Missy is a 4yr old jack russell (miniture) has always been a fussy eater but has now virtually stopped eating altogether for about a week now, other than this she is in good health. I can coax her to eat dry dog food - if we make it a game, she will have a nibble at corned beef and the occasional treat but other than that she isn't eating properly and hasn't done so for 5 days.  What tips can you give me to get her back on track, she's starting to worry me now - which in return stresses her out.

There will be people on later on who may be able to help.

In the meantime though have you taken her to the vet? What is her 'output' like if she hasnt eaten in last few days?

Is there anything that may have stressed her out recently?

Yeah, vet claims she's a fussy eater and she's doing it for attention, he's not happy with her eating habits but claims the tiny bit she is eating is enough for her to get by on...  She's drinking plenty of water and passing both feaces (twice daily) and urine.  I feel she is stressed, because food is now becoming a big issue.

There was a thread posted yesterday about the training vets get when it comes to dogs eating, at least though they have said there is nothing medical.

Please check this site later on as some of the guys are really knowledgeable about food and behaviour.

It may hopefully be that you have inadvertently taught her to behave in this way and can it can easily be reversed thru retraining.  Or on hindsight something small may have stressed her out but if you retrace your last few days it may help.

Sorry i cant help but someone will honest!

What is her bodyweight, and more importantly condition like.  Are all her ribs sticking out or are they well covered.

Many people with smell dogs judt totally overestimate their dogs needs.  I bet if you put everything that passes her lips into a bowl you will find that she is eating enough.

I would say a fit small Jack would not need more than a mug full of dry food a day, nto a lot at all, ands if chubby would do well for a time on ahlf that without starving.

She's a tiny little thing anyway, but yes you can feel her ribs yet this has always been the case, although now she actually looks skinny.

If the vet says her condition is fine over next few days I would put down two ounces of food in a dish at breakfast time.  give her 10 minutes and take it up until Evening.  Put it down again (if she eats it do not give ehr more).  Next day put sown the 2 ounces again(even if it is the day befores breakfast).  Continue like this for several days ( I am sure within 3 days she will eat at least one meal). 

Once she realises that nothing at all no treats or nibbles will she get she will start to eat her meals.  Once she is clearing ehr plate at each meal you can allow the odd treat for training, but avoid them if you can as it will jsut make her picky again.

Dogs like this are often better on two meals a day.

It does sound as if she is manipulating you! Ours have the food put down, if they choose not to eat it, it is picked up after about 20 to 30 mins and put away until the next meal time. If they are hungry and not unwell they will eat, you just need to be hard hearted - we once had a cat that thought if it didnt eat cat food we would come up with something nicer (well it had trained hubby). It took about a week for it to realise that there were new rules ;) 

I had my old JR for 16 years and she would sometimes go 3 or 4 days without eating then have a spell with good eating.  Her weight did go up and down but she never got worryingly thin.  I was lucky in that I just left her food down throughout the day and if she was hungry she ate and if she didnt want to she left it. I think this seems to be a thing with small dogs.  A lot of my ladies who send their small dogs to me for grooming worry about their dogs eating.  I do sometimes wonder if we forget that because they are small they do not require a large quantity of food to keep alive. 

Try not to worry.

Thanx for all your advice, gonna try to be mean over the weekend, will keep you posted

It needs to be more like a week than a weekend :D

I recently looked after a rather long Pet Yorkie (looked the right height but about twice the length).  She was decidedly plump, but not terribly overweight.

Her owners brought for her to eat over 4 days a tupperware container of diced cooked chicken breast.  I asked them what she had with it, they t9ld me that was all she would eat!!!  Iexplained that no way was that a healthy diet for her, and she woudl be malnourished even if she got fat.

I took out about 4 tablespoons of the chicken and put the rest in the freezer.  I had a good puppy food in the house do weighed out 2 ounces and put it in her dish with a table spoon of the chicken.  She ate the meat but didn't touch the rest for two days.

On the third day she ate about half the complete, and on the fourth all of it bar a few pieces.

When they came to get her on the fifth day I gave them a littel cup that contained just the right amount for a day.  The owners were shocked at how little it was.  I instructed them to not give her anything else other than the complete for teh next week, as she would eat it when hungry enough.  I told them as she was plump it would do her no harm if she idn't eat the full amount for a week or so.  Whether they listened or not I don't know.

I agree with the good advice given but would also add, a lot depends on what has been happening over the 4 years and if she has learnt to manipulate you for what she wants. If she has and you have maybe given her special meals etc she may just have learnt to prefer nicer food. I tend to feel that dogs who are made to eat a so called b alanced diet of eg. dried food have every right to complain as in the wild they would be tucking into juicy stuff with gusto. So i tend to be a bit half hearted about forcing them to eat food that is probably not always that tempting. I use a good quality wet food. JMHO though and it doesn't negate the sound advice given :D

Have you tried perhaps more tempting foods long term such as NatureDiet or Nature's Menu, as this is a wet food and may smell nicer? Just an idea, sorry haven't your original post in front of me so cant remember what you have done.

If she is actually skinny and this and the behaviour is a sudden change, this would tend to indicate a vet check up because any behaviour change at this age (Jif sudden) can indicate a medical problem. Hopefully it isn't, let us know how things go!

Lindsay
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