Dog won't eat

[jcathunter]

Ok, so I got my Lulu dog back a couple months ago and everything seemed fine but she had a bad canine. It finally got bad enough that I took her in to get it fixed. At that time, they found breast cancer so I had them give her a good workin over. After surgery, she was fed soft dog food because of her tooth. Well, a few days went by and she started bleeding internally and had to have emergency surgery to keep her alive. Now, she is fine but she will NOT eat dog food. She will eat the heck out of any "people" food or steak, soft dog food, whatever as long as it is not dry dog food. I figured I'd just leave dog food in front of her until she ate and she is killing herself. When I went out there today, I thought she was dead but she eventually came out of her house and still looked dead. Even her eyes were bugged out. I thought I'd see if, for some reason she would not eat anything but, again, she scarfed up the meat and looked for seconds. I've seen dogs get picky before but never to the point of borderline suicide. I will not keep a dog that won't eat the food the others eat so I'm at a loss as to what to do. Any ideas????

[lakeviewwalker]

have you tried to soften the dry food with something water or broth or some kind of liquid you could maybe get grease from a resturant to start with and then slowly phase out the liquid? sounds like something must still be wrong with dog though

[jcathunter]

I've tried softening it with water, bacon grease, milk, you name it. I've even tried heating it in the microwave with those things to make it warm for her. I'd think something was wrong but she will flat devour chips, hot dogs, or anything I eat. I put roast in her food tonight and she picked all the roast out and left the food. She's being a turd and I don't know what to do with her.

[livetohunt]

Im just not getting this you will spend the time and money getting her tooth fixed. Then spend the time and money getting the cancer taken care of. Now she will not eat anything but soft food so after all the time and money to save her your willing to let her starve to death. Really am I missing something here?

"Any ideas????"
Yes feed the dog what ever it takes to keep her healthy. If you are going to own dogs then you owe it to them to take care of them and be responsible. If not why did you go to all of the trouble to fix the tooth and take care of the cancer.

[jcathunter]

So, Livetohunt, you're basically calling me out saying I'm not taking care of my dog and I'm irresponsible??? Awesome. Well, hopefully, I can learn a bunch from you because I'm obviously very inexperienced. hahahahaha

[livetohunt]

Nope not calling you anything Im say I just dont get it. If your willing to spend the time and money to fix her and get her better why not feed her the soft food she needs to keep her that way?
If you took it wrong Im sorry but thats up to you to take it how every you like. I didnt say YOU WERE IRRESPONSIBLE. I said and I quote: "If you are going to own dogs then you owe it to them to take care of them and be responsible"
As for you learning from me or your level of experience I have no idea of that and if I remember right this post was not about that at all. You were asking a question I was just giving you my thoughts on it to take leave or do what every you like with it. Have a good night and happy hunting.

[jcathunter]

In my first post, I said that I will NOT keep a dog that won't eat the food the others eat. That is my choice. If you don't want to keep a dog for a certain reason, that is also your choice. I was merely asking for opinions before I give up on the dog. If I remember right, THAT is what the post was about. Lakeviewwalker offered up some very good advice. In fact, it is exactly the type of response I was hoping for. Then I get to this post "If you are going to own dogs then you owe it to them to take care of them and be responsible. If not why did you go to all of the trouble to fix the tooth and take care of the cancer." Maybe I did take it wrong but it sounds very condescending to me. Now, to get to your questions. Yes, I went to the trouble to fix the dog because it is the responsible thing to do. In fact, I also got elbow deep in blood and guts in the middle of the night trying to help my vet keep her alive. I'd do it again tenfold but, I draw the line at a dog being too darn dumb or stubborn to eat. Especially when the dog ate the heck out of the exact same food only a month earlier.
That being said, I'm only hoping to find some tricks or tips that others may have used like the trick Lakeviewalker mentioned or possibly roading the dog a bit to work up an appetite. Maybe a different type of dry food that is better tasting???? If someone wants to question whether I take care of my dogs or not, I ask that they not post because internet policing is not what I am after.

[skeets]

cathunter, do you reckon your dog might have another bad tooth and the dry dog feed might be hurting it and has her gum healed all the way up? i hope she gets to eating right.

[outlaw13]

shit if its a good bear dog ill take it off of your hands and feed it whatever it needs. I will even bottle feed the hard headed turd if it would help me catch more game.

[desertdog]

I've had dogs stop eating their dry dog food also. Couldn't figure it out and tried everything. Noticed that it was always Summertime when it happened and I thought maybe the food got rancid from the heat. So, I bought a freezer and stored the food in it. I haven't had any problems since. They really like the frozen kibble, maybe 'cause it's a little crunchy.

[jcathunter]

I was concerned about the tooth thing but she'll eat jalepeno potato chips without a problem. I was worried about the food being bad so I cleaned her dish and then put fresh food from a fresh bag in her dish. She will take a bite then just leave it until it goes bad.

[jcathunter]

She ate some of her food today, finally. She still looks bad and didn't eat all of it but I guess she finally decided to quit holding out for goodies. We'll see if she'll keep on eating. I sure hope so.