I have two full grown huskies. One of which is extremely fussy when it comes to feeding time. He will eat one brand of food for a couple of weeks then go off it like clockwork. My older one was like this but soon grew out of it at alot younger age. He is on a strict diet at the moment as he can't seem to get enough of the food I'm feeding him on at the moment. But the real problem is with the younger dog. People say to leave the food out for fifteen minutes and then take it away, not feeding him until next meal time (which is at 6:30pm the following evening). But if I was to do that he would be literally skin and bone which is the stage he is getting to at the moment as some days he only eats a couple of mouthfuls then scavenges for our food! Another owner of a husky said that when hers was alive it used to not eat for days then wouldn't stop. She reckoned it was a husky trate. But after speaking to a breeder it seems that's not right. CAn anybody give me some much needed advice?

Hi. I know how you feel. I'm having the same problem with one of mine. I have to give her one type of kibble and nothing else at the moment, for allergic reasons. I am giving her lots of little feeds a day as I also don't want her dropping any weight, and it comes off her so easily. Wish it did me :D
Sometimes I just put it on the floor for her, instead of in a dish. She seems to eat it better this way. don't know if she thinks its a treat, but it seems to work for her. I also feed her out of my hand as well, a bit. Again, I wouldn't normally do this but it does keep her eating, especially when my other one is getting all the goodie feeds like barf and bones and left overs. YUM!, and she's not allowed any :(
Hope this helps you
Anne

LOL, the dogs are training you well :)

I have just been through this with my yearling, I just put the food down as normal, left it until the other dog had eaten and then picked it up, no food till the next day and absolutely no tidbits yes my dog was looking rather thin and still is but has got the idea now - food only stays around for a certain time.  Its all being eaten now and the weight's slowly coming back :D :D :D

Dill how do you ignore those soulful yearning,begging eyes? :)

AAAHH  that's where you have to have nerves of steel and a baby gate :D  If the dog is behind a baby gate when I'm eating then he can do soulful till the cows come home, he never shares with me when he has something tasty ;)  At the end of the day its not healthy to be starving because 'something else' might turn up (in my dog's case the cat's food, which always bounces in his tummy but he still steals it if he can ;) )

It's so weird,one of my dogs has turned  real funny with her eating lately.She could be obviously starving hungry,she'll have a full bowl of food sitting there but she's scanning the floor for crumbs and following me around everywhere hoping i'll give her something.
I've never had this problem before and i'm having real trouble saying NO to her,however on the other hand i'm also angry that she's putting me through this stress :o She will eventually eat but not before trying to get something else :( I have a feeling the kids are feeding her junk on the side and now she's got the taste of sin :D

I agree completely with what you say Dill, and ordinarily I wouldn't even think of giving into her but as we have a big show coming up and I want her to look her best, which she doesn't if she's a bit thin, I have to resort to coaxing ;)
Little pain that she is :D

The only thing is, if I leave the food out overnight and allow the other dog to eat it he will end up extremely overweight! At the moment, he's chubby but I really don't want anything other than that especially as he's on a strict diet at the moment!

Hi Keira,

As a last resort you could try not offering the second meal at all if your dog doesn't eat it's first meal within say 10-15 minutes   It might sound a bit radical but as a one-off it won't do any harm.  My youngest one was very fussy for a few weeks and I was in despair of getting enough into her (this is common in juveniles of my breed so got tips and tricks a plenty that usually pay off) and I did this and she scoffed her first meal the next day and the second meal.  Have to say it only lasted for about three weeks and she's gone a bit faddy again but she's regained her weight so I'm not too concerned.

Regards, Teri :)

See, that's what I've tried!!! Sometimes he even refuses his meal for three days in a row which is very worrying. I will continue to try it but I'm not 100% sure what his exact  background was. When I had a look at him in the kennels he looked slightly underweight but the following week when we brought him home he was eating like a pig for the first few days. Then the trouble started with me having to try and get him to eat something. If only my other dog wasn't so fat...he could show the younger one how to eat!!!!!

This is a common problem with huskies, particularly youngsters. They tend not to carry much weight and they may not eat for a few days because they don't feel the need to. Huskies generally need less food than other breeds their size, so there can be a tendency to overfeed which either leads to them being loose all the time or they skip a meal to compensate.

What food are you feeding at the moment? A lot of people find a probiotic helps the appetite and the digestive system. Do you change foods in the summer when they're not working?

Try to meet up with some other sibe owners in your area or at a club event. It will be easier to give advice in person and help if they can see your dog. Talk to as many people as possible as everyone will have different ideas about feeding and see what suits you and your dogs best.

When we first got him he was on Greyhound Supa-Racer. That lasted about a week! I'm gathering it was all he had been fed since he'd been with the breeder, but as I've mentioned already, he was looking slightly malnourished then. I then changed him onto Bakers Complete with Pedigree tinned food, it was doing no good for his coat nor teeth as he's extremely prone to plaque, hence having to change to dry food. At the moment he's on Burns chicken with brown rice, the same as my other dog.

I understand that huskies may be a bit picky with their food and not eat for days but he sometimes only has the equivalent of a cats meal in a week. He seems to be scoffing the Burns food at the moment but how long will that last?

I have spoken to the breeder about it and she has mentioned about feeding the food from hand so it makes him believe its treats! But, although I understand he's not the full ticket, he does know what's food and what's sweeties!

K

she has mentioned about feeding the food from hand so it makes him believe its treats

If you are going to hand feed him every morsel then you must be prepared to feed him this way for the rest of his life :( Been there,done that! It got to the stage where my girl would sit by her bowl waiting for me to dig in and feed her by hand! It took a fair while to get her out of this annoying habit,personally i wouldnt reccomend it,however i dont know your dog and he may not be as stubborn as mine??

What are meal times like around your place?It would be helpful if you could give me a run down from preparing the meal to the end of it and what  you do inbetween,eg. do you stand and anxiously watch him,ignore him etc.

I definitely don't recommend it either. Because, as you've mentioned, I can see him waiting for me to feed him by hand until the end of his life!

Well, their meal time is at 6.30pm. About five minutes before I get their bowls and weighing scales etc. Weigh out their individual feeds and because our kitchen is long yet narrow I feed them in the middle by the door. I usually sit down between them because my other dog would end up eating Alpha's food as soon as my back was turned!

Although, at the moment, Alpha is eating extremely well! He seems to love Burns but I've seen this far too many times before with him. Loves it for three days. Hates it for the next three weeks (sometimes more!). When they've finished (this is when Alpha successfully cleans his bowl), I take his and put it in the sink then when Byron has finished I put his in the sink too. Quickly shooing them out the kitchen. When Alpha is picking at his food I wait until Byron has finshed and shove him out of the kitchen so he can't distract nor eat Alpha's food. I then wait til 6.45/6.50pm for Alpha to finish. If he has not, the food goes in the bin and he is not fed until next meal time.

K

Been rereading this and wondered, have you tried putting his meals in a treat ball? (I use a Buster Cube as it's more difficult to roll around :) ) I did this with one of my dogs when he started wolfing his food and getting hiccups constantly, the fun of rolling the ball around just might make him eat his dinner more often :)

In myhouse, a dog that doesnt eat its food is clearly NOT a hungry dog, and therefore doesnt need it, so food is put away.

Think like that, BE firm and your dog will learn to eat.

However, if you are offering cr@p food, or plenty of silly treats, then i cant blame a dog for doing this!!!!

Em

He isn't fed other than his own food and I can assure you that the food I am feeding him is not cr*p.

I had this problem with bengi not eating for a few days at a time and you do worry. My kitchen is also narrow so i feed them in the dining room in the corner. Their water bowl is there too so its like their space to eat & drink. They are on dry food so i would add a little hot water to their food and put it down for 10-15 mins if it wasnt eaten then it would be thrown away, I would show him it was going in the bin and he didnt get anything till next meal time. I also stopped any treats although they dont get many during the day mainly at training. After a few days he started eating as he learnt it would be taken away and he would go hungry. All he was doing was holding out for something better off our plates which he never got off me but OH - well i do tell him NO but he never listens thats why the dogs beg a little off him till he gets frustrated and never off me as they know they dont get anything. If i do give them something its always in their bowls and they dont see me taking it from my plate as i go into the kitchen. Could you be putting too much in the bowl at once and he feels overwhelmed. My two have breakfast and then dinner from 6ish. Also i dont keep to a time anymore, i used too untill bengi started to be a fussy eater so now i vary it a little and it did help him. I think dogs can tell the time as they know when its time for walks/bed/ball throwing etc.. :D :D

I find that feeding him in the evening at a certain time actually works better for him. He expects it now. I did try feeding him little and often but it wasn't long before he started turning his nose up and getting bored. Although, fingers crossed...at the moment he's eaten fine!

K

So glad to hear that, no matter how you try not to, it does worry you when they won't eat for days at a time, especially when you can see they need to put on weight.

One of my dogs prefers to eat inbetween 12:30-1:30am,lucky i'm a nightowl :)

Keira are you feeding Burns at the moment,if so which flavour? Are you adding any extra's?

Yep, both dogs are on Burns at the moment. Chicken and Rice brand at the moment. Something bland so it isn't too over-the-top. He was having a bit of barf with it but now I've stopped that because his teeth are that of ten year old's dog when he's only two!

I wasnt actually meaning you specifically, i meant generally!

And in WHOSE opinion is the food not 'cr@p'..... it might be brilliantlygood for him, it could be the most expensive food on the earth but if a dog doesnt like it, it doesnt taste good to him, then could this be whysome dogs just dont eat certain foods.

Certainly though, offering titbits through the day is one of the most common reasons for dogs going off their food, along with free feeding!

Em