Eating behavior

[whackichic]

My Frenchie - 1 yr old neutered have him 4 months now. At first ate his food like any normal dog. Lately, oh 3 days now he has snubbed his food. I thought ok he got tired of it. They are getting a mix of Evo & tripett. I seperated the dry and tripe and he would eat one then the other. Next day snubbed it again. Ok, so maybe its the water in the kibble and the salmon oil supplement, left that out, nope snubbed. OK i'll go get new kibble to try. Leaning towards wellness core.
Today, snubbed again so I let Biz (the previously on prozac fearful one) have his food and that little guy ran over to the bowl growled and woofed it down.
I left him alone w/his food for the 15 minutes and didn't even touch it.
(I was doing everything to get him to eat and he did finally eat so he hasn't fasted for 3 days)
Why would he eat when the other dog showed interest? I'm still off to try wellness but still. Who's to say he won;t do the same thing. What dog doesn't like tripe?

 

[lizzybeth727]

Some dogs just decide not to eat for a few days, it's pretty normal. As long as he's not showing any other signs that he might be sick (lethargy, vomiting, diharrea, etc.), he probably just doesn't want to eat. This happens more often, too, when it's hot out.

Be careful: This is just the situation where dogs learn that if they're picky with their food, you'll put treats in it.... He'll get you trained before you know it! Stick with your guns - leave the food down 15 min or so, and if he doesn't eat, pick it up and don't offer it to him again until the next meal time. Offer him food 2-3 times a day, and if you do put "special" stuff in the food, put it in BEFORE you give him the bowl, don't give him the food and then add the special stuff after he snubbs it.

And about the other dog - some dogs like competition for their food. My dog does the same thing, except she does it with my cat - she gobbles up her food if the cat walks by (and the cat does NOT care about her food).

 

[Maxy24]

Maybe try to make her work for dinner, use a food releasing ball, toss kibbles across the floor for him to chase or make him go through training. Guess it makes dinner more fun. He may still turn up his nose at it so I would just do as Lizzy says, a day or two of no food will not hurt him. Leave the food down 15-20 minutes and then take it up until the next meal. As far as eating the other dog's food it might just be the same as children, don't want it until someone else has it.

 

[whackichic]

I may have said it wrong. He ate his food only after the other dog showed interest in it. I'm not sticking stuff in it to make it better. I just put some of it on the floor and he ate it. He's not going to train me!!!!!!!!!! ha ha I just never had a dog who showed no interest in food until another dog was. I've never had a finicky eater. Mine have always ate right off.
Thanks for the advice!

 

[lizzybeth727]

You mentioned changing foods, I thought that's what you meant....

 

[whackichic]

oh yeah I did --- I thought he didn't like the food. He might not. He certainly ate all of it when Biz showed interest in it. I thought I would try a different brand and see how he does and if he does the same thing then it's not necessarily the food, but him. I hope that makes sense. Now that I think about it I quit giving him the chicken Evo cuz he did the same thing and I started giving him the red meat one. hmmmm maybe he's a variety type dog.
thanks for your help.