Willie isn’t eating right now. He’s a little chunky, which worries me a bit. He’s got a little sway to his gait, which it’s been said could be a sign a large breed dog is susceptible to hip dysplasia in their older years. I try to sneak in weight reduction food every once in a while (which probably doesn’t help, not sticking to it till it works), but when I looked at the Iam’s brand the first ingredient was corn. So I chose the “proactive health” for adults because of meat first. Still a bad move.
When Willie was a puppy we tried just about every premium food on the market. He didn’t like any of it. Almost all of them are one color & one texture. You know what we found he likes? Any food with multiple colors & textures.
Right now I have a mix of two premium foods & canned weight reduction recipe…two premiums & canned?! Wow, thats filet mignon right? Nope, not for Willie. One color, two sizes but one texture food…doesn’t eat it. Two days now. No, not sick, and has his energy, loves his long walks.
At the shelter, I try to do all kinds of crap to figure out how to try to get the not eating dogs to eat like we ar supposed to. I work with my feeding partner one day, we talk about our job. She mentioned with some she doesn’t go that extra mile, and you know what? They’ll eventually eat.
Its a weird fence to straddle. There’s the thinking “we have to do everything we can as their caregivers” against “they’re animals, they’ll eat when the NEED to eat (like in nature).
Bottom line is it’s true when they get hungry enough they will eat what’s available to them.
But as my dog’s owner tho, I’m gonna walk my butt to the pet store tomorrow if Willie doesn’t eat his breakfast & get some multi-colored/multi-textured food to mix with this food in order to get my chunky buddy to eat (even tho he’ probably eat what I have in another day or so)…he could handle missing a coupke meals to shed a few pounds, but I ain’t gonna make him.
UPDATE: I separated his wet and dry food. He ate both. Did he finally just get hungry enough to eat or what? I have done this same exercise with dogs at the shelter, most do the same thing, some eat just the wet. Just saying it goes to show you just never really know since they can’t exactly “tell” you.
