Can anyone give me some ideas about feeding our cavalier king charles spaniel? He is so fussy! When we first got him (2 weeks ago) we gave him the food his previous owners had given him but over a few days he went of it so we tried different things. we found foods that he likes but if we try to give them to him again he turns his nose up at them!
Any ideas as to why he's so fussy? or ideas as to what foods to try?

Congratulations your dog has trained you beautifully :D  A dog, like a human, will only be fussy if he is allowed to be; by all means give him a choice, what is in your bowl or nothing!  If the dog does not eat his food within 10 minutes, remove and offer at next meal giving nothing in between! 

Obviously you want to feed a nutritious healthy diet that is appealing to him; have you tried naturediet? vacuum packed meat, rice and carrots with no additives, several recipes and usually loved by most dogs I have met.

HTH

We are trying different things every day. one day he will eat them, next day he won't. His preveious owners were giving him bakers complete and he will sometimes eat that but not always. He's worse than one of the kids onlt they wouldn't get away with it!!

Bakers Complete is not one of the best foods around, it contains added sugar, salt and colourings; I would suggest you try naturediet or burns if you like a complete dry and if you don't let the kids get away with it why do you allow the dog :)

he seems to like pedigree puppy food alot one day and then won't even look at it the next. We tried him with some Whiskers cat food and he liked that. do you think that this is acceptable?

Cat foor is a big NO NO as the food is balanced for a cat not a dog let alone a puppy

Try feeding your puppy from a small plate for some unknown reason it does work with cavaliers(I don't have that problem, but experienced Cavalier owners have found it does work for them with fussy feeders)

Cavaliers can be fussy as puppies I feed a little & often if they go fussy,  my youngest is a pig so no problems with him, but the next youngest was really picky (but he did eat)until we got the now youngest, since when he has become a very good eater

Have you tried chieken, tuna, etc in very small amounts. Don't go by what it says on the feeding instructions as they are only guides. Mine rarely last on four meals past five months, perferring to go to three ot even two by then

I made the exact same MISTAKE as you did!When i first brought my shih-tzu puppy home,i put down a bowl of food,if she didnt like it then i offered her something different and so on and so on until she didnt like anything i offered!I ended up with 8 kilo of opened dog food bags,back then i didnt even know fussy dogs existed as i had always had big dogs that would eat anything i put before them!I thought i was being a kind and thoughtful owner by pandering to her but i ended up making the rod for my own back :( The tables have turned now,i put their food down for them and if they dont eat it then tough,I dont use the 10 minute rule as they eat when they are ready,sometimes 2 hours after i have put down their food, to continue on as i was,was literally driving me crazy :rolleyes: Now i cook for them,they get home made for dinner and dry for breakie,the only dry food my dogs will eat is "Royal canin"-mini-junior,i have tried every single dry food out there,except for the crappie supermarket brands(i wouldnt blame them for not eating that) and the mini junior is all they will eat and i must say they chow down on it with gusto :D which is a rare sight.I think the reason they like the R.C so much is that it smells like liver which is their all time favourite treat.
I would buy a premium food and stick to that,you could always mix things in to it to make it more tempting such as:tuna,sardines in tomato sauce,green tripe,chicken or you could make a broth and pour it over the dry,but be careful,nip this in the bud NOW or else it will never end and you'll end up on the floor with your dog coo-chi-cooing to her as this is the only way you will get her to eat ;) Or you will have to hand feed her every morsel as i once did :p
If you need any more info. dont hesitate to ask as i think i have tried everything and now my dogs are decent eaters.

I wish you the best of luck,your'e gonna need it :D

christine(Australia)

Funny you said about hand feeding, 'cos i've even tried that!
Tried the suggestion about the small plate last night and this morning - no good!
Tried tuna this morning - still no good. think iwill persevere a little longer because i worry that he won't eat at all if i just leave the food out. He also seems to be fussy wth his drink of water. i have changed it every few hours if i see a few dog hairs in it but he seems to prefer drinking out of a bucket in the garden. I've never had a pedigree dog before, every other dog we have ever had has been better than a hoover so chess has stumped me a bit.:) please give me any more suggestions, all are most appreciated.

Does he like liver? I get a chunk of lambs liver,bake it in the oven on 150 celsius for about 20 min. and then cut it up in tiny peices and mix in with the food,you will only need to add 1 tbs. mixed with his regular meal,but not too much as liver has a high content of VitA it can become toxic,i'm hoping that most of the vitamins will cook out in the oven,i doubt there would be much vitA left anyway. My dogs will eat anything if it has liver in it :D

Give it a try and let me know.

christine :)

Not tried liver, will have a go and let you know. Tried a piece of chopped up steak with rice and gravy yesterday. He picked all of the steak out the rice!:) Will keep trying though, thanks for any suggestions.

I agree with you small bowls does work with our breed .. i kept a pup back from last year who is soooo greedy that the others soon though they had better eat up or go without . I don't mix food either i stick to a good diet and don't fill them up with treats

I must admit that when I got my first cavvie he was fussy. The breeder had him on Bakers complete which i dont like. If your cav is a pup watch what you are feeding as if you keep changing it he/she may get the runs.

Cooked chicked usually works, but with mine I found that when he was hungry he would eat. He is on Iams now and he loves it, my cavvie girl has a food intolerance and Iams was the only food that she could eat that he liked !!

Hope it works out

We think now that he's just having me on! I've been so worried when he hasn't eating i have been trying everything, pandering to him. He does eat it's just that he doesn't have a very big appetite. Little monkey!
There is one thing though, When i put his water down, he walks away from it and goes in the garden looking for rain water. Is this odd? or do other dogs do this?

Most dogs prefer rainwater, it does not have the chemicals eg chlorine, fluoride that is in tap water.