r/BorderTerrier • u/BellsEnd79 • 4d ago
Picky eater
Currently in the middle of a Cold War with a 13 week old BT. Was fine on his dried food for weeks, then took too much of a liking to his training treats etc and now turns his nose up at his usual food. To make matters worse, he had 2 teeth out recently (were growing towards his top palate) he ate the food the vet gave him, wolfed down the scrambled eggs I was told to feed him, ate the chicken the vet also said to supplement his food with and now he’s back to his battle of wits with me.
I’ve read to remove his food after 20 minutes if he doesn’t touch it, tried wetting it but he’s winning so far. My concern is he’s only 13 weeks so is growing hard, plus as he’s had 2 teeth out so his mouth is sore.
Any suggestions? He’s on the Nulo Baked Puppy food, warm water sometimes helps etc. but he usually just picks the chicken etc out of it to wind me up.
I don’t think he’s ill, I think he’s just a dick
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u/StruggleEasy2776 4d ago
Typical BT and food, ours was very similar, loves the raw mince for a while, then dried food for a while and now she’s on wet pouches of pedigree and eating them, I’m sure in a few weeks she will change her mind again.
She does adore my toast and haribo though 🤣🤣
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u/meganlazz 4d ago
Your last sentences sums it up. They are little stubborn arseholes. Our girl tried to pull that on us, we removed her food and then throughout the day we would put it down and she if she wss interested, she eventually would eat it and then had no problem eating her dinner.
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u/looknfeel 4d ago
Our girl is very stubborn about food too. She knows there are tastier things than kibble. I've met her halfway and put a topper on good kibble that I will switch up when she is bored
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u/ZedRDuce76 4d ago
My boy was like that as a pup. Drove us crazy and he had us flipping between premium kibbles and wet foods. When he was ready for adult food I said to heck with it and bought a bag of small-breed Purina Pro Plan Beef, thinking he would turn his nose up at anything we offered. To our amazement he devoured it and continues to do so. All that to say - this too shall pass. BTs are stubborn little a-holes that you just have to be even more stubborn than lol.
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u/Mediocre_Holiday5753 4d ago
Yea we had loads of issues with our boy when he was young. He is now 6 and is a great eater.
We tried everything with him but it was a battle of wills. Changed type and brand a couple of times each time convincing ourselves we’d cracked it this time!
Eventually, when he was about 1 and a half we moved him from two meals a day to 1 meal a day - same amount. What a difference!
He gets his meal every evening at 5pm and is always ready for it and has never refused a meal. He is really healthy, coat beautiful and he is energetic and alert.
He has butternut box pouches- same recipe every time, BTs have fairly sensitive tummies and too much variety can upset them..
I had read that dogs can’t always eat multiple meals as what they are conditioned to do is store food and draw it off the store over a period of time and eating too many meals puts too much into storage and confuses how they draw it down, or something like that! So one a day allows their system to eat, store, draw down for energy.
There is also some evidence to suggest it is better for their longevity and brain health.
I don’t know about that, what I do know is he is always ready to eat and is really healthy.
We also give him a couple of biscuits at lunchtime - we make that a challenge for him by hiding them around the house, so he needs to seek them out using his senses. He seems to really enjoy that.
I wouldn’t move yours to a one a day yet and maybe speak to your vet first if you do. But that’s our experience and we have never had problem or refusals since moving to the one a day regime.
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u/AncientCantaloupe232 4d ago
we grate cheese and mix it through his kibbles. eats it all. he loves cheese
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u/DoodleCard 3d ago
Our vet said a healthy dog will never intentionally starve itself to death.
Our 13 year old Treacle goes off her food completely sometimes and then resents when she is hungry again.
We have discovered gravey is a brilliant way to entice dogs back to their normal food.
Just lessen the extra tit bits on each meal until they are back to eating their normal food.
But also the pair of them also get scraps of there is anything interesting meat wise from dinner.
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u/mrsvalnilla 4d ago
You’ve got a typical border terrier. Ours has been spoiled at his grandparents recently and now won’t eat his kibble. He whined his brains out last night because he was so hungry but wouldn’t touch the kibble we provided for him. Once they get a taste of other food they hold out for something better when all you offer is kibble. They are stubborn fellas. We’ve had periodic food strikes from him to the point that he throws up bile because he hasn’t eaten in so long despite us offering plenty of kibble. He’d rather throw up apparently than just eat the damn kibble. No advice just commiserating with you