Hi for the last few months my dog refuses to eat his own dog food, we have tried him with other types of dog food but totally refuses to eat it. However he will eat human food. What should I do?
Stop feeding him people food - period. No exceptions. Give him dog food. If he doesn't eat it, put it away until the next scheduled meal time. Do not give him treats - dog or people versions. When he gets hungry, he will eat the dog food. Once he starts eating the dog food, you can start reintroducing DOG treats. But only give him a treat if he finishes his meal. If he doesn't eat his meal, no treats that day. Don't worry that he'll starve - he won't.
I'd go the opposite way and if people food is what he wants, I'd be giving him a home cooked diet I suppose it depends on what you feel comfortable doing
For me it would depend how old he is, and whether he is an only dog. If he is young and needing to be kept fit, I would feed what we both agreed was the best quality dog food, but add interest to it by adding toppers - small garnishes of raw or cooked meat, grated cheese, or meaty broth. When you have more than one dog it just isn't practical to feed each according to their fancies. For a single elderly dog, (like my own), I let them do their own thing. The majority of wet tray foods are very good quality - and if a bit of human food added makes it more appealing, so be it. Feeding time should be the highlight of their day.
My dog only eats human food because she has been raw fed since she was weaned. My previous dog was happy to eat her kibble but I changed her onto raw when she was about 2½ years old, shortly after having bought a 13kg bag of top quality kibble [which my vet was only too happy to take!]. But raw feeding is not for everyone.
If you WANT to feed people food, then sure, do the research and provide a well-balanced people food diet. But there's no reason you HAVE to feed the dog a people food diet.
I read the post as the dog was refusing all dog food and was just eating the people food toppings. That's like a kid ignoring the meal and just eating dessert. My Cat-dog was like that when I got her. She wouldn't eat any dog food, so the foster home tried to entice her by adding hot dogs and cream cheese and such to the bowl. Cat-dog would eat the tasty stuff and leave the dog food. Then they'd worry she would starve so they'd give her more people food. Thereby reinforcing her not eating her food. So, I eliminated all people food. I gave her dry with a scoop of canned for her meals. The first day, she ignored it and watched me eat my meal. By the second night, she started eating the food in her bowl. If she ate it all, I gave her a dog biscuit (the only dog treats she likes are Costco's Kirkland brand dog biscuits). The first week, she failed to eat a couple meals - she didn't get a biscuit afterward. By the second week, she was eating her meals and getting her biscuit treats. By the following week, she could have the occasional people treat. Now, she happliy eats her dog food and gets her biscuits and people treats . We're all happy.
Yes I agree, the basis should be a balanced diet. Those wet tray foods are balanced though and usually appeal to dogs that are not turned-on by kibble. Favourites here are the Naturo and Butchers ranges. You can add in some good quality kibble, or a portion of human stuff. My dogs have all been great vegetable fans, and love a drop of gravy when it's available.
Cat-dog won't touch veggies. And she wouldn't eat the wet food until I removed the people food - then the wet and dry were both fine. What she wanted was junk food - chips, hot dogs, cheese, crackers, cookies, ice cream, etc. She still wants those things, but not to the point where she won't eat anything else. As her doctor mentioned she could "stand to lose a couple pounds", eating dog food is not the hardship she claimed it to be.
That is just it. A balanced diet. I did not just jump straight into raw feeding and even though I used Tarimoor's post as a base https://www.dogsey.com/showthread.php?p=2108670#post2108670 I adjusted it according to what I was able to obtain, learning along the way which vitamin and mineral supplements should be added. For me it is now automatic but it was not instant knowledge. Neither Pereg then, nor Tikva now, sit and wait while I am eating, in the hope of getting a tidbit from my plate. In fact I am totally ignored when I am eating. But what I have sometimes done, however, is save a small piece of toast crust - on the rare occasion that I eat bread - and two or three small pieces will be given as a special treat. But only after I have finished eating, and only when I have offered it.
I have enough trouble trying to fix myself balanced and healthy meals to start trying it with the animals. With a good pet food, I know they are getting what they need. And I can choose to supplement with whatever I want. Wet only is great with smaller dogs, but with big dogs it can get costly. I use pedigree beef stew as a topping. Per the can, I would have to feed Cat-dog (85lbs) 11oz per every 10lbs. That's 93.5oz of wet food per day. Or 4-1/4 22oz cans. And I'd still have to feed Tornado-dog another 2-1/2 to 3 cans daily and he's still growing. I currently get a case of 12 cans per month for toppings. I would have to increase that to 210 cans per month currently and potentially another 30-60 cans per month once Tornado-dog is fully grown. And those are big cans of a fairly inexpensive brand. Go for the more expensive brands with 11-13.5oz cans and you're doubling that amount monthly. There is nothing wrong feeding a dog dry, wet, raw, or fresh cooked food. It really comes down to: 1) what the dog does best on; within 2) what you are able/willing to do. Back to the original concern, for most people when they say "the dog won't eat their dog food but eats people food" it's usually due to junk food habits. The dog prefers the highly processed people junk foods over a well-balanced diet. Give the dog chicken and rice and he will likely turn his head. Give him doritos and hot dogs and hamburger helper and he'll be eating. In that case, you need to eliminate the junk food and teach the dog it's well-balanced or nothing. Your choice as to whether that well balanced is dry, wet, raw or home cooked.
don't take the human food straight away, try putting dog food first on the human food and let your dog be familiar with it. then as he eats the dog food try reducing human food and lots of dog foods until he become used to dog food
