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I have a service dog that came to us eating Merrick dog food. Dry being left out constantly and wet canned food as a supplement.

The dog is an 11 pound peke. He doesnt eat a lot of the food, not even what the bag lists as an appropriate amount for his size.

We brought him to the vet to rule out anything and the vet thinks the dog just doesnt like the taste of the food, recommended Science Diet small dog or something like that and we could buy it from his office. We called the trainer back and asked and she told us that the dog is our property now and we could switch him if we wanted to but that science diet is bad food.

We cant afford some of the dog foods out there, but we can afford to keep buying Merrick. But how to make the dog eat more of it? The just leave the food out for 10-15 minutes and then take the bowl away is not an option. We really only have Petco available to us.

Is there another quality food out there the same price as Merrick available at Petco?

Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2011 5:45 pm Post subject:

Is he losing weight?

If he's maintaining his weight with what he's eating then there shouldn't be a problem. Since you also feed wet, you would feed less dry food to maintain weight.

Feeding guidelines on the back of the bag are typically way too high for the average dog.

Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2011 5:53 pm Post subject:

No weight loss, but no weight gain. The dog loses a little weight when he is really active but never gains back more than he lost. Enough to not feel his backbone. Vet said he could stand to gain 2-3 lbs back in Dec and we keep his food out and give him the lamb lung and charlee bear treats when he marks or alerts like he was trained to do, but no weight gain. Every health issue has been ruled out including teeth.

Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2011 5:01 pm Post subject:

Went to PetCo this weekend and checked out the foods.

I can't help with the palatability question.
She wasn't fond of Blue Buffalo without us adding good stuff to it and she hasn't eaten any of the others PetCo sells except 1 free bag of Merrick we won from an independent pet store a couple of years ago.
She loved the Merrick.
I was excited to see Only Natural Pet dehydrated raw at PetCo though.
Wellness is a good food too.

The only tricks I know to get a dog to eat more food would mean you couldn't leave food out.

Have you tried any grain-free foods? Those tend to be more nutrient dense so you can usually feed less to maintain weight. That might be a way to put some weight on without needing to eat more.

Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2011 5:08 pm Post subject:

Is he truly underweight?

Neither of my dogs eat what the bag says they should. I have a 12.8 lb. shih tzu. The bags all say he should eat a cup a day of food. I feed him 2/3 of a cup a day and most days he does not finish it all.

Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2011 1:37 pm Post subject:

It seems like even some vets these days think a dog with a healthy body condition is too thin.
One of the vets at a clinic our friend with the very fat dog went to a couple of times told her that her dog could stand to lose 4 or 5 pounds but wasn't too bad. The next vet she went to told her the dog needed to lose 10 lbs. and that would give her a good idea of how much the dog had left to lose to get to a healthy body condition.

We got our 1st "Oh, she's so thin" comment this weekend when we took Chance to a pet store. The person making the comment had a bulldog that was so fat, it looked like it had swallowed a beer keg and was having trouble breathing just standing still.
I still think Chance could stand to lose a couple of ounces.

I've been told to make a fist and a dog's ribs should feel like the knuckles closest to the finger tips.
I've also heard they should feel like the knuckles where the fingers connect to the hand but that to me would be too thin for Chance - for a sighthound it would probably be just right.

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