Won't eat out of a bowl

[brandysmama]

I have a situation that I'm at a loss on how to resolve.

Up until about a month or so ago, I had no trouble getting Brandy to eat out of a bowl. All of a sudden, she started refusing to do so. It didn't seem to matter what kind of bowl it was--plastic, metal, ceramic--or where I placed it--on the ground or closer to her level. She simply would not eat out of it unless I actually held it up to her mouth. One day, when I tried to switch her food bowls in front of her, some of the food spilled on the floor. She gobbled up the food on the ground in a heartbeat but left the food in the bowl untouched. The light bulb went off in my head, and I dumped the rest of the food on the floor. She ate it all without any sort of coaxing.

She's eating just fine when I do put the food directly on the floor, but this doesn't strike me as normal. Almost like a psychological thing--like she's scared of the bowl or something. She'll drink water out of a bowl, but won't eat out of one. I've tried feeding her in several different locations in case she was spooked for some reason by where I was feeding her. That didn't work, either. I've even tried putting the food on a cookie sheet in thinking that she didn't like the enclosure around her mouth while eating. Still wouldn't eat.

Any thoughts as to what might be causing this, and what I can do to get her to eat out of a bowl again? Thanks!

[trainingrixie]

hmmmm...have you tried putting something SUPER yummy in there? like her most favorite treat. and if she does eat it out of there make her think its the best thing that ever happened in the whole world i'm very curious how this turns out.

i also wonder why this would happen? seems very weird to happen all of a sudden, but dogs are funny sometime .

[brandysmama]

Yeah, I've tried putting something really yummy in there. At best, she'll eat the really yummy thing and that's it. Most times, though, she won't even do that.

[qwertyasu]

That is so interesting! My shih-tzu had the same problem. I started by having her eat out of a plastic lid; then I put it on the top of her bowl, wedged in tight. She didn't mind that after a couple days so then I lowered the lid deeper into the bowl-when she was fine with that I lowered it even farther into the bowl a little ways every week or so until it was sitting on the bottom then I just took it out and she wasn't bothered at all-what a strange problem though isn't it ? I hope this helps your dog like it did mine.

[AVA]

everytime my dogs get fussy about eating, I make them miss a meal usually dinner and then by breakfast they are hungry enough to eat.

[Ashlie]

I'd stop dumping the food on the floor. Doing so could be inadvertantly encouraging her to keep being finicky, and so she'll have you trianed. You provide her food for her, but you don't feed her.
A dog will not starve itself.
She is obviously not wary of the bowl, so she has no more reason to not eat out of it tehn she did before.

Good luck!

[Cassiepeia]

Get a plate instead of a bowl for now. My boy wouldn't eat out of a bowl either, because it was too difficult for him to do so (he had no teeth and had had a stroke so didn't have great control of his mouth or tongue).
You might also want to take her to the vet to get her teeth and mouth checked to make sure she hasn't got any problem that makes it hard for her to use a bowl.

I don't really think it's a huge problem though. Just get a nice big plastic plate for her to use in stead.

Cass.

[shodge]

A friend of mine has two dogs of the same breed (the name escapes me now for some reason), one will eat out of a bowl and the other will only eat off of a plate!

[IceyBlueSibes]

Hm, that is an odd problem!

I had a similar situation when Cuca (chi/yorkie mix) lived here.

The lady living with us would get frustrated when Cuca would not eat right when she gave it to her. My mom and I repeatedly tried telling her not to force her to eat, she will not starve herself. Just feed her later that night. Well, it ended up getting to the point where she would not eat off of the little black plates we had. We had to use a styrofoam plate instead. But we finally conditioned her back to eating off of whatever, and now she eats just fine.
It was so weird though, but it let us realize that her owner was being too pushy with her to eat! Not saying this is what your problem is, but I can relate to it!

I think just as Cass said, I'd just put it on a flat plastic/ceramic plate (maybe one similar color to the floor??).

[flyndog]

Sometimes, where we put a dog's food bowl (or plate) matters to the dog, for instance, if the bowl is in a room that is full of activity, or if the placement of the bowl forces the dog to eat with his back a door (or activity), or if there are other animals around. People usually just put the bowl where it's out of the way without giving much thought to what the dog thinks about it.

[brandysmama]

Figured that I'd give an update:

I've gotten Brandy back on the bowl. But I have to put in something yummy (like the moist food she prefers or even a bit of safe "people" food) to get her to eat anything substantial. Even then, she's not eating as much as she used to, or I'd like her to. The plate didn't seem to do much good, as she was just as finicky then, so I guess it's not an issue of not physically being able to eat out of a bowl.

Is it common for dogs to just start eating less as they get older? Brandy just turned 7. I guess I worry because she doesn't need to lose weight.

[IceyBlueSibes]

Is it common for dogs to just start eating less as they get older? Brandy just turned 7. I guess I worry because she doesn't need to lose weight.

This I am not sure about, but I have noticed with my oldest Siberian that she has been eating less than normal (she's now 5). But, it's also not unusual for a husky to go a day or two without eating. But her meal portions may tend to be less some days. If she's really active, or it seems to be cooler out, she eats a lot more. If it's a really hot day, and all she does it sleep, then she only eats once a day, if that.

I'm curious to know that as well.

[DFrost]

Put the food in the bowl, set the bowl down, pick it up in 30 minutes. Don't feed again until her next scheduled feeding time. When she gets hungry, she'll eat. A healthy dog will not starve it's self.

DFrost