She just won't eat!

[Teresa]

Hi,
I've been having lots of trouble getting Pitanga to eat lately. As a puppy she'd eat without problems, and even too much at times. As she got older she got less and less interested on food. I've done every check up that I thought and there is nothing wrong with her health, she just stopped liking food. I've tryed almost every dry food in I could find, form the very best to the worst, canned food and even tryed cooking for her... I've tryed food suplements, vitamins and so on, and they work for a week or so.
After cooking 3 types of food today with no success, I've ran out of ideas, so I was wondering if anyone has any idea or advice to share...
Thanks

[ursula wilby]

I would make quite certain that she does not have a problem with her toncills, quite often seen in young setters.
After that (and any other vet checks you appear to have done) I would keep my cool.
If she gets plenty of excersise, she will eat eventually.

I feel that by cooking food, trying different foods constantly and making too much of a fuss, you may actually make things worse.
I think this is just a faze she is going through!

[Teresa]

I tought so as well, and I tried to ignore it, but she is already underweight and tha last time I ignored it she went 3 days without eating! And the fase is almost a year now, so I think she's actually worse than a cat, heh.
I'll check the tonsils tough, I hadn't think of that and she actually prefers cold food rather than warm, wich is not usual.
Thanks

[sammi pease]

I have had similar problems with Abbi., right from the start though, she was not very interested in food...but had bags of energy., I tried cooking a type of meatloaf., which went down very well for a few months., and only fed once per day...giving her a chance to get hungry....however, she is now on a raw food diet., and is so much better on that....I feed raw chicken mostly, wings, thighs, legs, it's good for their teeth also. Sometimes add some oily fish like tuna, and raw egg .There is plenty of information about raw food diets on the internet, and although it feels a little weird at first, to actually see them crunching on real meat seems so much more natural., and satisfying for them. That's coming from a vegetarian!! Obviously, if you think it could be a medical problem, check it out, but I've had several dogs, who are not that interested in dried food...can't say I blame them myself!! Good luck!!

[Angela Roberts]

Apart from the fact that quite a lot of young Irish Setters go off food for a while didn't you mate her about 3 weeks ago? She's probably feeling sick! Going off food at around this time is usually one of the first signs they are in whelp. You need to get food into her if she's going to produce a healthy litter, especially as she appears to be quite young. I also agree that fussing them to try and get them to eat makes it worse but they don't usually refuse the raw chicken wing diet.

[ursula wilby]

Oh well...if the bitch is pregnant...that puts it all in a diffent light!
3:rd week going off food is just like Angela said a certain sign.
But eating habbits do follow lines, I have found.
My first ever bitch was more like a dustbin...anything food-like would do!
And not fussing and feeling "they MUST eat", I have never kept one that is difficult when it comes to feeding. Although I have sold puppies where people have fussed...changed food constantly...and ended up with very picky eater.

After all, it can not be in any creatures nature to starve itself to death can it? Unless there is something wrong...and checking for swollen toncills is the first thing to find out.

[eva]

Hi! I had once a bitch who was the first years of her life not at all interested in food, she lived from love and air!! At the age of five or six she started eating totally normal, all sorts of food - all her life she stayed skinny but very healthy, she reached the age of nearly 15 - but I know how worrying it is....
I think the suggestion of raw food is quite excellent, and my trick was sometimes to use small very delicious tinned cat food, she than started eating, and it was like her eating pogramme was on again...sometimes also the presence of other eating dogs helps (altough the one I mentioned above lived all her life with other dogs and was always ready to watch the others eating).
I personally wouldn`t want pups from a bitch who is a fussy eater, but that is not what you asked about. Good luck! Eva

[Melinda Auld]

My Fionni was a terrible eater when we first got him. The only way he would eat was if he was hand-fed - a habit I didn't want to encourage.

One day, I got so fed up with him picking at his food (held in my hand) that I put the whole dinner into the bin, with him watching. That was the last time he ever picked at his food! I still remember the look on his face when I dumped the food into the bin. "How COULD you, mummy??!! I wasn't done eating that!!"

Now, he whinges for his dinner and rushes to his crate as soon as we get the bowls out.

[Susan]

Oh, Melinda!!! You made me laugh!!! I can just imagine the look on his face!!!

[Dee Rance]

Hi all..First how old is your girl???...she sounds like she is still a puppy??? Puppies are notorious for not eating...and as someone said that she might be pregnant, which makes her very much older than a puppy....
My girl is pregnant at the moment, and she stopped eating last week. completely stopped..I have been hand feeding her since, although this has, I think, given her diarrhoea.
If she is pregnant then after the puppies she may start eating properly, but if she isn't pregnant, you will just have to keep up the hand feeding, well I have to, and been doing it for the past 31/2 years, my bitch has only eaten well once in her life, that was the first three weeks of her pregnancy, and she is now just approaching 4, and this is her first litter, and then she ate like it was going out of fashion...it is a worry...
Personally I don't like the raw chicken diet, but that is just me, my vet seems to agree with me, on this one, don't mind raw chicken but without the bones, that scares me to death. I have heard too many people saying that their dogs have had internal bleeding from the bones scratching their internal organs.
It is all trial and error as to the feeding, I haven't got it rite yet, I will watch this space to see if I can get any tips. My main tip is ''strong smelling food'' my girl likes ham in her diet.

[Teresa]

Well, I'm not sure if she's pregnant or not yet, but she'll do and ultrasound tomorrow to check that. My concern right now is if she is pregnant, because then, she must eat or she'll disappear. Pitanga is now 2 years old, but she looks a lot younger because she is so skinny.
If she is pregnant, i'll keep handfeeding and letting her choose her food for now, but if she's not, or if when the pupies ar gone, I'll put her back on "military" disciplin, with the right times to eat and all. I just didn't want to do that because she always looses some weight at first, and if she is pregnant that is quite a big risk!
For her size, she should weight at least 24Kg, and she never got passed 21Kg, so you can have an ideia of how thin she is.

[Dee Rance]

Well perhaps if she was so thin, you could have put off getting her pregnant until she had gained a little more. She is still very young. I know Saffy has always been thin until this year, when she has put on weight well, so now, she is pregnant but stopped eating, she does at least have some ''body'' to fall back on, and because of her past, not eating, she is used to being hand fed, but I am still worrying about when the puppies are born, she will be feeding them ''off her back'' and then she will get very thin and the puppies won't have as much milk as I would like. It is a balancing act, and you are the one with all the ''balls in the air'' if she is pregnant, and it sounds like she is, she is going to find it difficult to feed and keep herself well let alone her babies. When you get her scan done at around 28 days, ask your vet about Calcium and vitamins for her to keep herself well and the puppies... Watch that you don't give her Diarrhoea she may be susceptible to that now...

[Viv Blackshaw]

Years ago I had a lot of faddy eaters and so did my friend. She even got to the stage of giving her bitch strawberries and cream as that is all she would eat voluntarily!. ( I don't suggest you feed this as a diet!)
Janice Roberts ( Cornevon) alerted us to the tonsill problem ;she had a few Irish who had their inflammed tonsills removed and then they never looked back.
I told another friend to check her dog's tonsills and the vet found something stuck in the back of her dog's throat which was the cause of his problems..

Now a days I don't fuss, I think the more fuss you make the worse they get.

I put it down with a bit of friendly competition about and if they don't eat it I take it up after a short time when every one else has eaten theirs or give the others a bit less and share the left dinner between them in full view of the non eater.. No hand feeding- you can end up doing that forever...

I try interesting things mixed in with a complete food e.g cooked chopped up breast of lamb ( bones removed) Minced beef tripe, cat food in jelly, gourmet dog food- small trays - just a bit mixed in and - if I am really desperate, a hot cooked chicken off the supermarket hot deli ( no bones).
I never give chicken bones I think it is far too risky and I'd never give raw chicken or pork either especially to a pregnant bitch.

When they get to 4 years old I usually find I am trying to get weight off them.

I agree with Dee about the vitamins - check with your vet.

They are always worse in hot weather and I agree with everyone else that if she is pregnant she is extremely likely to go off her food for a few weeks, but hopefully she will start to eat as the pups start to grow. Then I think a few small meals is better than a couple of bigger ones. Make sure she gets plenty water too. Small drinks of milk if she will take it but only small drinks - if the weather is warm she could get diarrhoea,

Good luck.