is your dog fussy and you're just asking yourself how do you get a fussy dog to
eat well stick around and in this video I'll give you my top tips to get your
fussy eater eating the food you want them to Hi I'm dr. Alex from ourpetshealth.com
helping you and your pet to live a healthier happier life so if it's
your first time here consider subscribing to make sure that you don't
miss out on videos just like this one so I was asked by Kay who's got a 4
month old Labrador to make a video on getting fussy eaters to eat so here it
is and my first thought is always are they actually hungry now it's very easy
to overestimate the amount of food that we think that they should eat especially
if we're giving them a biscuit a kibble because it's actually really energy
dense so often we'll be putting the food down in that bowl we'll probably be
putting maybe a little bit too much down and often the packages actually do
slightly overestimate the amount that we should be feeding so we're over feeding
them and they're not actually finishing what we want them to or what we think
that we want them to eat what we then do is we're going to put something really
tasty down and they go and eat it and we say oh they must be hungry
because they've just gone on eating that food the comparison that I make is if
you had a toddler and they were full with their normal meal but you then gave
them a chocolate bar what do you think would happen they'd eat the chocolate
bar and it's the same with our dogs so they might be full already
you give them something really tasty and they just can't help themselves you
might also be giving them too many treats too many table snacks and other
things so actually by the time it comes to mealtime they're not hungry so what
you can do here is you can find out your pets body condition score and I've got
to link to doing that just down below in the description and once you've found
out their condition score that lets you know if they're a healthy weight if
they're overweight or if they're underweight and if they're healthy
weight or if they're overweight you know that they're getting the energy that
they need and that means that you don't need to worry about how much they're
eating if they're overweight that actually says that they're eating too
much and if they're a healthy weight great no need to worry they're getting
their requirements and they're getting what they need if you're then wondering
well how much should I actually be feeling my dog well if you sign up to my
newsletter and again the links down below in the description and I've got an
excellent calculate that lets you know exactly how much your
pet should weigh ideally based on their body condition score and then how much
you should feed them either to maintain their healthy weight or to help them to
lose weight so yeah check out the link below and sign up to the newsletter to
get that calculator right so the next thing to ask with any fussy eater is are
they actually healthy now if you've had a dog if you've got a
dog that's always eaten really well and all of a sudden they've gone off their
food they're a little bit picky they're not eating with the normal voracious
appetite then you know that might suggest that they're not healthy
are they vomiting have they got diarrhea are they starting to drink a little bit
more than normal or do you see them urinating an awful
lot more frequently again those are all signs that there might be something
wrong are they actually losing weight and are they losing weight quite quickly
again that's a real flag that something's wrong we can also then move
to the mouth so oral health can obviously play a role in appetite and
pain and eating do they have dental disease have they got lots of yellow
plaque and tartar over their teeth is the line of their teeth and gums is that
really red and inflamed they have marked gingivitis it might even be bleeding
in some cases have they've got a broken tooth is there anything else that we
need to be thinking about is their breath really smelly that may signify either a
dental or an oral health issue so if you've got any of concerns about any of
these then you should definitely be getting your dog checked out at your
vets just to check that they are healthy and there's nothing else we need to
worry about that could be causing their reduced appetite and so it's not just
fussy they're actually ill okay so once we've established that our dog is well
that they're healthy and that not any other concerns then how do we go about
getting them onto the diet that we want well to start with you know you
obviously need to decide what diet you want to feed your dog and there's a lot
of different things that go into that which is you know far too much to go
into today but once you've decided that once you know how much you should be
feeding then pop that down in the bowl leave it down for 20 minutes if your dog
doesn't eat it doesn't touch it that's absolutely fine just take up that food
bowl put it in the fridge cover it over and leave that there don't give your dog
any more food at this stage a few hours later 3 4 5 hours later
the food out pop it down again they'll be that much more hungry and they'll likely
start eating you might though have to leave it down for another 20 minutes
take it up put it away and again repeat the process if after 24 hours your dog
really hasn't touched anything so they haven't even had a few mouthfuls then
you know maybe it's alright then to try and give something else something a
little bit tastier that you know that they like what you really must never do
though is take up that food and immediately put down something else
because what this does it actually teaches your dog that by turning up
their nose at their normal food they're going to get something really tasty
again if we go back to our toddlers if every time you try to get them to eat
their vegetables and they turn their noses up at that and refused you
immediately gave them some chocolate they would learn to always refuse their
vegetables so it's the same with our dogs they're actually really good at
training us to give them snacks that we really know aren't in their best health
interests ok so this way it can seem a little bit like hard work we can have
our dog kind of staring at us longingly really putting on their best begging
eyes but stick with the program and you will get there your dog will become
hungrier and then they will eat it's just a matter of time a really hungry
dog will eat they're not going to starve themselves completely ok so an
alternative and one that can work is to actually find just find something that
your dog likes so to find any food that your dog likes and that they really
enjoy and what you can then do is you can slowly transition them on to the
diet that you actually want them to eat so what you do is you get them eating
whatever it is that they like to eat and then slowly over the course of several
weeks and for our fussy dogs I would try and make it last for maybe three four
weeks before you're feeding the ideal diet you slowly increase the proportion
of the diet that you want them to eat and reduce the amount of the other diet
that they're getting so that way that transition is really slowly they're not
likely to notice it happening and within three to four weeks you'll have them
eating the diet that you want them to eat quite happily ok so a couple of
other things to consider one would be to try and walk your dog give them a lot of
exercise just before mealtime so you know they're running around
they're playing they're exercising so they're building up a real appetite and
so by the time it comes for dinner that much more hungry and they just get stuck
in and tuck in another thing to do is to actually just put your dog's food down
and leave them to get on with it so walk out the room
don't go hover over them anxiously because they pick up on our vibes and if
they're thinking or what's going on why why is my owner anxious you know that's
gonna make them uptight and maybe make them less likely to eat so just put
their food down walk away and see how they get on and then another tip is to
actually feed your dog and let them eat before you start preparing any of your
meals because what this will mean is that your dogs not kind of looking up
and not smelling all of these smells of the food that they're not getting and so
they're just focusing entirely on the food that's down in their bowl so for
those dogs that really don't want to eat and this is actually something that can
be really beneficial if our pets are unwell if they're not feeling you know
quite their normal self is that we can add a little bit of water to their food
we can actually warm it up which makes it smell that much more strong and
more appealing so that can get our dogs who are maybe not quite so hungry to eat
or we can add something like a broth so the broth of some boiled up chicken
or some vegetable broth we want to make sure that we avoid anything with a high
salt content and any additives or anything like that so kind of homemade
would be best of course but adding a broth can just add that little bit of
flavor and for those dogs that are kind of unwell and really need a bit of extra
encouragement then just kind of hand feeding them can really make the
difference as well you know that's not something that I'd expect anyone to do
every day and it's only not something that we should be doing to get our fussy
dogs to eat but if they're you know a bit off their food for whatever reason
and that's a tip that can help get them eating okay and then my final tip would
be to maybe just add some raw vegetables so raw carrots broccoli green beans or
something like that to your dog's food and that may just provide that little
bit of extra flavor that little bit of difference in texture that just
encourages your fussy dog to eat the food that you're giving them and as a
bonus you know these are all healthy options they're all
that's options so are really good for the health of your dog anyway and
not too much effort to prepare you know intermittently or on a daily basis okay
so those are all my tips for getting your fussy dog to eat so I hope you
found them interesting and useful and I hope a few of them work for your dog
now if like Kay you've got any questions if
there are any video topics that you'd like me to cover then please leave a
comment down below and I'd love to hear from you also remember to subscribe to
make sure that you don't miss out on future videos just like this one and if
you hit that Bell notification you'll get notified whenever I upload a new
video and until next time i'm dr. alex from our pets health because they're
family i've got a fly