I rescued a Staff from Battersea Dogs home a few weeks ago now, and he just doesn't want to eat!! He seems really happy in his new home, but is just not bothered by food. I'll put his breakfast out in the morning before I go to work and it's still there at lunch time. In the evening, he'll pick at his dinner for about 4 hours. He was already really underweight when we got him, and he's just continuing to lose weight. He's been to the vet and they can't see any medical reason for it. We've kept him on the same brand of food that he has been having for the last few months at battersea - I'm at a lost end now, and getting really worried. Can anyone help??

It is very unusual for a dog to actually harm itself by not eating. Do its ribs actually show? If so, you do have a problem. Perhaps a second vet's opinion would be good. Otherwise, continue to lavish love and attention on him, and to offer food.

Thanks for that, maybe a 2nd opinion would be good, because you can see his rib cage, and he was last weighed at 14.5kg - very underweight for a staff.

As a professional trainer that believes in working with vets, I suggest implementing a feeding schedule. I don't just mean put food down at particular times. I mean to put food down 1-3 times a day (depending on the age of the dog) and give it 10-15 min to eat. Then pick it up. If the food you are feeding says to give the dog 1 3/4 cups of that food a day, divide that into how many times a day you are going to feed. Each feeding gets the result of that division. (1 3/4 cups a day = approx. 1/2 cup each feeding. 3 times a day) Limited treats (unless you are working a training program... and only treats when you are training.) (I have one student - dog - who couldn't care less about food... he gets more than his share from what his pet parents have told me.)

You don't mention what food you are feeding. That could have something to do with it, even if it's the same food he's had before. If it's grocery brand (you can find it in anything from a Kroger to a Costco) there may be nutritional deficiencies. Make sure you don't switch foods too often (i.e. every time your dog gets disinterested) or you will end up with a pickier dog than you had when you were feeding the last food.

Otherwise, try wet food for a while (higher fat and protein content) and then wean them into dry food. Some dogs just aren't food driven (which can be hard to swallow for humans who have everything from salads to the greasiest burgers.) We have to learn to wag the dog in those few cases... teach the dogs that doing what they want - in a different manner (what we want) - behooves them.

My dogs do the same thing. They'll go maybe 1-2 days without eating very much, and then all of a sudden they realize they're hungry. But they're both happy and healthy dogs. But if it stays a problem, just try mixing in a litte wet dog food and warm it up a little bit, not too hot, but just enough so that the aroma gets to the dog. Their sense of smell is way better than ours, so it may just make the difference.

Well... it's worked for me in the past. Your not going to spoil the dog by doing this once or twice... I'm not talking about warming up their food or giving them lavish steak dinners every day. That's just asine

Dogs that won't eat are nearly always sick or overweight. Check this link to evaluate yours, http://www.puppychow.com/products/po...condition.aspx I don't see getting dogs to eat more than they need as ''works''. A quote from a recent newsletter: Obesity is the number one nutritional disease affecting dogs. It's estimated that 25-45 % of the dogs in the US are obese. Studies have shown that joint and locomotive problems increase by 57 %, circulatory problems by 52 %, skin problems by 40 % and cancer by 50 % in animals that are overweight.'' Note, more dogs would be classified overweight than obese. One more time, it usually is wrong to tempt a dog with rich food if it won't eat.

Eating dry food helps clean the teeth and give the jaws exercise they need.