# Picky eater/need to gain weight...help!



## Zeus15 (Sep 18, 2014)

We got our male GSD when he was 10 weeks old. From the first day we got him he devoured his food until he was about 6 months old. The vet always thought he was under weight when he was a pup. Well he always had diarrhea so after expensive bloodwork and tests our vet determined he had a food allergy that was specific to proteins. We had to do a food trial. We have always fed him Blue Buffalo. Here is the list of different kinds. Chicken and rice puppy, lamb and rice basics, turkey and potato basics, wilderness red meat, and he is now on salmon...in that order. Once we got to the blue buffalo wilderness red meat the diarrhea started to get better. But we noticed it was more of "he grew out of the allergy" rather than the protein. All his food was grain free. 

When he was about 6 months old he started developing picky eating habits. He would go a day or two without eating and would throw up yellow bile because of his empty stomach. We have tried the whole put the food down for 15min and take it away if he doesn't eat. He would just go a day or two with out eating causing him to get sick. We have tried putting wet food on his food (which we have seen an improvement) but he still will skip meals and may go a day without eating on occasion. 

He is a perfectly heathy dog, active, good coat, alert, and could run for hours at the dog park. I get comments all the time "such a beautiful dog...he's so skinny". He was up to 87lbs at one point but now he is down to 81. I was told he should be closer to 100min because he is a few inches taller than the avg GSD. We are certain he is healthy as the vet tells us to give him more treats, leave his food out all the time, and put wet food in his food. She said it's not a medical issue. 

Another thing we noticed is that we don't think he just doesn't like his food because if a few pieces of kibble fall on the floor he will eat it. But he won't eat it from his bowl. If we place his kibble in a dog puzzle game he will figure it out to get the food and eat the small amount of kibble. But once we put his bowl down in his elevated food dish he sniffs it and walks away. 

We really just want to figure out how to get him to eat so if there is anything I didn't go over please ask me. Any comments or suggestions are appreciated. 

I attached a picture to this thread.


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## Zeus15 (Sep 18, 2014)

Another picture


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## Maverick M (Jul 6, 2014)

Try sprinkling shredded cheese on top of his food. I learned this from one of the threads in this site. Maverick won't eat his dry kibble from the bowl unless he is super hungry. When I add the cheese, he goes for it. Other times, I add plain yogurt to the kibble. He loves that too.

When I noticed a lot of shedding, I asked for advice in this site and was told to try Omega 3 oils, etc. So I started adding olive oil on top and some shredded cheese. I started salmon oil capsules a few days ago and hid it underneath the shredded cheese. He eats it all up!

Wet food, like the canned ones, were ignored. I would add the broth from my leftover chicken bones that I boiled. That seems to work too.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

Leaving food down all the time kind of encourages picky eating habits. If you put the food down for 10 minutes, and then pick up the bowl. No more until his next feeding -- this will often encourage a dog to get in the habit of eating if he doesn't have anything ailing him.

And finding kibble left in the dish is often a symptom of something ailing them, when they are accustomed to the food going away after so minutes.


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## Magwart (Jul 8, 2012)

I went through the pickiness with one with a food allergy, as we were doing our 10-week trials on limited-ingredient diets. He would eat the food for a few days, then start to look at it like it was disgusting, and go days without eating. He was losing weight too -- and the poop was usually soft. Then we started getting anal gland problems, due to the soft poop not emptying them.

We added bovine colostrum and Glandex (a supplement, available on Amazon) to his diet. The colostrum is given in between meals (I get it in powder form and mix with a little water--he laps it up eagerly). The Glandex gets mixed with some canned food. It totally changed his view of food -- he eats the same LID with gusto now. He barks out of excitement and dances when it's meal time instead of slinking away disinterested. He has more energy too.

I think the lack of appetite and other issues are a sign that something's not right in his digestive system. These two supplements helped to heal whatever was off in my dog's digestive system, and that reignited his appetite (and firmed up the poop).


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## Zeus15 (Sep 18, 2014)

selzer said:


> Leaving food down all the time kind of encourages picky eating habits. If you put the food down for 10 minutes, and then pick up the bowl. No more until his next feeding -- this will often encourage a dog to get in the habit of eating if he doesn't have anything ailing him.
> 
> And finding kibble left in the dish is often a symptom of something ailing them, when they are accustomed to the food going away after so minutes.


We tried this and like I said he would just not eat and end up throwing up yellow bile because of his empty stomach. The vet even told us to let him free roam eat because of it.


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## Maverick M (Jul 6, 2014)

Any update? How's your GSD?


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## Marissa (Dec 31, 2009)

Magwart said:


> I went through the pickiness with one with a food allergy, as we were doing our 10-week trials on limited-ingredient diets. He would eat the food for a few days, then start to look at it like it was disgusting, and go days without eating. He was losing weight too -- and the poop was usually soft. Then we started getting anal gland problems, due to the soft poop not emptying them.
> 
> We added bovine colostrum and Glandex (a supplement, available on Amazon) to his diet. The colostrum is given in between meals (I get it in powder form and mix with a little water--he laps it up eagerly). The Glandex gets mixed with some canned food. It totally changed his view of food -- he eats the same LID with gusto now. He barks out of excitement and dances when it's meal time instead of slinking away disinterested. He has more energy too.
> 
> I think the lack of appetite and other issues are a sign that something's not right in his digestive system. These two supplements helped to heal whatever was off in my dog's digestive system, and that reignited his appetite (and firmed up the poop).


What do these supplements do? Or what are they meant to do, have the same issues with my female. She acts super hungry and is excited at meal time, but once the food is down exhibits signs of anxiety. She looks at food sideways, paces and pants, stretches and yawns. She will pick a few pieces up but let's them fall out of her mouth. She also spits up occasionally. Tested her for EPI and that was negative. She's impossible to keep weight on and very thin. Sorry not trying to hijack thread... just in same boat


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## Magwart (Jul 8, 2012)

Marissa said:


> What do these supplements do? Or what are they meant to do, have the same issues with my female.


The colostrum has been used to heal the intestinal lining for a long time in holistic circles, but it's only just started being examined in dogs in peer-reviewed literature. The results are pretty interesting. I don't think anyone has a clue _how_ it does what it does, but the results are plain as day in the studies: colostrum fed dogs have increased diversity and stability of gut flora.

Gut flora (good bacteria in the digestive track) are turning out in study after study to have a vital role not only in healthy digestion, but even systemic immune function. 

Here's a link to a very readable summary of Purina's study of colostrum in dogs. Here's a link to the article abstract on PubMed.


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## Marissa (Dec 31, 2009)

Thanks. I'm really excited to read this. I'm an LVT at a traditional vet clinic and always like to bring in more holistic methods


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## Marissa (Dec 31, 2009)

What product do you use for bovine colostrum?


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## Saphire (Apr 1, 2005)

Have you tested for EPI?


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