Puppy refusing food unless hand fed :-( :-(
 

We are going through a time with Baby Blessing not eating unless we hand feed it to her, I have tried changing bowls, different quality dry foods, also canned nutro lamb and rice formula, thinking that may help. She will eat from my hand or fingers at times and most of the time being coaxed. Has anyone else experienced this and what did you do. She is now 17 weeks. We appreciate any suggestions.

I would suggest you try feeding her with a hand-held spoon and graduate to small amounts of food stuck on the side of a plate that you hold up for her. The hand feeding can become a habit ad not a necessarily good one...Good Luck!

I think this is something that a lot of us have been thru! Chewy was like that, I had to feed him kibble by kibble. From all indications it is something that they grow out of and i wouldn't go nuts about it ;)

when i have the time, i'll hold him over the bowl until he eats.
when i don't have the time, (and i know a lotta people here say it's a big no-no, but really, bunjee does not experience lactose intolerance for the amounts i give him), i'll add a tsp of skim milk to the kibbles and he'll gobble it up.

Here it is after one o'clock in the morning, just couldn't go to sleep knowing that Baby Blessing hardly ate today. Stumbled into the kitchen half asleep, heated up a bit of the nutro lamb and rice wet and put a tad bit of cheddar cheese through out it and placed it on a paper towel instead of a dish and she ate it, oh so thankful. I know I will be able to sleep better now. We have gotten very attatched to her and after loosing Cassie I guess I am edgy with what we are all of a sudden this past week going through now with Baby in not wanting to eat. Upon getting into the frig, one of the door shelves went tumbling down and the lowered ones followed, but she ate so that was all worth it in cleaning up. The tiny bits of cheese is what inticed her to eat the wet but the dry she just don't want any part of now. In desperation I have rubbed the cheddar cheese over the kibbles filling in the little round holes, but I don't want that to be a habit either. These little yorkies are so smart and I think they can read our minds, I just hope she can read mine now in saying " Baby let's go back to sleep." I sure could use some suggestions on dry feeding cause it is a real problem, have tried putting a bit of warmed non fat milk with it but that didn't work. I appreciate this site and any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks again for your help.

Just a thought, but maybe Baby Blessing is teething? It is uncomfortable for them to pick up their food when they are teething. You might try an extra tiny kibble, such as Artemis Small Breed. One of girls needs a tiny-tiny kibble, and on top of that, she's a fussy eater, so the Artemis solved both problems.

I feel bad for you, worrying over her. I know the feeling.

If you want to feed canned, Nature's Variety Prairie makes an excellent canned food, all meat, no grains, and my girls just scarf it up! Merrick also makes an excellent canned, but a little too much water for my girls.
Sheila

Sometimes I do this for Starsky. He eats 2 times a day and he won't eat unless I sprinkle food on the floor at least somewhere outside of his dish. I will do this just sometimes. I figure if he is really hungry he will eat out of his dish otherwise he'll wait until next feeding time. I can't leave his food out all day because my beagle will snarf it up in no time. It really stresses Starsky out to have to protect it too.

I would make sure she's getting Nutrical.

I'd handfeed her and slowly guide her to the bowl.

We use the stainless steel bowls with the rubber on the bottom so they don't slide around.

Good luck. As someone else pointed out, she may be teething.

Missy did that last week one day but she was OK for the next meal.

That happened with Baby too when I first got her. I hand fed her b/c I didn't want her to get hypoglycemia. Well she never did (Thank God!). She's now 4 1/2 months and if I'm correct she's out of that hypoglycemic stage, so I put dry and wet down. And she eats when she wants. If she doesn't eat the wet quickly, I take it up b/c I don't want it to spoil. Don't know if I helped, but... :p

Thanks for the suggestions I shall look to see if they have the foods that one of you mentioned, we got her teething toys etc, is there anything I can get to rub on her gums to help with the teething situation? For some reason she don't want to eat out of dish or bowl so this morning I put her nutro wet with just tiny bit of cheddar cheese mixed in it on small paper plate, she ate very little of it this morning. How long does the teething process last? Have tried 5 different puppy dried foods. I even coated the dry with lil caesars but no go. Never had this happen before, I can see how one can get nervous when their eating habits change. Definately giving her Nutra-Cal. Thank you all so much, how lucky we are to have this great site.

Does she have any of the "soft" teething toys? Missy got a couple new soft teething toys yesterday from PetsMart.

Did you try wetting her kibble and letting it soak so it will soften a little? That might help.

Good luck.

You can rub a bit of Baby Orajel on her gums. Also, those human baby teethers that you put in the freezer are gerat for teething puppies.

To encourage her to eat, moisten her food, add a tiny bit of cooked chicken breast. Cottage cheese is good, too.

I had to hand feed Pixie her kibble after placing it in my mouth. Everyone thought I was crazy but she wouldn't eat and this helped. It's not a good idea but was desparate after she had one hypoglycemia attack. I added water to moisten her kibble and mixed a little shredded cooked chicken breast (skinless) in with the kibble. I was free from anymore eating issues. I also place her food on a small round but flat paper plate. I didn't want her eating off the floor and she didn't like eating from a bowel, even tried a small round plastic dish for cats.
Jessica

I feel you
 

I suggest you feed them at the same time, about 6' away from each other, and sit in the middle and direct him back to his own dish when he tries to interfere with your baby Yorkie eating. I did this when I got my second Yorkie, otherwise my 1st one would have eaten all the food! Now, they are 7 and almost 10, and don't go near each others dishes.