My husband and I moved from Miami to Pembroke Pines last December after 2 years in an apartment. Our chow chow who is 2 years old and initially weighed about 40 pounds lost approximately 10 pounds after the move; she was extremely thin. We tried giving her all brands of dog food without success. The vet suggested mixing a can of Science Diet puppy food with her food and it worked for only a little while. After that she would not eat any more dog food so I started boiling chicken (which she loved) and mixing it with white rice and I was able to fatten her up to her old self. After my husband's sudden death on August 29th and move back to my native Puerto Rico she has once again stopped eating and was shedding abnormally. I took her to the vet who weighed her at 33 pounds and decided to stimulate her appetite by giving her a cortisone shot along with prednisone tablets for 6 days, vitamins and Nutrical paste. She has gained a couple of pounds but continues to be VERY finicky and only wants to eat meat or chicken and some rice but will not touch any type of dog food. Some days she will eat only if she is hand fed!! Please help with ideas and ways to help her back to eating dog food. Thank you.

Normally I would just say put the hard dog food down, and walk away, dogs won't starve themselves.

But your dog seems to be very depressed, and I think you will need to get her depression under control for her to go back to her normal eating habits.

Has your vet suggested any sort of therapy for her? And no, I don't mean laying on a couch talking with a shrink ;) BUt I mean spending times with other dogs at a dog park, extra exercise, doggy socialization classes, or even behaviour mod classes?



Dogs can go through bouts of depression like any human can, so all the drastic changes in her life seem to be really effecting her.



Will your girl eat soft dog food? A lot of times only eating a soft food diet, wreaks havoc on their teeth, but as long as you are mindful of giving her crunchy bones and treats she should be okay.

My dog doesn't eat just hard dog food either I tried mixing it with chicken one day or ham the next and sooner or later he started to eat and he went back to eating like before. If it is depression you shold walk your dog a little more and play with your dog it would take its mind off the depression.

Try mixing a little canned food into what she eats now, and slowly work it up to about 50/50, if you can get to this point, slowly begin to add dry dogfood. Even if it is just a few pieces at first. As you begin to add more dry, feed less human food. Until she is eatting 50/50 canned and dry dog food then slowly work her down to completely dry if you wish. Also, try to keep her in a separate area when you eat, this will make it easier for her to not be reminded of human food or tasting the occasional scrap.

Also, I agree that your dog may be depressed however; I think she may be very in tune with your emotions as well. She may have responded to your stress surrounding your moves. Your dog probably felt your saddness surrounding your husbands death as well as her own. So make sure to keep yourself happy, and low stressed. I find that dogs love a good hug every now and then, and its very helpful to us as well.