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Help ! eating behaviour is so erratic

2679 Views 7 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  scooby
Hi Scooby is now 8 months old and already on his second type of food, he started on Beta puppy which was OK to start with then he lost interest so we switched him to Royal Canin which he adored but just recently he's not bothered about breakfast and is hit and miss about tea, I tried him with cooked chicken mixed in which worked for a while but he seems bored with that now.(Royal Canin only do one flavour so can't rotate)

He's still very active and loves to run so not that worried about his health he's 25kg (55lb) and looks the picture of health.

My main concern is if I start adding other things to his kibble will he start to not want that at all, I know dry food must be boring day in day out but don't want to make him more fussier than what he is already. I leave it down for 5Min's and if he's not eaten it I take it away but panic that all that energy and so little food can't be good for him.

All my other dogs were terriers and ate everything and anything put before them, they were fed a mixture of kibble and tins, so don't know if this is the answer or not

I've looked at that Taste of the wild food that people have mentioned but don't seem to be able to buy it in England. Any help and advice would be appreciated.

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Hi Scooby, I stressed alot about Blaze and eating for the first half of his life. Tried leaving for 15 min then taking away, tried doctoring it up with cooked groud lamb, chicken or beef and he still was hit and miss. But he grew at an appropriate rate and seems now to be a perfect weight - 51 lbs @17months old. I started leaving it to dry kibble only - that cooking for the dog got to be a little rediculous - but he liked it better softened with water. He only eats once a day 2-3 cups, and I put in in his bowl and let him eat it when he wants. I guess its not really free feeding because I don't refill til the next day. I will add plain cooked beef or chicken if i have it but it's not a daily thing. They will eat when hungry . But it seems from the posts that there are alot of picky eaters among V's out there. Anyway i guess my point is that I stressed about taking it away after 15 min but when I stopped doing that it worked out anyway.
we are going through same with lulu. she is now 7 months and suddenly lost interest in her regular food. she used to be done in matter of seconds with her food, now she just comes along, sniffs it, takes a bite and walks away. she was on purina until up to her 7 months when she started to lose interest in it. we switched her to taste of the wild without any possitive effect. i joked with my wife that if we were eating dog food she would kill her self to eat it too. and so we did this little experiment, sit behind the dining table as usually when we are eating meal, but instead we put some taste of the wild on the plates and pretended we were eating it. she would do the usuall, walk around a try to sniff table surface. so i put the plate on the floor and the food was gone in matter of seconds. she just wouldnt eat from her bowl. i guess she wants to be or thinks she is human and needs to eat same what we are eating.
just the different view on problem many people experience with their Vs.
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I must say Scooby is so much better now he's on 1 meal a day he has about 380g of his Royal Canin with about 1/4lb of best mince in gravy poured over and its gone straight away, finally he's a pleasure to feed, just wish he wouldn't drool so much when the mince is cooking !!!!!!!!!
Mince is ground beef?
How do you make the gravy?
thanks, Carolyn
Hi Carolyn, yes mince is ground beef and I use low salt granules for gravy with hot water it's very weak but it seems to work.
Whew! I'm glad to find that I'm not the only Vizsla owner that has a problem with getting their dogs to eat. Snickers seem to just eat to live. Food doesn't seem to drive him. He'll smell it and walk away. I have done the 15 min. and take away routine, but found myself giving him treats throughout the day. Maybe my mistake was giving him human food. For dinner, I give him a cup of Instinct mixed with some vegetables, boiled chicken, raw meat and liver. He seems to like that combination, but I often feel like a gourmet chef... :eek:
Kailua I know what you mean re being chef for the dog, tonight Scooby sat drooling waiting for his tea his usual 2 cups of kibble mince and gravy he polished that and then just sat staring at his empty dish and then looking at me I tried my best to shift him but he wasn't budging, so 1 more cup of kibble some cooked chicken and a bit of gravy later and he decided that would do him, off to sleep he went, the kids thought it was hilarious and I thought of all the stressed out months I've had getting him to eat !!!!!!!!! ???

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