# Appetite Stimulant?



## Caniche (Jun 10, 2013)

So Ryker is seven pounds and probably should be closer to 8-8.5 lbs. He just doesn't eat! I've taken him to the vet and there's no medical reason. He gets kibble (and we've taste tested and there's a few he likes more than others so we rotate) as well as cooked white chicken, fresh veggies, etc. 

He'll eat, but he never eats like he's hungry - he just sniffs his food, picks some out and walks away. He almost never clears his bowl.

Sometimes he would go all morning without eating, and I'd give him Nutracal. Then this forum introduced me to Famotidine, and he gets 1/4 a 10 mg tablet twice a day. It helps - he eats most mornings now, but he still doesn't act hungry. He's even spit out treats!

I've tried appetite sprays and additives and most make him want to walk away from food. 

I was wondering if anyone has heard of a prescription appetite stimulant? Sometime to make food appealing? 


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## Tiny Poodles (Jun 20, 2013)

Yes they have them, but I would not give them to a young dog - in my experience they are all scrawny for at least the first few years before they fill out - my girls were all maybe 2/3 (at best) of their adult weight at one year. Get them to gain weight early and they may eventually wind up fat!

To stimulate appetite I will have a good play session before feeding - works like a charm!


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## Caniche (Jun 10, 2013)

Tiny Poodles said:


> Yes they have them, but I would not give them to a young dog - in my experience they are all scrawny for at least the first few years before they fill out - my girls were all maybe 2/3 (at best) of their adult weight at one year. Get them to gain weight early and they may eventually wind up fat!
> 
> To stimulate appetite I will have a good play session before feeding - works like a charm!


We offer food, walk and offer food to him again after the walk (not too soon after) - still won't eat. And Ryker will be 3 in October...he should be "filled out" by now, right?


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## Tiny Poodles (Jun 20, 2013)

Caniche said:


> We offer food, walk and offer food to him again after the walk (not too soon after) - still won't eat. And Ryker will be 3 in October...he should be "filled out" by now, right?
> 
> 
> Sent from Petguide.com Free App


Not necessarily - it can take until middle age - maybe 6 - 8 years with some of them.
How fast/big of a walk is that? Perhaps more of a running session - even an indoor game of fetch if you don't have a yard, would do it.

I would not offer him the food before the exercise - wait until after. 

And you could try offering one treat after the exercise to stimulate the appetite, then offer him the meal five minutes later.


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

Sophy was never much interested in kibble - she ate just enough, but only just. Eventually I realised that she went off it when the bag had been open for a few days, and - to her at least - the kibble was stale. I switched her to raw/home cooked - there are still some textures she dislikes, but most meals are now greeted with joy and eaten in minutes, then the bowl is polished clean. If a dog is a consistently picky eater, I'd now wonder if there was something distasteful in what I was feeding, or something to which the dog had an intolerance.


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## liljaker (Aug 6, 2011)

Caniche said:


> So Ryker is seven pounds and probably should be closer to 8-8.5 lbs. He just doesn't eat! I've taken him to the vet and there's no medical reason. He gets kibble (and we've taste tested and there's a few he likes more than others so we rotate) as well as cooked white chicken, fresh veggies, etc.
> 
> He'll eat, but he never eats like he's hungry - he just sniffs his food, picks some out and walks away. He almost never clears his bowl.
> 
> ...


I would ask your vet, first. But perhaps switching a richer food might work?


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## peppersb (Jun 5, 2011)

My vet recommends cat food for dogs that are not eating enough. Apparently it is high calorie and the dogs like it.


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## liljaker (Aug 6, 2011)

peppersb said:


> My vet recommends cat food for dogs that are not eating enough. Apparently it is high calorie and the dogs like it.


I have heard that cat food for dogs is not good and was told that by a vet. I did a quick search.... Here is from a canine MD site -- but I have heard this before. If a dog eats a little, ok, but I copied and pasted the following excerpt from a canine website:


"More common, however, is the dog that will turn up his nose at commercial dog foods but gulps down cat food with gusto. This canine penchant for cat food leads many frustrated owners to mistakenly consider feline-only diets an acceptable alternative for finicky dogs. And it’s not!



Although a dog can live on cat food alone (unlike cats and a lifetime of dog foods), it’s not considered advisable. The caloric density, high protein levels, and heavy doses of fat aren’t ideally suited to all canine gastrointestinal tracts––or to their waistlines. 



More than anything else, cat food-eating dogs tend towards the obese and suffer more gastrointestinal ailments than others. Diarrhea, vomiting and even pancreatitis (which can be life-threatening) are possible outcomes for either short- or long-term feeding of cat food to dogs. Kitten food, with its even higher protein and fat levels, is even less appropriate for dogs. 



But is a feline "snack" every once in a while going to hurt your dog? Will a doggie biscuit harm your cat? Not terribly likely. Still, it wouldn’t be at the top of my to-do list for optimal pet health."


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## Caniche (Jun 10, 2013)

liljaker said:


> I have heard that cat food for dogs is not good and was told that by a vet. I did a quick search.... Here is from a canine MD site -- but I have heard this before. If a dog eats a little, ok, but I copied and pasted the following excerpt from a canine website:
> 
> 
> "More common, however, is the dog that will turn up his nose at commercial dog foods but gulps down cat food with gusto. This canine penchant for cat food leads many frustrated owners to mistakenly consider feline-only diets an acceptable alternative for finicky dogs. And it’s not!
> ...


I've always heard that too. I was curious last night and mixed his kibble with our cat's kibble - BUT my cat eats Wysong Epigen, which is made for dogs and cats. He could've cared less, and he walks by the cat's food once a day and never touches it.


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## peppersb (Jun 5, 2011)

I probably should have been clearer. I think my vet was recommending mixing in cat food with the dog's normal food as a short term solution to get the dog to gain a bit of weight or get through a period of not feeling well. He was not recommending a feline-only diet.


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## Angl (Nov 9, 2012)

Oh goodness, whenever Maddie gets into the cat good- it's liquipoo for days. Lol be careful


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## Carrie-e (Oct 23, 2012)

Tia my mini poo is funny about eating,i posted a thread on it a while go. I found that she didn't like eating out of the stainless steel bowl so I changed it to a saucer and she was better, but the last few days she has been funny about eating her breakfast again. She will eat treats so I give her kibble as treats to get it into her that way. After her morning walk I try to give it to her again. Sometimes she will eat it,sometimes she won't. It's so odd how some dogs are picky and yet some eat everything in sight (like my spoo Billy the Canine Dustbin!) I suppose as long as they are healthy and are running about and acting normally you know they are healthy.


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## Tiny Poodles (Jun 20, 2013)

Carrie-e said:


> Tia my mini poo is funny about eating,i posted a thread on it a while go. I found that she didn't like eating out of the stainless steel bowl so I changed it to a saucer and she was better, but the last few days she has been funny about eating her breakfast again. She will eat treats so I give her kibble as treats to get it into her that way. After her morning walk I try to give it to her again. Sometimes she will eat it,sometimes she won't. It's so odd how some dogs are picky and yet some eat everything in sight (like my spoo Billy the Canine Dustbin!) I suppose as long as they are healthy and are running about and acting normally you know they are healthy.


There is a name for poodles who eat everything in site - standards!
And guess what we call the problem eaters - Toy!
Mpoos can swing either way I believe lol!


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

Hmm. I've known more picky standards than not!


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## outwest (May 1, 2011)

Eating issues are very common in standard poodles. In fact, if you have one who is a good eater consider yourself lucky! Jazz is a good eater, but he has to have it calm in order to eat. If there might be ANYthing else more interesting going on he has to investigate. His food bowl sits there and the whippet Echo swoops in to take advantage. Bonnie is a great eater, but she has also gotten chubby at two and a half, so there is a down side. 

Have you considered the premade raw or raw patties? You have a toy. It shouldn't cost too much to feed. I have yet to find a dog that won't eat it. 

The argument about cat food doesn't sound right. I have heard it, but so many people are now feeding very high protein dog foods, higher than some cat foods, that it doesn't make sense. Maybe the fat content, but even that is higher in some dog foods.


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