My OH's shih tsu is incredibly fussy.  She would actually starve rather than eat what she does not fancy.  I really would never have believed this but I have seen her refuse food for 3 days only to eat like a demon when you give her something she wants so she is clearly hungry.  We have tried leaving food out, picking it up, fresh food every meal etc etc she will not eat if she does not feel appetised by the food.  She has been on Chappie which she will eat if she is hungry enough.  She prefers "junk" food, trays of caesar or similar she will wolf down morrisons own trays or coop own.  Anything that has next to no nutritional value!

She came to us with very irritated skin, ear mites and badly swolled infected eyes.  Every time she is on one of these "junk" foods in any amount for any period of time she has a flare up again.  So clearly no good for her.  In the long run (and as she does not like it) we want to get off the chappie, we have found a dry food (grain free etc) that seems to be ok for her and we have been persuading her to eat it by mixing with cooked meat or bits of gravy from our own food.  She won't eat it on its own or mixed with Chappie.  She will eat it mixed with ceasar.

Given the issues if she were mine I would be trying raw, my OH will not feed raw.  He is very old fashioned with his dogs and very unlikely to change his mind on this, hell will be at -5 first!

So what can we mix with the dry to encourage her to eat?  I was thinking of trying wainwrights trays.  Any opinions of these is welcome.

Incidentally despite being fussy about dog food she will happily eat pretty much anything at all we eat.  Before coming to us she had been a spoilt princess who had soft little pink puppy paws despite being 2 years old and had temper tantrums about being bathed and groomed and generally handled.  She is much better but not perfect.  I think the picky princess is a left over from those days but I am too concerned for her health to try to starve her out of it.  So any suggestions on a good mixer would be great.

Have recently changed mine to Forthglade Natural Menu which is a complementary food which I serve with a mixer - Forthglade also do a complete moist food. There are a number of choices and you can buy from the people I use a mixed outer carton of 18 so you can see what your dog likes and what they don't. mine love them all.
I got my supplies from http://www.purrfectlypets.co.uk/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=11837 but there are many other sources.

Thanks I shall take a look.  Can see my 2 ending up getting a bit spoiled with all her rejects!

Assuming she has been checked at vets for any underlying issue. Then i would simply exercise tough love.  Or if OH wont contemplate raw, let him deal with her feeding times. All she's doing is holding out for something better on offer. Applaws is a good food that my lot found palatable .

claire under normal circumstances I would but this dog will go for days without food.  It's not a case of her turning up her nose and us giving a bit of meat or whatever half an hour later she would starve herself, enough that she has lost about a kilo in the past with it.  She only weighs 6kg and is not fat at all.

I had a bitch exactly the same, used to drive me to distraction. I even tried malted kelp which is supposed to stimulate the appetite. The only allowance i make for her is feeding her in a crate so she isnt mobbed by the others as she will walk away and let them. I was told it would change after having a litter but she was still a picky madam. I settled on RC mini adult as she willingly ate that (before i discovered raw feeding) Since she was spayed though she has never refused a meal. I feel your pain.

Incidentally she would also go 3 days without eating 

I too had fussy dogs ..we are now feeding arcana,soaked for a few mins ,then we add boiled chicken and boiled zucchini,carrots.
We alternate the chicken with sardines,rabbit,or tripe......nowadays the dogs are keen to eat .
Trust me ..even A fussy dog will eat this.

trays are fine with kibble/mixer added, my Mums dachsie who had a liver shunt as a pup has lived on that combination twice a day and was 10 in May, she had to stay on as low a protein diet as possible and she has maintained a good weight since.

I had the fussy dog problem with my first dachsie when he was an only dog, would eat the samples I would send for then refuse it when I bought a bag, a colleague at works dog was fed for months on his rejects, I then started on ASDA trays with kibble and he ate that great till there was a fire at the tray manufacturers and ASDA stopped doing it, then he went on to Natures Menu pouches, shortly afterwards I got another dachsie and being fussy went or his dinner got eaten by his companion, I eventually started free feeding kibble and had no problems as everyone could eat when they fancied.

Hi,

I had a really bad problem with my little pooch Archie (Bichon Frise). He is quite fussy, didn't seem to enjoy his food at all, plus he had constant diarrhoea and an upset tummy..

I used to have to disguise his dog food with grated cheese or some potato. I got really fed up with coming home to find he'd ruined my carpets. I started using this chicken and rice dog food. http://www.little-chompers.co.uk/product/super-premium-chicken-and-rice-dog-food/  made with the finest natural ingredients, with no artificial colours, flavourings or preservatives. I haven't had any diarrhoea problems since. So I would advice you to be careful on the dog food you are using, definitely check the ingredients.

Thank you.  We went with Wainwrights in the end and she seems very happy on it, not so scratty and eyes are ok.  I suspect she will always be a bit of an icky eye dog though.

She does clear her bowl twice a day now one quarter of a large tray and some biscuits too and is maintaining a nice healthy weight now.

Oh that's good to hear :) I'm pleased its sorted.