Kona is being stubborn with her food

mdokic

A little bit ago when I took Kona in to the vet for some stomach issues she was having, the vet had prescribed her some sort of wet food (bland, low fat, etc...) to help soothe her GI tract...she got much better! But, after we weaned her off that food back onto her normal one, I saw her slowing down as she ate, but she still ate all of her food for the next couple of days. After that, she completely lost interest in her food. I thought maybe something was wrong with her stomach again and she just had no appetite, but when I tried to give her treats or a little bit of that prescription food, she ate it up in a heartbeat.

I've been trying to feed her her food, then after 10 minutes or so take it away, then when I get back home from work I try and feed her again. Most of the time she eats it after I come home, but I'm worried she isn't eating enough. At the same time, I don't want her to learn that if she turns her head from food I'll give her whatever she wants...what should I do? We just bought a WHOLE new bag of her food and just opened it too...it would be a shame to waste it

Forgot to add...right now I'm feeding her the Wellness Puppy Formula Kibble.

Hinata23

Trying mixing the wet food with her kibble.

ChoCho has become kind of picky with her food, so I've tried a few things that seem to be working for her. I've added sodium-free chicken stock to her food and she loves it. I've also added a 1-2tbs of puree pumpkin and she seriously eats her food faster than I've ever seen her eat. She LOVES the pumpkin. When I'm out of pumpkin and chicken stock I pour some water in her food bowl and it creates a gravy and she likes that too.

mdokic

I did mix it with her kibble, and she likes it...I'll try some of the other stuff you mentioned too I blame that wet food the vet gave her LOL! It was too delicious and now she doesnt want her dry food haha xP

Oh doggies

Thank you!!

mdokic

Oh, and something else kinda funny that just started happening...

So normally Kona loves carrots and the flesh of apples, apple pears, etc...from ANYONE at ANYTIME...
When Nate tries to give her some first now, she kinda goes "meeeeh...idk..." Then I try and give her some, and she takes it right away! WTH?! After I feed her a few bites, I have Nate try again and she'll eat it from him..but she always wants to start with me?? What's up with that?? lol

Hinata23

lol Yeah, I switched the kibble flavor to see if ChoCho would like that better and she seems to like it a bit more, but Goro seem bitter that I changed his kibble... He give me the "What the crap is this?! Where's my fish kibble?!" look. He's not that excited about meals time anymore... its sad. I'm going to switch him back to his Coastal Catch when this one bag is finished.

Hinata23

Goro was like that too. He didn't care what it was, but if it was edible he chugged it down without chewing. Now he's a bit more cautious about things he use to eat without thinking twice (carrots, apples, bell peppers). I think it's just them growing out of their puppy craziness!

mdokic

awwwe hahaha poor Goro! xP Coastal Catch is Earthborn right?

mdokic

and yes i think you're right!! i've noticed just in general she's actually been CHEWING her food too...which is nice :P I think you're right..all part of growing out of puppy phase

Hinata23

Goro didn't starting chewing his food until he was 1 yr and 1 month LOL! I was a bit weirded out that he was ACTUALLY CHEWING! I'm not sure if it's this new food that he's not so happy about, that I'm giving him 1.5 cups 2x/day so he's not as hungry, or that he's growing up and isn't as much of dork lol.

Yup! Coastal Catch is from Earthborn.

mdokic

LOL!! I freaked out when Kona started chewing too!! i was like "waaaait. wth. you normally inhale your food. is everything ok??" xP

maybe i'll try switching to coastal catch after we finish off this food...see if she likes it seems like a lot of doggies love the stuff!

Hinata23

Goro goes bonkers for it

toshi

I feed my dogs acana and rotate with Fromm. I feed 50% kibble with either 50% salmon or mahi mahi. Also they love salmon oil in their food as well. If you like the brand kona is on maybe try a different flavor?

mdokic

For sure. I put salmon oil in her food too but I switched which kind I put in there...I wonder if she doesn't like that either?? But I will for sure switch food after I finish off this bag so she has a new flavor...hopefully she'll like it

ttddinh

I have to rotate dog food all the time. It makes more interesting i think, I mean I would not want to eat the same food all the time either. Also, I do add a tablespoon of canned food into the kibble with a little bit of water, my dogs seem to enjoy their food better that way. When I make pho or something with chicken stock, they get that (as a wetting agent). Sometimes I give them a little milk too.

Kilbun use to INHALE his food all the time too and now he is more picky and takes his time to eat.

mdokic

ah ok, great ideas thank you!! I'm glad it's something more of you deal with too! I thought I was doing something wrong or shouldn't have fed her that wet food in the first place lol.

And that's funny about Kilbun! I wonder if it really is a maturity thing...I agree with you, I would get bored of the same food all the time too hehe xP

BradA1878

Nihon Ken are smart, if you give them too much variety they will become picky and not eat the food you offer them that they are not interested in at that moment. This is why we don't really feed many types of food as if we did that we would have 14 picky NK to deal with who all wanted something different each day.

That bland can food the vet gives is crap, next time just go with boiled chicken and rice.

Also, all our Kai slow down in eating as they get older and mature. The pickiness about taking treats from one person vs. the other is a sign of maturing IMHO... Remember Kai get more introverted as they mature. Some other breeds become more extraverted as they mature, but not Kai. You'll notice she may start to be less excited about meeting new people and such - not unfriendly, just aloof.

mdokic

Ah I see...yeah, I tried putting chicken broth, pumpkin and wet food, she literally sat there for 30 min licking out the broth, pumpkin AND wet food (completely avoided the kibble) and the kibble that did end up in her mouth was spit out around the bowl...then I tried giving her a tiny bit of sample food from the expo, which she ate, then mixing that with her food...NO WAY. She sat there trying to pick out the other food and then have up and walked away...

LUCKILY petco let us return the bag we just opened and i went to our agility place to get Earthborn Coastal Catch and the lady let us try samples of a couple different kinds, but coastal catch was the one!!

I will NEVER give her that vet food again and I will not give her much options anymore lol...I can't do this again haha

And yeah I've noticed Kona kind of not caring about meeting new people...she LOVES the people she's come to meet and see often when she was a puppy and gets reeeally excited when she sees them...and she's gotten quite attached to me lol. Everywhere I go she wants to be, and states at Nate like "don't you dare try and cuddle me" lol. Then he grabs her and she's like "fiiiine"...silly girl. I love her lol.

BradA1878

Always remember, she will not starve herself. We used to stress a lot when the dogs didn't eat, but we've learned that, no matter how stubborn they are (unless they have legitimate health issues), they will eventually eat the food we give them. They won't starve themselves in protest.

mdokic

Got it. Thanks for the help and info. I was so worried and stressed out over it. But you're right, man these NK are smart. When I went to feed her this new food, she waited a second and sniffed it (I think she knew we had tried to trick her so many times into eating the other food) and then devoured it. :P I'm glad this stuff isn't that much more than the wellness we were feeding her before too! My wallet THANKS me haha xP

ttddinh

@brada1878-- LOL so that is what Kaiju is doing to me!

cezieg

Goro didn't starting chewing his food until he was 1 yr and 1 month LOL! I was a bit weirded out that he was ACTUALLY CHEWING! I'm not sure if it's this new food that he's not so happy about, that I'm giving him 1.5 cups 2x/day so he's not as hungry, or that he's growing up and isn't as much of dork lol.

Yup! Coastal Catch is from Earthborn.

ROFL Goro did that too? My sister's dog, Keanu, is fed Blue Buffalo. All of their kibble size is the same, which is small, like the size of a fingernail or smaller. This dog would literally open his mouth, put his chin down at the close end of the bowl, and then use his bottom jaw like a shovel to the other end of the bowl. Followed by just straight swallowing whatever he scooped up LOL.

BradA1878

@ttddinh - I love you and Kaiju, Theresa... but DAMN... Kaiju is soooo spoiled since living with you. :P ... He was so bitchy on our trip. haha... you take good care of him, and spoil him. I really enjoyed spending some time with Kaiju, I miss him.

ttddinh

@brada1878 it's so ironic that he's missing a tooth since I always worry about him eating those bones so I take it away after a couple of hours. Sorry he was so hard on u n corina.

Hinata23

Glad Coastal Catch worked! I swear, that thing is magic! LOL

@cezieg Yeah... he was a vacuum when it came to food. He never chewed and than ran to see if he could get some of ChoCho's food since she was taking long... (BECAUSE SHE WAS CHEWING!) lol. Silly boy.

Carleen

Hi All.....I've had most of these same "picky eater" or sensitive stomach problems with my Kishu Kens at one time or another. The food I have found that they ALL love and have never turned down is Merrick's Buffalo and Sweet Potato formula (Grain Free) that is available at Petco.

As far as a "ready made" food it seems to be a good one.

Carleen
Kishu Ken-nel

BradA1878

@ttddinh - He wasn't hard on us! No worries. We love Kaiju.

mdokic

Wait...HOW DO YOU NOT LOVE KAIJU?! If you don't love KAIJU you have no soul. :P

Zinja

Eevee is really picky with her food. She will eat a little bit of it then stop eating. I have to take her out for a 5 minute walk then she'll eat the rest when we return.

WrylyBrindle

I feed a lot of variety- maybe its often enough that they expect it and dont seem to fuss. Only Juno ever decides (rarely) not to eat a meal, but I can now tell before I even start prepping food when she just doesn't feel like eating. Sometimes she just needs the pump primed- I'll give her a corner of my toast and then she'll soon jump up to her 'placemat' - Let's Eat!

mdokic

hahahaha! that's awesome! yeah...sometimes I have to get Kona pumped...that's funny that you mention you can tell when she's not really into it. Nate said last night it's like Kona gave him a poo-face when he was getting the food ready, and when he set it down her nose-up-high scoff reaffirmed he knew she wasn't going to eat lol. But now with this new food she's back to pouncing on it like she was before!

sjp051993

I rotate on a regular basis. Makes it easier to travel to dog shows if I dont have to worry about having a certain dog food available if I run out. I would say it has made my dogs less picky about their food. I very seldom have someone refuse to eat.