My 9 month old French Bulldog is so picky with her food

1. 62

   momacposted 8 years ago

   My 9 month old French Bulldog is so picky with her food
   
   She is perfectly healthy but has always been a fussy eater. I have tried raw food, and have a load in the freezer after buying several portions because for a whole week she actually liked it. I have 3  different variety of dry kibble that she refuses to eat. Even cooked chicken won't tempt her. I have been reading your comments on here and am so relieved to find other people have this problem as well. I am going to toughen up and take her food up after 5 mins and bin it. Fingers crossed...????
   
   

   replyreport
2. 60

   Roger T Duquetteposted 8 years ago

   
   
   Many years ago I had a dog very much like yours, a finicky eater. I tried everything as well and nothing seemed to work. So I spent some time going to the library reading reference books looking for a possible connection. There are medical conditions that can cause this but like your dog mine was as healthy as can be. If it was a medical condition there would be other signs of ill health. None was apparent as with yours. Then a friend of mine who was going to McGill University in the pre-vet program handed me a paper by some British veterinarian. To make a long story short the paper discussed reasons of low appetite in dogs. It explained that dogs are very much like humans when it comes to eating. Some have low appetites because it's just part of their biological makeup. Sometimes it's because they aren't as active as a working dog. In the end the paper said that this is not a big issue as long as there is no apparent medical condition causing lack of appetite. It even suggested that such dogs often prefer to be self feeders. My current dog is like this. So I let him be a self feeder by keeping a bowl of food down at all times. He eats when he's hungry but usually just picks at his food about 6 or 8 times a day and he's happy. Maybe you should also try the self feeding method. If it works for you I would love to know.
   
   Cheers

   replyreport
   1. 62

      momacposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks Roger, I have toughened up and it seems to have worked. Bella prefers only one meal a day around 3 pm. Before then she just isn't interested despite having a 2 hour walk and play with her friends every day.

      replyreport