sugarsmomma
Grey Lover
Maelle captured by the fantastic Leslie Town
Posts: 551
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Post by sugarsmomma on Jan 28, 2012 19:49:01 GMT -5
Me again. As some of you may have read in the post I Think She's Lonely, Maelle had a setback from her rough week prior, when on Monday daddy accidentally hit the eject button on the converter for the dvd player and the drawer opening spooked her. For 3 days she would not stay downstairs with us, until I finally blocked her from going upstairs so she had no choice but to eventually come back in the living room with us. That's been fine, but my only problem is, she will not eat or drink ever since that day. Prior to that, there was no problem with her eating or drinking at all. Now, I stand corrected...she WILL eat. If I hand feed her. And she will drink, if I put water in a small bowl and bring it to her. I've tried putting salmon in her food (which she loves) and yogurt. She will lick the yogurt off but leave the food, even the food covered in yogurt. She will also eat treats, no problem. Maelle is timid, but has never been THIS timid. This is all new behaviour, and I don't know what's wrong as far as her not eating. As I said, she's not refusing food all together because she will eat the equivalent of a whole bowl of food if I feed it to her. But she won't go to her bowl. In regard to the bowls, they are not new, they are cleaned daily and are not in a different location. I've always figured an animal will eat if they are hungry and not starve themselves, but that doesn't seem to be the case here. Since Monday, she has only eaten 4 bowls of food and lots of treats. Any suggestions as to what is wrong and what I can do? Has anyone else experienced this behaviour?
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Post by GreyPoopon on Jan 28, 2012 20:27:11 GMT -5
What type of bowl is it?
I have one (non-grey) who developed a fear of her metal bowl. I think she may have bumped her tag on it. I tried reverting to plastic, which she had as a wee puppy, but she didn't like that either. I fed her by hand, on the floor, you name it. She finally decided that ceramic was OK. Until the day I dropped the bowl and it broke along an existing crack. I replaced it with an identical bowl without a crack, and it was two weeks before she decided that it was OK.
The point I'm trying to illustrate is that if you have a dog that is easily spooked, you have to try a bunch of different things in the hope that you can find something that works. Just because things haven't changed doesn't mean that they're not suddenly scary. And while she may not starve herself to death, she may also not eat enough to be healthy.
I hope you can find something that works.
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sugarsmomma
Grey Lover
Maelle captured by the fantastic Leslie Town
Posts: 551
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Post by sugarsmomma on Jan 28, 2012 20:33:32 GMT -5
It is a metal bowl. I'm not sure why she's scared, but I'm wondering if it's the bowl stand (it's one of those raised ones) and not the bowl itself. I should add that I just brought her bowl to her bed and she ate all her food, and drank her water too. But I had to bring the bowls to her. I have a different stand- maybe I should try that one. Hopefully we will find something that works. Thanks GreyPoopon..
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Post by GreyPoopon on Jan 28, 2012 21:07:30 GMT -5
You might try not using the stand at all. Although if the bowls slide along the floor, that might scare her.
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dashandus
Grey Lover
I am very sad to annonce that our beautiful Primo Dash passed away suddenly today
Posts: 412
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Post by dashandus on Jan 28, 2012 21:08:12 GMT -5
Anxiety is a tricky thing to deal with. We donot know what our greyhounds were like or how they were treated before we adopted them. As with people some are more prone to anxiety than others. My suggestion is give her as much physical contact as she wants and keep stroking her until she walks away. Ours likes having her chest and belly stroked. Speak to her softly about how beautiful she is and how much you love her Talk to her a lot always in a soft voice as a mother would to her newborn. If you have a crate for her put it back somewhere in the livingroom if possible, she might need that extra security for a while as she adjust to new surroundings. This is not a professional opinion just another suggestion that might help all of you. Hope things get better. We are all rooting for you . Love from your fellow greyhound owners.
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sugarsmomma
Grey Lover
Maelle captured by the fantastic Leslie Town
Posts: 551
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Post by sugarsmomma on Jan 28, 2012 21:49:03 GMT -5
I don't know for sure, but I am pretty confident that our girl was treated well, or well taken care of at the track. We tell our girl every day (about 100 times a day!) how beautiful she is and how much we love her. We have since the day we brought her home. We rub her belly all the time and snuggle with her constantly- she loves it and so do we! I'm not sure that reintroducing her crate at this point (we've had her home for a year and a half) would help, as she didn't find any security in it right from the start. She hated it and wanted nothing to do with it and we put the crate away after 2 weeks. I knew our recent move in October would throw her off a bit, but I didn't expect this. Although I don't mind if it helps her eat, I can't keep bringing her food to her bed. I will try a different bowl stand (I have another one) and see if that helps. Please keep suggestions coming if you have them. Thanks!
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sugarsmomma
Grey Lover
Maelle captured by the fantastic Leslie Town
Posts: 551
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Post by sugarsmomma on Jan 28, 2012 21:54:22 GMT -5
You might try not using the stand at all. Although if the bowls slide along the floor, that might scare her. Hmmm...maybe I'll try that if I can find a way to make sure the bowls don't slide. Thanks again.
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Post by angelollie on Jan 28, 2012 22:11:29 GMT -5
If you are going to try the bowl on the floor, maybe you could get some of that non-slip material that you use under a mat/rug. You can buy a package of it at the dollar store or in the kitchen section at WalMart.
If you hold her bowl, will she eat of it or do you actually have to hand feed her?
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sugarsmomma
Grey Lover
Maelle captured by the fantastic Leslie Town
Posts: 551
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Post by sugarsmomma on Jan 28, 2012 22:28:59 GMT -5
If you are going to try the bowl on the floor, maybe you could get some of that non-slip material that you use under a mat/rug. You can buy a package of it at the dollar store or in the kitchen section at WalMart. If you hold her bowl, will she eat of it or do you actually have to hand feed her? Oh, I have one of those things still in the package. Maybe I can try that. Good idea! Thanks! She will eat/drink out of her bowl if I bring it to her bed and hold it. I did hand feed her a few times, but she ate/drank out of the bowls today when I brought them to her.
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dashandus
Grey Lover
I am very sad to annonce that our beautiful Primo Dash passed away suddenly today
Posts: 412
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Post by dashandus on Jan 28, 2012 23:03:18 GMT -5
Should have known you did all that. Could a checkup at the vet help
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OwnedBySummer
Hound Nut
"Summer" (aka Coach Standifer)
Posts: 1,392
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Post by OwnedBySummer on Jan 28, 2012 23:32:38 GMT -5
My non-grey heart dog often wouldn't eat unless I brought her bowl into the family room and set it down at my feet. She was a picky eater and I went along with her because otherwise she would puke bile. And she'd eat her food just fine as long as I was sitting beside it. Perhaps Maelle doesn't like eating alone?
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jason
Hound Nut
Posts: 1,708
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Post by jason on Jan 29, 2012 6:02:30 GMT -5
These pups can sometimes be be hard to undserstand. We've gone through a few weird eating habits here and we haven't moved recently. Max goes through stages where he will not enter our kitchen and will go nowhere near his food. This is usually after he slips on the floor and it takes a week for him to get his nerve up again. Could Maelle have had a slip?
As well I just had to hand feed our girl this morning and she loves, loves, loves food but she wouldn't stay in the kitchen to eat. I brought the food to her in the living room and hand feed her. She will not eat out of the bowl if I am holding it. It totally freaks her out.
I think, as others have said you just need to keep trying different things until you've removed/changed whatever is bothering your girl. Have faith it will happen.
Good luck! Keep us posted.
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pebbles
Grey Lover
Greyhound on day....greyhound everyday
Posts: 709
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Post by pebbles on Jan 29, 2012 11:41:42 GMT -5
it's rude to say but let the food where it supoosed to be i haven't see a dog kill himself because he's starving let her go on her own just keep a far eye on her. she will go back on her own and don't fell bad about the past just maake a party of the progress she makes and good luck
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Post by luvastorm on Jan 29, 2012 13:03:25 GMT -5
Sunny (9 yr. old broodie) had to be invited to eat - I suspect that reflected training from when she was a broodie - but she'd usually then gobble her dinner. Awhile ago she started to get very picky so after we had her to the vet and nothing showed up there we just started adding a handful of raw hamburger to her dinner and now she even whines when dinner is being prepared. She just LOVES her food.
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Post by Gigi on Jan 29, 2012 14:55:14 GMT -5
I had a lot of trouble getting Gigi to eat initially. Something must have spooked her in the kitchen when she was eating and then she just wouldn't eat. People said that she would eat again when she got hungry enough, and she might have...but after 36 hours of hearing her tummy rumbling and seeing her pleading eyes to feed her (though she wouldn't eat!), I caved. Seven years later, I'm still hand feeding her. Just this last year, she decided she could eat a few pieces of dog food, mixed with some treats, off of a blanket on her bed...not always, but sometimes! It doesn't matter what is mixed into her kibble (and something is always mixed in). She has to eat from my hand. I gave up trying to change this a few years ago...she has finally trained me. ;D
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