Won't eat out of bowl

Hey ppl, I have a bit of a problem with Clara and dinner times. She just wont eat out of her bowl! I thought she didn't like her food, I was feeding her Royle Canin puppy food and she did eat this on its own in her bowl. She stopped eating it so i thought it might have been a bit dry for her so I added Ceasar wet puppy food. Again she did really enjoy this but then last week she stopped eating it. The funny thing is if you feed her from the fork or put some on the floor she will eat it. There is nothing wrong with the bowl I've rinsed it with water and it is spotless and no odors coming from it. Maybe she is just a fussy eater but she always looks as if shes hungry sniffing the floor and running to the fridge when anyone opens it! If she was his hungry surely she would eat from the bowl! Oh and when i add pieces of ham and cheese in her bowl she eats the from the bowl but doesn't touch her food and i know she likes it! Its so fustrating! Any ideas of whats going on? Any advice would be really helpful! Thanks.

Hi

Shes got you wrapped around her little paw ,you are doing what she wants just like I did with my three I spoon fed them .persevere with her bowl and she will eat when shes hungry ,shes a teenager now and is testing you like my 11 month old Lily is doing to me and even though I know what shes trying to do I have changed her bowl 3 times.

Thanks brian! I still think shes a baby shes only 10 weeks tomorrow I don't want her to be hungry all the time. I will stop spoon feeding her though. See how it goes keep you posted

She will eat it when she is hungry enough. At the minute she knows that if she refuses to eat it you will spoon feed her or add something nicer to it. Cavs are very clever little dogs. Leave her food down for about 20 mins then take it up again, whether she has eaten any or not. She will soon learn that she has to eat it from the bowl. Be warned though, dogs can go several days without eating and it is hard to resist those big brown eyes
Best of luck

Hi Lisa,

This is so not uncommon! My Lou won't eat out of a bowl - it has to be off a flat plate and preferably the floor.. I'm currently looking after a Lhasa Apso (I do home boarding) and she won't eat out of a bowl!! has to be a flat plate. Dog's can be really funny about their plates!!!!

My Dixie prefers a flat plat too......so that's how I feed her.

Feeding times.

You are all so right. My dogs all do different things. Some clear the lot, some guard it and growl while others like a plate or flat metal dish. At least with a low sided vessel what they manage to push or flick off is then on the floor so even more tempting !

And finally, the one that wont eat his/her own, will go around and try to sneak a bit from everyone else - and run to the corner when shes started a fight between the boys !

Such joy ?

Mark.

Sasha did this when she was a puppy. She'd eat out of our hand, and also if you put it on the floor, but not out of the bowl. I knew this wasn't how it should be... the thought of hand-feeding Sasha for the rest of her life was ridiculous!

The advice I received (from this board, actually!) was to put the food in the bowl, leave it there for a short while (maybe 15 minutes or so), then pick it up and wait until the next feeding. It sounded so harsh!!!! I was reassured that a dog won't starve itself... if she's hungry, she'll eat.

I reluctantly tried it. Sasha ate only one meal for a few days, and then she began to realize that she'd better come and get it right away. Since then, no problems eating out of a bowl!

Here's the link to the thread on this board:
http://board.cavaliertalk.com/showthread.php?t=24168

Thanks everybody for the replys! Anyway earlier about half an hour after i posted this Clara woke up and seemed hungry so i cleaned her soggy breakfast out of her bowl washed it and made up some new food, this time a different flavour of ceaser. To my surprise she cleaned the bowl clean! I was delighted! Then again awhile ago i gave her the same food she seemed scared of the bowl and backed away she is a funny dog so with a bit of encourgament she ate it just left a little bit! So I am very pleased! Trust Clara to make a liar out of me haha.

glad im not the only one having a problem! my Puppy Max is 4 months old, and he is the same, wont eat out of his bowl, i have been trying the whole leave it for 15mins then offer, sometimes works other times he still wont eat, he does seem to prefer eating off the floor as he tries to pick food up and put it on the floor!! maybe i need to get him a plate? (i have had him nearly for 1 month now)

Oh dear im having the same with Jelly too but the difference is having "been there" with Ruby i know she will eat when hungry! Tonight i put a pinch of gravy powder in her meal,tried her once with a spoon then walked away,the food after 15mins is in the fridge.Jelly is wandering about the kitchen looking puzzled! Bless her,she ate at lunch so im not too worried.
I know the problem is that since Ruby has come home she is on new food,prior to this both had roast chicken with their evening meal(jelly had already started to hold out for evening feed) & with Ruby convalesing the vet advised spoon feeding her,so i am for a few more days....all this has had a knock on effect!
Good luck all-keep reading that link!

My lovely little girl is like this, we have tried everything from changing bowls, food, and even tempting her by the food.. but nothing seems to work for long...

We give her cooked meat and she loves it, gets excited then walks off...

We had her checked at Vets also...

Is this a common thing? As my sisters cavvie is completely diff. a gannet even lol...

Any tips??


Jo & Poppy (woof)

My lovely little girl is like this, we have tried everything from changing bowls, food, and even tempting her by the food.. but nothing seems to work for long...

We give her cooked meat and she loves it, gets excited then walks off...

We had her checked at Vets also...

Is this a common thing? As my sisters cavvie is completely diff. a gannet even lol...

Any tips??


Jo & Poppy (woof)

They are Cavaliers, Royal Dogs what do you expect, they should be fed by hand
Dougall wouldn't eat of a bowl as puppy and had to be fed by hand, he
has grown out of it and now eats properly out of his bowl.

My mother's Cav will only eat if hand fed ON THE COUCH. Sheesh!

KingstonsMom said:

My mother's Cav will only eat if hand fed ON THE COUCH. Sheesh!

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man these dogs are clever little so and so's arent they

My rubes was awful with food and she had us wrapped round her little paws- all 4 of them!!!

She growls and barks and whines at her bowl until you throw it accross the floor then she chases it, kicks it like a football then catches it in her mouth.
We gave up in the end andnow she eats as royal dogs should- at the momment in the garden with her nose bag and when she cant go out she eats up on the sofa!!!!

We did do the fod technique when we had the first round of problems (aout 6 months old) which worked just fine but I think things changed when we found out about the SM and we started making excuses for her behaviour by saying that she woulnt eat that way as it hurt her! Well it may do but she drinks just fine!!

Oh the things we do for our dogs eh- you can always tell a Cavvie owner!

Karen and Rubycavtiny

We had exactly the same problem with Izzie! I've had a complete nightmare with her but finally after weeks of persevering we seem to be ok now.
She just one day got really fussy and refused to eat her food. it was so out of character as every mealtime she had jumped all over the place. i tried everything, different food, different bowl, flat plate, put her food on the floor then eventually hand feeding her as I was so worried she wouldn't be getting the energy she needed as she was so young. Then I went away for a few days and my husband took things into hand. Unlike me he let her starve haha, what a meany! Well, when I came home she seemed to be eating fine, typical!!! I think that I was worrying too much about her eating and was babying her too much and she was lapping up the attention! In defence of myself though she also had a bad tummy for practically 3 months so I was even more worried about her. Its been a real struggle to get her on a bland diet.
She still gets a bit fussy and will eat half her food then hover around me in the kitchen in the hope that I will give in, but I ignore her and over time she seems to be learning that she wont get anything else.
Also another thing that I've found really helps is to sprinkle some seasoning to beef things up. I use Halo dinner party sprinkle and it seems to do the trick really well.
I hope its going better with Clara!

These no eaters are not unusual and they are a pain.

The usual scenario is they refuse a meal, so you buy a different brand. They eat that enthusiastically, licking the bowl clean. Problem solved.

The next meal they refuse to look at the food, they won't even sniff it, they cower away as if you are trying to poison them.
You buy a new brand...........

Tinned food, kibble, fresh cooked meat & biscuit, raw meat, fish, egg, baby food, all rejected.

Bowl, plate, floor, roll food into a ball and throw it. They have your measure & they are not going to be fooled into eating.

Your vet says " No dog will starve themselves, they will eat eventually" ....These dogs have not read the same veterinary books.

What can you do?.......Try & relax, give them what they will eat, & accept you are going to have a very skinny dog.( Faith lived on nothing but large Bonios for many months)

For owners that are hoping to show their promising puppy, keeping weight on a cavalier determining to starve itself to a size zero is serious. They often feed a certain drug that will give the dog an appetite

Thanks everyone for the advice! Clara is eating okish at the moment!