He wont EAT! :(

[Titus_22]

So I've had my year old Dutch on Taste of the wild since he was a puppy (the salmon formula) on occasion feed him raw diet but its just so damn expensive!

Anyways long story short he used to be SOOOOO enthusiast when it came to feeding time and would gobble it down in seconds but for the last few weeks he hardly will touch his food unless I hand feed it to him or mix in some hot dogs or raw eggs lol. And yes he's acting normal and crazy lol and his poop is normal too. Ive tried switching flavors and it has not helped. Should I switch brands completely? Im at a lost for what to do! HELP PLEASEEE

[karenz]

Xander did the same thing with blue buffalo when he was about 6 or 7 months. Even a different flavor didnt help. I finally switched to merricks. Ever since he eats fine.

[centrop67]

I am not saying that getting another dog is the answer, but Radar was starting to get finicky about eating until Leela arrived.

[Owned-By-Hendrix]

HAH! Yeah that would help wouldn't it?

I would change brands, personally. Maybe test out some canned food for a bit, see what brand he seems to like (and you and your waller approve of). He eats treats and other things just fine, right? Then it wouldn't be a loss of appetite. I was once advised by a really awesome pet nutritionist that if you switch foods, try to choose a brand with other flavors, so you can switch them around, because hypothetically each one has slightly different mineral and nutrients so you'd be preventing nutritional deficiency and also providing interest. I know I get bored when I eat sandwiches for a week. Now, not sure how *true* that is, and take it with a grain of salt, but always an idea.

Also, try maybe food toys so he has to work for his food? Maybe he's just bored?

[karenz]

I forgot to mention that our petstore offers refund or exchange for certain brands if the dog won't eat it. It basically covers the high end brands. Just something to check on.

[johninny]

once pups get past their super enthusiasm for everything edible, i have found that some if not all DS [ a matter of degree ] get very fussy about the quality of what they eat. so i agree, i would switch brands [ upwards ] like merrick grain-free as Karen suggested already or other brands like orijen that are especially popular here [ but i prefer merrick and it is a good value vs some other highly-rated brands. but you can find even less expensive with careful hunting among some top ratings. go for a full ''5'' rating on dogfoodadvisor or the very highest ratings on saveourshepherds.com [ merrick grain free is the single highest rated there]. if you go the canned route, merricks is really great, but you may never be able to go back. but if money is not an impediment, great canned food like merrick or dry raw like Ziwi Peak fish and venison [ but Ziwi is very expensive ] cannot be beat for full nutrition and overall appeal to dogs.

also Kira has a point about variation. i'm a big believer in variety for nutrition and pleasure for the dogs AND myself. my dogs have always gotten 3 distinctly different meals a day; i am sure they have their favorites but hopefully they remain interested enough to eat anything that is good for them.

[Titus_22]

LOL definitely not another dog! One Dutch is a full time job as it is haha

Oh yes Titus loves canned food but I think that would get to pricy seeing that I feed him 4cups of food a day AND he's still on the thin side (weighs about 70-75pounds) talk about a fast metabolism

I will defiantly look into the merrick grain-free brand! Taste of the wild is grain free as well (30lbs for 50$) do you know what the price for the average bag costs?

Its funny because Titus loves my parents dogs food and its the 20$ pedigree food lol

and yes he eats treats and all other foods just fine! he loves to chase and on occasion eat dirt lol so maybe he has a mineral deficiency that taste of the wild is not covering??

but thank you all SOOOO much for your advice and help

[johninny]

JUST came back from the ''mom&pop'' pet store with a 25 lb. bag of merrick grain-free buffalo at a cost of $50 - which i think is about $5 less than petco. fyi and for comparison, also got merrick cans of ''working dog stew'' [ featuring a wide variety of organ meats ] for $2.25 each by the case.

it's probably the thrill of taking food from someone else and, even better, food than belongs to another dog that has Titus excited about eating at your parents' house. my own matured DS developed very high taste standards for food from me, but would gladly take from others food/treats he would never dream of stooping to if offered by me.

[Titus_22]

Oh awesome thats not too bad then. Im assuming that the buffalo mix is the best or does it not really matter? He has a fast metabolism so I want whatever is best for him

[Owned-By-Hendrix]

They're all five star if I remember correctly, so choose whatever you think he would like best. You can double check on dogfoodadvisor.com too. H has a few Merrick cans in the pantry though I feed Orijen - occasionally I like to put a little on top of his food and he loves it all. Especially anything duck. I think, if I'm remembering right, they have certain "styles" you can get in smaller almost cat food-like cans that are fairly cheap, like a 1.50$ each-ish. Either that or I fed H cat food. Whoops.

Pick a few that are similar to the kibble flavors and try them out as taste tests one afternoon, a spoonful of each. You know that face or action they do when they REALLY like something? Or if you're not squeamish, do the hidden hand test. Put a little of two flavors in your closed fist (or maybe use a cough syrup cup) and offer him the two closed fists to sniff. Whichever he wants more he'll go for first. I do this with treats so I know what has value and what has REALLY high value. To double check the results, offer him the same two choices in the same hands, or mix them up (just know that if you mix them up, the scents will mix and you may get a mixed result). Whatever he likes best, buy the kibble. If he's not overly fond of that flavor, try another flavor. If you're already feeding 5 star you can't go wrong subbing out if he's not going YUM.

Probably a super over thinking way to buy kibble, right? lol.

[johninny]

i buy the buffalo because it is the animal most likely to be raised most naturally - like grass-fed, etc.
so for me it is a health/nutrition choice that i make and hope it is right.

[Dutchringgirl]

HAH! Yeah that would help wouldn't it?

I would change brands, personally. Maybe test out some canned food for a bit,

nooooooooooooooooooooooooo dont do cans!!!

[Mobil]

When I had my GSDs, there was a time when they started to refuse kibble they'd previously loved and slurped down. I kept the same food for them, but added just enough wet food to coat the kibble, and that made them love it again.

Lisa, what's wrong with canned food?

[Owned-By-Hendrix]

I'm guessing because of metal toxicity? Impurities/aluminum etc can leech into the food. However, I should have stated "for a bit" was 1-3 days, in which the risk of toxicity would be unusual. My bad! But I'm also curious too about what's bad with canned food; always love learning more about things here.

[johninny]

imo, much better to use canned than normal kibble: food in more natural state and, as per wide-ranging thread of kibble vs canned, better for teeth. [ assuming, of course, that the 2 forms are at equivalent places on the quality curve of their respective categories: much better to have a good kibble than a mediocre canned food.]

[Raven]

So how is quality canned better than quality kibble? There's processing on both.

And how is canned better for teeth? (Missed that thread.) Dogs don't really chew, so I'm curious how one is more beneficial than another. If anything, I'd say kibble would be better for teeth, but again, they don't chew.

[johninny]

in the last year and 1/2 [ but not in 2014 ], there have been 2 major discussions of kibble vs canned. one - initiated by me - specifically asked if equal quality canned or kibble was better for the teeth. 2 members did some really great research and 1 member [ sorry i forget who ] really pushed the subject in person with relevant experts - and the word came back ''canned'' - which was against the original consensus here. again, forget the specific science, but seemed solid and was very specific as to reason.. i was really looking for an answer because that would be the one thing that would cause me to abandon a RELATIVELY negative view of regular kibble [ if it was better for teeth, which is what several knowledgeable people had implied in other posts and thus had gotten me worried about my dogs' teeth ]

in the end, i pointed out that that conclusion coincided with my sample of 1 experience: TraceDog had almost no kibble in his entire life - only canned, Kiwi dry raw, or freshly prepared food - and his teeth had always shocked vets for their gleaming whiteness and perfection of gums and teeth right up to his death.
but i worried when it was implied that kibble was better that TD could have been a genetic fluke or that plentiful marrow bones could have been the single deciding factor. [ but thinking just now - for the first time - our dogs when i was young only had canned food their entire lives, never had teeth-cleaning [td also no cleaning ever ], and never had tooth or gum problems. also did not get marrow bones much at all.]

regular kibble and canned are both cooked, but it is the difference between eating a potato and a potato chip. for one thing, bio-availabilty has to be much improved with canned. less heat/pressure, no binders, and as one minor but important example, their cans have WHOLE blueberries in them, not some less-or-ineffective essence of blueberry nutrition.

do not get me wrong, i now use kibble [ grain-free merrick ] because i have 3 puppies and the time and cost of doing what i used to do for 1 dog would be prohibitive, but i consider the canned or prepared meals they get to be far superior in terms of overall well-being.

[Dutchringgirl]

an endocrine disrupting chemical known as Bisphenol-A (BPA for short) is in cans. Detected levels of BPA ranged from below 1 parts per billion (ppb), to over a part per million, with an average of 77.36 ppb. The study authors say that consuming BPA at that level for three meals a day every day could easily add up to levels associated with cancer and reproductive problems in lab studies.

[johninny]

Lisa, your concern about BPA is absolutely spot-on. importantly, anyone using cans should never even modestly SCRAPE the side of the can in emptying it [ applies to ANY can, not just dog food ]as the BPA is a coating of the inside. if a can sits around a very long time, the BPA liner material will tend to disintegrate, leaching into the food, so cans need to be fresh. if fresh and emptied carefully, it should not be a big risk.

of the 2 health risks you point to, the reproductive risk is the only significant one, so breeders should be concerned, but never heard of breeders using canned [ all kibble and/or raw for them ].[ BPA seems to be the main cause of the plummet in human fertility - a percentage in MALES and females that goes beyond what anyone would reasonably guess.] it would take truly huge amounts of BPA to raise cancer risk to a degree that could be statistically observed.

but to your last point, as a believer in variety/diversity of food source nutrition for many reasons, for those many reasons and the additional consideration of BPA, i would not and never have fed more than 1 can per day to any dog [ well 1 1/3 cans in the case of my current pups]. with all this in mind, i still view 1 canned meal as far superior to 1 meal of kibble as long as the can is not old and is handled in a manner appropriate for any can of food [ but would not want to use old kibble either - that would DEFINITELY be growing something unwanted and would have rancid oil full of free radicals that accomplish the same things as BPA or kibble that has not been sealed properly or stored in proper conditions also resulting in one or both of the above problems]. all food needs to be managed properly.

[johninny]

an aside on BPA in general and one further thought on kibble vs canned.

on the latter, it is my almost certain supposition that the interior of kibble bags is also coated with BPA, and those interiors come under the constant stress of bending, kinking, folding, and bad storage [ with too high temp being the main risk here as that makes BPA unstable ]. so along with what i say below, i think it is a matter of choosing your poison and exercising all possible care.

as long as BPA has come up:
^most of us live in houses where the water pipes are lined inside with BPA. do not ever use any degree of hot tap water for consumption. [ any degree meaning the faucet should be 100% set to cold when obtaining water to drink, cook with, or boil for tea.]
^BPA is the component that allows plastic containers [ cups, soda bottles, baby bottles, peanut butter jars, more and more converted from glass every day ....] to be relatively rigid and clear [ vs. cloudy; still may be ''clear'' red or ''clear'' yellow, etc] simultaneously. not much danger in this if not allowed to sit for ages and never used for ANYTHING that is hot [ so babies are really in for it]. NEVER microwave or cook in plastic of any sort; if it is not BPA, it is something else that will get you. i have puzzled over the phrase ''MICROWAVE SAFE" for 3 decades just as for decades before that i marveled at the phrase ''Authentic Imitation Leather'' and its many variations!
^BPA is used directly on foods to keep them fresh and to beautify them. for me, apples are the scariest example: if the apple is waxed shiny [ unwaxed apples look unappealing and even diseased to many modern folk], then it is covered with BPA. this presents a double-whammy as apples are incredibly difficult to grow organically and, in fact, are usually drenched in a greater variety of herbicides and insecticides than any other food -- and yet the BPA wax makes it all but impossible to wash that off. don't buy shiny apples. don't zest with waxy oranges, etc.
^BPA lines almost all of some people's food containers: i.e., milk, juice, vitamin/coconut water cartons; all cans; pizza boxes; paper plates, paper cups [ aka coffee cups; milkshake, soda, slushie, & ice cream cups ]; plastic, composite, and metal bottle tops; paper, plastic and metal wrappers and bags; frozen food boxes - like almost every kind of ice cream comes in. if any of you have kept a coconut water or juice or soup carton around a little long and seen it get a bit mushy: that means the BPA lining has dissolved into the contents; the contents are probably still ok by most measures, but contain a boatload of BPA.
the ABSOLUTE WORST - aside from apples - is stuff like coffee cups and pizza boxes where the bpa lining can be GUARANTEED to melt into your drink or food. ever wonder where the shine of a pizza box or coffee cup interior went? it went into your body. never combine BPA linings or composite materials with anything warm, hot, or otherwise challenging.

close to 100% of the American population has significant amounts of BPA in their bodies and nowadays are heavily exposed from the day of birth. it is all having an enormous effect on the biological ability of people in advanced societies to reproduce.

so again, Lisa, you are very right to be concerned about BPA in cans, but the presence of BPA in cans is a small part of the problem. one simply needs to know that BPA is almost omni-present in ''industrial'' goods, be aware of its properties, and then devise ways to minimize its intake.