Dog owners often run into the same issues and I can relate to them from experience. I have fallen for the same tricks when Kensho played them on me.
Question from a desperate dog owner:
“My 7 month old pup is more than picky when it comes to her food! She just doesn’t LIKE any of it, so she won’t eat very much. I’m to the point where I think if she’s hungry enough she will eat it!
I started with Nutro Lamb & Rice, she won’t eat that anymore, then changed to Chicken Soup… it gave her the runs… then to Canidae Chicken & Rice.. she wouldn’t eat it… now I have California Natural Lamb & Rice, which she will only eat if I mix in a little canned food (and even then she will only pick around and eat the canned food). It also gave her runny poop today.
I know this subject has been beaten to death, but I’m so frustrated! Should I just stick to one food and make her learn to love it, or should I continue to switch until I find a food she actually likes?? Help! “
Now there are several issues here:
- Apparent lack of appetite.
- Runny poop or diarrhea.
- A dog that has found out how to manipulate its owner.
APPARENT LACK OF APPETITE
Animals won’t just starve themselves to death so have trust in your dog’s natural instincts to survive. When she’s really hungry she will eat any kind of food. So don’t be afraid and stop trying to upgrade her meal every time she hesitates to eat. But I understand that when you love your puppy and especially when you’re an unexperienced puppy owner you may start to panic when she misses 2 or 3 meals in a row.
My Akita was a very picky eater and I was upgrading his meal to get him to eat, worried as I was. Then one day he developed diarrhea and the vet told me to withhold all food for 24 hours so his intestines could recover and get a little rest. This worked and when the diarrhea stopped I could give him a small meal. By that time Kensho had gotten really hungry and ever since he just eats his dry kibble. It’s in the breed characteristics to skip a meal so now and then and I’m not worried anymore when he does that (he’s almost three years old now).
RUNNY POOP OR DIARRHEA
Switching dog food to often or to sudden can be the cause for runny stool. It upsets the intestinal flora balance. The intestines of a dog (and ours too for that matter) harbor many bacteria. Because colonization with good bacteria prevents rapid proliferation of bad bacteria, your dog is less susceptible to infectious diarrhea. This is why the intestinal balance is so important in your dog’s immunological defense.
For more information regarding this I can point you to the following pages on Best Dog Food Guide:
- When and how to change dog food.
- Restore the intestinal balance to increase your dog’s resistance to diseases by supplementing his food with prebiotics or probiotics for dogs.
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YOUR DOG MAY BE TRAINING YOU (instead of you training your dog)
Most dogs are very keen. I even suspect them being so smart that they sometimes play dumb to avoid doing chores around the house 
. When you upgrade their meal with table scraps, gravy, salmon, a real good piece of lamb or chicken every time he hesitates to eat then guess what happens? He’ll hesitate again the next time! Perhaps you are already aware of this and you resist a meal upgrade but then what do you do when your dog is more patient than you. He hesitates longer. You start to freak out… afraid he might die from starvation. So you throw in some fatty table scraps or buy the finest caviar just so he’ll eat. Then your dog has won. He has learned to just hesitate, be patient and the reward will follow. That way your dog is in control instead of you!
You have selected good food for your dog when YOUR dog is doing well on it. Dogs are individuals and a dog food that is perfect for one dog may not suit another dog very well. A good indicator whether the kind of dog food you choose is good for your dog is to look at your dog’s health. Is his coat shiny? A quick indicator is to observe his stool (you can do this every day, right? ). Is it runny all the time, then the dog food you’re feeding is not digested very well and your dog is not getting all of the nutrients out of it.
- Dog health checklist.
- Dogs in Western countries are usually too fat instead of too thin. Obesity can increase the risk of developing canine diabetes amongst others.
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