Dog + Eating????????????

Question

my four year old springer spaniel isn't really eating too much of her food. Well, at least since we switched foods. I thought she just didnt like the food (though she has never refused a food before) and then I noticed the way she eats has changed too. Her bowl is on a raised platform and she has always hovered her head over it, taken bites, and eaten them with her head above the food bowl. Now she takes food in her mouth and lowers her head to the ground, eating it there. Sometimes a couple pieces of the food are left on the floor when she does this. I put some gravy for dogs on the food but she still doesnt eat all of it. I was on a trip and my dad was the oonly one @ our house feeding him, and he says she was doing that while we were gone which tells me this has been going on for at least a few weeks. Any ideas of whats up with her or what I can do to make her eat it all?

Answer 1

You might need to switch foods again. Some dogs are picky and only like certain types of food. Also, make sure you are feeding her the correct amount of food. I recently noticed that one of my dogs stopped eating her bowl of food. Usually she scarfs it down, but she started only eating a portion of it. I read the guidlines and realized she only needed a fraction of what i was giving her. Good luck on this.  

Answer 2

if shes not loosing weight you can assume she just doesnt need to eat it all... or maybe she dosent like the food? you can try to mix in some yummy gravy from your meal.... that might convince her to eat more... or you can switch her food.

if you do switch food do it slowly, add the new food to the old food gradually increasing the new while decreasing the amount of old over about a week

Answer 3

While this may just appear to be an issue with the food she's eating, given that her behavior has changed too, I would try to take notice of other things that may be changing (weight loss, lethargy, hair loss, not wanting to go for walks, etc) and get her in to your vet to get her checked.  When dogs stop eating, it's usually a sign that something is going on that they can't tell you about.  We've been through this MANY times with 2 of our 7 dogs.  The 2 had/have been very sick and one of the first indications that meds weren't working or something else was creeping up was whether or not they ate.  Since this has been going on for a few weeks, it's best to err on the side of caution.  Good luck.