Hi Liz,
I have found when a dog becomes picky it can be stomach problems, the dog is smart & has learnt what foods upset his stomach, have you taken him to vet? even if you do take him to see a vet the vet can’t tell you anything by just looking at him the vet needs to see inside stomach/bowel he needs an Endoscope & Biopsies done or blood tests done for his Pancreas & liver, I did Endoscope & Biopsies in the end with my boy, he has IBD, nausea & certain foods (Wet canned high fat & Kibble) gives him bad acid reflux, when I first rescued him 5 years ago I didnt have a clue why he was grinding his teeth, lip smacking, whinging at 11pm, he’d look at the food in his bowl (kibble) & look back up at me with this look “whats this crap” & then he’d walked away, cause he was a rescue I didnt know what he was feed I know he wouldn’t touch kibble the first week I got him then he was weeing blood he was put on a Vet diet wet can & dry kibble & he seem to like the Royal Canin vet Kibble & wet canned food but that was only to be feed for 6 weeks then once his crystals were dissolved vet said feed him what he was eating before (I didnt know) so I started feeding him what I ate & wet canned food then he was pooing blood (IBD)
Kibble is harder to digest & higher in carboydrates, the higher the protein & fat in kibble can be making things worse, normally the fancy foods are high fat/protein so he wont eat them now, have you tried wet canned food? but make sure the fat is under 4% in fat in wet canned foods as they havn’t been converted to dry matter (kibble) fat, 5%min-fat written on the can of wet food when converted to DM is around 20%min to 26% max fat same with raw pre-made & the pet rolls etc
Have you tried those Pet Rolls alot of people say good things about “Freshpet rolls sold at Costco, Pet Smart & Walmart also have you tried home cooking what your cooking for dinner make some extra for him like boiled potato, veggies & add some type of meat, I buy the human extra lean beef mince or the Lean Turkey mince & whisk an egg & add some chopped parsley & make 1/2 cup size rissole balls & bake in the oven on foil linned oven tray & all the fat & water comes out drain turn them over & bake till ready then I cool & freeze the rissoles then you get a fork & mash them up with some sweet potato, veggies etc?? cooked food will be healthier then a dry kibble, also start feeding 4 smaller meals a day this helps gain weight & if he does have stomach problems there’s not as much to digest when he eats 4-5 smaller meals, when you feed 2 larger meals of dry kibble there’s heaps more to digest, the bowl of kibble you put on the floor doubles in size, now this would cause anyone stomach pain when you think about it, you eat this small dry kibble then this kibble all start to swell up in your stomach & you’d start to feel uncomfortable, I know I would, I feed Patch 7am-1/2 a cup kibble, 9am-1/2 a cup same kibble, 12pm-scrambled egg with gluten free pasta or can tuna in spring water drained water add boiled mashed potato, 5pm 1/2 cup kibble or I do Tuna/Salmon & boiled potato & 8pm-cooked meal or 1/3 cup kibble at the moment he likes eating “Nutro Essential” Lamb & Rice, 2 weeks ago he stopped eating his “Taste Of The Wild” Sierra Mountain Lamb this was his go to kibble when he was un well & had diarrhea/acid reflux, the TOTW fixed up his IBD but he doesnt want anything to do with, after seeing all the Toxins in pet foods (Google “Toxins In Pet Food”) the company will come up then have a look at the 2 & 1 star dry dog foods, Kirkland & TOTW have a few bad 1 star dry foods, so I’m listening to Patch & not feeding his TOTW for now…I also buy a grain free Super market good quaility kibble, I buy the smaller bags look for specials online pet store kibbles that have ingredients he can eat then I rotate his kibbles I ask him “which one do you want” I put 1 brand kibble inbetween right fingers & another brand kibble in between left hand fingers & ask him to smell them he smells both kibbles then I let him take the kibble he wants to eat thats been working out really well, you’d get sick of eating the same meal everyday so I never feed the same kibble more then 1-2 week or he starts reacting he has IBD food sensitivies & he has problems keeping on his weight & FINALLY I have him at 18kg he would always stay around 16-17kg vet said he looks good but I dont like seeing his bottom rib, I like Staffys that are little solid nuggets, all muscle, not muscle & bones like he use to be…
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