At a loss ... fussy greyhound - food?

[TwyfordM]

Lucy is a fusspot. Getting her to eat without distractions is an absolute nightmare.

She was on wainwrights dry food alone when she arrived and was eating it. Then started leaving it so I added a tray a day too and.she was clearing the bowl. She then started just eating the trays and not the dry (even if mixed) subsequently lost weight so I upped to 2 trays - still leaving the dry. But she's still not the weight she should be.
They recommend 3/4 trays a day if being used without the dry which I'm tempted to call it quits with the dry and just give her the trays alone.
Have tried a fair few different dry foods and she's just not interested in them (james wellbeloved, natures etc) wanted to try BARF but my mum has to feed her when I'm at work and point blank refuses to feed it despite my arguments etc so that's a no go.

Any ideas?

 

[MotherOfChickens]

my old dog refused to eat any kibble after the age of 5. why not just give her the trays? or maybe try some of the high end kibbles such as Eden/MWH (although having been there, I understand any reluctance to buy them, even the trial packs if they might go to waste). MWH do a range of wet food too although I've not tried it.

 

[splashgirl45]

my lurcher was really fussy and also had a delicate stomach. i fed jwb turkey and rice kibble but added either cooked chicken,tuna,pilchards or a jwb pouch and she finished up the kibble. may be worth trying some of the fish to see if you can tempt her.

 

[TwyfordM]

That many trays works out at £80 a month for a fairly small greyhound girl ... I'll suck it up if needs be but could do with it being at least slightly cheaper if poss ...

 

[druid]

Check Zooplus for similar trays maybe? Forthglade perhaps?

 

[Morag4]

Have you tried putting some hot water on the dry kibble, I do that with one of our dogs kibble, it makes a nice gravy which gives it an aroma. She won't eat it dry but with a bit if hot water wolfs it down.

 

[{97702}]

I can honestly say I've never had a greyhound that wouldn't eat.....I feed Skinners Duck and Rice slightly moistened, but I know that having competition really helps with mine.

Mine vary between those who keep weight on really well and those who resemble a hat rack at a moment's notice however much they eat.... the only thing I have found that keeps weight on them is a raw diet unfortunately. Could you maybe feed raw when you are at home and offer Lucy kibble when your mum feeds her? I agree with Morag, putting warm water (or even warm gravy is you can be bothered!) should encourage her to eat

 

[JillA]

She really has trained you well hasn't she? One trick I learned when I was treating behaviour problems is that the best motivator to eat up is competition. You can synthesise that by taking food away - divide her daily ration into as many portions as you can give her - 10 is ideal. Put one portion down and leave it for 30 seconds. At the end of that time remove it completely. Do the same with each of the portions throughout the day and the next and the next until she realises what she doesn't eat she loses. When she eats one or two of the portions you can gradually begin reducing both the time and the number of portions in the day, until she is ready and waiting and eating up straight away.
It's her choice to go hungry and she has ten chances in a day to stave off that hunger. I know you are worried because she is underweight but a short term reduction in intake will gain you a long term success.

 

[CrazyMare]

My greyhound will not eat biscuits dampened with water, she will eat dry biscuits or biscuits with gravy. She will eat biscuits mixed with sardines in oil - Aldi sell tinned sardines for about 38p a tin. If I mix it all together, she licks the bowl clean.

Absolutely love greys, despite their ability to train their humans to running life their way!

 

[Antw23uk]

I would persist with the RAW/ BARF idea. There are complete foods that you literally just defrost, open, put on floor and they eat. Why does your mum need to feed her? Surely a breakfast and dinner is all she needs from you before heading out for the day?

I make my own BARF meals but when we went on holiday recently my mum come to stay so we brought some trays of Nutriment and transitioned her to it a few days before we left. The instruction was simple. Defrost a pack a day, give her half in the morning and half in the evening (500g pack) job done, easy peesy, happy healthy dog.

Unless your mum is a death or nothing vegan then its just like preparing raw meat for the Sunday roast, same rules apply with hygiene and washing your hands, simple.

 

[planete]

I switched from raw to grain free Wainwrights trays during our holidays, had no tummy upsets with any of the hounds and they loved it. You might find your Mum will be happy to feed the trays while you feed raw? One of mine will not eat raw meat if it has had anything not meat added to it, so no "complete" raw foods for him but he is happy with the Wainwrights. Watching a thin sighthound refuse food is beyond me I am afraid so I sympathise!

 

[splashgirl45]

just had another thought, are her teeth ok? if she has a bad tooth it could be more painful sometimes so would stop her eating....worth just checking with your vet...

 

[TwyfordM]

just had another thought, are her teeth ok? if she has a bad tooth it could be more painful sometimes so would stop her eating....worth just checking with your vet...

Hadn't thought of that, old boy had teeth issues but didn't stop the greedy thing!
My mum has to feed her a lot due to me having no set work patterns so tricky to get into a routine with meal times otherwise and she then starts protest pooing (frequent problem when routine is slightly changed. To the point where she wanders around the garden aimlessly for half an hour, pretends she's gone to the toilet then comes back in waits til you're out of sight and does one indoors.) Which is currently a huge problem due to my nans dog staying while she's in hospital. A little jrt x chi who has been allowed to get away with messing indoors all his life so now Lucy is copying (want to tear my hair out)
There are a huge amount of problems with behaviour at the mo because I don't let her get away with the things my mum does while I'm away, she also refuses point blank to feed raw as it makes her 'feel sick' ...this is the carnivorous person ... I'm the veggie! I also got a crate for her as she was also complaining that she couldn't leave her as she was messing/destructive ... same person won't put her in the crate as its 'cruel' .....
Currently tackling one problem at a time...as you can probably tell ... there are many!

We had these arguments over last dog who was a family pet. Not the same situation as discussions at the beginning were this dog is mine and mine alone. She's happy to feed and let out while I'm out/away but no more ... yet she's still arguing every little thing I choose to do with her!

 

[{97702}]

just had another thought, are her teeth ok? if she has a bad tooth it could be more painful sometimes so would stop her eating....worth just checking with your vet...

That is a REALLY good point splashgirl45 - OP I would very much recommend that you get her teeth checked, greyhounds are notorious for having appalling teeth! My latest rescue came to me having had 18 teeth out on the day I picked him up, a year later he had the rest out and now only has 2 canine remaining.

 

[{97702}]

Hadn't thought of that, old boy had teeth issues but didn't stop the greedy thing!
My mum has to feed her a lot due to me having no set work patterns so tricky to get into a routine with meal times otherwise and she then starts protest pooing (frequent problem when routine is slightly changed. To the point where she wanders around the garden aimlessly for half an hour, pretends she's gone to the toilet then comes back in waits til you're out of sight and does one indoors.) Which is currently a huge problem due to my nans dog staying while she's in hospital. A little jrt x chi who has been allowed to get away with messing indoors all his life so now Lucy is copying (want to tear my hair out)
There are a huge amount of problems with behaviour at the mo because I don't let her get away with the things my mum does while I'm away, she also refuses point blank to feed raw as it makes her 'feel sick' ...this is the carnivorous person ... I'm the veggie! I also got a crate for her as she was also complaining that she couldn't leave her as she was messing/destructive ... same person won't put her in the crate as its 'cruel' .....
Currently tackling one problem at a time...as you can probably tell ... there are many!

We had these arguments over last dog who was a family pet. Not the same situation as discussions at the beginning were this dog is mine and mine alone. She's happy to feed and let out while I'm out/away but no more ... yet she's still arguing every little thing I choose to do with her!

This is a bit concerning, I haven't ever had these problems with a rescue even though I work full time (as does my OH). I appreciate that is difficult if your work patterns are erratic but "protest pooing" is easily surmountable - one of my lot used to try and wander round the garden then come inside to pee, she quickly learned that I wouldn't let her back inside until I had seen her pee! She now goes out into the garden, looks at me resentfully and pees immediately And I would wonder why she is being destructive - is she bored?

 

[TwyfordM]

This is a bit concerning, I haven't ever had these problems with a rescue even though I work full time (as does my OH). I appreciate that is difficult if your work patterns are erratic but "protest pooing" is easily surmountable - one of my lot used to try and wander round the garden then come inside to pee, she quickly learned that I wouldn't let her back inside until I had seen her pee! She now goes out into the garden, looks at me resentfully and pees immediately And I would wonder why she is being destructive - is she bored?

We spent the grand total of 1.5 hours in the garden yesterday evening in an attempt to empty before bed. No food since 8am. Finally caved as it was nearly midnight and can't leave her out unsupervised as other neighbours in shared communal garden have less than friendly dogs .. got up at 6am to find (stone cold ....) poo.

I could cry. I spent all of last winter late night walks/garden sit outs in the rain/snow etc. We got her going perfect. Only for the little dog to waltz in and flush it all down the drain. She was left in the crate for an hour earlier .. apparently pooed in and all over the crate in that time. Thats the second time she's done that too!

 

[TwyfordM]

Bored .. possibly. I try and keep her busy but its hard. She's (surprisingly - despite what it sounds like) very clever and loves to please.
Peeing she used to be horrendous for ...

 

[{97702}]

Oh crumbs..... you have my total sympathy, it seems that you have sorted all these things for them to return I wonder whether the little dog makes her feel insecure in some way? I suppose with my lot I am very lucky that the established ones have been quite positive role models for newbies, so I'm not familiar with the idea that an older dog could be a bad influence, but that is purely down to my inexperience in that sort of thing. I'm not saying that the little dog 'couldn't' be a bad influence, really wondering if there is more to it than that?

It is odd that she won't be clean in a crate - I have only had one dog which would mess in a crate, it was a little s*d of a working whippet puppy who caused me huge problems before she settled down.

I'm very sorry TwyfordM, as always I started off sounding critical and now I realise that there is so much more to it than that, I apologise. I need to bloody think before I type!!! How does Lucy get on with the small dog?

 

[TwyfordM]

Oh crumbs..... you have my total sympathy, it seems that you have sorted all these things for them to return I wonder whether the little dog makes her feel insecure in some way? I suppose with my lot I am very lucky that the established ones have been quite positive role models for newbies, so I'm not familiar with the idea that an older dog could be a bad influence, but that is purely down to my inexperience in that sort of thing. I'm not saying that the little dog 'couldn't' be a bad influence, really wondering if there is more to it than that?

It is odd that she won't be clean in a crate - I have only had one dog which would mess in a crate, it was a little s*d of a working whippet puppy who caused me huge problems before she settled down.

I'm very sorry TwyfordM, as always I started off sounding critical and now I realise that there is so much more to it than that, I apologise. I need to bloody think before I type!!! How does Lucy get on with the small dog?

It's ok, she gets on fine with tiny terror. Its not the first time he's stayed and they see each other daily.
He was only castrated this year at 4 and he's an arse of a dog. No social skills bar what Barney taught him, rude, jumps up, gets in their faces but Lucy has been surprisingly tolerant of him. Only growls when he really pushes her buttons but they curl up together happily enough.
He's gone home tonight and shes cuddled up on my lap. I've had a no dogs in my room rule for a while but am tempted to keep her in with me tonight to see if she stays clean that way. She's a fairly clingy dog as it is so haven't wanted to encourage it but might help

 

[{97702}]

It's ok, she gets on fine with tiny terror. Its not the first time he's stayed and they see each other daily.
He was only castrated this year at 4 and he's an arse of a dog. No social skills bar what Barney taught him, rude, jumps up, gets in their faces but Lucy has been surprisingly tolerant of him. Only growls when he really pushes her buttons but they curl up together happily enough.
He's gone home tonight and shes cuddled up on my lap. I've had a no dogs in my room rule for a while but am tempted to keep her in with me tonight to see if she stays clean that way. She's a fairly clingy dog as it is so haven't wanted to encourage it but might help

Personally I would try it - I really think it would help If she is clingy then she is insecure, and this would reassure her that you are 'her' person. I find it really amusing that even after 3 1/2 years of living with my OH, my dogs all seek their reassurance from me so maybe it is a greyhoundy thing that I haven't really thought about before

 

[Clodagh]

It does sound like seperation anxiety to me, and maybe the TT being there is worrying her more in some way. Much as I am generally relieved that my dogs can't talk sometimes it would be helpful!
There is a lot going on in her life, you are in and out, is your mum grumpy with her about the soiling and or eating or not eating? Could your mum even be giving off a grumpy vibe without saying anything? (My dogs know before my OH if I have PMT!).
Agree with teeth, too.
JTA, I don't think dogs understand the concept of protest pooing, does she feel completely safe in the garden?

 

[TwyfordM]

It does sound like seperation anxiety to me, and maybe the TT being there is worrying her more in some way. Much as I am generally relieved that my dogs can't talk sometimes it would be helpful!
There is a lot going on in her life, you are in and out, is your mum grumpy with her about the soiling and or eating or not eating? Could your mum even be giving off a grumpy vibe without saying anything? (My dogs know before my OH if I have PMT!).
Agree with teeth, too.
JTA, I don't think dogs understand the concept of protest pooing, does she feel completely safe in the garden?

She's happy as Larry out there, wanders around sniffing/playing/zooming. Only time she doesn't want to go out is if its raining. She only does it if she hasn't got her way ... She's like a toddler .... I can understand it happening while we are out because of anxiety etc but when she's got access to the garden it really gets on my nerves!

Grumpy vibes thing is pretty possible .... I can feel it so the dog definitely can