My dog hasn't been interested in eating - Advice?
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Hey, everyone. I'm at a loss about my dog's eating habits as of late and could really use some advice. I'll try to be as descriptive as I can in case that'll help, but I'll include a tl;dr as well.
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I adopted Jake when he was around 2, and he's 6 now. He's a corgi. I always feed him twice a day, in the morning and evening. Normally he gets excited about eating. He'll wait by his cabinet of dog food when he knows it's time to eat and while I get his food out, he rushes over to his bowl and waits for you to put it in. Then he'll gobble up his food in just a few minutes. But recently? He just seems so uninterested and kind of sniffs at his food without eating, unless if I beg or force him to eat.
Today for example, he waited by his bowl this morning and I gave him his food. But he just kind of sniffed it and left it alone. He doesn't usually hang out downstairs by himself where his food is. While we are at work, he likes to hang out in one of the bedrooms upstairs and look out the window and nap. I do come home for lunch since I work close enough to home. He still had food in his bowl. Normally I'll try to get him to eat if he hadn't yet, but today I didn't have time. I won't be surprised if his breakfast is still in his bowl when I go back home from work for the day.
When I first adopted him, I was living with my parents. Last year my husband and I got married and Jake came with me. Yes, I do know that moving can affect a dog and its eating habits. We got our house this time last year, but only my husband moved in; I didn't move in until we got married at the end of September. However, I would spend the weekends over there. I brought Jake with me on the weekends to help get him acclimated to the house. Jake loved driving back and forth between my house and my parents'. There were a couple quirks, but overall he had no problems eating. When the two of us officially moved in at the beginning of October, that's when Jake's strange eating habits began. So I could see how the move would affect it, but that was 5-6 months ago. Would that still be the reason?
I should mention, my parents watched him while we were on our honeymoon a couple weeks after the wedding. Jake was eating perfectly fine at their house. There have been a couple weekends he went over to my parents' house while I was busy with plans. Again, he ate perfectly fine at their house. Jake had a vet appointment in December and I brought up how we moved and he wasn't as eager about eating as usual. After checking up on him, the vet said that Jake wasn't sick and not to worry about it. But that's the thing, I can't help but to worry about him not wanting to eat!
He eats dry dog food. I've tried 3 different brands over the past couple months: Pedigree, Beneful and Blue Buffalo (and yes, I do make sure I mix his previous food and the new food together to help with the change). When I first get the new bag, he gets really excited and eats his food immediately like usual. But once he's been eating the food for a couple weeks, he'll start to slink back into not wanting to eat. He's mostly eating Pedigree right now, which is the brand he pretty much has always eaten and what he eats when he visits my parents.
tl;dr: My dog normally eats his food within a few minutes, but now I've got to force him to eat. We did move when I got married, but that was 5-6 months ago. He still eats fine at my parents' house whenever he visits them. Vet said not to be concerned.
Really could use some advice. Thank you all so much!
[edit] His food was still in the bowl when I got home from work yesterday evening. Once both my husband and I were home, he then ate his dinner (usually he's more likely to eat if we are both in the kitchen where his bowls are with him).
Last night, I did buy him one of those Kong Wobbler toys. He had used one in the past and I figured I'd give it another try. I used it for his morning meal today and he remembered the toy and instantly went after it and ate his breakfast no problem! But I'm not sure if this will only be a temporary fix or not, so I'd still like to hear some advice if you have any!
Hi! I would not be concerned much unless it goes on for a long period of time (or if different symptoms start to show up). My old pug started acting up after being fed the same dry nuggets food from Royal Canin. He was eating fruits and vegetables prior to that (so it was not him being picky). Just like you, we've used the Kong and he did get better for a short while. The best move was switching between a wet style meal (such as Cesar, Zoe etc), real 'human food' and his dry nuggets. Animals are predators and shouldn't be fed the same boring mixture every single day, just like us.
As weird as it sounds, it sounds like he's just getting bored with it. As long as he DOES eventually eat, I don't think it's a huge deal. In fact, I'd refrain from changing the food too much, because you may actually be inadvertently reinforcing the negative behavior in him ("If I refuse to eat it, mom will change it and get me something tastier!").
If you're super concerned, you could try adding some unsalted beef or chicken broth to the bowl to see if that will change things and get him excited about it again, but be wary, because you may end up doing that for the rest of forever if he DOES like it! LOL.
I appreciate both of your replies! I feel more assured now that both of you are saying not to worry about it too much. It was just super alarming for my dog to go from chowing down his food in minutes to going the entire day without touching his food so I was worried about him.
I had a feeling the biggest problem is that he was simply getting bored of his Pedigree which is why I tried out Beneful and Blue Buffalo. I'll probably just make sure to mix it up every now and then, but not as often as I have been doing the past couple months.
The Kong is helping for now. He has been using it the moment I put food inside. Maybe it'll last only a week or two, but it surely doesn't hurt to try. He also lacks confidence and is super submissive, so the Kong is also helping with those issues which alone is worth it.
I definitely don't plan on switching the food, at least as often as I have been doing these past couple months. He ate Pedigree for years before I tried out Beneful and Blue Buffalo. I had a feeling boredom was probably the biggest reason but like I mentioned, not eating his meal the moment it hits the bowl is unlike him lol.
I did forget to mention that every now and then, I'll mix in a little chicken broth to entice him a little more. It definitely helps but I try not to do it too often so that he won't expect it every time lol. Fortunately he doesn't expect the broth every time xD