What to Do When Your Dog Or Cat Won't Eat

Your dog won't eat. Or your cat is a picky eater. So what are you doing on earth?

First, a caveat. No animal will ever starve. But ALWAYS have your pet checked by a veterinarian when there is a change in behavior. You need to get rid of the disease before starting any animal nutrition problem. Be sure to check for bad teeth as these are often ignored as the cause of eating problems. Second note: Eating problems can be complicated and the tips offered here are simple. I offer them 30 years of experience as a dog owner, breeder, handler and painter in the dog world, but you should discuss this with your veterinarian to see if there is a reasonable cure for your pet's condition.

We will start with dogs, and suppose that your dog is healthy but not a good eater, here are some reasons why and ideas for setting it up.

If you feed your dog during the day, stop. You want your dog hungry at mealtime. If your dog is a show dog, keep in mind that feeds should be offered in TINY pieces, it's not meant to be dinner. When it comes to eating, put a bowl of dog food on the floor, give it 10 minutes to eat it, and if it doesn't touch, take it and put it down. Do not eat again until the next meal, and resist the temptation to treat. Do this for a week because what you're doing here is behavior modification. Remember, a healthy dog ​​will not starve, but a stubborn and healthy dog ​​can modify your behavior if you are inside.

If you change your pet regularly, stop. Regular dietary changes can result in a delicate diet. Dogs learn to "hold back" to see what they have to offer next. When you find your pet's nutritious food to eat, stay with it. If you MUST change your pet's diet, do so gradually over a period of two weeks. Add some new foods to your old diet, and every day, increase the amount of new foods while reducing the amount of current foods. These gradual changes will help prevent diarrhea, vomiting and eating disorders.

With smart eating, it's important to feed "super premium" dog food. These foods are a bit more expensive and are made with better ingredients, but they are nutritious. This means that your dog actually eats less than the cheaper brands purchased at the grocery store (these foods have a nutritional value), but because there are more "calories per cup" in premium foods, they actually do get more nutrition. Look for brands such as Merrick's "Grammy Pot", canned, natural California, Prarie, Canidae, Flint River, Nutro, Wellness, Holistic Eagle Pack or Nutrisource.

Mixing kibble with canned dog food and water will also make it attractive. The next part is important: The most natural way to increase appetite is to warm their food as it enhances their odor and makes them more appetizing.

Maybe your dog has a health problem or a drug that makes him or her not want to eat. He is under the care of a veterinarian, but the task of getting nutrition into it falls on you. How about now? First, understand that the less a dog eats, the less he wants to eat. Add to that the dogs who come to associate food with nausea and you have a real problem, so the sooner you can get your dog to WANT to eat on your own, the better. So much is clear.

We will start with the simplest of medications and work their way up to a radical solution that works for one of my dogs. Assuming your dog is on a high quality feed but still not eating, you may need to move on to the next step: making dog food taste better.

You do not want to make these foods a daily staple food, mostly because high sodium content will generally be rejected for dogs with kidney failure or with heart problems (if your dog has kidney problems, check out the really informative website here .) The following foods have been tried and tested by people in luxury dogs and are recommended ONLY as a way to jump start on eating or eating a sick or compromised dog: Sardines, canned cat food, Gerber baby food - especially turkey or sweet potato, braunschweiger, Limburger cheese, soups, pureed hearts, Dinty Moore Beef Stew, yogurt, cheese / cream cheese, canned mackerel, scrambled eggs with cream cheese, chicken noodle soup - and this too: eggs crushed in French vanilla yogurt, a little hot.

Sometimes, you may have to "jump start" your appetite with something so exciting, it's undeniable. Here's the original recipe for "Satin Balls," one of Wellpet's most popular, Showdogs-L, VetMed, and popular email lists for serious dogs:

10 pounds of cheap hamburger meat

1 lg. box Number of cereals

1 lg. oat box

1 jar of wheat germ

1 1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 1/4 cup untreated molasses

10 raw eggs AND shellfish

10 unwanted gelatin envelopes

a pinch of salt

Mix all the ingredients together, just as if you were eating meat. Divide the batch into 10 freezer bags and freeze. (This is also a great way to put weight on lean dogs, increase energy, and to reduce itchy, itchy skin). This is not a meal replacement, it is aimed at luring the dog's appetite. If the dog eats it sadly, start mixing it slowly. The idea is to release them from the Satin Ball and above.

Next, we turn to "corrections" that come in tubes or pills. Remember that the point of this product is to stimulate appetite and not long-term solutions; We started with Re-Vita whose products are said to be effective for appetite problems; "Pet-Tinic" is a liquid supplement containing iron, copper and 5 essential vitamins. Meat-flavored liquids are easy to accept and a "tester" reports that they immediately bring back their pet's appetite. Due to its content, you need to get the vet's permission before using it. "Nutri-Cal" is a pure ingestion of teeth like toothpaste; dogs love the taste and it's a great way to get a dog's nutrition. When diluted with water, Dyne High Calorie Dietary Supplement can be used to fight dehydration and provide energy as each ounce provides about 150 calories containing vitamins and minerals that maintain therapeutic blood levels.

Without any of the tips mentioned above, this is where I get pretty serious because my own philosophy is that lack of appetite is a bad excuse for a dead dog. What you read next is not fun - but if you like your dog, you need to get him nutrition. As far as I know, there are four ways to do this when a dog can't eat on its own: syringe food in a dog's mouth, food under a dog's throat, a dog's hook into an IV, or inserting a stomach tube. I've done everything at one time or another. And they all smell bad, but they prefer alternatives: dogs that throw and die.

Syringing: You need some great syringes from your veterinarian. Using canned foods; determine the number of dogs you need to maintain their weight, divide them by half and scoop them into a blender (you and this grinder will be inseparable from the future). Add enough warm water to easily incorporate into the fine powder and for each meal, slowly inject a whitish residue to the dog's lips. Or, you can cut to chase. Kiss the dog's mouth open and squeeze the injection into the bottom so that the food accumulates on the sides and back of the dog's mouth. It takes a while to get this hang because you don't want the dog to absorb food into its lungs. Talk to the dog quietly and praise him when you're done. Remember, it's not the dog's fault he can't eat and it's only temporary that his appetite is restored.

Stuffing: This is my favorite way to get food into dogs. It's neat and demeaning. In short, you make "food bombs" narrow enough to slide behind the dog's throat. This "bomb" is a mixture of wet & dry food that has become a texture material that allows it to form. There are people out there who are really good at doing this - and some dogs who don't eat well are so tasty to eat in this way that they will stand still, raise their little heads and open their mouths as guppies expect to "bomb " next. Because all we care about is getting nutrition into the dog, if this works for you, that's what's important.

IV: "No sharpening." At this point, a dog is very sick so this is the last resort. It does not replace the calories derived from real food, but sometimes it acts as a band aid until the dog returns to its feet and can eat the real thing.

Abdominal tube: Proverbially speaking, this is what separates men from men. When I deal with a dog whose heart rate causes anorexia but which is otherwise healthy, I have little choice to pull it all off. Syringe feeding, food bombs - this is not a long term solution. Guided by my veterinarian, we decided to include a stomach tube. Mind you, at the time we thought it would be a short-term fix until my dog ​​eats his own. Keep reading.

The first tube was inserted into an ugly, long brown tube, it had to be wrapped around my dog's middle and secured to the upper female tube when not in use. I prepared the food as if I was going to inject it into my dog's mouth, just inject it into the tube that was placed on his side above the stomach. In less than a week, the dog knew the grinding sound, knew what was coming and would lie down by his side in preparation for a meal.

Every day before I approach the grinder, I always offer the dog a meal in the bowl because I want the dog to eat like a dog. After a few weeks, I knew this wouldn't happen. Never. At this point, my vet and I had an honest discussion about the options and he mentioned a permanent tube, which was inserted from the inside out. "Bard" is a silicon gastronomic device that has been successfully used to feed children with disabilities but has never been used for dogs. My 14-year-old will be the first dog to have a "soft silicone" button inserted. It fits on her stomach and a little "veil" is open like the flip side of the toothpick. Compared to what I've worked with, it's Porsche compared to Edsel and no one else knows it's there.

This tube allows my dog ​​to live for a few more years. It took her less than five minutes to feed her, and after that she would run with the other dogs, bark at the wind, enjoy the sun behind her, and know that I adored her. I'll do it again in an instant.

Because of the seemingly radical steps we have taken to ensure the survival of the dog, this is not something I have discussed publicly. Too many people out there feel that if a dog can't eat on its own, it doesn't mean to live. To them, I said, "Phooey." The dog wanted to live, to survive and to feel the hands of those who loved him rubbing his ears. But he couldn't eat. His spirit is ready and he will do something to please me, but one thing he cannot do. After all, do I deny him one thing I can do to help him?

Cats: Needless to say, cats are not like dogs. They can get liver damage from not eating for just a day or two. When cats stop eating, their bodies start to use fat as fuel. Old fat stores are moved to the liver, which should start burning fat. But when the fat reaches the heart, the heart does not burn fat enough and it accumulates in the liver.

The resulting liver disorder is known as "liver lipidosis", or "fatty liver disease." This condition may be suggested when blood tests show impaired liver function. Getting fatty liver disease is not isolated only to cats, and fasting cats do not always get this condition, they seem easier if they do not eat.

But according to Cornell Online Consultant, there are 454 more likely to be diagnosed for Feline Anorexia. Wow. A good website that you can visit here explains the different reasons cats may not eat, from acid stomach to ulcer and including fatty liver disease. The bottom line, however, is that you have less "wiggle room" when cats won't eat. Try these tips:

- Serving food because warm food has a stronger odor that will make the cat want to eat.

-Service: Sit down with your cat and talk to her. Offer him some food.

-Make special dishes such as canned or pouched foods instead of dried kibble.

- Provide tuna and cheese or milk or cream, all in small quantities.

Delicious fluids, such as water from tuna wrapped in water or rarely oil. Avoid tuna wrapped in vegetable soup as it contains onions. Try clam juice or low salt chicken soup. Avoid onions and anything made with bouillans because they are too salty;

- Put some paint on the food.

Pull out all the stops and make some Home Made Cats with this recipe:

Turn off protein sources with each group or two. Switch between:

- Half pound chicken breast or chopped chicken thighs

- Six Oats of dark ground turkey or turkey

- Half pound lean beef

- Half pound of minced chicken, chicken or turkey. About three times a week, add one boiled egg or chopped egg. Sometimes substitute salmon or five-ounce tuna for meat. Avoid salmon or canned tuna for cats exposed to urinary tract infections.

Mix food together.

There are some medications that can help stimulate the appetite of cats including Diazepam (Valium). Other medications to ask your doctor for are Periactin (generic name Cyproheptadine), Serax (generic name Oxazepam) and Dalmane (generic name Flurazepam). All have potential side effects so it's important to talk to your veterinarian.

Syringe feeding and feeding the tube as mentioned in the section for dogs is also an option for cats.

Good luck and know that you are not alone. Eating issues are among the most frustrating of worries.

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