I am so glad this website is here, it's a lifeline for a new dog owner like me !!

Have just rehomed a CKCS who is 1, the previous owners admitted she is extremely fussy with food and they were quite happy to swap around her food ?

The choice out on the market is extraordinary and i really don't know where to start. She has been fed on a dry mix food (any brand etc). Anyway she ate a small bowl last night, but today has not touched any. Only drinking her water.

Can you help me with ideas, advice or suggestions
Thanks 
x

Stick with a brand that you feel comfortable feeding,stay away from ingredients such as meat derivatives,cereals,cereal derivatives etc. etc.

Put her bowl down for 10-15 minutes,if she hasnt eaten, take it up,feed nothing until her next meal time,no treats nowt,then offer her meal again at dinner/breakfast time. It will no doubt take a long while to undo a years worth of damage that the previous owner did,but dont give up,you dont want a fussy eater on your hands for the next 15 or so years :(

Dogs can go up to 7 days without eating,but usually they give in way before then,3-4 days being the norm.

The important thing is to stay strong,dont get sucked in to the act that worked so well with her previous owner. Owning a picky eater truly is a nightmare and you must nip this in the bud NOW :)

What food are you feeding her?

I went on a seminar and the speaker was Ian Dunbar.  He mentioned about poor feeders.  As the other person who has replied to you and mentioned putting her food down for 10-15 mins then taking away. Well the next feed just put in two pieces if the dried food and then start to increase as the days go on.

I have had some success with Enervite. It is a food suppliment and is not too expensive-about £4 a tube. Your local pet shop will be able to get it if not put Enervite in to you search engine and you can buy on line.

Do not worry too much.

Good luck.

I have bought 'Bakers Complete' which is the dry food mix, have got the puppy/junior pack....she is 1 year old.

Is tinned not a great option then?

Any other suggestions please.

Price not an issue either !!

Tinned Chappie often works at getting them eating; it's complete, and suitable for sensitive digestions.
:)

Try James Welbeloved it's a premium dog food which is the best.  It has no bad/cheap stuff in it so won't make her hyper you can find it in any good pet shop.  but if she still wont eat don't change the food do what the other people say and pick it up after 15 mins.

JWB it also  owned by the Mars group (pedigree)who are not on THe buav list . still if its not your dog what the heck.-JO    

glad you have found a cavalier at last .....

I agree Inca, Cavs are great dogs! My boy was very fussy as a puppy on dry food, so we put him on Pedigree. A couple of months ago that stopped agreeing with him so we put him on JWB fish and rice, and he seems happy with it. He prefers it if I mix up the other dogs' dinners first as they are still on Pedigree until we use up the mixer, as then he can taste little smears of jelly from the pouches on his dinner! :-) They can be fussy, but just pick one food and stick to it, she'll eventually work out that it's that or nothing!

Thanks everyone.
Inca i have sent you a message.....will talk soonest.

She had fresh lamb tonight and wolfed it down, but she won't get that every bloomin day!!!
Will let you know how we get on.
Bye for now

bluebell bakers would have to be one of the worst foods available for dogs anywhere! :( All those colours and sugars and salts and......  Your dog couldnt give a hoot what colour or shape her food is ;)

Gotta agree with that, bakers is orrible stuff.

I feed mine raw food (including raw lamb), they get a variety of different foods, over time the diet is balanced (not in every  mouthful though, thats not natural), and i think BECAUSE they always get a variety of interesting foods, not ONE is fussy about food, and thats four very different dogs!

Not everyone has the time or energy to feed raw, it IS harder than opening a sack of food and dumping it in a bowl, y ou DO need to think 'have the dogs had some offal this week, would they like a raw egg each tonight' etc, you need to find half an hour or so to bag up chicken wings or other variuos body parts, blend veggies to mush etc.

Find a food like someone said, that is mostly meat, some veg and as little cereal/sugar etc as possible. This wont be the cheapest brand, and its not likely to be the most advertised brand. It also wont be the brand with multicoloured 'fun' shaped chunks of gawd knows what.

Pick the food you are happy with, feed it. Dont fuss, dont add extras, if you are happy that your dogs diet is suitable, tasty and not boring, then stick to your guns.

That said, im not surprised at all that once a dog learns there are more interesting foods available than boring, same flavoured kibble every day, for 15 years of life, they start getting a bit picky. I would!

Em

Agree with everything you've written EM.......................except the last bit, I mean they lick their own bums, they'll even eat dog poo (their own and others) and NO-ONE could ever accuse that of being appetising :D :D :D

mmm...

but then some humans eat some very strange things (bear with me i just got up), dont the Inuit eat blubber and rotting fish? or that might be icelandic....

Having different tastes doesnt mean variety is not appreciated. If there is always variety, no need to get fussy, if its always the same thing, day in, day out, it makes sense that when a dog says 'nah, dont fancy that' and the owner bungs some nice smelly sardines on it, the dog thinks 'wahey, if i hang on a bit, something nicer will appear'.

The proof is there in my own dogs, all of whom will eat pretty much anything these days, but the two who were switched to raw as adults, were very fussy adults on complete food.

Em

My dog liked poo.  It was a proper stomach churning thing to witness.  This all changed when I changed her brand of dried food.  Quite by accident I noticed that a couple of weeks after changing her food to a different brand she seemed to stop eating poo (it wasn't  just dogs poo by the way, any old poo would do but dogs seemed to be in abundance)  I did a little experiment and put her on yet another 'leading' brand and she reverted back to eating dogs' poo.  Now I only feed her JWB and very rarely do I see her pick something up but can't be sure if it is dog's might be birds or deer.  I vary the flavours that I buy but to be honest I think that's more for my satisfaction than her's as it doesn't seem to make any difference. 

Royal canin always was a tasty food to my boys , if they wouldn't eat they'd gobble that down. It smells great and fishy to!