Our question this week was:

Hi, I have had my dog for about a year now. I got him when he was a puppy and he used to love eating his food, but now he doesn't want to
eat his dry food or his canned food. My mom tried giving him all sorts of things though, like cheese, or butter with his dry food, and chicken breast. She also gives him vegetables and fruits and he loves it. However, I think that this is just making him not want to eat his
real meal.

With the pet food recall, its hard for us to pick the right foods, and some people say that its best to just give him regular human food, but my vet says that it will cause problems with his liver or his kidney.

What should I do? Should I tell my mom that it's not good to give him dairy products and real chicken?

Thank you,

Herin Im – Honolulu, Hawaii

Answer

Hi – thanks for your email. That sounds like a difficult situation. First, I'd recommend taking your dog to the vet to ensure there is no underlying medical problem that may be making him not want to eat (if you haven't done this already).

If your vet gives him clean bill of health, maybe he is "finicky". Finicky dogs are difficult.

I just talked to the managing editor of our site and she told me we just added an article to address this specific problem. An article that might be helpful to you is on our Petplace.com is Finicky Dogs: How to Encourage Your Picky Dog to Eat.

A couple suggestions from that article include:

A trick that can help finicky dogs to eat is heating up the food. Heating the food helps release the aromas that are appealing to your dog. You might try microwaving your finicky dog's moist food, or adding hot water to the dry food. Stir the mixture around with your finger or a spoon and try to make sure there are no "hot spots" created by the microwave warming.

Mixing something extra in the food can also be helpful. Break up a dog biscuit in the food, add a little meat-flavored baby food, sprinkle in a small amount of shredded cheese, etc. Mix the special additives throughout the food, to make it difficult for your pooch to pick out the goodies. Be careful with this option; too much "something extra" can lead to obesity. Also, don't spoil him so much that he becomes more finicky, as explained above.

Go to the full article for more suggestions.

Best of luck!

Dr. Debra

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