Hi to everyone.  This is my first post so please be gentle!  Holly, my 10-month-old border collie, has suddenly turned her nose up at her dry food.  She refuses to eat what is placed in front of her.  I read previous posts and advice given on this forum, and tried many of the suggestions.  But, no, she will not eat.  She's lively and shows no ill effects from not eating but after 4 days, I'm afraid I cracked and tried her with tinned CAT food!  Yes, you guessed, she ate it.  No real enthusiasm for it, but it was eaten.  Previously, I had fed JWB and although she has never shown any great enthusiasm for her meals, she did empty her bowl eventually.  To cut down on costs, and because I found an online deal,  I switched my three dogs to Arden Grange as it is often recommended on this site.  But after just a few days, Holly said No, thank you, I'm not eating it, and the other two dogs are not that impressed with AG unfortunately.  Anyway, to cut a long story short, can I have some suggestions to tempt Holly to eat, please?  I've tried Arden Grange, Iams, Nature Diet, tinned Winalot, and frozen dog food from Pets At Home.  Perhaps I should go back to JWB?  Any advice would be gratefully received. 

Try adding a bit of stock or gravy to the food. Vary what you give her, she may be so fussy, just doesnt like eating the same thing day after day. Try adding cheese,ham,sardines or other such goodies to tempt her.
Some may recommend a BARF diet and varying the raw food that you give her.
I too have a dog that isnt very food orientated and he has been known to go a while without eating. Dont panic-just try alternatives
Good luck

I can understand you are concerned about a young dog not eating but it could be you are in danger of making her (and possibly the others?) more fussy by keep changing the food. :)  Personally I would try for a couple of days putting the food down and if it isn't eaten in say 10 minutes, take it away and make her wait until her next feed time.

Are you soaking the kibble first?  Some dogs don't like it dry.

I agree.  Some dogs really don't like a food offered but if they have eaten it in the past I think they are just fishing to see what they can get out of you.  The better trained you become in supplying the more they will pull the dispensing lever :-)

I too have a very fussy dog (toy poodle) I have tried various foods and have found that he eats natures menu (in pouches) the best, I have tried natures diet which he wasn't so keen on and I have to say natures menu certainly smells much nicer. I have 2 toy poodles the younger one is not a problem to feed and I find that it works the best if I fill 2 kongs with dry food either Royal Canin mini sensible or James Wellbeloved lamb and rice dry food at breakfast which they don't always eat or may eat only a few bits but they then get a pouch of natures menu at teatime which they do eat. I used to give natures menu at breakfast as well but felt the younger dog was getting a bit plump so this is why he gets the dry at breakfast as he doesn't like that as much. Hope this is of help to you.

I feed AG Lamb and Rice, and used to use Nutro.  My 5 year old will regulate his food intake according to activity level so I can usually trust him but occasionally he needs some encouragement to eat.

I always pick up his bowl after 10 minutes but leave it within sniffing distance.  Sometimes he simply prefers to eat after a walk, in which case he will ask for his bowl when we get back.  If I feel I need to adjust the contents of his bowl I will always wait for the next meal; a) he'll hopefully be more hungry and b) I don't accidentally teach him to manipulate me!

I don't ever change his food but will add something wet to 'dress' the kibble.  Try chicken stock,  or a tablespoon of canned food or natural yoghurt.  
He can also be tempted by warm food.  I used to do this for the puppy anyway so the older dog got the same - add a splash of water (= a teaspoon ish), stir it in with your fingers (extra scent), and stick the whole portion in the microwave for 20 seconds, check temp though as your microwave may be different - it should be warm not hot.  According to my local pet shop owner this is "a tried and tested way to activate the smell and stimulate the appetite!"
Finally, if he is really disinterested in the contents of his bowl for longer than I would like I'll give him a raw carrot or a piece of brocolli stalk, an hour or so before his mealtime and sometimes this is enough to stimulate his digestive system to start eating again.  He won't starve himself but he can go up to 5 days on just a few mouthfuls. 

They can be a worry can't they?  Good luck

Thanks for the advice.  Yes, I have tried putting her food down for 10 minutes and then taking it away.  This went on for 4 days with no success.  I have also tried adding gravy stock, pilchards, prawns, but no luck.  She's just not interested.  As I said, she lively and alert, but she must be starving!  Success today though, I sat my three dogs down and fed each one wet food off a spoon..........it took ages but Holly did eat what was offered!  But obviously, I can't do that every day!  I will perserve with different foods but it's so expensive to keep buying small bags of branded food.  I think I will go back to JWB..........wish me luck.  

Has she had her first season yet?  My bitch went totally off her food a few weeks before she started her first season.  She remained on hunger strike until about 10 weeks post season at which point she started to eat normally again, just as suddently as she stopped.  She lost piles of weight but was fine and lively in all other regards.

Yes, Holly has had her first season.  Some weeks ago now.  I am starting to believe that she wants variety with her meals.  My two other male dogs eat anything you put in front of them.  And to tell you the truth, I've never had a dog that didn't wolf down every meal, so Holly's fussiness has come as a bit of a shock to me.  She takes her time over her meals and doesn't seem to rush.  Perhaps I'm getting it wrong and it's not indifference to her food that I'm seeing, but she's just taking her time and eating when she's ready.  I've given her a free sample of Wainwrights dry food that I picked up at Pets At Home and her bowl is now empty, so perhaps I should buy a small bag of that, a bag of JWB and alternate the two with a small amount of wet food.  I'll keep everyone posted............and many thanks for all the advice so far.

In addition to approaching a season, the other thing that can cause young dogs to go off their food is slowing of growth ;)  as they near adult size and the growth spurts slow or stop then they start to need less food.  If the same amount is then supplied it can seem as if the dog is off their food but in actual fact they are getting all they need ;)  Trouble is, this can be traumatic for an owner if they haven't realised this and are expecting youngster to still need the amount they ate before ;)

I've seen this so many times and also experienced it with my own dogs.  My solution is to offer a measured amount in their bowl and wait for a few minutes.  Once they walk away from the bowl then that's how much they need, measure what's left and give that much less at the next meal.  If they start looking for more then they might still be hungry and will get a little more, unless they are overweight ;)

Once you're sure it isn't a health problem causing it, just remember, most dogs will eat the most appallingly rank rubbish (including poo) and any food you offer them is definitely better than that :-D

Hi maxarchol I would try either raw meaty bones or barf ,start off with a couple of raw chicken wings and see how she goes. I now have my 13mthold gsd on this after various attempts to convince him that he should eat complete dried but he was never as keen as he is now There is lots of info around on both methods of feeding but basically any raw meat with the bones ( most importent) is fine some people avoid pork. If you go for barf or raw meaty bones add fruit /veg  raw or lightly cooked or your left overs plus yogurt cottage cheese and raw eggs . Also fish tinned or raw.
good luck  I have found it works well for us and my gsd looks wonderful and is very healthy

Dogs can be so fickle with their diets.I have 3 that will eat anything and were fed on R.C when young but have switched to BARF since March and are thriving.My eldest male who will be 3 this year is very fussy.He started on R.C then went on BARF when about 8 months but refused it.We continued with Royal canin and he eventually went back to Barf and now really enjoys it.We have had to resort on cooked chicken and rice at times especially when one of the girls were in season.Cat food is too high in protien and not recommended.Good luck but be wary of changing food too often.

barf is great, our boy is usually very keen on his meals- had a turkey drumstick today, it was scoffed with great gusto! its surprisingly easy to do, even though it seems scary and overwhelming at first plus the key is variety so should suit your girls faddyness. if its helpful for an idea of what to do tio gets variously eggs, chicken wings, turkey drumsticks, mixed beef and pork mince, rabbit, occasional bit of lamb (he's not keen on it), tripe, liver, pilchards, porridge/rice/potatos to bulk things out sometimes and a blended mush of various veges with seed mix. oh and cod liver oil capsules

well worth a go.

its also really nice to be able to make his dinner myself, it feels like i'm being a better 'mum' (not ccritisisng others, just i like doing it). its easy but still satisfying

I agree with everything you have written. Our Border has eat the same food from day 1, Cocker has been a right pain. We have settled on Natures Best but he does not finish it every day, so I pick it up (before BC eats it!!) and he goes without. If Im cooking fresh (as opposed to sainsbury's prepared cheating veg) he loves carrot, cucumber, brussles!!UGHHH, cabbage all tiny bits. Plus the cheese fiend bit, when he was small i used to get worried and mix his dry food with grated cheese. Now I do not worry, (he's 17 months) he'll eat when hungry after a walk better than before. We have to keep telling him "eat your dinner" as he is so nosy if you move out of the kitchen he's there like radar "what you doing ?" Jake eats so fast its gone in 60 secs or less. I feed 1 indoors and 1 outside.
I kept swapping Whistler i should have just stuck it down and let him get onwith it. But Im tougher now, if he does finish his plate I do feed a little more, a handful. But if he leaves it, it gets picked up or my BC will snuffle the lot. I change to rice with fish or chicken breast if a little runny then add rice to their food when re introducing their food after a runny period but I stick to the two menu's they are used to. When you see whats in the puddles they drink out of they cant have that many taste buds.

Thanks for everyone's advice concerning Holly and her lack of appetite.  Replying to ShaynLola and the question about Holly being in season....a few days ago I came downstairs to find a show of blood on her covers.  Although she had her first season back in April, it looks like this show of blood is something to do with that?  Since this show of blood, her appetite seems to have returned.  Although she still takes her time with her food, she is eating normally again.  At the moment I'm mixing a small amount of wet food with Arden Grange and the bowl is being licked clean!  So, it looks like ShaynLola was on the right track with Holly's lack of appetite being linked to being in season.  I shall know in future that when Holly decides she's not going to eat her food, it's no reason for me to go into panic mode and believe that she will starve!  Again, many thanks to everyone who left advice, and I shall be taking it all onboard.

Hello

My jack russell is exactly the same, what i have found that works is tripe one week with dry food, and co-op own make gourmets with dry food next week repeating this , yes i know it sounds silly but it works, the vet said she wont starve herself, well after 4 days i knew she was meaning business! this is the only thing that worked but i have to let her have big walks too, so she works up an appetite! good luck because i know how you feel!

Hi Tigue

Thanks for the advice.  Holly seems ok now.  She's eating well again so I think I was panicking over what seems to be a common occurence.  As I previously stated, I've never had a dog before that didn't wolf down every bit of food and still want more!  She's now eating Arden Grange dry food mixed with a small amount of tinned (fish variety) cat food.  She won't touch tinned dog food!  Silly dog!  By the way, I also have a cat that doesn't like fishy types of cat food, only the meat varieties.  But you got to love them, eh?