Bonnie won't eat her food - help! Update

[becgeo]

I don't know what to do! Bonnie has recently started to refuse to eat her food. I bought some different food which she ate for a day but she is now refusing that too. She will eat our leftover food and when I put her dog food on our leftover dinner plate she ate it. What do I do??? X
UPDATE
Just wanted to say thanks everyone for your advice. Bonbon has gone back to eating relatively normally again, if a little fussier in her old age! Bizarrely though she keeps going outside to drink rainwater as opposed to tap water from her bowl! Fussy about the chlorine in the tap water?!

[Nettie]

Put her food down, if she hasn't eaten it after 10 minutes, take it up - that's it, she's missed her meal, same for the next meal. Dogs won't starve themselves, she will eat in the end, it will be a battle of wills though or just feed her from a human plate.

Sent from my HTC One using proboards

[pjpenny]

So sorry for you - its always really worrying when that happens. I've experienced the battle of wills with my whippet many times (for over a year) until very recently when I completely changed her diet. She refused to eat perfectly good food (as I thought it!)- even upped the game to v expensive wet dog food mixed with her biscuits in an attempt to get her to eat. The longest she went was a couple of days - I know they're not stupid enough to starve, but I snapped first as I couldn't stand the tummy rumbles any more and gave her cooked fish -at that point I would have given her steak if I had it!. It was getting very silly and in the end I reverted back to her old food and hid her biscuits or made her work for them by putting them inside treat balls, it did work but is a bit time consuming! As long as you are sure there is no medical reason why she isn't eating and she's either a fussy madam and has decided she would prefer something better you could try playing hide and seek or tire her out and try again. I now only feed mine their main meals after they've had some exercise as they are then quite hungry -but they do love their food now as I've switched to mostly raw.

[lurcherlot]

I think that if her not wanting to eat goes on longer than 2 - 3 days, then a vet check is in order. It seems that human food is always better than their own, but I know how irriating it is when they eat a particular food for a day or so, then refuse it the next meal. I find that Nature's Menu gets them eating again, but do check there are no underlying problems.

[Ted]

I do not have any difficulty with mine because I feed them Naturediet, Forthglade or sometimes Gelert Country mix. If I was to feed any of my four Hounds just Kibble they would refuse it and rather starve themselves than eat that rubbish. They will snack on Kibble between meals. I find sometimes if I hold their food dish they really enjoy that attention. Sometimes you have to get to know what they prefer not to eat. Even my Blind Ibizan Hound will eat 1/2 a carton of Naturediet for breakfast but prefers Gelert Country Mix (a tin) for her evening meal. My 3 Greyhounds like any of Naturediet Forthglade or Gelert Country Mix, but they do like a variation in the food for their evening meal. Yes if There is so-called human food they also love that such as buttered bread and chips sandwich, cheese, ham or chicken slices.

Merlin weighs in at 35 kilos, Mickey-Finn at 37 kilos, Kelly at 38 kilos, that is my 3 Greyhounds and Menta my Ibizan Hound at 25 Kilos she did go up to 35 kilos and it was found the overweight was due to fluid around her lungs and belly area. Menta looks as though she has lost alot of weight as her tummy area is tucked in, but she has as much daily food as the three Greyhounds.

Even for snacking on I find none of my 4 Hounds like the more expensive kibbles like Burns, but if I get a Gluten free Chicken and Rice Kibble that costs around £12.50 for 15 kilos they love that kibble. It is finding out what they consider they like to eat.

[Lisa]

Agree with Liz. If she is not usually a picky eater then FULL vet check including full blood work up to rule out anything else happening before looking at diet.

[becgeo]

Thanks for your thoughts. I should mention that I have just had a baby (5 weeks old) so it is possible that Bonnie is reacting to the change in routine. I am trying so hard to keep things non stressful for her but obviously things aren't perfect for her at the moment. I have plugged in a dap diffuser. I just really need to get her to eat! Guess I will be cooking her fresh food for a bit. So difficult when I am already stressed with loads to do!! Poor Bonnie is probably picking up on my stress too.

[lurcherlot]

Ah ha! She could possibly be protesting because she doesn't get the attention she was used to .... one thing, you must let Bonnie see and get close to the baby, don't make the mistake of shutting her away. As far as she is concerned, this 'thing' has come from outer space, and Bonnie's been there for years ... she was your baby!
A vet check will determine this either way.

[becgeo]

I am definitely not shutting Bonnie away, I have to shut the dog gate on my bedroom door at night but she has free access to the whole house and us for the rest of the time, and I am trying really hard to pay as much attention to her as possible. Aargh it is all so stressful, I should have just got another dog!! Not that Bonnie would have been too happy about that either though!!

[becgeo]

We have progress! I took Bonnie for a longer walk tonight and she has eaten some rice and some of her wet food. Maybe she needs more exercise...

[samburns]

Congratulations on your new arrival   I did wonder if you had had your baby and that maybe Bonnie was reacting maybe to the changes in her life.  Fingers crossed things will settle more into a routine for you all soon x

[ragsysmum]

Maybe you can walk the baby and the dog out together. Will be good for all three of you I would think.

[vickyb]

I wore Mark's pushchair out walking so far with him in it and Zeus at the side  Did us all good, fresh air for Mark which tired him and exercise for Zeus and me. Bounced it over the fields as far as was possible
Hope she starts to eat soon. Have you checked her teeth to make sure there isn't a crack in one? A trip to the vets might be a good idea as going off their food or being picky with it is a sign of several things. 

[becgeo]

It is really tricky as she finds going to the vet extremely extremely stressful and with her already being a bit stressed I am reluctant to add to it. She is herself in all other ways so I don't think she is ill. I have bought some naturediet wet food and she will eat that enthusiastically with her dry food if I put soya milk on it. At least she is eating but it could get expensive!!

[pjpenny]

If she's ok with a mix of raw wet and dry, a cheaper option she may like is the Naturesmenu freeflow bags - lamb & chicken mince (with ground bone) always go down well with mine (£4.50 for a 2kg bag) and quiet a few pet shops sell it.