# Do poodles get bored of food?



## EVpoodle (Sep 25, 2018)

Evie does occasionally get bored with her food. I just add some meat, or cheese on top of it.


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## rp17 (Jun 6, 2018)

Mine gets bored as well. We often use Bixbi Rawbble as a topper. It's freeze dried raw "kibble" and we just crumble a few pieces over his regular kibble and mix it in. He particularly loves the beef flavor. Sometime I even soak the crumbled rawbble in a splash of water for a few minutes before mixing it in. He LOVES when I do that - it's almost like adding a spoonful of beef gravy to his kibble. 

If I happen to have some extra meat when making dinner, I'll leave some unseasoned for him and cook it up separately, and use a spoonful as a topper...lean ground beef or steak cut up small, ground chicken or cut up chicken breast, ground turkey. I've also occasionally given a hardboiled or plain scrambled egg.


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## Engel (Mar 31, 2019)

I'm new to owning poodles and I have been struggling with the food side of things. It's like she gets bored/disinterested in her food. To combat this I feed some really smelly food. It makes me gag but she loves it and encourages her to eat. They say taste and smell are closely linked.


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## mythrider (Oct 20, 2017)

The person I bought him from said he’s a good eater. I will say he’s a good eater but he’s manipulative. He will not eat out of a bowl and I feed him on a mat. Sometimes he won’t always eat all of it. I wonder if he’s bored. The breeder used to switch things up but I don’t like doing that because he has a bad stomach. I do use meal toppers, Stella and chewy, instinct freeze dried raw and instict packets of wet food topping.


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## Engel (Mar 31, 2019)

mythrider said:


> The person I bought him from said he’s a good eater. I will say he’s a good eater but he’s manipulative. He will not eat out of a bowl and I feed him on a mat. Sometimes he won’t always eat all of it. I wonder if he’s bored. The breeder used to switch things up but I don’t like doing that because he has a bad stomach. I do use meal toppers, Stella and chewy, instinct freeze dried raw and instict packets of wet food topping.


Some people have been suggesting putting the food in toys/food dispensers to make meal times more exciting.


Also, how long do you leave food down for?


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

I’ve had 3 poodles, a childhood miniature, a tpoo when my kids were little and now my current minipoo. 

None of them got bored with their food and they never got toppers. They also gobbled up their food so the food wasn’t left out for very long. 

I use most of my minipoos food for her training in the house. Outside of the house I do use treats- she takes several classes and we sometimes train in the park for distractions. Those treats don’t affect her wanting to eat her dinner. 

Be careful with toppers because you might be training a fussy eater. I have used toppers with my cats as they got elderly and were losing muscle mass, body weight and their appetite as they were ill. I’m not anti toppers when needed, but be thoughtful about when you use them.


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## jcris (Feb 19, 2015)

Yup,
Toppings can really begin a cycle of picky eating. I've fallen prey to that myself. And all I wanted to do is get them to eat better. Well they sure ate better, but then all they would eat is the topping. Now their fat and on a diet. Now they only get kibble most of the time. Poor sad little puppy heads. haha
Jcris


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## mythrider (Oct 20, 2017)

I just gave him wet topper for dinner. I always give him freeze dried toppers just only one meal with wet. He’s always gotten toppers and I don’t mind giving them to him even if it starts a cycle. As long as he eats it. He’s just manipulative but I love him for it.


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## rp17 (Jun 6, 2018)

mythrider said:


> I just gave him wet topper for dinner. I always give him freeze dried toppers just only one meal with wet. He’s always gotten toppers and I don’t mind giving them to him even if it starts a cycle. As long as he eats it. He’s just manipulative but I love him for it.


That's kind of the boat we're in. We were determined not to make a picky eater, so were not giving toppers and if he didn't eat one morning, tough, he had to learn. Problem was, when he still refused to eat by mid afternoon, he'd end up throwing up bile because his empty stomach was upset. At first I wasn't thrilled that DH had started giving in with the freeze dried toppers, but now I'm not viewing it any differently than finding a kibble he loves. With just a few freeze dried bits crumbled in, suddenly he loves his meal and will not hesitate to finish the bowl, plus he's not making himself sick on an empty stomach. It's turning a kibble he's "meh" about into a kibble he loves.


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## EVpoodle (Sep 25, 2018)

I have started to randomly add beef or chicken broth to Evie's food. It encourages her to eat. I do it completely at random. Sometimes I do it when she is not eating well. Other times I do it when she is eating well. Seems to have fixed the bored with the food problem. Hope this helps.


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## mary2e (Jan 29, 2018)

I have a picky eater, and yes, I'm probably to blame.

I finally got him to eat freeze dried raw, either S&C or Primal. I actually mix one nugget/patty of each.

I also pulverize chicken liver on top of it
And rehydrate with bone broth.
I even give it to him dry so I can leave and he has food, since rehydrated raw can only stay out so long.
Today I ordered a trial from Pet Plate to see if I can put that in the rotation.

I do think he gets bored with his food. He seems to be tired of the 2 flavors I've been rotating - beef & duck. But he'll eat any human food we put in front of him. 

I believe giving him a few bites of our food after we finish dinner made him only want our food, so we have stopped giving him anything we've eaten and that seems to get him to eat when he realizes he's not getting anything else. But I have to tell you, it is a pain to have to "convince" him to eat. Usually we put a few morsels on the floor by his bowl and he'll start eating. Sometimes he wants it ON the floor. If he gives us to much of an "argument" I just put the food away and offer it an hour later.

I also think he may be a night eater. He will eat anything I give him at 9pm.

It's been this way since we brought him home. He's just so little, and so cute (and knows it) that neither of us can let him go completely hungry.

He also is very manipulative. He started whining when he didn't get his way and we ignored him after we realized what he was doing. This week's trick is he now starts shivering if he doesn't get what he wants. It took about a week to realize what he was doing. Now we ignore that. I wonder what he'll come up with next.

I grew up with a toy poodle and she ate everything - but she also had human food mixed into her dog food every night. My mom used to mix in chicken liver if we didn't have anything to give. I don't remember this level of stubborness nor manipulation


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## jcris (Feb 19, 2015)

I've had the girls on a diet for the last month or so. I've noticed that they seem to settle down better if I give them a small bite to eat (1/4 cup kibble) about an hour before they go to sleep, usually just after I've let them out in the yard for their evening break.


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## mary2e (Jan 29, 2018)

Mine has actually asked for a bedtime snack since we brought him home. We give him Instinct beef meal toppers.


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## mythrider (Oct 20, 2017)

mary2e said:


> Mine has actually asked for a bedtime snack since we brought him home. We give him Instinct beef meal toppers.


 I give him the lamb wet toppers. I wish they had a variety.


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## mary2e (Jan 29, 2018)

mythrider said:


> I give him the lamb wet toppers. I wish they had a variety.


Instinct toppers do have a variety. I believe they have at least chicken in addition to beef. They may also have lamb.


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