The fleeting taste of food she scarfed down too quickly
This was quite some time back when the dog was really finicky with her food.
For the first 4-6 weeks when we brought her home, she literally picked at her food. Treats she took with gusto but her regular meals she ate with great reluctance. And this behaviour was for canned food that she apparently love at the shelter! But no, not here at home and on top of nibbling reluctantly, she was picking out all the kibble mixed in there and throwing them on the floor outside the bowl. It was frustrating and worrying in equal parts for first time dog owners like us. We took the dog from the shelter and obviously it was not so that she could starve herself!
To some extent her picky-ness worked to her favour, the shelter gave us a can of Addiction wet food to test out on her and she gobbled it up. Addiction was more expensive, but we were fine to add it to the menu since it was one of the well rated brands and she liked it. The subsequent pack of Solid Gold chicken kibble fared just as badly against her original complimentary Pro Plan salmon kibble.
But we did want to keep to a certain monthly food budget, since we were on one person’s income and finances is always a big concern for me. So no, she’s just got to make do with a rotation of different variety of foods at different price points. We rotated the Addiction wet food with another cheaper supermarket brand Nature’s Gift. On label, the Nature’s Gift ingredients list looked OK, but the AAFCO standards were not applied to it. That said, Donna has been eating it her whole life at the shelter, so it is food that her body is used to. So we kept to it, rather than change her diet cold turkey. Meanwhile, we continue to buy different kibble brands to find something that she will actually like. Plain Canidae, Wellness and TOTW kibble did not fare well with her either.
Somewhere along the line, we instituted the timing rule. It went something like we will remove the food in half hour even if she did not finish it. Not much observable effect there.
She was, as the vet pointed out, overweight anyway, so we decided not to over-worry if she missed a meal or two when she refused to eat. Yes, we determined that she could not just erm… *cough* blackmail *cough* us into giving her expensive food all the time by refusing to eat what we felt was affordable for us.
But yes, eventually she grew hungry enough that she decided the canned food and kibble was not beneath her. She started to eat more of her food. However, her annoying habit of running in and out of the kitchen during mealtimes did not change. She just wasn’t interested in the food and quite frankly preferred the fun of running in and out to take a bite here and there when she pleased. And so of course, she didn’t finish the food as you can see in this video, where there is a fleeting glance of her.
I was waiting to catch her on video running in and out, planned to send it to Florence at the shelter, ho-ho-ho. But as you can see, she decided she didn’t want any more food.
What changed things was really the installation of the child gate at the entrance of the kitchen. Suddenly it clicked in the dog’s mind that once the child gate closes behind her, the food will be gone! Oh the horror. The effect was pretty instantaneous after the light bulb went off. Now Donna refuses to leave the kitchen until she has licked clean every scrap of food, and then she continues to clean the already empty bowl.
But she still refused plain kibble unless it was flavoured with canned food topping.
However, towards the end of May, she actually accepted a Fromm dog pork kibble that I offered to her. Usually I opened a new pack of some kibble and offer a piece to her to see if she liked it. The usual reaction will be sniff, snort and point her high and mighty nose in the air in refusal. I was pleasantly surprised. The only difference in the way I offered the Fromm kibble is that I had mixed the kibble with her canned food for several meals already before I offered the plain piece of kibble to her. Either that made a difference or the Fromm kibble was too yummy.
We bought a new pack of kibble yesterday, this time it is Acana chicken with burbank potato. By now, the dog has somehow conditioned me to think that perhaps she just has a cautiousness to anything new that I offer to her. (After all I am the person who inflict new torments on her every other day like nail cutting and soon teeth brushing! Hahaha!) Anyway, I thought I should mix it in for her breakfast before attempting to offer her a plain piece of kibble to see her reaction. She took that kibble as well.
I have to say “HALLELUIAH” at this point because finally I can give her kibble instead of treats as training reward! Can you believe her weight kept climbing through the months despite us feeding less than the recommended portions on the food packages??? Mr P accuses me of giving her too many treats. But how else do you positively reinforce a dog?
Ending this post with a picture of the dog thinking about food in front of the kitchen. She does that a lot. Make us look like villains who don’t feed her enough.
“Please, sir, I want some more.”
Linda Arthur Tejera
This made me laugh. I’m going through this at the moment. My Maltese just recovered from a serious intestinal blockage. When she was able to eat solids again, I boiled chicken breasts and put in with the kibble. Both dogs ate the chicken and politely placed most of the kibble on the floor around the bowls. sigh… I was having trouble getting them to eat any canned or kibble foods before this. And we were buying the expensive (gourmet, holistic, etc.). What now?! I’m glad you had luck. I’m convinced one animal is much easier! :)
pjdonna
what now indeed? I’m glad your Maltese is all better now! :) And I guess, there are some dogs like yours and mine that have all the talent for picking food. I tell Mr P Donna takes after him. He is picky about food too, Mr P.
Anyway, we think the combination of factors – her consistent weight gain, her poisoning herself which led us to hold off on unhealthy treats for a while and only give her her regular meals – may have helped our pragmatic dog to decide to put an end to the hunger strike campaign. The baby gate was definitely a catalyst… all of a sudden she ate her dentastix in one sitting rather than left it on her bed for days! And then the vet advised us to decrease the amount of food we are giving her because she finally couldn’t take the consistent weight gain anymore :P, that may have been the last blow. Since she started to lose all that fat under her skin that perhaps had buffered her against the hunger previously? I don’t know. Maybe playing with kibble also conditioned her to like it better over time. Who knows?
What I do know is we persisted with rotating the wet food brand she liked with the wet food brand that she barely tolerated so there would be days she ate more and days she ate less. Slowly, she started to show the same level of interest in both brands. We made her work for her food by practicing her tricks – sit, paw, high-five – before she can eat. Yes, we subscribe to the nothing in life is free program :P And then we persisted in including 1/2 kibble and 1/2 canned food in her bowl and mixed it up really well. She was still resistant to kibble. I read online somewhere that moistening the kibble to soften it may help so I started to soak them in water for a few minutes before mixing it up with the canned food. That worked, she started to eat more of the kibble although she still pick out one or two pieces to throw outside the bowl as if to prove a point = = …. omg. Eventually she gave that up as well, and we didn’t even need to moisten the kibble anymore although we still needed to top it with wet food. Then that was when the vet advised us to cut back on her food, so we cut back on the wet food because that was more fattening than the kibble. Around this time, we started to cut back on the treats and when she poisoned herself… there was totally no treats. So the only thing left for her to eat – kibble with canned food :P
We also try to make the canned food and kibble mixture interesting by throwing in small amounts of human food – canned tuna in water, plain yogurt, shredded chicken, asparagus, honey, egg – randomly so that the food doesn’t get boring after a while. We rotate the brand and type of kibble when it runs out every three weeks too, and the wet food with every can we empty.
It took 5-6 months for us to reach this point. She still refuses apples and blueberries by themselves, although she will eat them if mixed in yogurt :P So I think the persistence with the canned food and kibble helped. We didn’t bother to give her apples and blueberries that often. :P
I’m not trying to give advise or anything because we only know our dog and don’t have much experience with any dogs beyond Donna. :P But sometimes talking it out may help. Sometimes it doesn’t.
And you know what? I’m convinced my hands are full and I will keel over if we had more than one animal at a time! :P So yes, I agree with you that it has to be much easier. Lonelier for Donna though. :P
I hope your two dogs start to like the food you like to give them soon. It’s like a puzzle game. What makes dogs tick and how to get them to tick the way you want them to :P
Kuruk
Oh Donna…Mama would just say you have to eat because you need your nutrition. Glad to hear you lick the bowl clean now! Wooooowoooooo!
pjdonna
Yes she licks her bowl and then goes outside to sniff for imaginary food bits about her bed! :P Have a good day Kuruk. Eat well.
Sonel
I had such a good laugh as well. They are a treat for sure and great manipulators too. Ask me! I know! LOL! Just know that Donna will never go hungry. When she is hungry enough she will eat whatever you put in front of her and she is in a great condition as well. As a matter of fact, I think she is absolutely gorgeous! The last photo takes the cake for sure and she definitely did not want anyone to see her eat on the video..hahahaha.
Thanks for sharing hon. Big hugs to you and Donna. xxx
pjdonna
You are absolutely right! I gave her a blueberry in the morning. She took it and throw it on the floor. I ignored her and went about my chores after that. Later in the afternoon, either she was too bored or peckish, she went and ate the blueberry she threw away in the morning!
We are lucky, we get hugs from you everyday :P Eat well Sonel and Simba, good health and prosperity! ;)
Sonel
Oh, it’s because I’ve studies them all over and especially when I worked for a vet. They all have their own personalities and believe me when I tell you they love to take us for fools. Not because they’re nasty but because they know they can and because we fall for it each and every time..hahahahahha. And well, Simba is the master manipulator because he knows his mommy (me) will do anything and everything for him and he does the same thing. He refuses to eat fish. Not because he doesn’t like it but because he knows I will feed him. LOL! Now it became part of the game and I am a poet and didn’t even know it. LOL!
Thanks for the lovely wishes hon and I wish you and Donna the same sweetness. Here’s some more hugs. I love hugging people I like..hehehe. :D *big hugs*
rubytheblacklabrador
So interesting – as you know Ruby doesn’t have any problem with food. Her main food is high quality kibble and stuff she finds herself. We are vegetarian so I’d never do the whole chicken and rice thing or raw food diet anyway. Would kust let her loose in the park and let her fend for herself!
pjdonna
Ruby is a phenomenon by herself when it comes to food!:P Every time Donna gets away with swallow something before I can dig it out of her mouth I wait with bated breath to see if she would throw up. It’s so not fun, particularly since all sorts of things can accidentally get in the grass – half eaten food, trash and even bits of broken glass – probably because of the highly urbanised environment we live in. You guys are lucky : )
I don’t really do the chicken/rice or raw food thing either. Don’t know and can’t be bothered to read up and be a half-baked chef at it. Vet says she’s too fat, why give her rice? LOL So we just rotate kibble and canned food and garnish it with convenient things that don’t take much cooking. We need the convenience. I’m saving the chicken for when she’s sick or as super high value reward. But yes, she has trained us not to just feed her kibble with her picky ways!