Getting Dog to Eat Dog Food

I would wait longer than one day. I'd wait 3 days. If he still won't eat dog food I'm mix in a little quality canned food into his dinner each night to make it tastier.

My 12 year old dog doesn't like dog food either and will only eat it after she realizes she isn't going to get anything else. She loves the canned food but right now money is tight and I give her dry. Sometimes if you mix it with water and beef bullion they will eat it better.

make him some beef and boiled rice or chicken and boiled rice. Mix it with the dried dog food. Put it in a bowl that his not his usually dry food bowl.

Also, since he is 12, it could be that he needs to switch to a senior food that is softer, or even switch to canned or Moist n Meaty. Our 12y dog started losing weight. We switched him to a softer type food and he started putting the pounds back on, his coat which had been turning grey turned black again (i literally brushed the grey out of him one night!). Turns out he had a bad tooth and the hard food bothered him.
Which would explain in part why he'll eat the soft table foods.

M.

When we had only one dog we spoiled her horribly - she got canned dog food mixed with dry, table scraps on it, heck, I would scramble her an egg every once in a while. She gained a lot of weight...Oops.

Anyhoo, we added to out collection of dogs, and I decided everyone needed to be on a healthier doggy diet. The new ones just got put on a dry dog food diet as we acquired them - so no problems there. But our poor old Betty just did not like the new feeding regime. We just stuck to it....she would skip a meal, or two, but nature overcame stubbornness and she would eat.

She is now on a dry dog food only diet with the only "treat" she gets being her arthritis medicine chew tab each night.

The problem is your dog knows that if he doesn't eat you will "cave" and give him table scapes. You need to hold firm and cut all the table food - it really is not healthy for them, especially as they age.

I would opt for the canned food - just a little - mixed with a serving of dry to re-introduce dog food to the dog. Once he is eating that, gradually reduce the canned until he is only on dry food. I did this with my Betty, and once she was completely on dry food for about month, I would "sneak" her a teaspoon of canned every once in a while until I ran out of canned. She has been on dry only, twice a day feedings at set times for all the dogs, for over three years now. Oh, and she lost weight!!!

Treat the dog like a spoiled toddler (that's about what most dogs mentality, about the same as a 2 to 4 yo human, LOL).

First, don't leave his food out 24/7. Set a time for him to eat, once per day (that is the norm for most dogs, and recommended by most vets). Then, start feeding him at that time. Leave the food down for 15-20 minutes. If he doesn't eat it, then take the food away.

You can either go the complete ____@____.com way (which is what I would do), and set up the feeding time (we feed at 6 pm, around when we are having dinner), and just give dry kibble--get a high quality kibble with meat as the first 2 ingredients. If he doesn't eat after 15-20 minutes, whatever he didn't eat or didn't finish gets picked up and put away/throw away.

Or, you could try it the "nicer" way and start with using wet dog food mixed into his kibble. Most dogs love the wet food (I think it's nasty smelling, but that is me). Kibble is better for his teeth, but if he's suffering malnutrition, the wet food will probably get him interested.

He will not starve himself.

However, before you start this, check with your vet, to make sure that he is healthy enough to go 2 or 3 days without eating, if he decides to boycott his new (less interesting) food. Your vet may recommend a particular kind of food (like a higher calorie food, perhaps for puppies or lactating females), or offering the wet food.

My dog growing up was like this too... I think my mom ended up cooking for him sometimes! Raw egg on his dry food helped or some kind of gravy. You could make some packaged gravy and pour it on his food. That used to help. Or instead of table scraps alone, maybe mix them in with his food so he eats it all together hopefully.

Stop the scraps. A hungry dog will eat. He has been trained to expect scraps from your neighbor and now from you. He will hold off eating just in case he gets some scraps. Let him be hungry for a day or two, it won't hurt him. When he is hungry he will eat his dog food.

You could try a glob of good canned food mixed in with dry food or you can try boiled white rice and meat (ground turkey and or beef) and mix that in and slowly ween him off the rice and meat. The ratio of rice to meat is either 3 to 1 or 4 to 1. I can't remember. You may want to ask your vet about this, also. You may want to limit the time that you have food available to him. You could switch it to 2 or 3 meals a day and then pick it up. That way you can keep track of how much he is taking in and he will know that he better eat while he can. But, as I am sure you are already doing, have fresh water for him 24/7. You never want to deprive an older dog of water.

I would be VERY angry with the neighbor if I were you. I can't believe she ignored your requests. 12 years old is pretty risky to be messing with the dog's diet.

Good luck to your sweet guy!

My dog also has food available 24/7. My husband gives him scraps (grrrr....) but when he gets nothing...he waits until later at night, then eats. It's like he has to make sure ALL of the food is really, really, really put away and gone.
But he has become WAY more persnickety about the brand and we often now have to add a bit of the trashier stuff (Kibbles & Bits) to his dry Iams to entice him to eat. Would a little high quality canned do the trick?

However, if you can stop the scraps--he WILL eat the dog food when he is hungry. My dog is very thin now too. He's 11. They do lose muscle mass as they age.

Hi, I'm a veterinarian. 12 is pretty old for a husky, so you've been doing something right :)

I would like to suggest that you continue to let him eat human food. You can continue to look for dog food that he likes, but in the mean time, I have a recipe for a home-made diet that is nutritionally complete. You can ask the neighbor to cook for him since she likes to come over to help take care of him anyhow. Here's the recipe, it was created by a board-certified veterinary nutritionist, Dr. Tony Buffington at Ohio State University.

Basic Home-made Diet for Dogs

The following recipe will make enough food for a 10-20 pound pet for 3-6 days, and enough for a 50 pound dog for a day or two. It should be sufficient for long term feeding of sedentary adult dogs. It should not be fed to pregnant, nursing, growing or working dogs without veterinary supervision.

Ingredients
2 cups cooked meat (beef, chicken, egg) - For a hypoallergenic diet, consider using fish, venison, beaver (!), lean pork, etc
4 cups cooked starch (rice, pasta, or potato)
1 tsp vegetable oil
2 500 mg Tums tablets (this is a calcium supplement)
1 complete vitamin-mineral supplement for a 2-3 year old child

The following table can be used as a guideline for deciding how much of the above recipe to feed your dog each day. The amount may need to be increased or decreased to maintain your pet in a healthy body condition (the ribs should be easily felt but not seen)

Body Weight Amount to feed
15 pounds................. 1/4 recipe
30 pounds................. 1/2 recipe
60 pounds................. 3/4 recipe
100 pounds............... 1 recipe

I am not a dog person (sorry), but many of the ones I know don't give their dogs any table food and they only feed their dogs measured portions twice a day.
It sounds like the vet wants the dog in the house so you can more carefully monitor what he's eating. Outside, you don't know if he's eating his food or some other animal is.
Did your vet give you any advice on getting him used to actual dog food?
I'm sure you're not the only person that has fed their dog people food and usually they get overweight because of it.
Walking your dog is great and I'm sure your dog loves the time and exercise.
If she cares for your dog, and it sounds like she really does, you're just going to have to tell her that the vet said no more table scraps because it's bad for his health. Even YOU have been told no more. It will be an adjustment for everyone, especially the dog, but it's what's best for him and you need her to help you out with not feeding him off schedule unless it's a vet approved treat of some kind.
I hope you have some other dog lovers who can give you advice, but I personally would rely on the vet to give suggestions.

Best wishes!

sounds like you've got a clever dog. try mincing the table scraps in the food processor, mix them into the dog food, really well, so he can't pick them out. decrease the amount you put in daily. wean him off the scraps.

start mixing table scraps with his dog food-only feed him twice a day like this-then start mixing canned dog food with the dry then slowly wean that out-ive gone thru this with several dogs ive rescued-once their healthy i find great homes for them-or instead of table scraps-cook up some chixen breast-boneless-cook some rice-then mixed veggies-mix it together-not only is it good for him-but itll make him stronger n much healthier.i do this for my 3 dogs-n mix dry dog food with it,in the future-tell folks theres plenty of homeless dogs that need new homes.good luck

Besides just tough love and giving nothing but kibble in his bowl, how about changing brands or even going from dry to wet?? Or a mix?

My dog loves the Evo brand, espically the red meat bag. http://www.evopet.com/ I will admit it costs about twice a much a store bought food and you will probably only find it at a local specialty pet shop. but you also don't have to give them nearly as much - its really high quality food. And petsmart/petco sell the Blue Buffalo brand that that's simular (we've used that at times, although currently using trader joe's brand dog food, lol).

My Sil uses it with her dog too and will often put a little water in with the dry kibble so that the water turns into a kind of gravy. I've even heated a wet/dry mix in the microwave for 10 secs so that it gives off a smell.
As far as the neighbor... see if she'll buy your dog "bully sticks" to chew on instead of giving table scraps. best of luck!

Our family dog was like this growing up. We got him from the pound and he wouldn't eat dry food. So, we mixed a bunch of the canned dog food in with the dry and he ate it. Then, we gradually cut back on the canned until he was on only dry.

Wolves in the wild gorge themselves about every seven days. Domesticated dogs eat more frequently, but be assured that your dog will eat when he is ready. I feed mine two meals a day of strictly dog food. One of my elder dogs ate chicken and rice when he would no longer eat dog food. Perhaps if you kept his meals for his inside time, that would make them only for him and not the neighborhood animals.

Try putting the scraps on top/mixed in with his kibble, that might motivate him. I do this for my dog. I also started giving my dog fish oil, recommended by his vet for arthritis, and he loves it. You puncture the oil-capsule and squeeze on the kibble. He plows through it. You could also try changing his food to a new brand--that alone might inspire him to eat.

Here's a site that rates dog foods: http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/