# She won't eat her food - but eats everything else!



## PiedPiperInKC (May 1, 2011)

Kaiya is 10 weeks old and the past couple of days will barely TOUCH her food. She hasn't been the greatest eater anyway - but the past 3 days she's really been bad. Yesterday barely got a morsel down her.

To make matters worse - she wants to eat EVERYTHING!! Rocks, dirt, bird poop, etc. (we watch her every second so we get her away from all of this stuff - but we've never had a GSD who wants to eat and chew on EVERYTHING like this....everything but her FOOD that is!)

The breeder sent home a little ziploc of the kibble she was feeding her for us to mix with ours (Nature's Domain from Costco). She was eating the mixture fine - no stool problems - and has been completely switched over to our food for over a week now.

Her stools are fine, she was checked for worms 2 weeks ago and her fecal was clear, she's active, happy and everything seems normal. The only thing she has done is dry heave several times since we've brought her home (only thing that ever comes up is a little liquid). Yesterday she did it more than usual - about 4 times (once in the middle of the night).

So this morning - tried adding some shredded cheese to her food - she licked it all off! Then tried adding a little yogurt....same thing!! She would actually put a piece of the kibble in her mouth, suck the yogurt off then spit the kibble back out!

I've just left a message for my vet - but also thought I'd ask for other advice, suggestions here? My boy who just passed away 2 weeks ago (Titan) was a VERY picky eater when he was a pup. He weighed less than her at this age. I want her to eat the food we've researched & decided upon as we feel it is the healthiest, most convenient for our budget - and it gets 4 out of 5 stars on dogfoodadvisor.com.

Thanks in advance!


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## Pattycakes (Sep 8, 2010)

Kaiya sounds like my Uschi when she was a puppy. LOL She would go out in the yard and eat everything but not eat her food. I had to switch her food several times until I found something that she liked but I was dealing with diarrhea issues with her as well. But I would also add in cooked ground beef (with the fat drained off of it) with her dry food and mix it in really well and then she would eat. As she got older the issues went away and now she eats just fine.

As for the dry heaves and such...its probably cuz she is hungry. Try feeding her more smaller meals during the day as well.


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## PiedPiperInKC (May 1, 2011)

I really hate to switch foods - is that something everyone does if their dog doesn't eat well? Seems like you could end up spending a lot of money trying to figure that out - and - we really want her to eat this one!

So here's my question...a pup won't starve itself if it doesn't like it's food...will it? I mean, if it gets hungry enough, won't it eventually eat what we are putting out for it? It makes me VERY nervous if she doesn't eat - so I don't know how long I could hold out doing that. After losing 2 GSD's in 2 months....I don't need any more worrying! 

I can definitely try the hamburger - but will she then not ever eat her food unless it has hamburger in it?

The frustrating this is...she was eating this food fine up until a couple of days ago. Not eating a LOT - but eating enough that we weren't worried. The bag says 2 cups a day and my guess is she was going through 1 to 1.5 cups tops.


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## Pattycakes (Sep 8, 2010)

I switched her puppy food 3 times...the last one I kept her on until she was about 8 months old and then I put her on adult food. I only bought small bags of food so I wouldn't have to spend so much money in case she didn't like it. I know they will eat if they are hungry enough...but I didn't want her to try to eat other things in the house or outside either thats the only reason I switched it around. 

As for the hamburger...nope...once I stopped feeding it to her, she kept eating her dry kibble without any problems. 

I'm sure others will offer up some other ideas for you. Good luck...I know it can be stressful on you when they don't eat. But hang in there!


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