Ideas for tempting a dog to food?

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Chestersmum

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This is a very new problem for us as our old labrador would eat anything and everything, 99% of the time it was something he wasn't supposed to have!
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But, our new-ish rescue greyhound is completely different - he's geniunely not fussed by food. Although he's put on weight, he's still under weight and we are struggling to get him to eat.

He has three meals a day - breakfast, lunch and dinner - as well as dried food left out during the day. He has greyhound/high protein dried mix (I'm not sure that is the right word - but I couldn't think of a canine equivalent to horse cubes/mix) with meat versions of dog food and on the rescue centre's advice we add vegetables, cheese and even scrambled eggs! We've tried him with all sorts of different versions - but he doesn't appear to be easily tempted.

To be fair to him - he has plenty of energy, manages two long walks (up to two hours each) and a short walk or two a day and looks well otherwise , just a bit poor.

Any ideas?
 
Are you looking a bit poor after all that exercise!

My dog is just a mixed breed pooch but he is quite fussy about what he eats but he loves cat food and tinned fish - the house currently stinks of tinned salmon he and the cats had for breakfast
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. We had to try him on a range of different brands before we found one he will eat. I have found his eating is much better now that he has been with us for about three months and he is more relaxed generally.
 
we have a dog (boxer) who doesn't have a massive appetite, just a normal-ish one... but stays super skinny (almost rescue-case looking) unless we feed him puppy food for large breeds (pro plan).

we've taken him to the vet, who initially told us we were imagining it, and to put him onto adult food (puppy food is soooo much more expensive). within days he was skinny, scurvy and miserable.

vet told us to try 'working dog' food as it is high in protein and apparently some breeds (active ones) need the extra protein. out dog has been on working dog food for about a year now. it's better than normal dog food... but he's still poor condition, so we're giving up this month and putting him back onto puppy food.

we used to add whole pilchard things to his food, which helped with his weight, but meant he became more fussy and wouldn't eat dinner without them... our vet said to only feed him complete dry food to prevent him getting fussy.... but, if i'm honest, he regularly gets some leftovers...

i'd recommend trying puppy food for a while, proper stuff, e.g. Proplan. something high in fat and protein. kind of like you would a horse.

xxx
 
Oil added to the food can be good for weight gain.
Chicken is often tempting for them as well.
And I also think he does rather a lot of excercise. Mind you its better than too little I suppose.
 
Pretend to eat it yourself! Our doggy will eat anything so long as we pretend we think it tastes fit (she is a lab though!).

Hope this sorts itself out for you xxx
 
Best foods for fussy dogs are:
Proplan Salmon and Rice (also available in puppy form, Proplan nearly always has a good deal on)
Royal Canin Sensible (as far as I know there is no puppy form, but it's recommended for working dogs)
Redmills Active (He is doing a lot of work, this food tempted my Collie x Greyhound more than any other)
The three above are all Super-Premium foods, you will pay a little more for them, but definitely worth it in my opinion.

For medium grade foods Beta is quite good, again they have an Active form and do a lot of deals.

A great trick is to add boiling water to the food and then put cold water in bringing it to a nice warm temperature. This will bring the smell out of it.

Another option is to feed part frozen dog food. Most good pet shops will have a range and tripe is excellent to mix with dried food for fussies
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.

Don't leave the food with the dog all day, it teaches them to be fussy. Instead take the food away after 15 minutes and don't offer again until a few hours later. A dog can starve for a least a few days but will start to eat whatever is put in front of it when it gets hungry enough
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.

Hope this helps, Emma.
 
My old dog Indie looks at me like I've offered her cold sick to eat unless I add a mashed up sardine! The tinned in sunflower oil add extra calories and do her coat and bones good too.

Also like someone else said I think 4 hours + exercise is a bit too much for a greyhound...he's probably too knackered to eat
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Might be why he looks 'poor'?
 
We have started feeding Mols and Lils Burns. They are both like your greyhound. VERY fussy and picky have tried so many feeds - even raw diet which she decided she didn't like after a month (and cost loads!) But she loves the Burns - duck flavour in particular and Lily has the mini bites. Take a look on their website. Molly now has a beautiful glossy coat and generally eats all breakfast/most of dinner. The cheapest place I have found it so far is Surrey Equestrian at £5.03 (on the web and about £5.50 something in actual store) It is quite expensive but it acctually saves you money rather than trying to shovel something they hate down their throats and then throwing most of it away. They also have loads of flavours so they dont get bored of one.
 
We are having the same problem with 2 of our border terriers. They have gone off the Autarky kibble that I have been feeding them. We have 4 dogs so I can't really afford to go to a food that is more expensive for all of them
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so I am checking out the suggestions on this thread
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We used to feed Bakers that they all loved but kept getting told that it was full of additives and like nfeeding them candy floss every day
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I have a very fussy Italian greyhound. I'm not sure I can help, because we haven't found a solution yet, but...

As people have said, it helps if you don't leave food out all day but rather give it to her and then take it away (I take it away irrespective of whether she has finished it or left it).

Oil also seems to encourage them to eat (I add olive oil to her meals and she really likes it, though often she will try to lick the oil without eating the food
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).

Finding a brand she likes has been difficult, because she seems to give a try to almost everything first time only to get really bored of the food after one day or so! We are trying to keep her on the Almo Nature products (which are only made up of ingredients for human use, so should be excellent quality).

And obviously, she will eat anything that is in the cat's bowl... which drives me completely crazy (for a while we used to buy the Almo Nature salmon tins, both for her (dog version) and for the cat (cat version)... she wouldn't touch the dog salmon in her bowl, leaving it with a disgusted look on her face, and running to the cat's bowl to have the very same food (which looks and smells identical to me) which the cat is eating
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[ QUOTE ]
I have a very fussy Italian greyhound.

[/ QUOTE ]

We used to have a very fussy tiny whippet and he would only eat cheese sandwiches on white bread cut into tiny pieces
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- who was the daftest? Him or us for doing it
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The idea of grated cheese on top of their food does sound good though
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