Eating Problems

DobieGirl · 12-09-2007, 07:58 PM

Hey,
So Sirius is a fantastic eater, but since I've switched our new pup to Canidea she lost her appetite completely. She's been on Medical since we got her and she was eating fine while the two foods were mixed but after about 4 days of eating only canidea she suddenly stopped. She used to eat like she was starving to death but now she'll walk away from her food. Don't get me wrong, she's not starving, she will eat it eventually but my husband want's to put her back on the food she likes (Medi cal). I'm really impressed with the results of sirius on canidae (no more dry skin! yay) and I don't want to switch her. Should I just wait it out (it's been about 2 weeks now), is it common for pups to be picky when switching their food?

**Luvbirds59** · 12-09-2007, 08:00 PM

Try another good brand or a different flavor of the same food. Maybe she doesn't like the taste.

oxc

DobieGirl · 12-09-2007, 08:10 PM

Unfortunately I am kind of limited on "good foods" around here, so far canidae seems to be the best and the only canidae food around here is All Life Stages or platinum

reddobes · 12-09-2007, 09:06 PM

Then I would at least offer her a small amount of her old food. If she loves it, go back to that. Just because one dog likes/does well on a food, doesn't mean another will.

I recently bought a can of just about every kind they had a the 2 local pet supply stores -- so far Canidae was the only one my old girl didn't like.

alwayshadpets · 12-09-2007, 09:22 PM

Tamora never liked Canidae either, when I did have her on it as a puppy.

DobieGirl · 12-10-2007, 10:34 AM

I will have to start getting some samples of other foods, I really don't want to go back to medi cal, the ingredients are not the best, It has corn, beet pulp, tomato pomace...

JavasMom · 12-10-2007, 11:11 AM

Maybe mix the Canidae with other food like brown rice and veg or a high quality kibble? Java fussed a bit w/ Anamaet kibble when we brought her home, even though this is what the breeder had been feeding her. Adding a bit of plain yogurt to the mix made all the difference. If it looks like the proverbial 'dog's breakfast' in her bowl she might not be quite as fussy. Also, when she is hungry enough (by the next meal) she will probably eat it. Remember, dogs will eat out of a garbage can if they are hungry enough so as long as we are feeding them a balanced diet we are doing our job. If the Canidea was upsetting her stomach, that would be a very differenct issue and I wouldn't suggest forcing her to eat it.

Good luck!

DobieGirl · 12-10-2007, 01:28 PM

I honestly think she is just being fussy, I will certainly try the plain yogurt thing. I reduced her food yesterday and she seemed a little more interested in breakfast this morning, so maybe she just isn't that hungry lately (as I said she is certainly NOT starving). I put water in her food so I can't really let it sit until the next food (I initially did this to slow her down from eating so fast but now if I don't add water she won't eat it, or if she does she will throw it back up). Thank for the advice everyone.

dobebug · 12-10-2007, 01:48 PM

Although Canadae is a very good food not all dogs thrive on the same thing. Sometimes you just have to live with the fact that one particular dog can't be fed something and figure out what else to feed.

I tried and gave up on feeding Canadae because all but one of my dogs had cow plop stools when on it. They thought it was a fine food but along with the really unformed stools I could see deterioration in one of the dogs coats within two weeks on Canadae. It just wasn't a good match.

I have also talked to enough people whose pups didn't do particularly well on Canadae (seemed to cause a lot of unexplained vomiting) that even though you might try it again later in the pups life I'd find something right now that she actually likes.

I pretty much always use water on food but for about the first year I also feed a spoonful of yogurt with each meal. <VBG> And since I share my yogurt with the dogs it's not unflavored--usually strawberry or vanilla.

Linda H · 12-10-2007, 03:48 PM

You know I am beginning to wonder if Canidae has changed something about their ALS as I am seeing more and more people just lately saying their dogs do not like it anymore, me included.
You might try adding a small amount of yogurt in the canidae (not too much cause of the calcium ratio). That small addition made Parker love it. Two of my dogs showed a marked improvement on it from what they were getting before. But as was said all dogs don't like or do well on all foods.