you want fries with that?

[Julie Jantz]

Okay, post #2 for the evening... ironicly it's also issue #2 for the evening. Now before I get to the problem, please realize we DO NOT do this all of the time. Angel rarely eats on her own and we're finding ourselves hand feeding her highness more and more. We keep food in her dish all the time (no, she doesn't eat it all at once) hoping she'll eat on her own. Sometimes she does. A few bites while we're eating dinner, a few bites when we're in a BIG hurry and need her to get in her cage (dachsie humor)... etc., etc. We haven't changed food on her, really. Same dry. Same canned. Sometimes no canned if it doesn't agree with her. For a while she wouldn't eat the two mixed. Each had to be on its own side of the bowl. Now we set aside about 20 minutes a night to hold some in our hands for her. We don't feed her tablescraps or give her an abundance of treats. She's just a sorority sister waiting to get her pearls it seems... Any suggestions on how we can get her to eat on her own??:confused:

much appreciated!!
Julie (and Mom & Dad)

[Meemoo]

It seems as if she has trained YOU. Here are my suggestions. Put her food down for 20 minutes in the morning..if she doesn't eat..pick it up and don't give her food until next meal time. Next meal do the same thing, leave it down for 20 minutes then pick it up if she hasn't eaten. Eventually she will EAT. If you find that after a few meals she is still not eating, I suggest either gradually switching foods (maybe she doesn't like what she is getting) By the way, what is she getting? Another thought is to put something enticing over her food like nupro supplement which is liver based and forms a gravy when you add water. Here is their site to learn more about it. www.nuprosupplements.com It also has a lot of vitamins and minerals which are good for her as well. You could always just add a broth too although I wouldn't personally suggest this as it contains a lot of salt. Leaving food down all day in my opinion is NOT a good thing. First off, it raises the possibility that the dachsie will become overweight in no time. Secondly the dog needs to know that she is only getting food at certain times so if she doesn't eat then, no food for her.

Good luck!

[Julie Jantz]

we took it away from her yesterday when it wasn't time to eat. and while we ate dinner, without showing her it was there, she ate on her own. we've just been giving her dry food as saucy stuff seems to upset her stomach (sigh). she's getting "fixed" (we didn't know she was broken) this Sunday so we'll see if our awesome vet has anything to say about her. right now she gets Iams puppy food. seems to like it well enough. thanks for the info/advice! much appreciated!

[Meemoo]

Just as an FYI....IAMS is NOT the best of foods to be feeding. It contains a lot of byproducts, preservatives and ingredients that the dog simply doesn't digest therefore not getting the best of nutrition. There are many other dog foods that are higher in quality such as Wellness www.oldmotherhubbard.com solid gold www.solidgoldhealth.com and many others. Check out this site which lists top quality dog kibble and canned as well as gives other helpful information.

http://home.attbi.com/~mstraus/dogfeeding.html

Good luck!