# Mini Poodle Eating Problem Help Please.. :(



## Spencer (Oct 7, 2009)

I would say the first step is to stop giving him treats. Wouldn't you not eat your bland oatmeal if you knew that by holding out and not eating, your mom would reward you with candy?

If he really isn't sick, it sounds like he has trained you, rather than the other way around! Tate will try to do this if he thinks something better is hiding in the fridge, so I put down his food and if he doesn't touch it for about 10 minutes, I take it away. It only took a few times of this for him to give in, and he rarely does it anymore. 

It could also be possible that he doesn't like what kibble you are feeding, or even that you have gotten a bad bag of it. What do you feed?


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## JE-UK (Mar 10, 2010)

Apologies for disagreeing, Spencer, but I wouldn't react by withholding treats.

I feed my dog a premium quality kibble (Orijen) mixed half and half with excellent quality canned food, and topped with all sorts of things ... cottage cheese, yogurt, leftover pot roast, sardines, egg, olive oil, etc. If I put plain kibble in front of him he'd look at me like I was crazy :smile:. I wouldn't blame him. Plain kibble is just plain unappetising. Experiment and find what he likes.


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

There could even be something in the kibble that makes him feel ill, or - like Sophy - he likes it when it is fresh but not once it has started to go stale. I feed mine a combination of raw and home cooked - it takes up a bit of freezer space, and half an hour a week weighing it out, but I know exactly what they are eating, and they love it. You could try other kibbles - you don't say which you are feeding?


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## Persia (Oct 14, 2010)

Try stuff you already have around the house like JE suggested, egg, cottage cheese, yoghurt, sardines, salmon, or even peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, lunch meat pieces, etc
Whatever is in his treats, try the fresh version.

You don't say his age. Did he have his teeth checked?
Persia didn't eat a lot for 2 days when she came home.
She just wouldn't bite on the kibble. 
First I wet it but after it got too soggy, she stopped eating.
So, I just put it in a Ziploc and hammered it to bits. 

Good Luck!


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## CoffeePoo (Dec 28, 2010)

I feed him HOLISTIC RECIPE (LAMB). I don't know if it is available in your country, but here, it is one of the best dog kibble that you can give to your dog. my veterinarian recommends it.


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## Persia (Oct 14, 2010)

fjm said:


> - like Sophy - he likes it when it is fresh but not once it has started to go stale.


Lol!!!!
and they call us the crazy poodle people!
Peeps gotta understand these poodles have standards!!!!!!!

If they must eat the lowly mongrel food, it can NOT be stale!

The dogs on this site seriously crack me up!
I wish we could set up some sort of convention, so I can meet some of the subjects of my daily giggles.


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

Persia said:


> Lol!!!!
> and they call us the crazy poodle people!


Yep - she would give me that disappointed look, sigh and wander off ... but she certainly appreciates my cooking!

Coffeepoo - you don't mention his age. If he is still young and teething he may be reluctant to crunch kibble - a drop of salt-free chicken broth to soften it may do the trick. (If you make up a batch and freeze it in ice cube trays you will always have it to hand!)


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## CoffeePoo (Dec 28, 2010)

oopss..sorry sorry.. ok here's his full details.

Gender:Male
Color:Black
Size:Miniature Poodle
Coat:Tight Curls ( maybe you want to know )
Age : 1 y/o
Kibble : Holistic Recipe( Lamb Adult)
Treats : Carrots,Doggy Biscuits,Cheese.

Did I miss anything?...


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## WeLoveBenji (Jan 18, 2011)

I didn't get a chance to read the rest of the replies but wanted to respond quickly... When we first got Benji, he was so fussy with his food...or so we thought. We had him on Diamond Naturals and it was a chore to get him to eat. Later on he got sick and had tummy issues so we put him on the EN diet recommended by the Vet, that was of no help, he was not digesting the rice ...they gave us another canned food and same thing. Although, his tummy was off he was enjoying the food! but we didn't want to keep him on the stuff and spoke with our breeder. She suggested Life's Abundance (online order only-amazon has it too) and he loved it! Also, his tummy issues went away


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## CelticKitti (Jul 1, 2010)

Kodi was a very picky eater. I tried different foods, different goodies on top, everything I could think of. He just didn't eat right around a year to two years old. He'd take 2-3 bites or would just walk away from his food when I set it down. He was a very very active little boy and needed to gain weight! He would never do that if he didn’t eat. And because we travel often I didn't want to have to depend on sabotaging his food with something yummy to get him to eat anything. And he'd still only eat a few bites. 

This is from a Husky website but it's the idea that I followed to teach Kodi to eat. Teaching Your Dog To Eat, AlpineSibes.com, Alpine Siberian Huskies, AKC Champion Siberian Huskies, Oregon Washington Dog Breeder the only difference is I didn't pick up the food after 5 minutes, if he was still eating I left it down. When he stopped eating and walked away I picked it up. I'm happy to say that at 3 years old he rarely refuses his dinner. If he doesn't eat I am actually concerned something is wrong. I have repeated this process twice, because he started refusing dinner again. But the dog isn't going to starve itself.


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## jeffsf (Dec 6, 2010)

Hard to find anything on the web about that food (save for the "Any comments..." post with arguably bad information that has been spammed everywhere, it seems).

I did find on post that listed

Lamb meal, brewers rice, brown rice, pearled barley, chicken fat, tomato pomace, ground beet pulp and brewers yeast.​
as the ingredients, which suggests to me that a better quality food might be in helpful.

Brewers rice is what is left over when rice is milled for human consumption. Tomato pomace is what is left over after processing tomatoes for juice, ketchup, and the like. Beet pulp is what is left when beets are processed for beet sugar. Brewers yeast is the remains of yeast after it is done in the brewing process.

If you don't have something available to you, I'm sure that there are plenty of people here that can point you to good resources for home-cooked or "raw" diets. Especially with the little guys, it isn't all that hard to take charge of their food yourself.


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