Dachshund (F - 4M) refunsing to eat: Is she picky, or sick?

[cortexhair]

Our mini Dachshund (female, 4 months old) always had trouble eating her kibble (we have tried so far 3 different types/brands). When she was only 2 months old, she needed to take antibiotics and her stomach couldn't be empty because of it. So, we created the habit of giving her different things to eat, such as pumpkin, chicken, canned food, etc. This way, she could at least have 1 to 2 meals a day. However, even with this, she was never a great eater. Most of the time, she only ate half of her bowl.

Nowadays, she doesn't take any medication, but she still refuses to eat her food. No matter what we mix it with, she only eats about 10g or nothing at all per meal, out of a total of 40g of kibble (40g 3 times a day). After consulting the vet and reading a lot of things on Reddit, we decided to go for a more straightforward approach. We gave her only kibble with a bit of water to make it softer (she doesn't like hard things to eat) and made it available for only 15 to 30 minutes. However, it's been a day and a half, and she refuses to eat at all. She just smells it and walks away with a disgusted expression.

It's worth mentioning that two days ago, we gave her a bit of broccoli mixed with her food. After a few hours, we started hearing some weird noises coming from her stomach and her poop was not as hard as usual. She started refusing food since then. But because we started giving only the kibble close to it, we are not sure if she got sick of the kibble because the broccoli made her feel sick, or because she simply is being picky.

When we put the food down, she smells it and then goes away. If we hold her and try to put the food close to her mouth, she starts to struggle. During the time that the food is available, she smells it a few times but does not eat at all.

To be honest, at this point, I'm a bit desperate. I just want her to eat. The vet told us to wait at least one more day before doing anything.

She is playing, sleeping, and drinking water as usual. She's just a bit lethargic, but I believe it's because she hasn't eaten in more than a day.

(EDIT1: Adding the video)

https://reddit.com/link/1aprv4s/video/7lagarxdfcic1/player

 

[jeshurun1111]

@cortexhair Broccoli can cause stomach upset in some dogs so it could be that she's still feeling the impacts of that.

 

[cortexhair]

@jeshurun1111 It might be the case for her, thanks.

 

[simonjohn213]

@cortexhair Puppy is not skinny, despite you saying she's eating very little, so unless you're overexaggerating and she's eating more some days and less other days, I would look at how much you're actually feeding and reducing the meals to that amount, then checking that her weight is holding ok.

Feeding guidelines are just an average, some dogs need more and some need less. Some dogs are extra sensitive when overfed and will display extreme pickiness with everything, including really good things. Most often than not, this is a result of overfeeding likely causing them to feel uncomfortable, especially given that kibble swells in the stomach and takes a long time to digest. Some dogs are also extra sensitive to pressure so look at how you're treating the issue and take into consideration if you're putting pressure on her (begging her to eat, pushing her towards the food, talking to her during meal time, following her around with food, etc). It's best that you offer the food and leave her to it without acknowledging her at all.

I've worked with a similarly "picky" dog for a few weeks, his owner was overfeeding him majorly and begging him to eat. He was stressed out during meal time and hated food due to being overfed and pressured daily. After a few weeks of working with him, he was excited for his kibble plain with nothing added and was begging for his food bowl as I was preparing it.

Also, out of curiosity, what kibble brands have you tried so far?

 

[cortexhair]

@simonjohn213 Thanks for the reply! We definitely put pressure on her by trying to make her eat. We are now trying a different approach, as you mentioned.

We are currently trying the Farmina Pumpkin Lamb & Blueberry.

So far we have tried Brit and Royal Canin (Edit: I forgot to mention Ontario).

 

[simonjohn213]

@cortexhair Farmina is a pretty good brand.

If you want to try something else again, I would maybe look into semi-moist kibble or cold pressed kibble. Cold pressed typically crumbles instead of swelling, so if she gets uncomfortable and that's the reason she's picky, cold pressed might help a bit with that discomfort. And don't mix in anything into the kibble, just plain kibble.

If you can afford it, freeze dried is also pretty much the best "kibble" option out there, but it's typically outrageously expensive lol.

But yes, over all, make sure there's zero pressure, absolutely none. Completely ignore her at meal times, don't even make eye contact. Just put the bowl down and leave her to it. You can spice things up a bit if there's anything she really really likes. Just toss a very delicious treat that she's very into (assuming she's into any food item at all) right after she finishes eating, or right after she eats a decent amount. Ideally you'll want to lower the amount of food to something she's willing to eat entirely at first. This can show her that eating is a positive thing, especially if she has already associated it with something negative due to the pressuring.

 

[effie]

@simonjohn213 I’m in a similar boat as OP and this is the info I needed!!

 

[simonjohn213]

@effie Glad I could help. I had a whole protocol with the dog I worked with which worked marvelously so let me know if you need any other tips :>

 

[jess1]

@cortexhair Where have you gotten the dosage of food from? Does she eat food designed for small dogs, or are you giving her regular dog food and getting the dosage from the recommendations for normal sized dogs? Because 120 grams/day sounds like waaaay too much for a dog that weighs 2-3 kg. 20-40 gr is what I would think is enough per day for a growing puppy.

For reference, my dog weighs 26 kg and she gets 280 gr per day.

 

[cortexhair]

@jess1 I'm feeding her with the Mini Puppy Farmina Pumpkin Lamb & Blueberry.

The back of the package has a table that takes into account the weight she will be when she reaches adulthood and her current age.

Her adult weight will be around 7kg (confirmed by the vet), and she is currently 4m, which says to give a total of 120g (1.25c) per day.

 

[marysffas]

@cortexhair Dog food packages notoriously over-estimste those guidelines by a significant amount, like 50-100% over what your dog actually needs. If I fed my dog based on the package he'd be a little furry blimp. They do it so you have to buy more food sooner, not because it's actually the amount your dog should eat. So in addition to the pressure she feels as mentioned above, she might very well just be full after 10g.

 

[starofhope]

@cortexhair Try adding fish oil, if you haven’t already. I had a picky eater before, she wouldn’t eat the same thing twice in a row. Had to keep swapping soft canned food with dry kibble. It kept going until she was 18 months or so.

 

[cortexhair]

@starofhope She has been refusing even canned food now. The fish oil I believe worth a try.

 

[starofhope]

@cortexhair I wish you luck. I really do. If she eats something and it doesn’t make her feel well she can become adverse to eating. There is also the fact that if a dog gets hungry enough they’ll eat. Broccoli gives me gas, I’d imagine the same for a pup.
Have you tried frozen green beans? I don’t know a dog that doesn’t like them. I use them as treats and adding bulk to the food.

That aside perhaps an allergy test is in order.

Again, all the best and good luck.

 

[burl]

@cortexhair Have you tried feeding raw food?

My friend had a dachshund who was fussy with kibble, they changed to raw, and she now cleans her bowl.

 

[cortexhair]

@burl We are definitely considering it!

 

[imagebeastmarkbeast]

@cortexhair My two doxies were both quite picky. We swapped to raw, they’re better about eating. I would free feed one day and decrease pressure on her.

 

[imerkat]

@cortexhair I’ve always fed my pets Hill’s Science Diet, and swear by it. Maybe give one of their kibbles a go?

When my senior girl started getting really picky, I found that it helped to switch up the food every couple of days. She needed a special low-fat diet, but both Hill’s and Royal Canin created a kibble that worked, so I mixed the two and gave her both, or gave her one until she was sick of it and then swapped to the other.

You could also experiment with wet food vs. dry food, although wet is of course way more expensive, especially over her whole life!

 

[kimmarqy]

@cortexhair When my dog was refusing to eat it was because the food was making him feel sick so he didn't want to eat it. I changed to Dr. Harvey's supplements and added in the meat and oil as described in the directions. I haven't had an issue since. Have you tried freeze dried food? The kibble could just be too hard for him to digest and he might benefit from not feeding it.

 

[learning4viv]

@cortexhair Was having same issues for dry kibble with archie. I found a bag of dry nuts with added moisture by bakers brand and archie actually loves it. He still thinks its a treat and tries to smuggle it into his bed. The first time i used one bit as a treat, getting him to sit, spin etc. shouldve seen him when we filled his bowl with the "treats"