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my year old shuh tziu has stoped eating on her on she'll only eat from my hand why?
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Guest 140658
on Jul 2nd 2009
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in Food & Nutrition
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Because she has trained you to hand-feed her! BOL!
Seriously, she may be overfed, which can be a problem for smaller dogs. You should be able to feel her ribs, but not see them. Try the following:
Put her food bowl down in the morning for 20 minutes. If she doesn't eat it, fine! Pick it up for the rest of the day, and put it down again in the evening. She will most likely eat it, but if not, fine! Pick it up after 20 minutes. Put it down again the following morning. By then, she should be hungry enough to eat it. If she still turns her nose up, she is either stubborn or she may not be feeling well. At that point, you can call the vet just to be sure.
Dogs in the wild can go for more than a day without eating anything, and as long as they have enough to drink, they're fine.
It's nice that she's bonded with you so well, but she shouldn't be in charge of the way she eats. As her leader, you decide when and how she eats. You can establish leadership by teaching her new commands, too!
Katie
answered on 7/2/09.
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I agree 110% with Katie.
She's doing this becuase she CAN.
A dog who was sick or ill in some way probably wouldn't eat from your hand OR the bowl, if that's a concern for you. So, it's fair to assume she likes this and when she doesn't eat from her bowl....BINGO! She gest offered the food from your hand, right?
Just go back to feeding her from the bowl and stop offering to hand feed her. She'll not starve herself, even if she doesn't eat at first.
She'll quickly realize that she needs to eat what is in her bowl or not have any food, and problem solved!
Now, common sense caution: if she doesn't eat from her bowl within 48 hours, take her to a vet to be sure, but I doubt it will come to that.
Good luck!
Jack
answered on 7/2/09.
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I agree with everyone to. Boston and Daisy when puppies were pains when it came to eating!! I felt so bad that I started to hand feed them as well. It got to the point thats the only way they'd eat! So I had to do the tough love thing. My vet said a healthy dog will not starve themselves. SO I put their food down 15 mins later I took it up. They got the hint pretty quickly now they are piggies. The eat whenever and whatever I put in front of them!!!!
Boston
answered on 7/2/09.
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switch her bowl if it is the fact you had to hand feed her.
Like if she has a metal pan fobia, then get her a plastic bowl.
Maybe she needs to see you also to eat.
Scoop the food in front of her with bowl on floor and then leave her be
Maybe the hand feeding has spoiled her at this point so try those things
Dieta
answered on 7/2/09.
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