Unbelievable Picky Eat - HELP!
 

Hello. I have not been on Yorkietalk in a number of years. It's great to be back in seeing some old faces. We brought home a new puppy, Roxy almost 2 months ago. She is six months old and is a picky eater. And getting worse. I have read many posts about picky eaters and have tried a number of the suggestions. The most recent being royal canine. She will eat a few kibbles of it in the morning but then walks away. The one thing she will eat on a regular basis is chicken. Now I know this is not a complete nutritious diet for her so I am looking for suggestions on what to do. If it involves home cooking then will do it. But this little girl is like none other. Never have I had a yorkie that would not eat. Went to the vet yesterday and she is in complete good health. Since we have had her we have gotten 12 ounces put on her. Came to us at 2 lbs. 2 oz. and was 2 lbs. 14 oz. at the vet. So we're doing good. But she seems to be coming more increasingly picky. Please throw out the suggestions as only you can. By the way we have tried Kibbke soaked, Parmesan cheese, freeze-dried raw (she likes but only dry), even a sample of Honest Kitchen(no luck). I'm starting to spend a fortune on dog food. Thanks

Have you tried fresh raw bell pepper? Buddybear loves the red one. Occasionally raw sugar snap peas, carrots, apple, popcorn.
He is also very picky so I feel your pain!

Have you tried canned food?

My pups absolutely love Weruba Paw Lickin' Chicken canned food. We just put a teaspoon on top of their Merrick kibble and canned food and kind of cut it into their other food, don't mix it in or it might mask the delectable aroma. It is expensive, $3.99 per can and we get it the better pet stores. It goes a long way since we just use a little to get them interested. It is shreaded chicken in kind of a clear gravy. The gravy soaks into the kibble and flavors that too. If they aren't really that hungry they will try to lick around the other food just to get the Webuba.

One of my babies is super picky and it drove me crazy that he wasn't eating unless he was starving. I have recently started taking a pound of chop meat and cooking it, bagging it up and freezing into small daily portions. I give them about 2/3 of their regular portion of dry kibble, then heat up the chop meat and mash it in with their dry food, getting as much of the real beef flavor on the dry kibble. They only get dry kibble for breakfast and anything left over gets added to their regular dinner portion. My boys love it and have never eaten their food so easily.

Weirdest thing happened to me today with Ella. She typically doesn't eat from her bowl. Today, I put her bowl of kibble on a footrest that has a slight tilt (poang foot rest from ikea). She ate all of it!!! She usually just sniffs her kibble and walks away and prefers me hand feeding her.

I think the 'tilt' made meal time exciting for her (when her kibble rolls) ahahah

Would love to see pics of your precious Roxie! I would definitely try mixing a small amount of canned with the dry kibble.

Another thing you might try is to build some excitement about the food. Put it in her bowl, act really excited, pretend to eat some - about this time she should be jumping and dancing around your feet. Offer her a choice piece of kibble with some yummy topper. I sometimes boil a boneless skinless chicken breast, cook most of the water out and then put the meat and broth into my food processor and make my own gravy. I freeze teaspoon size dollops in a silicone candy mold and then pop them out into a zip lock bag so that they are ready when I need them. About 20 second in the microwave thaws and warms.

They have dog puzzles you could put her food in. My oldest girl was like that until she had another dog around.

If she likes the freeze dried raw, then why not feed it...? Feeding it dry is fine.

I feed my dogs taste of the wild small breed, and they love it. My dogs have sensitive tummies and are picky and when I switched them they ate all of the taste of the wild and left their old dog food in the bowel. Royal canine has some bad reviews.

Every food has bad reviews. You have to be careful where the reviews come from. Royal Canin has Vet nutritionists, they do food trials, and have good quality control. A lot of these fly by night holistic companies don’t.

Not all dog foods have bad reviews I have done much research on dog food and have spoke with many vets and breeders. You can review the link I attached I like it because it tells you what is in each dog food, a lot of dog foods have fillers that have no nutritional need. https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com

I used to feed Taste of the Wild - my girls loved the wild boar flavor. When TOTW added chickpeas I had to change foods - my girls just can't tolerate chickpeas/garbanzo beans.

Weruva wet food is super popular with the picky ones. Some of the formulas look like human chicken noodle soup, lol. I really like the brand too and have been feeding it (mixed with dry) for years.

I feed mine venison flavor and they do great. I have not tried the flavor your talking about.