Two of my dogs, the 2 Gordon Setters, have suddenly just stopped eating their normal food. This has been going on about a week or so. I feed Diamond Naturals Chicken & rice dry mixed with a little Pedigree canned, or on some days a bit of left overs mixed in.
These 2 have never stopped eating for more than a day. They just were at the vet last Thursday and both are in good health. No other behavior changes, still active & playful. Still happy to take treats. They just don’t want their food. Interestingly, neither is losing any weight.
I have noticed previously that their appetites change when the weather changes, but normally only for a day or 2. This is going on longer and quite frankly, is worrying me a little.
I don’t want to encourage pickiness by adding in extra tasty stuff. I leave the food down for a half an hour or so and then take it up. I have been putting it back down for them in their bedroom when I go to work; normally, if I do this, it’s gone when I come home, but the last 2 nights, they haven’t touched it.
ANy ideas what may be going on? Any of your dogs go thru spells like this?
My poodle-mix does this. We ended up going through like 6 different dog foods before we settled on Taste of the Wild, which he has a 90% rate of eating. The last two days, he’s taken a mouthful and walked away from the bowl. Eventually, I pick it up and go on with my day. In a couple of day’s he’s usually hungry enough to eat with relish, and he keeps on until he has another picky spell. I don’t even notice it anymore.
Ordinarily, I’d say run to the vet because refusal to eat is a serious sign, but if they’ve been and the vet says nothing, just keep offering them food (and making sure they get no treats) and eventually they should settle back in.
dunno if it’s relevant, but Bump is also OCD, and has these weird rituals with his food. Seems like the more he feels he needs to rearrange it, the less he eats. When he’s having good days, he just flat-out eats without his rituals, so his pickiness might be related to that.
I have three dogs. I feed two times a day. Each week I skip one meal (on average) just to make things less predictable. I put food down for them (they all have to sit while I do this) then I tell them to eat. Maybe once a month I interrupt the meal, make all three sit, pick up bowls, do an inspection of the troops, put bowls back down, and allow them to finish.
Anyway, one of my dogs has extreme thunder issues. If she skips a meal, 99% of the time there will be a storm within a few hours.
If they are drinking, active, no diarrhea, no vomiting, no access to toxins, etc I’d chill.
Drinking, not vomiting/diarrhea, playful… no changes except for turning up their noses at the food they always scarffed down.
The food I feed is a good quality, no corn/soy/wheat, and reasonably priced. No way could I afford to feed all 5 dogs Taste of the Wild-I have priced it.
They were completely vetted on Thursday last week and Doc found nothing wrong with them. Not really worried…It’s just puzzling to me…
One concern I’d have is for some sort of contamination of the food. Two or three years ago a neighbors dog died due to food from China (IIRC). Just a thought. But their dog went from happy to vomiting over night.
The absolute last thing I’d do would be to “dress up” their food to try to tempt them to eat.
I remember the dog food scares well. But my 3 little dogs are still happily eating the same food, and NO ONE is sick at all. No vomiting or diarrhea. Just sniff the food, take a nibble or 2 and walk away.
And no, I will NOT be ‘dressing the food up’. They will eat what they are offered or do without. Unblss of course one is actually SICK, and then I do the rice & boiled chicken thing to get them to eat.
PapSett - My dogs were somewhat off their feed yesterday. I put their breakfast down (plain Diamond Premium) and there was still a bit in most bowls when I got home from work. Later I gave them dinner (Diamond Premium with homemade chicken/brown rice/veggies stew mixed in) . They ate the stew, but picked at the kibble. I skipped breakfast this morning, just to see if their appetite picks up tonight.
It’s been unseasonably hot, and that always affects their appetite. Hopefully things will be better by the end of the week.
Are you in the middle of an abnormal heatwave like much of the country? It’s possible they’re more listless than usual because the temperature increased so much, and so rapidly. If they’re bigger dogs, do they have bigger coats? I don’t know when they lose their winter coat, but they could just be REALLY hot because they still have their winter coats in 85 degree heat.
Yes, it has been hotter than normal, mid-80’s all week. Too damn warm for March. Last week while I was on vacation, I actually groomed my 2 Setters, trimmed & stripped their coats, so that should have helped them out.
Today, I only fed them half of their normal amount. They still just picked, leaving miost of the kibble. Honestly, I am about to put them on a 24 hour fast to see if THAT perks their appetites up…
I have fed Diamond for probably 20 years. My dogs have always loved it, even my picky Papillons. I don’t want to start offering a different brand because that caused pickiness, which I will NOT encourage.
I suppose I could contact the company and see if any changes have been made in the formula…
It could also be an off lot. I would pick up the smallest bag of that type and see if they’ll eat it.
I’ve noticed that my dog starts to eat less reliably as I get closer to the bottom of the bag. Probably the food is getting a bit stale and less palatable. So, I’ve switched to smaller bags. If she really gets picky, I’ll just toss the last bit of the old bag and start fresh. Could that be what’s going on here, perhaps magnified by the heat?
My dogs still weren’t terribly hungry tonight. They ate, but didn’t devour.
elfkin - Our food are both by the same company, but different varieties. And my dogs had been eating from this bag of food for a week (50 lbs every 8-9 days). I think it’s most the weather.
ETA: Tonight I opened a new bag, so it’s not that.
That happened to me with my cat one time - I bought a large bag of food for her, and it went stale long before she finished it. I bought a fresh small bag, and she scarfed it down. Both of my cats get listless and stop eating in the heat of summer, too.
Have you tried a fresh bag yet, PapSett? It would be amongst the first things I’d try.
Any possibility someone else is feeding them? Our neighbors dog was taking off for long periods for a while, and not eating much. They found him one day outside the drive up window at the Dunkin’ Donuts. The employees were tossing munchkins out to see him jump. There was also a woman on the street who feed any dog that came around. Feed big time. Quoting my son when the donut dog came by one day “Go see Mrs. M_____, she’ll probably give you a pot roast”
ETA: Also Blackjack gets tired of eating some canned foods some times. He’ll mope until I get him something different. Which I do, cuz my best friend is the best dog ever, and he deserves a good meal.
Tonight I came home and they had cleaned their bowls up. So that’s good news. Still limiting the treats, etc, they each got a half slice of cheese as their bedtime snack, no more.
No, TriPolar, there is no way anyone is feeding them but me. I have a 6 foot privacy fence around my yard and they are not allowed to roam at random… My dogs get good meals, too, I switch flavors of canned food for them every day; this is what I found unusual, because yesterday was their favorite flavor, turkey & bacon, the one they normally would do handstands for.
I am a little concerned about the Diamond food. Their past record on QC stinks. Recently on YA, somebody reported all 3 dogs eating Kirkland from Diamond got sick and one died.
You need to know your dog. If a dog that normally has a good appetite suddenly quits eating, it needs to see a vet. Something is wrong, and the vet can tell what it is and prescribe an effective remedy. Even an older dog may have something that will respond to treatment. At 12 years old, when my Lab, Aster, failed to eat one morning, I took her to the vet. It was pneumonia, which quickly yielded to antibiotics and she was soon her old self.
If the dog never did eat very well, and has seen the vet since the problem existed, you may be over feeding it. A vet check still won’t hurt. Many dogs will wolf down more than is good for them and look for more. Others refuse to eat more than than they need. Evaluate the dog as illustrated in this link, How To Tell if Your Dog is at a Healthy Weight – Long Live Your Dog You may want the vet to confirm your judgment. Adjust the dogs food and exercise as needed to reach its ideal body condition. Some German Shepherds and other breeds may refuse to eat enough to completely hid their ribs. As long as you are feeding a concentrated, meat based chow, the best thing is to accept it.
The worst thing you can do is to bribe a dog with rich foods into eating more than it needs. Instead, Put down the dish with what the dog should eat, and give it 15 minutes to eat. Then take it up. Do not give it anything to eat until its next scheduled meal. In a few days, it should be eating what it needs. Continue to check its ribs and adjust the food as needed. This is not easy. I had a Shepherd go 3 days on a few nibbles. I was a wreck, but she was fine. It is almost unknown for a healthy dog not to eat what it needs. Unfortunately, in too many cases, it is less than the package says, and less than the owner thinks the dog should have. Many dogs are quite good at holding out for tastier chow. Like kids, sometimes it calls for tough love.
My dogs all had a thorough vetting 1 week ago today. No health problems. Not overfeeding- the 2 Gordons, at 75 & 80 lbs, get about 2 and a half cups of dry and 1/3 of a can a day. They are in good weight.
They ate their food today without hesitation. It’s also 10 degrees cooler today.
Believe me, I am not a novice dog owner. Have owned dogs all of my 51 years, shown for 30 years, was an obedience instructor with the local club. I do have a clue what I’m doing.
Update: Diamond Pet Foods has announced a recall. At this point they’re claiming that one of their lines (Diamond Naturals Lamb and Rice) is possibly contaminated with salmonella. This makes me nervous about their other lines. My dogs all seem well and are eating fine.
Whatever snit they were in, they are past it and eating as normal now.
I did see that recall, and it does make me sweat a bit. I am feeding the Naturals, CHICKEN & rice. The announcement said no dogs have gotten sick and that no other food is affected…I am a litte nervous, too, tho.