hi, i recently bought a bull mastiff from a dog rescue centre , he is very underweight and i was told to feed him 3 times a day which he is not doing. He has really bad stools for a few days and we took him to the vet who was worried about him and admitted him to run test,the test came back clear and the vet said it could be that he had come into a new home and he would settle down. the runny stools have stopped but he is a fussy beggar ,he was eating complete meal for a few days and then started refusing it, we have tried on a few thing including tripe and chicken as well as othert things but he is not touching any of it and i'm getting really worried about him he is such a gorgeous dog and he is great with my four children who love him to bits and i just wondered if any one had any advice on what eles to try him on

thanx maggie

I can only suggest something really smelly like Chappie or Butchers with tripe tinned food, to tempt him, a spoon of natural yoghurt should help the upset tum, and most dogs enjoy it.
Hopfully someone with more experience will be along later.

liberty

hi liberty, thanx for your message we have tried him on chappie but he won't touch that i am going to get some butchers today and see how he goes on that

p.s it's like having another baby in the house

Hi Maggie,

One of my Bullmastiffs is also fussy with her food.Try grating some cheese into his meal.Also Marmite rubbed onto the gums helps to stimulate the appetite.
Hope this helps.

Karen.

hi maggie and karen im having the same problem!
ive a 13 week old bullmastiff and shes getting a knightmare for eating,ive changed her food even to the stage of buying 5 different foods(dry) and putting them all on different plates so she could pick her favourite,that was eukanuba which she enjoyed for a day and now is refusing to eat that!!!!
ive tried
1,adding tuna etc to biscuits which she just picks the tuna out and leaves the biscuits
2,adding gravy that didnt work
3,soaking dry food still no luck
4trying 1/2 tinned 1/2biscuits no luck

HELP ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
from what i can make out looking back now the breeder(not meaning to be horrid)if you can call her that didnt really have a clue, it was her 1st litter and food was constantly down all the while,from biscuits, tinned food, gammon bones.i think my pup has always been used to eating when she wants.
i have tried giving her 4 set meal times but although she is putting weight on i am afraid she doesnt eat enough to keep a fly alive!!!!!!!!
please any sugestions willbe greatly appreciated

Try her with some green tripe she should eat this, if she does mix a little dry food with it.
It does stink a bit so be warned!!!!!!!

but what about her biscuits as i would really like to keep her on dy food and i know she would probably just eat the tripe and leave thecomplete!

She may be trying to tell you something... that perhaps the dry complete food is convenient for you, but it may not be suitable for her. I am sure if someone kept feeding me something I didn't like, tempting me by adding things I DID like, I would pick out the good bits.

my mothers border collie does not like dried food she has mixed it with tinned stuff which he likes. but he justs sucks the juice off the biscuit and spits them out in his water bowl. (smart ass).
emma

Try BURNS complete with Ocean fish. It smells fishy and the dogs love it. But stick with complete diet. If you want more info on Burns just ask.