Dog Owners - A little help please

As most of you may know, I have a Black Lab named Cody. He was 5 years old a couple weeks ago. The picture of him below is one of a few years ago.


I had no problems with him eating as a pup. He ate all the usual puppy foods and such and for about a year as an adult he ate pretty much whatever was put in front of him. He never at any point though wolfed a dinner down though. But for a while now he has been a really bad eater. For example he can eat his dinner one maybe two days in a row then your lucky if he eats the full equivalent of a dinner the following 2/3 days. Even when he is eating, he takes an extraordinary amount of time, which as long as he does eat does not bother me but the mess he is leaving is incredible. He takes a chunk of meat or dry food out of bowl, moves his head to the side, drops it then picks it up and eats it but leaving loads of crumbs. What frigging dog does not eat crumbs!!!!!. Even when he eats a dog biscuit he wont eat the crumbs. As for the mess he leaves it's lucky I have hardwood flooring and it cleans easily or I could see insect problems developing through it
I have had him to the vet and she says although he is a little underweight (not by much) he seems healthy and happy. He is walked a minimum of 3 times a day and gets a 20 minute run about in the mornings whenever the place I take him to is free.

I cannot help but think that 99 percent of dogs see their dinner and it's down the hatch in minutes, but alas Cody is driving me nuts and costing me money in food I need to throw out.
Any suggestions in getting him to eat better?.

He is fed Pedigree Chum Adult dried food mixed with Pedigree Chum Beef or Chicken with Gravy. The other Pedigree Chum brands run the crap out of him.

Don't have a dog anymore but I used to. Never gave my dog wet food(cans). Makes their shit stink and is expensive. They don't need it but people give it out of guilt. One thing that springs to mind is bad teeth. He plays around with his food because it hurts to eat it. Can you feed him outside? Also, if he doesn't eat his food try taking it away. (Works with my 3 year old ) Give him a limited amount of time to eat it. The other thing I would say is your dog needs to know you are the boss. If you started eating his food believe me he would munch it the fuck down ASAP!

Well, his teeth are fine mate and as for the canned food I only added that out of desperation when he stopped eating dry food on it's own. I have tried taking it away too, but I'll give it another go.

2 things...first, get his anal glands checked out by the vet, (or do it yourself ), they may be bunged up and giving him stomach cramps. If your going to do it yourself, be aware, it isnt pleasant.......grab some kitchen towels, use your thumb and forefinger on either side of the dog's asshole and gently sqeeze and push inwards, if the glands are full, they'll squirt and make a helluva mess, and it stinks....hence the kitchen towels, if your in any doubt about this, get the vet to do it.

Second, Pedigree Chum is pure garbage, I wouldnt feed that crap to a dead skunk...Change Cody's food to Butchers....ok, the change of diet might make him loose for a day or two, but then he'll firm up.

Some other things you can try...with my puppies, I leave a bowl of dried food and a bowl of water on the floor permanently, they help themselves whenever they want. Dinnertime , which is about 4:30pm, they get their Butchers, which lasts about 30 seconds tops once I put the bowls down

One other thing..Rock Sulphur, you can buy it at any pet store, in hot weather, put a piece of rock sulphur in the water bowl, it will help to cool the dogs blood in the hot weather.

Also consider reducing his walks to just twice a day, one in the morning for a run around, and once in the evening before bed, dont forget he's a gundog, not a greyhound., and when was the last time you had him wormed ?..

All this is what I would do, i'm not saying you have to do the same, but it's worth considering..let me know how you get on..



This post has been edited by Sadie: Jun 22 2009, 03:18 PM

Now there's a sentence I'd have bet cash-money on never reading on Filesoup


Whether or not I was in any doubt as to how to perform this procedure, would play no part in my decision to get somebody else to do it

Seriously though... if it were me, I'd wait until he was having one of those off days, and take him to the vet to have him examined. I'm no expert (this is purely a wild-arsed-guess) but it sounds like he may have something wrong with his mouth or throat which is, from time to time, causing him pain or discomfort when eating.

Other than that, I'd suggest phoning the vet for advice (ask to actually speak to a vet, because the receptionist will just tell you to bring him in as a matter of routine).... They don't charge for phone consultations, so it's a good cheap way to get a free professional opinion. I'd suggest something along the lines of: "Hi, my dog has (insert symptoms) and I was wondering if you might know what could be causing it, or do I need to bring him in for an examination?"

If it's something the vet knows quite well and he's confident about (because it's a common ailment to him) he may not need to see the pet and will offer advice over the phone. Most vets (in my experience) who are able to offer free advice over the phone, will do so and not tell you to bring your pet in unnecessarily (just so that he can charge you).

My first thought was tooth or gum problems but if they're okay my next port of call would be exercise. How often does he get exercised, mate? My mutt moderates his diet if I'm working nights or the Missus can't take him out enough; it's almost like he hasn't run off the last lot so he won't eat again. You might also want to try raising his food and water bowls up about 6-7" to help him get the food down, a lot of dogs get it stuck in their throats because of the angle they eat at.

The anal gland thing's a good suggestion too. I do my own dog's pooper - it ain't pretty but it beats the hell out of £25 a throw down at the Vet. I'd recommend using a warm wash cloth and a pair of surgical gloves though, but it amounts to personal taste (if you'll pardon the horrific pun).

The only food I'd recommend is James Wellbeloved complete. My boy has tried it all, the one he stuck with the longest was proper tripe but that gave him collitis, since we've moved him onto Wellbeloved he's been happy as larry.

This post has been edited by m15hun: Jun 22 2009, 10:22 PM

I have a friend who has a very very old dog. He lives down the street from me and when Cody gets to his window he jumps up because he knows he is going to get a dog treat, which he takes as if he hasn't been fed in a year so he is not uncomfortable or in pain eating. I will look into the anal gland thing (no pun intended).
As for exercise, I am in the position that he can only get a runabout in the morning, whenever the place I take him to is free and open and can let him off the leash with a ball and I'm not even supposed to take him there but it's closed in so he can run about without running off if he sees another dog, which is the one thing I can't seem to train out of him so being near busy main roads the exercise in the morning is all he can get. He is healthy and happy in all other respects. I play with him daily and he is generally very well trained apart from not being able to let off the leash. It's as if every ounce of training just disappears as soon as he sees another dog.

I understand where you're coming from, mate. It took a long time to train my boy and the only thing I can't train out of him is dog curiosity and often aggression, but I'm philosophical about that because it's in his genes (he's an English Bull/Stafford). I don't know if you have one or can get one, but a treadmill is a great way of supplementing exercise if you have difficulty - I doubt you'll have to put up with people assuming you're training your dog to fight because he's one of the 'gentler breeds'

There are some great resources for DIY anal sac treatment, one of the better ones I found was here.

A great post above from m15hun ..

A dogs anal glands are often forgotten by vets, a quick weight check, a general poke about and that's 40 bucks please...so I dont visit a vet unless it's something I cant handle myself, like an injury etc.

Check out the last time he was wormed too, that could have some bearing on his listless appetite..

Wow Anal Gland ahoy on this thread... Hope coddys ok mate however dogs can be fuunny little buggers and it could be that he just does not need to eat as much now he is not a puppy. My black lab slowed right down when he hit 5/6, he has had problems with his ears and legs since he was young and we have spent loads on vet fees (im talking in the thousands). We feed him on bakers dry food as it is the only one which does not seem to cause problems with his ears now and he eats it very happily however he stopped wolfing it down and now eats like a sensible boy although he can't stop chewing with his mouth open which I have finally stopped my kids from doing.

Have you Googled the problem? There are loads of great web sites which have helped me in the past, I presume you have but it would be good to know what they have said.

Edit: Just seen your post in the shoutbox about brushing cody for the third time.. I hate this time of year cos siris my black lab is moulting load and it seems like a never ending battle.

This post has been edited by Siris10: Jun 23 2009, 09:50 PM

A friend of mine had to have his bull mastiff put down a few months ago because of liver and kidney failure. He was about 8 or 9 but the problem stemmed from when he was a puppy and chewing everything. He was huge(about 260lbs although not that big as a pup) and had knocked a bottle of ibuprofen off a counter. He chewed up and ate the whole thing (bottle included) and suffered for it for the rest of his life.

That's a sad story, arrgh

You get similar problems when people feed their dogs things without thinking; the amount of people I know that freely give their dogs chocolate even though that will do a similar thing in fairly short order.

Yeah, I nearly got into a needless fight when a kid thrust a half a bar of chocolate at Cody. When I took it away his mother was giving me hell even though I tried to explain that chocolate was bad for dogs. Another little girl was walking past with her mother and shoved an ice cream cone into his mouth. I was too late for that one, after shouting at the mother explaining to her that the ice cream would run the crap out of him and would she like to come to my flat and clean it up. Luckily I kept an eye on him and got him out on time. Some people though.

I'll tell you what, I don't like stepping in what comes out of a dog's arse, let alone squeezing it out with my fingers

All this talk of squeezing a dog's rusty sheriff's badge, or getting a treadmill or fighting off old women with ice cream etc, has convinced me they're more trouble than they're worth. You should all get rid of your mutts and keep frogs as pets... they're no bother at all.

If you can't afford to have your dogs destroyed at the vets to make room for less bothersome pets, you should do the next most responsible thing. Drive your dogs many miles from home, then play fetch by throwing their favourite toy. When they chase after it, quickly dive into your car and speed off.

I got this great idea, you keep frogs, we'll keep our dogs..

ya toadlicker, ymg!

Nah, then we'd end up with lots of roaming packs of dogs - they'd end up having to be shot or something!

 toadlick1.gif ( 578.53K ) Number of downloads: 2


Mmmmmmmm, toad licking!.... try doing that with a dogs butt!

it's been done...

^^

but seriously, @snookered, it sounds like a psychological thing to me, if he wolfs treats down off other people.

i suppose its a matter of preference, but my dog eats complete dried food, with a small amount of boiled water poured over. stir it round for a minute to make a nice gravy, dogs love it! be sure it has cooled before feeding it to your pooch tho!

try reducing the amount of food you feed him to about half what you feed him now.

try to feed him at the same time every day

also, try not to "free feed" him. after you give him his food, whatever he hasn't eaten within 20 minutes, throw out.

you may have to persevere for a week or two with this, then you should start seeing results.

contrary, to what other people have said on this thread, i think it would be very hard to over-exercise a healthy dog. (and yours looks perfectly healthy from the photo!)

just my opinion, but i hope it helps, if you try it!