getting my dog to eat

[kiawelsh]

how can I get my 8 month old german shephard to eat her food. She is on dryed pedigree chum complete which she is reluctant to take it .She is still on the puppy food , we have added some chum puppy meat to it to try to get her to eat it, but she still just picks at it. we contacted her previous owners and they confirm that they gave her the same and she ate it. She is starting to loose weight so we have taken her to the vet and they have checked her over and we have been told that she is fine. They advised us just to leave it for her and she will eat it we have done this , but she would rather go without.

[mw]

I had this problem with my collie and the vet told me they wont starve they will eventually eat.
I think as long as they are drinking its okay as i said she will start to eat when she is hungry.

[lilacben]

I have this with one of my collies. Buy some Butchers tin dog food, Tripe, they all love this put some in with the feed. hope that makes her eat. Other wise don't worry she will eat when hungry. Brenda

[winny]

Its true if they do not have a medical reason for not eating they should not starve. Dogs are not grazers and I was told to put their food down and if they did not eat it pick it back up again. They learn they either eat it or it goes. If left down they think they can do as they like but they are not naturally grazers. They are physically built to eat once or twice a day (unless they puppies or small breeds).
If hungry the dog will eat. Try mixing gravy up and stiring it in the biscuits. Mine sometimes get this if they are off food or as a treat.
It could also be on a power trip as it can sense you are worried at food time. If you are firm and take it away then it will realize you are not messing.

[garner]

kiawelsh why not be crafty and try a little cooked chicken cut up fne and mixed with her normal food. if she eats it you will be well on your way..gradually reduce each meal [the chicken im on about] and i think you will find in a few days she will eat her normal diet...fingers crossed

[Illyria54]

I have a 10 month old GSD, I usually give her some tripe with her dry food, it's really stinky but all my dogs like it, they also like Butchers tripe (tins) don't give too much though as she is on a complete food, try also a tin of sardines or tuna, dogs love stinky things, try her on a different dry food, try Beta puppy/junior or Bakers puppy, add some veg and a bit of cooked pasta or brown rice I give a bit of pasta to mine (I have 3 GSD's and a Border Collie) with veg, cabbage/peas/carrot/swede/cauliflower you can give broccoli but not too much and no onion as it's toxic, you have to jazz her food up a bit and make more interesting, the tripe in particular is good as it will help to put weight on her. Give it no longer than about a week then take her to the vet again. Don't feed her ad-lib, if she refuses a meal after say 10 mins take it up and don't give her anything until the next regular feed time in the day, but as I have said please don't let this go on for more than a week, if you are not happy with what your vet says then go see another one.
Good luck and please let us know how she gets on.
PS. when you give meat of any kind mix well in don't just leave it sitting on the surface I find this works well. and by the way I'm not suggesting that you try all these things at once but I alternate things to keep things interesting.

[missmoore]

You can get savory sauce from Iams to pour on dry dog food to make it more appealing. however, when my pup was young she wouldn't eat her food if it meant she had to turn her back on the room (i think this must have been something to do with when she was still being fed by her mum). also, sometimes we would mix bits of cooked tikka flavoured chicken though her food. rather than sorting through it, she just tended to eat it all.

[oxo]

We have a boxer puppy 8 months old and she is very fussy.We add some boiled rice with an oxo cube crushed into it,the rice will fatten her up, mind you she does not always eat it!!

[Annlinda]

Would you like to eat dried dog kibble every day? Its not a natural food for dogs. IMO dried rubbish should not be used as the main food only used as an additive. Try the BARF way of feeding.
www.barfworld.com
or
wwwbarfclub.co.uk
Does she like scrambled eggs? when my dogs feel under the weather they will often lap them up.