food just because she loves it so much. I also use it as a treat but she loves their all meat freeze dried treats as well.

I realize that there is a lot of controversy in some circles about feeding raw but Gracie has done wonderfully on it. We are careful to always wash hands and surfaces after preparing it just as we are with all meat. She has never been sick and loves her food now. Dogs never ate kibble until the 1950's so I think they can exist very well without it. Gracie sure wanted nothing to do with kibble or grain for that matter. I fed my dogs kibble for many years without ever looking at a label. It took this little fur ball to get me to look into what I had been feeding my animals.

I hope you find something that works for you. I know how desperate you can get when your puppy won't eat. They are supposed to be forming all the organs and bones they will use all their lives. I know it really scared me.

That is exactly how I feel. I'd rather give my puppy something he LIKES, instead of forcing him to eat what I choose for him to eat - within reason of course. That's why I'm so torn :(

I actually did try Stella & Chewy's (freeze dried). He ate it for 3 days! He ate it when I tore it up into tiny pieces & he ate it when I re-hydrated it with a little water. I was thrilled! I thought I'd found THE food! On the 4th day, he sniffed & walked away. I was sooo bummed.

Does Gracie still eat Stella's everyday? 3 times a day? Do you ever feed her anything else? Does she have days when she's picky?

Today was the first day of trying this technique out. He didn't eat. I knew he wouldn't. And he looks tired, sleepy & slow. I feel horrible! I don't know if he's not eating his Fromm because he really doesn't like it...or if he's just holding out for something better. We're at the point that I have no idea what he actually likes to eat. He perked up when he saw me making chicken & scalloped potatoes. He thought it was for HIM! Poor thing :(

I have changed her brand of raw a few times. The Stela & Chewy's frozen raw is her favorite. I have decided just to stay with it. I do buy different kinds though and switch from Lamb to Chicken and then Duck just to keep it interesting for her. I do use the freeze dried as kind of a treat for her and sometimes mix it in the thawed frozen raw that she eats. There have been occasional days when she is not very hungry so I just put the food away and the next day she eats like a wolf again. Sometimes I will mix up some raw meat and veggies to give her. She still will not touch kibble. I guess she is some kind of dog food snob. She is certainly much better than when she was a puppy. One thing I found helped to get her to eat when she was a puppy was when the cats would try to eat her food. The cats loved all those different kinds of food I would try on her. It never worked with kibble but when I would cook for her she did not want the cats coming near the food and would at least eat a little.

I can relate to what your saying and have done the same things you did. It is tough to do "tough love" and if he doesn't eat maybe he's not hungry like we are at times, as I was told recently. Only in the last month plus my Yorkie had to see the Vet due to bloody stools he had from Acana that I switched him to since he wasn't eating. The Vet wanted him to eat "no treats" and that has been difficult since that is how we play ball as well as agility that we've been doing for 4 years now. The first week was extremely difficult since he would not for no reason play ball without a treat and marshmallows wasn't something he would eat either as recommended by the Vet. So for the last month plus, he's been eating and wanting to eat and can't wait to eat, but it took about a week for him to get this way also. I could go on and no, but just hang in there and know that there is another person out there who has the same issues like you.

My Dany is 10 weeks going on 11 weeks and still not eating on her own. She's getting over giardia, coccidia, and pancreatitis. So we are syringe feeding her every 4 hours. I try to offer her all kinds of food but she just has no interest. My biggest fear is that she won't ever want to eat on her own. It's stressful having to deal with a dog that won't eat, so I feel your pain!

I actually DID finally get him to eat! I knew he didn't like the Fromm I was trying to feed him. So I laid out pieces of all the samples I had. He went for the Acana Grasslands. I was so thrilled that he picked a good quality food! Unfortunately, the Acana made him itchy. He had big thick white eye gunk & his tummy was red :( I was sooo bummed when I realised he was reacting to the Acana. So now I have to start all over again :( He had Ziwipeak & a few bites of NV chicken tonight...the little frozen bites. Hopefully, he won't be bored with that by tomorrow morning. Thank you for the support! I know I'm not alone :) Whoever would have thought that such little creatures could be so stubborn ;)

Poor Dany! But she's still a baby & you're doing what you need to do to keep her healthy. I'm sure that once she's feeling better, her appetite will increase. I used to smear a drop of chicken baby food or canned food on Yoshi's paw to try to get him to lick it off. I kept doing that until he was familiar enough with it that he'd eat a little from a saucer. He still won't eat from a bowl. But as long as he's eating, I don't mind serving him food on a saucer. Good luck! She's adorable!

Looks like you are on the road to getting him to eat. Sorry the one he liked made him itchy. I bet this is going to get solved soon.

Thank you Lisa :) Now I'm worried about allergies. I don't know exactly what's causing it. I really don't want to spend even more money playing trial & error on grain-free or limited ingredient kibble. I just ordered from Darwin's. If he reacts to something in his raw, I may be able to pinpoint the ingredient since the ingredient list is a lot shorter than typical kibble. In the meantime, he's getting ZiwiPeak & NV Raw Bites because that's what I have on hand. I'll update to let you know how it all works out :)

Does he like the ZiwiPeak? The lady that runs the natural pet food store that I go to showed it to me the last time I was there. I am always looking for a dry food to feed her when we are away from home. I was thinking of trying it on our next trip but was really unsure about another change in her diet.

Yes! I'm also curious about how he likes the ZiwiPeak! ZP sent us a trial bag which I just use as treats but I'd like to use it on a more regular basis when we do the raw meals.

He does eat the Ziwipeak. This morning his poop was nice & firm :) The odor is pretty strong, so it probably has a very distinct taste. I'm thinking that might cause him to get bored with it quickly. But who knows?? He's not very predictable. Maybe try mixing it with some kibble to introduce it? The bag comes with a cup that looks like its about a 1/3 cup size. Yoshi is 6 pounds. His daily ration is supposed to be .66 of the cup.