Tibbs won't eat

HeatherNicole

For the past few weeks thibodaux has been knocking her food out of her bowl and burying it in her blanket then eating it- she has always eaten in her crate. The past few days she knocks it over and buries it then grazes on it. Yesterday there was still some left when I fed her in the evening and she didn't eat the food I fed her in the evening- she knocked it over then peed in front of her crate and around where she had knocked her food over??? I am baffled. My two roommates have dogs and she and the pointer have been getting in little tiffs- barking and snarling. She loved this food- pulsar- for months. I don't think it's the food. Maybe she is having territorial issues? My boyfriend and I are moving to our own place in a couple of months and she will be alone until he gets his besenji puppy in August. Any ideas???

HeatherNicole

Also she doesn't seem sick or anything. She is peppy and normal other than meal time.

BulliesofNC

Sounds like she's getting a little finicky about her food. I think a mistake your making is leaving the food for her during the times she has no appetite. I never feed for them to go back in the event they either don't eat their food or don't finish it. My advice to you would be to provide her with her food and if she sticks her nose up to it take it away and try it again in the evening. By doing this she'll learn when it's time to eat she may want to take it seriously or she'll have a while to wait until her next meal. Trust me, she'll eat if she's hungry. She may be getting tired of the taste of her food. Do you ever add other things into her food like canned wet food, Meat, vegetables, etc? It sounds to me like she's losing her interest in eating. You make it worse by constantly leaving a bowl of dry food out for her. Personally for now I would switch to feeding her once a day and I would provide a little more food to her normal ration as well as some canned food mixed in it. Some people have also found that by adding water they have a tendency to enjoy their food more as well. One thing for sure, I would not be leaving the food out if she decided to walk away from it.

philsergeant

I also wouldn't feed her in her crate... If you are not leaving it there there's little point,....take her out, feed her and put her back, filled or hungry. Obviously the other kids have got her feeling a little neglected and she is trying to get more attention through the peeing and food ignoring.... Supplement the attention she feels she's lost and stiffen up on the food program.

Tammy

I had trouble with Bink not wanting to eat and I made the mistake of giving him chicken broth and if it wasn't in his food he wouldn't eat. He was knocking his food around and he wouldn't eat and so I took it up in the morning and when evening came he realized no chicken broth and no food and he ate every bite. I have spoiled Lucy and Bink by putting cottage cheese and sour cream in their food but now they are fine with nothing in it.

BONC_Jacksonville

Grazing all day makes them lazy for food.  Does she get treats and table food from you or your roommates?If so they will eat their food as the last resort because they know its always there.  Take food away from her when she does not eat or spills it.  If she gets nothing until the next feeding, she will soon realize that once its gone its GONE till the next feeding. 

HeatherNicole

NO table food. She is eating well now. Gobbles it up. I think she may have just been feeling yucky. Phil, she is an attention hog. The other dogs can barely be seen behind her personality haha. My boyfriend and I are about to move into a house with a fenced in back yard . She will be the only dog in the house until we get a pup probably about 6 months from now. No more third floor apartment and scary buses on the busy street haha.

philsergeant

Glad you are moving upmarket! See what happens when you have a demanding EBT princess who clambers for an upgrade in digs.... You gotta make it happen. Wish we had a fenced yard, but the dang thing is so big that they frown on fences for 1, and it takes a second mortgage for 2.... So, perhaps when we win the lotto .... They love that freedom to romp!