need advice for picky eater on wellness super5mix

[beeniesbabe]

Hi everyone, I am pretty new on the boards and I need some advice about feeding. I have a 5 year old golden and a 11 month old pug. I was feeding both dogs pedigree, basically because it was cheep and convenient. We found out last fall that our golden has allergies. We went to the vet and they gave him steroids. They never mentioned it might be food related.

Our pug has always been very picky about food. I have tried hand feeding, adding wet food, crushing up treats on the food and actually sitting on the floor begging the "baby" to eat. She doesn't have any problem eating anything "human". She actually gets on the chair at dinner like she is sitting down with the family.

I have a small family daycare and the kids are always spilling and dropping food and the dogs are my little vacuum cleaners. I finally had enough and consulted the PV forum and found out what a huge mistake I was making. We went to Mounds and spent a good hour talking to the sales clerk who was extremly knowledgeable. She told us to stay away from chicken and turkey because we don't know what the golden is alergic to and since pedigree doesn't have lamb, venison ect we should be alright. We chose wellness super5max. We also added Missing link supplements. I am adding the new food to the pedigree slowly, about 10-20 percent each feeding and not allowing any treats, or table food at all. I add a little low fat plain yogurt and heated the food up for the pug.

The problem is the pug wont eat it.

She hasn't eaten more than a cup in two days. She picks the Wellness kibble out and spits it on the floor. She is very small and I don't know how long to let this go on. Should I go back and try another brand, maybe with a smaller kibble? Is it a good idea to switch brands twice in just a few days? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[FourteenLegs]

Firstly, welcome! Sounds like Miss Puggy has you well trained. Glad you have sorted out that her previous diet was a problem, pancreatitis from human food is potentially fatal.

There are people infinitely better at giving training advice than I, but I have heard some say that the method of putting food down for 15 minutes only, then removing it, can retrain recalcitrant puggies. The problem here is that she is programmed into a certain eating habit and she is quite happy with that and is not impressed with what you are doing. Persevere! A cup of good food over a 24 hour period is fine, she's not starving and she won't.

Good luck and please update us!

[shaynapug]

That's what I have always done.

15 minutes down in the AM..then nothing til dinner. 15 minutes then....

They will not starve.....At least most of them wont!

I had a pup that I picked up at about 6 months old. The owner had him in an xpen most of the day. Being out of them was just to run around and be nuts! I had him for 3 wks........He never rested...unless I caged him..which broke my heart! He would not eat either....I made Fat balls!! It ended up that I sent him back. I had a very sick boy that I lost the day after the one that wouldn't eat left....(had been told he would have 2 months and it was 1 wk!)

He ate like a pig once he got home........He was much happier living that kind of life than the one of freedom and sleeping on the bed that he got here! Sad!!

Anyway...that is not your puppies problem....She's spoiled!!!! Try the above.....Drive with at least a teaspoon of canned in it.

[Pugasaurus]

Yup, sounds like she knows how to tweak those little heartstrings! When a new foster comes, I want them eating good food, and they eat what I put out or they don't eat. I do the same as everyone else, leave food down for 15-20 minutes and if there's any left it goes up after the 15-20 minutes and we try again the next feeding. Most new fosters will refuse food for the 1st couple of days, but usually by the 3rd or 4th day, they finally get hungry enough to eat. I've only had a few that still wouldn't eat after trying the above and we found out they were either sick or the medicine they were on killed their appetite.

Most fosters can still be kinda fussy about what they eat or won't eat for snacks and training treats the first month with me, but usually after that, they'll eat anything put in front of them, even the dry dog biscuits the cashiers pass out at work.

[tocents]

I may be way off base here but is it possible that the Pug has a tooth that could be bothering her? That might explain why she likes softer "people" food rather than kibble? Just an aside, I know that some dogs have allergies to corn and wheat, which might be something to look for in the ingredients.

As far as "getting them to eat" LOL, I'm a dismal failure in that department. My latest senior rescue (all 15 malnourished pounds of him) has me cooking for him and providing the finest and most expensive canned food that Canine Commissary provides. But for some reason, Walter is MUCH more willing to eat if I just put him in his own room and shut the door for a few minutes....

I'm sure PV will come through with excellent advice-just not from me-I'm a sucker in this department

[jwestoverpug]

Hi there and welcome to PV,

I agree she's not going to starve...1 cup over 2 days actually isn't that bad, that's how much many people here feed their pugs.

I will say my not one of my pugs would eat wellness, and that's very unusual...they eat anything! I have to somewhat disagree about avoiding chicken/turkey since pedigree contains those ingredients. Pedigree also contains all sorts of junk that are far more likely to cause allergies! Just keep the diet as simple as possible for now...not adding anything extra until you see how your golden does. Your pug will come around. Just don't worry about her. It sounds mean, but if she's hungry she will eventually eat. Pedigree is like doggie junkfood, so this is like trying to convince a kid who's been eating at McDonalds their whole life to eat good food.

Jesse

[beeniesbabe]

Thanks for all the advice. Last night we thought we had a break-through. Ate the whole bowl (about 1 cup) I crushed the wellness kibble up into smaller bites.

Unfortunately today not a bite. This is driving me crazy, and I am driving my husband crazy.

The vet did mention a while back that she needed her baby teeth pulled. We decided to wait. I didn't want to have her put asleep. She chews on flossies fine.

I didn't worry this much about my kids when they were little. My little Libby has me wrapped around her little paw.

I have been considering changing to nutro next week if things don't improve.

[ViralMD]

Don't worry about her starving herself, she won't.

Insofar as the deciduous (baby) teeth are concerned, these can be pulled, if necessary, when she's spayed, same procedure, no additional anaesthesias!