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Barkley

franxx's picture
Posted February 17th, 2009 by franxx
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About 4 years ago I adopted a Chow-Sheltie mix 10 wk. puppy from a local animal shelter I named Barkley. While Barkley has been a wonderful dog, easy to train, the most extroverted of creatures ever encountered, he does not like to eat, at all, EVER. About once a week he will vomit all his food up. 2 years ago he had to spend 2 days at the vet because he had not eaten or drank ANYTHING!! Several expensive tests later, nothing was discovered. Any thoughts or ideas. I feed him a combination of kibble, rice, and some kind of meat or fish.

Comments

teaching a dog to eat

Aidan's picture
On February 18th, 2009 Aidan says:

If he is vomiting food up that frequently there is every chance of a medical problem, or a dietary problem. Possibly an allergy. I should certainly mention the strong possibility of Addison's Disease, but hopefully your vet checked for that.

Some dogs have problems with grains, so choose your kibble carefully and try nixing the rice for a bit. This is not my area of expertise, so take anything I say about health and diet as personal opinion.

Personally, I feed a predominantly "raw meaty bone" diet. It is worth researching. A lot of Australians find it funny that this is considered the "alternative" to commercial food, because it is just what we did until relatively recently. You would not make the switch overnight.

As for teaching a dog to eat. It's actually not hard and Sue Ailsby has outlined a very effective protocol here:
http://www.dragonflyllama.com/%20DOGS/Writing/TeachEat.html

I will stress that the above protocol is for a fussy eater, not for a sick dog (although it may be used as a behavioural adjunct to medical treatment where appropriate).

Regards,
Aidan
http://www.positivepetzine.com

dog won't eat

On February 18th, 2009 bluefilly says:

I may be off the track here, but its worth considering, being a dog from a shelter (not that all dogs from shelters have had a rough past - just that you don't know their past).

My dog wouldnt eat while anyone was watching him, and would not take food from my hand. I learnt he had been kicked away as the food bowl was being put down, so was scared to eat in case someone kicked him.

My suggestion, and it doesnt hurt to try, is to put his food bowl down and walk away. Don't look at him. Just leave him alone to eat. If he eats, you can progress from there. If not, ho harm done.

Just a thought.

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