Will a fussy dog starve or eat what's offered?

[tambo1976]

I have a one year old dog who had always been fed premium food but I decided a few weeks ago that we just can't justify the cost anymore. We buy our own food from Aldi yet the dog gets the best from pets @ home lol.

So I bought a bag of cheaper dog food a few weeks ago and for a few days she seemed fine with it but for about a week she has barely touched it. She has visibly lost weight and she just picks out a few tiny chunks a few times a day and that's about it.

I reckon we should just keep offering it to her but my OH thinks we should give her her old food again because she had lost weight and been sick a couple of times (is not even sick it's like a bile that comes from having an empty stomach). It's so frustrating! I really don't want to give in and fork out a small fortune for her food anymore.

So the question is, well she actually starve herself rather than eat what's offered or will she eventually realise that's all she's gonna get and eat it? I obviously don't want her to get ill but at the same time I am not prepared to just go back to the expensive food.

Thoughts please x

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[Welshhunniexx]

a dog wont starve itself hun, she is just waiting for you to give in. I have actually experienced this myself and what I found is best is moving them over gradually. mix a small amount of cheap food in with the more expensive food, then after a few days, add more cheap food and less expensive food. keep doing this every few days till all she has is the cheap food. hope this works

 

[LikeJohnnYoko]

Did you just abruptly change it? If so, it is better to start with a 90:10 ratio of old food to new and the build up the amount of the new food and do it gradually so they notice the change less.

 

[tambo1976]

No I changed it over about 3 days gradually adding more of the cheaper stuff, maybe I should have added it a bit slower

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[Frankie_Lou]

Every couple of months my dog just stops eating for no reason even though its the same food as always. To get him to eat again we make a bit of beef bisto gravy to pour over it and he soon starts again.
They're such annoying little creatures sometimes aren't they, wouldn't be without them though x

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[Sophie_P]

I'm going through this at the moment with my cat, she is very fussy because we have let her be really. She is used to one type of meat but has suddenly gone off it! So we've gave her another type and she WILL NOT eat it. I'm not giving in either!!

 

[SeonaidMac]

A dog won't let itself starve hun... a couple of mine go through phases where they won't eat for a while... in the wild the wolf won't eat everyday.... it's actually good to do a starve day every now and again...
It does become a battle of wills to see who will give in first... you have to be strong... one of mine refused to eat something so they kept being given it until they did... xx good luck x

 

[J_Anne]

No they won't starve themselves but as others have said any change in diet should ideally be introduced over 7 days. What breed of dog do you have? Which foods have you changed from and to? I would avoid adding anything to the food to tempt her as she will soon realise that if she waits a bit she'll get something tastier, they're not daft when it comes to food!!

 

[Cazza]

Despite being thought of as rabid canivorves sometimes dogs do get fed up with their food! Changing brands as above should be done very gradually.

The cheaper foods will have more fillers in them - take a look at the ingredients. More cereal and animal derivatives (the nasty bits!!), usually buying cheap food is a false economy as they need more of it to get the right nutrition.

She may just not like it though!

I do not feed kibble to my dogs (Raw diet instead - much better for them and much cheaper!!) but I would only recommend a hand ful of dry foods - CSJ, Salters, Royal Canin, Happy Dog and never ever feed Bakers........it's so full of E numbers and colours the worst food you can give!!

 

[SeonaidMac]

Despite being thought of as rabid canivorves sometimes dogs do get fed up with their food! Changing brands as above should be done very gradually.

The cheaper foods will have more fillers in them - take a look at the ingredients. More cereal and animal derivatives (the nasty bits!!), usually buying cheap food is a false economy as they need more of it to get the right nutrition.

She may just not like it though!

I do not feed kibble to my dogs (Raw diet instead - much better for them and much cheaper!!) but I would only recommend a hand ful of dry foods - CSJ, Salters, Royal Canin, Happy Dog and never ever feed Bakers........it's so full of E numbers and colours the worst food you can give!!

Snap hun we feed all 5 of ours raw xxx and totally agree re bakers.... there is another good dry one... not long out it's been developed by people i know and has no nasty fillers or animal derivatives... xx millies wolfheart xx

 

[k8_005]

Personally I think that choosing the right food is more important than the cheapest one. I know it sounds unkind to say that but either change very slowly but find which one is best for your dog you may find buying a cheap brand will be detrimental to your dogs health but you need to make sure of your facts on each brand first. It's difficult one and you need to find the balence. Also maybe a vet trip to check that the weight loss and sickness isn't related to an illness instead of food or due to vitamin deficiency ?

 

[MumToBeMaybe]

Our dog gets burns, it's not the cheapest, but the cheap brands are full of ash
Percy gets treated like a baby! But I find that the burns food lasts a long time, as we don't have to feed him so much. His energy levels are good, coat is glossy and weight perfect.

 

[tambo1976]

Since writing this post my fussy dog has indeed started eating her food, so it really was just a case of holding out for her to give in. She hasn't been sick since and her poo looks fine (well as fine as a poo can look lol, I mean she doesn't have the runs and she's not constipated)

In a car to someone's question, my dog is a cross breed, here she is on her first Birthday on the 10th May



Thanks for the advice everyone x

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