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What can I do to make my Italian Greyhound eat more?

She is almost two years old, very skinny, and a picky eater. We tried feeding her Science Diet, The Good Life brand, and now Beneful. At first she liked it a lot, but now barely touches the food. The vets are saying she needs to gain weight (she is 10 or 12 pounds now) because her bones are starting to show. I am doing everything I can for my dog's weight, but I need help. Any dog food brands that you suggest and how can I make her eat more?

Public Comments

1. McDonalds
2. Try feeding her a healthy food, and not these junk foods you've been trying. Look into foods found at pet supply stores, not supermarkets. You can also look into raw feeding, and see if you don't see some changes.
3. Get canned dog food. Most dogs like that better than dry dog food.
4. try putting cheese in her bowl, or even better get a can of beef or chicken broth and pour some of it in her food let it soak for a little bit, then offer it to her
5. try purina dog chow (green bag) . Try the little samples first before buying the larger bags.
6. Those brand are all very terrible brands. If you want her to eat more then feed her a high quality food like Wellness. Unfortunately the foods you're feeding her are mainly corn fillers, grain fillers, meat by-products which are all the very disgusting, not fit for human consumption parts of the animal and chemicals. Feed her only wet food like Wellness Puppy (since it has extra vitamins and nutrients and is pretty calorie dense). Make sure you brush her teeth once or twice a week since wet food won't help clean her teeth. Remember Italian Greyhound are pretty tiny to begin with so she may not have that far to go.
7. We have one. He didn't like any kind of wet or dry food they've tried to buy him but he likes Kibbles and Bits. But we also feed him his own little plate of the food we eat. http://www.shopnutsandbolts.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/5e06319eda06f020e43594a9c230972d/8/0/804797_1.jpg This. ^
8. My folks have an aging and ailing black lab (going to turn 14 in a couple weeks). He had been experiencing that same issue. He did not want to eat and was losing weight. They found if they poured broth or gravy over his dry food that he would eat more. I believe they also mixed in some wet dog food in with the dry, which worked, too. I hope this helps.
9. I have a 5 year old Italian Greyhound, he is no more than 15 lbs, they are naturally skinny and their stomachs should actually tuck inwards. you should be able to feel the ribs through the skin coat. you can't MAKE your dog eat more. anyhoo, ours eats Wellness Small Bites and loves it. 1/2 a cup, twice a day. if you are going to feed kibble to a dog make a high quality brand. something like these innova evo blue buffalo chicken soup for the dog lovers soul merrick canidae taste of the wild wellness with such a small dog one big bag of a high quality food will last you a very long time. as opposed to the cheap crap you can get at walmart. (the higher quality food requires dog to not have to eat as much as they do of poor quality food) all of the foods you have mentioned are the worst foods you could ever feed any animal. go to http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com and do some research! try to pick a food within the 4-6 star range. all of those foods are crap crap crap and more crap. full of nothing butfillers, by products, grains, corn (can't even digest corn!!!) STAY AWAY FROM: purina beneful pedigree cesar ol'roy eukanuba science diet kibbles n bits iams anything you can get at walmart or in the cheap aisles of any petsmart
10. Well first off, Science Diet and Beneful are not good dog food brands for an underweight dog. They are full of fillers. This means that your dog is eating enough to make her full, but it has no nutritional value. Basically, it's equivelant to people eating cardboard. Try feeding her higher quality brands. They may cost more, but if you get a dog, your going to have to be willing to pay more if she has a health issue. I would suggest foods like Taste of the Wild, Blue Buffalo, Wellness, Solid Gold, Halo, or Eaglepack. I've had a personal experiance with Eaglepack helping a very underweight dog gain weight. To make her eat more, try blending her dry food with a little wet food. Don't use all wet food because this is not good for dogs. But a healthy blend will make it seem more appetizing. Also, you can try heating up the food on the stove top. I know it seems kind of obnoxious but it helped me get my dog to eat the first few days I got him. Also keep her on a strict diet. Feed her twice a day, once in the morning, once at night. Put the food down for half an hour. This will get her to eat more eventually and on more of a schedule. Sorry this is so long, but I hope this helps you:D
11. that happened with my dog too. we took her to the vet and they gave us this soft food to mix in with her hard food, whitch would help her gain weight. she didnt touch the stuff, and niether did any of my other healthy dogs. so dont get the weight gaining food from the vet! dogs hate the stuff. you should keep your dog on the same food and not keep switching. it is bad for them. they get diarea and sometimes throw up. get one and stick with it. you should pick a brand and then by some ground meat, chicken fat, or anything meaty treat that your dog loves. you can even buy the gravy they sell at pet stores. mix it with her regular food. make sure she likes the stuff first though. i put chicken fat and leftover food like rice, ground hamburger, hotdogs and all types of meat into my dogs food and now she is as heathy as a horse. good luck!
12. You need to do some serious research on feeding dogs. Science Diet, Goodlife, and Beneful are terrible dog foods. I want you to take a look at the beginning of the ingredient list in Beneful Original: Ground yellow corn, chicken by-product meal, corn gluten meal, whole wheat flour, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), rice flour, beef, soy flour, sugar Would you want to eat that? Corn is terrible for dogs and they don't really digest it well, by products contain all the leftovers not fit for human consumption, including diseased, dying animals. Wheat is also one of the most common allergens in dogs and is used by cheap dog food companies to up the protein content in their food. And then I was most surprised that they put SUGAR in their food. That is a way to get it to taste somewhat decent to the dogs so they eat it even though they don't want to! NOW: here is the ingredient list from a premium dog food brand, that doesn't believe in using waste to make dog food. Innova Adult: Turkey, Chicken, Chicken Meal, Barley, Brown Rice, Potatoes, Rice, Chicken Fat, Flaxseed, Herring, Natural Flavors, Apples, Carrots, Pumpkin, Egg, Sunflower Oil, Sea Salt Which of these two things would you rather eat? You need to learn how to read ingredients listings. You should also check out dogfoodanalysis.com and try picking a food rated a 5 or 6 to feed your dog. Also the-whole-dog-journal.com compiles a great list of high quality foods.
13. Many dogs like a new canned food the first time then will not eat it again. I have Jack Russell Terriers, but they are very pickie eaters and my JRs are not the run of the mill 14/17 pounders, the lightest is now about 22 lbs and they go up to almost 40 pounds. Yet they are the short leg breed but powerfully built. Try the dry food, Royal Canin; the mini Special 30 type. This is for dogs at about 20 lbs but I feed this to my heavy terriers and they like it. It is small rounded pellets. As for canned dog food I do not feed that to my dogs and recommend that you do not also, unless you wish to try Caesar which comes in a small flat plastic type container, the size that might be just right for your doggie. Another thing I recommend is to feed her chicken and some fish. The chicken at this point should be thighs as it contains both white and red meat and has more oil in it than breast. The thighs fed with cooked white rice with a small amount of chicken broth on the meal should be of interest to her. Boil the chicken with green cabbage, chop the gabbage after it is cooked and also cut the chicken in very small bites; do not give your dog a chicken bone. Chicken bones are easy for a dog to crack open and there can be silthers of the bone that can get caught in her throat. She should like the chicken and rice with cabbage and that ought to put some weight on her. (when feeding fish just boil it lightly, either red or white fish and mix with rice or Royal Canin Make sure that she does not have worms, as that can cause a reduction in appetite. Be sure that she has clean water available at all times. Stay off the treats, just something for her to chew on is OK. Be sure that her meals are warm and that ought to help too. Contact me at "truthorator@yahoo.com" as I would love to know how things are going. Take care, Truth