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Judy's never been fond of canned dog food and I've been careful what brand of kibble I give her as she itches from some brands. I check to see what's in it and get the best that she'll eat, forget beef she won't touch it, so it's always chicken, turkey or lamb based.
She's never overeaten and sometimes would leave her food preferring to graze than eat it all at once. Since Bruno's been here she's been cleaning her bowl in one sitting until the past couple of weeks. I thought maybe she was tired of the variety/brand but switching didn't help. Sometimes she'll turn her bowl over but she hasn't done that. I thought maybe it was her teeth but didn't see anything and she'll eat other hard things like carrots.
She'll also eat human or cat food without a problem. She doesn't beg when we're eating but if we're in the kitchen and have something like broccoli she'll come in looking hopeful, She likes a wide variety of things and rarely has a problem except as I mentioned she will itch from something but I've never figured out what.
I'm at a loss because other than this weird diet issue she seems fine. I'm going to take her to the vet if it continues much longer but am wondering if it might be partly behavioral because we're paying so much attention to Bruno. I've never seen anything about a dog behaving this way because it was upset but humans do and knowing that dogs have emotions similar to ours I'm wondering if anyone has had a similar experience?
This isn't Lucy but it is a Bichon and they can be picky. Lucy will act like she is starving and then sit down in front of her bowl like she is thinking about it or saying Grace. Sometimes she only eats once a day even though we offer it twice. And neither dog will eat at all unless I'm in the kitchen with them. so I have to pretend I'm busy just to get them to eat.
When we had a maltese and a bichon, they were both very picky eaters. Sometimes they would skip a meal. I tried soaking the dry food in chicken broth and that helped a little, but I just think the little ones are just picky unless its human food. Our lab and bulldog gobble up their food in 5 seconds, I don't think they even care what's in the bowl!
My attitude regarding picky eating dogs and children are the same, you eat what I feed you or you don't eat at all.
*caveat of course if the existence of other underlying health issues and that their weight is maintained at a healthy level. A dog isn't going to due to a couple of missed meals and considering the considerable inactivity and obesity of the average dog, being a picky eater might not be such a bad thing.
Judy's never been fond of canned dog food and I've been careful what brand of kibble I give her as she itches from some brands. I check to see what's in it and get the best that she'll eat, forget beef she won't touch it, so it's always chicken, turkey or lamb based.
She's never overeaten and sometimes would leave her food preferring to graze than eat it all at once. Since Bruno's been here she's been cleaning her bowl in one sitting until the past couple of weeks. I thought maybe she was tired of the variety/brand but switching didn't help. Sometimes she'll turn her bowl over but she hasn't done that. I thought maybe it was her teeth but didn't see anything and she'll eat other hard things like carrots.
She'll also eat human or cat food without a problem. She doesn't beg when we're eating but if we're in the kitchen and have something like broccoli she'll come in looking hopeful, She likes a wide variety of things and rarely has a problem except as I mentioned she will itch from something but I've never figured out what.
I'm at a loss because other than this weird diet issue she seems fine. I'm going to take her to the vet if it continues much longer but am wondering if it might be partly behavioral because we're paying so much attention to Bruno. I've never seen anything about a dog behaving this way because it was upset but humans do and knowing that dogs have emotions similar to ours I'm wondering if anyone has had a similar experience?
Ok but wait. She was always a grazer. Then Bruno came and she scarfed it down.
That part makes sense because of him being a potential "threat". He could have been bugging her or even giving her the side eye.
THEN now, she leaves it? She's eating less than before Bruno came, when she was a grazer?
Have you changed what you do with the food now that Bruno is there, like pick it up whereas you used to leave it?
I'm thinking, absent a physical problem, she's just gotten used to Bruno being there, he's not threatening to eat her food anymore like he "used to" or she "thought he would". So she's back to being a grazer? Or if she's not grazing are you sure he's not "hovering" or sending signals.
If I get the story right.
I would test her the next time she avoids her food by placing a nice juicy can of tantalizing cat food down next to it and see if she selects that!
She is the dominant one, right? Not Bruno? So he is not influencing her not eating. And you aren't hovering right? "Owning" the bowl in other words. So I don't think it's psychological.
A stressed dog will NOT eat but I mean S T R E S S E D. LIke acutely for some reason. Say, a thunderstorm.
LOL no kudzu I can see Judy doing something like that!
Yes Judy is dominant, she owns the universe. She and Bru lived together previously when they were young, about a year old and didn't have this issue.
I considered stress, thunderstorms make her anxious. Nothing's changed lately so I don't think it's stress.
She'll eat cat food, no problem, she steals it whenever she gets the chance.
Nope, I don't stand over her when she eats. I've tried relocating her food, thinking maybe she wanted privacy, to eat on the carpet - she does that with treats, runs into my bedroom which is carpeted to eat them. She still leaves her food untouched about 3/4ths of the time.
Tonight I made them brown rice, potatoes, carrots, acorn squash and chicken. Yeah, I know it sounds like dinner for humans - just not THIS human, LOL Anyway, she ate most of it but not immediately which is more or less normal for her. I'm unsure if I gave her too much - I've never cooked for a dog before so beats me what a portion should be. Bruno of course licked the bowl dry.
I'm puzzled about her behavior, in most respects she acts normal. She runs and plays, hops up on her back legs when we get ready to go out. Barks at the mailman, chases Joe, pokes her toy... The only other odd thing is that she's been lying next to my chair once in a while, something she's never done. I'm thinking now maybe she's in pain? And if so how the heck will I figure that out except to give her pain meds??? She's had cruciate ligament surgery and was run over by a car several years ago (long story for another post). A thump and bump kind of accident - bumper knocked her down and car passed over her. The cartilage in her nose was fractured and she had a concussion but fortunately nothing else.
Times like this I wish she could talk, or I understood dog. I want to help her if she's unwell, or if something is bothering her. Never having a dog behave this way I'm completely lost.
LOL no kudzu I can see Judy doing something like that!
Yes Judy is dominant, she owns the universe. She and Bru lived together previously when they were young, about a year old and didn't have this issue.
I considered stress, thunderstorms make her anxious. Nothing's changed lately so I don't think it's stress.
She'll eat cat food, no problem, she steals it whenever she gets the chance.
Nope, I don't stand over her when she eats. I've tried relocating her food, thinking maybe she wanted privacy, to eat on the carpet - she does that with treats, runs into my bedroom which is carpeted to eat them. She still leaves her food untouched about 3/4ths of the time.
Tonight I made them brown rice, potatoes, carrots, acorn squash and chicken. Yeah, I know it sounds like dinner for humans - just not THIS human, LOL Anyway, she ate most of it but not immediately which is more or less normal for her. I'm unsure if I gave her too much - I've never cooked for a dog before so beats me what a portion should be. Bruno of course licked the bowl dry.
I'm puzzled about her behavior, in most respects she acts normal. She runs and plays, hops up on her back legs when we get ready to go out. Barks at the mailman, chases Joe, pokes her toy... The only other odd thing is that she's been lying next to my chair once in a while, something she's never done. I'm thinking now maybe she's in pain? And if so how the heck will I figure that out except to give her pain meds??? She's had cruciate ligament surgery and was run over by a car several years ago (long story for another post). A thump and bump kind of accident - bumper knocked her down and car passed over her. The cartilage in her nose was fractured and she had a concussion but fortunately nothing else.
Times like this I wish she could talk, or I understood dog. I want to help her if she's unwell, or if something is bothering her. Never having a dog behave this way I'm completely lost.
UGH, I know!
So the only thing I can say is I probably agree - I'd be wondering what the HECK. Sometimes these GI things come and go which may explain her being perfectly normal playing and other times not. If she were HIDING (not next to you) that would be worse because lots of our dogs on our MegaE board exhibit that. But "sorta clingy"?
A Boxer I walk refuses food sometimes, then that week has intermittent GI symptoms and chews grass then barfs. We don't know why. BUT she's extremely high strung anxious and I would bet money she has thyroid.
Unless this all started when Bruno came to live there lately? He was at your brother's before, till he got sick? Am I remembering right?
I guess it will all unfold and all you can do is just keeping your eagle eye out. I hope it's nothing.
Call or see your vet. Maybe he'll say try an acid inhibitor like Pepcid or something. But IME that's just medicating symptoms and not figuring out what, if anything, is going on.
I'd start weighing her and charting it. If she's not losing, okay. And I'd measure her food and chart how much she's eating and chart her bowel movements if you go outside and watch. It'll give you something to do about it LOL.
Tried the home cooked meal yesterday and took her out just before her walk and she ate as if she were starving, unusual for Judy. So I'm lost, vet is kind of lost too, spoke with him but he doesn't know her - new vet, old vet is lost too. Problem is she'll eat SOME foods. Elimination is normal since we walk her and clean up as soon as she goes.
Bleh. I think she's being a copy dog. Do dogs develop Borderline Personality Disorder?? Is there a DSM for animals?? Is the problem ME? Am I bringing work home and projecting it on my fur friends? OMG! Seriously, I know there's something bothering her but I just can't quite figure out what. My best guess at the moment is she is tired of the same old dog food. My second guess is much darker and I'm hoping it's wrong and that is there is something more seriously wrong with Bruno than we realize. That may sound far fetched but as we know dogs can discern things we can't and she may be responding who knows? I'm thinking about dogs who have responded to cancer and other issues in their owners, I see no reason Judy might not be acting out due to some illness in Bruno. I haven't spoken with the vet about it yet but that'll be my next conversation, my only concern with that is that he'll think I should be MY patient. HA.
I don't know if this would be helpful in your situation, but I always feed my pups in their crates with the doors locked.
I started doing this when I had just two dogs...one would leave her food and eat a little, then wander off. Meanwhile, the other dog would gobble her food up and then wait for the first one to leave...then she would finish hers off.
Now that they eat in their crates, the first one stays and finishes her food instead of getting distracted...and the other one isn't eating more than she should.
We have recently added a third pup and everyone goes to their crates for 10 minutes (or less) to eat their food at the same time. The puppy is VERY easily distracted from her food, so all the dogs just stay in their crates and wait until they are all finished eating before coming back out again.
Tried the home cooked meal yesterday and took her out just before her walk and she ate as if she were starving, unusual for Judy. So I'm lost, vet is kind of lost too, spoke with him but he doesn't know her - new vet, old vet is lost too. Problem is she'll eat SOME foods. Elimination is normal since we walk her and clean up as soon as she goes.
Bleh. I think she's being a copy dog. Do dogs develop Borderline Personality Disorder?? Is there a DSM for animals?? Is the problem ME? Am I bringing work home and projecting it on my fur friends? OMG! Seriously, I know there's something bothering her but I just can't quite figure out what. My best guess at the moment is she is tired of the same old dog food. My second guess is much darker and I'm hoping it's wrong and that is there is something more seriously wrong with Bruno than we realize. That may sound far fetched but as we know dogs can discern things we can't and she may be responding who knows? I'm thinking about dogs who have responded to cancer and other issues in their owners, I see no reason Judy might not be acting out due to some illness in Bruno. I haven't spoken with the vet about it yet but that'll be my next conversation, my only concern with that is that he'll think I should be MY patient. HA.
Well, FWIW, my dog client in assisted living with the dementia patient will NOT eat when the lady is out of sorts. Even though the lady doesn't direct her issues at the dog. That even includes vague not the worst symptoms like simply being a bit dehydrated and tense.
The dog also was "allowed" to spend months with the husband in SNF and hospice with lung cancer. The family tells me they left her there to sleep with him, something I would NEVER do to a dog, but YMMV.
To this day she HATES if anyone coughs. And avoids you if you do.
It's not far fetched. I posted before, my mom's Lab got malignant melanoma of the jaw after my mother died but instead of dying in six months nothing happened. We assumed it was a wrong lab. BUT NOPE. Three years later when my Bulldog died (her housemate) it came back with a vengeance in the exact same spot that VERY WEEK!
The good news is she's not nosing you and acting neurotic about YOU! I saw a dog last week on TV who diagnosed a lady's breast cancer. It did not show up on the xray but after the dog kept targeting it they did an ultrasound (or something like that).
Dogs are very interesting. And so is the body versus mind part.
If the energy in your house has changed, so will she. That's all I can say about you asking if you're bringing work home.
WAIT. What is she "copying"? (no they don't exactly copy like that but ...)
Last edited by runswithscissors; 11-06-2013 at 12:43 PM..
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Seriously, I know there's something bothering her but I just can't quite figure out what. My best guess at the moment is she is tired of the same old dog food. My second guess is much darker and I'm hoping it's wrong and that is there is something more seriously wrong with Bruno than we realize. That may sound far fetched but as we know dogs can discern things we can't and she may be responding who knows? I'm thinking about dogs who have responded to cancer and other issues in their owners, I see no reason Judy might not be acting out due to some illness in Bruno. I haven't spoken with the vet about it yet but that'll be my next conversation, my only concern with that is that he'll think I should be MY patient. HA.
And avoids you if you do. 
