I am having really big issues with my rescue, Angel. So far we've only had her for 12 days, everything is going well except for her feeding. I know she may need time to adjust, but honestly, this is getting ridiculous.

We've worked out she seems to like chicken, the first time we gave her necks she ate about 3 and was satisfied. Next day she maybe at one neck ALL DAY. Then we got her some chicken carcasses, she ate two in one day, then the next following days NOTHING. They just sat there . The first time I gave her sardines she wolfed them down, anytime after that she didn't touch them.

Today she's eaten one piece of chicken jerky. THATS IT

We bought some high quality chicken mince for her today, she didn't touch it. I mixed a raw egg and some cheese in it. NOTHING. (she has eaten a piece of good cheese in the past)

Honestly, this dog is surviving on air, and we are slowly wasting a bunch of money on her eating nothing we buy her.

I want to buy her TOTW, however it costs $98.95 here for the 30 pound bag (and that doesn't include delivery) which is A LOT of money for me to drop on her if she refuses again.

Is there any American store which has any sample bags left? I tried one but they were out of stock I can get it shipped to an AFPO which is no worries. I am probably going to buy a bag of amazon, but wanted to see if anyone knew of samples.

In the meantime WHAT CAN WE DO!!! It is really stressing us out. Even tiring her out twice a day she still won't eat.

Hm. Huskies have a very slow metabolism, most won't eat if they aren't hungry. Kale skips breakfast sometimes if he's not hungry (I don't give him extra the next feeding if he skips a meal). I'm sure she won't starve herself intentionally. Just remember that picky eaters are created, not born, so if she doesn't eat something, pick it up and put it down later. She gets what she gets and if she doesn't eat it when it's down, then she'll have to wait till the next feeding. Tough love

ETA- if she's going longer that 4 days without eating a full meal, I'd take her to the vet to get her checked out.

Cali is like Kale but will pass both meals some time, usually eats half breakfast, then half dinner lol.

I agree with time period to wait till getting vet involved. Picking their brain and planting a seed about whats going on is also a good possibility.

hypers987 wrote:

Hm. Huskies have a very slow metabolism, most won't eat if they aren't hungry. Kale skips breakfast sometimes if he's not hungry (I don't give him extra the next feeding if he skips a meal). I'm sure she won't starve herself intentionally. Just remember that picky eaters are created, not born, so if she doesn't eat something, pick it up and put it down later. She gets what she gets and if she doesn't eat it when it's down, then she'll have to wait till the next feeding. Tough love

ETA- if she's going longer that 4 days without eating a full meal, I'd take her to the vet to get her checked out.

Ditto. This breed is notorious for self regulation and skipping meals. I wouldn't give in to her. So long as she isn't starving, a healthy dog won't starve itself, then I wouldn't be too concerned about missed meals as long as she is eventually eating some of her food.

Huskyluv wrote:

Ditto. This breed is notorious for self regulation and skipping meals. I wouldn't give in to her. So long as she isn't starving, a healthy dog won't starve itself, then I wouldn't be too concerned about missed meals as long as she is eventually eating some of her food.

I have been trying really hard not to give in to her, that's why I keep on trying new things with her. I will persist, it's hard to see a good chicken carcass go to waste when I've seen her eat them

I failed at that quoting!

I wouldn't even try new things until she's eaten what you've previously offered. You will create a picky eater if you offer new things each time she refuses a certain item and end up making it harder on yourself. As Brooke said, tough love. . If dinner is chicken backs then that's it. If she doesn't eat it then save it for the next meal, and so on until she eats it (obviously if it spoils at some point you'd start over with a fresh back). No offering other parts or foods while she's holding out.

I would also keep track of not only what she's eating each day but also how much as far as weight. Chicken parts can vary quite a bit in weight depending on where you get them so I'd keep track of how many pounds/ounces she eats daily.

Also, how are her stools? How often is she defecating? Are her stools firm and compact? Not soft and not too hard? Does she strain while defecating?

Huskyluv wrote:

I wouldn't even try new things until she's eaten what you've previously offered. You will create a picky eater if you offer new things each time she refuses a certain item and end up making it harder on yourself ?

Thanks for the advice. I am a softy.

I just bought the bag of chicken mince, so she'll be getting that or else the cats will be eating it everyday if she doesn't.

She poops once a day, kinda small in size, but I guess because she is only 16-17kg! and not huge I can't expect them to be huge. I haven't seen her straining while she's going. I can't be for certain if she has gone today as we were out for a large portion.

Also random though, she has never pooped whilst on a walk with us. Is this part of the cleanliness in their nature?

honey_bee wrote:

I failed at that quoting!

Fixed it for ya.

Okay, her bowel movements sound normal then. I'd work on practicing some tough love for now and see how it goes.

As for not pooping on walks, sometimes they just have preferences on where they like to go. But if she really needed to go during a walk, I'm sure she would would. She may prefer to go at home where she feels more secure. Whether at home or on walks, my sibe has preferences for where he likes to eliminate. Lol

River is just as picky!! he wont eat anything that has any type of wheat or flour, he barely eats his kibble and i mix it with a raw egg, i tiried the chicken broth and cottage cheese like val suggested and NOPE wont touch that, I will some times go to the butcher and they give me free scraps like tounge and liver and he will inhale those and i boil them and cut them into bite size and thats how i started to get him to eat more but its hard to get to the butcher for me every week may be shes not a big fan of chicken? i would try the cow tounge that seemed to be rivers fav

honey_bee wrote:

Is there any American store which has any sample bags left? I tried one but they were out of stock I can get it shipped to an AFPO which is no worries. I am probably going to buy a bag of amazon, but wanted to see if anyone knew of samples.

Have you tried emailing TOTW? I did that and they sent me 3 or 4 samples of each variety they offered at the time. I don't know if they'll ship to Australia, but it might be worth a shot.