My 14 month old Labrador is very fussy with his food. How do I get him to eat?

I've tried different kibbles - James Wellbeloved, Bakers, Royal Canin etc, mostly Purina. Also tried tempting him with soft food - pouches and tins. The vet says there is nothing wrong - his digestive system seems to work fine! He is a naturally skinny, tall, Yellow lab, very energetic but not putting on weight.

this might sound silly, hand feed him he will love it bt he might get to used to it

i had the same problem with my dog and we took her to the vet, and he gave her a special food only the vet could provide and she started eating. soo i say visit a vet

My Chocolate Lab, Saffy is just over 3 months old and she is very fussy too. I keep a variety of different flavours, treats and mixing with a little gravy sometimes helps.

that's a doggy psychological problem.Feed him by hand he'll give in one day.I've seen this happen to a friends labrador X, now she eats perfectly normal

run him hard and dont feed for 3 days the dog will eat anything!

Your dog will eat if it is hungry. Dogs eat anything if they are hungry I bet your dog is overweight now.

I have a yellow Labrador who at times I have to hand feed, and thats the only way he will eat. But when I mix a little gravy in his food he will eat it all by himself. And on occasion I will use a little bacon grease just the odor and a little taste entices him. There are some canned dogs foods he will he eat for a short time. Iams makes a slow roast one that he really likes. Dog treats also will put the weight on youo can feed them to him or mix some in his food.

Try fresh meat from the butcher including livers but always cook it till blood is no longer ( boil it best

YOU have made him fussy be feeding a bit of this, a bit of that, then swapping and changing about.Decide on a brand of complete food, (not eukanuba though), put it into a bowl, and leave it down all day long so that he can help himself and pick at it through the day. Kibble was never designed to be wolfed down in one go. It will make him thirsty so if he then gulps down water afterwards, it swells in his tummy and can cause torsion , bloat and tummy ache.Fill a small washing up bowl and simply leave him to eat ad lib. Make sure he always has clean water available. I have 6 dogs and in the last 30 years of keeping, showing, rescue fostering, I have always fed ad lib. I feed the cheapest food I can buy at only £4.99 a sack, since dogs evolved to thrive on poor quality food. I have had fussy little dogs arrive for fostering, with a bag of frozen chicken portions and been told that the dog won't eat anything else, yet within a week it is eating the kibble with the rest of my dogs.If you stop being obsessed with what he eats, he will too. Fill the bowl, put it down and ignore it and him and fill it again when it is empty without counting how many hours or days it has been. No dog is going to starve itself to death with a full bowl of food in front of it. Of course, if you are cramming crap like chewy stix, choccie drops, treats and the like, down his throat several times a day, then of course he won't want to eat, he won't be hungry. Just leave a bowl full of kibble down, and save the treats for training sessions only.The old fashioned way was to make them starving so they would wolf the food down or you removed it after 10 minutes. However recent researched showed this to create food guarding agreession problems and a greater incidence of bloating which can lead to torsion and death. Whatever you do, do NOT add gravy or bacon fat to his kibble as the salt can damage his kidneys. The most stubborn dog I had here was the little poodle who came with the bags of chicken portions. It took him nearly a week of refusing to eat before he caved in and ate what was put down for him. After that he never looked back, grew a thicker coat and had bags of energy and was much healthier than when he arrived. You have to be firm and stick it out.

I have a Golden Retriever and he is the same and lets face it, you and me are too. These dogs are not stupid, they know their food is horrible and ours is good so they will only eat dog food if they are starving. Exactly same as you and me. So why not give them what we eat. Mine likes roast chicken, preferably home made, chicken casserole, bread and butter, tuna sandwiches, roast beef but not too often and not cold, sausages occasionally.Don't believe all the rubish people (even vets) say about pet food being better. It is made out of food unfit for us so why give it to your pet. Feeding them properly doesn't really cost more so be as kind to your dog as you are to yourself.By the way, he isn't naturally skinny. Labs are like retrievers, naturally big eaters and he is skinny because he doesn't like the food you are giving him.

You've tried too many flavors with him, showed him that all he has to do is turn his nose and you'll be offering him something else....this is how we create fussy eaters, because dogs are not born knowing that there's chicken, lamb, beef and God knows what other flavor out there...Soft food contains 76% moisture, in other words, water...A 14 month old Lab with a clean bill of health from the vet shouldn't even be on soft food. I think you should start feeding him a High Performance formula, Nutro, Eukanuba makes them. Once you've decided which one, stick with it!!!! His digestive system works fine now, but by switching foods all the time, you will create some digestive problems soon. Food should only be available once or twice a day, depending on the dog's size, it's healthier for a large breed to eat two smaller meals rather than one large one, and you should take his food away after 20 minutes, offer it to him at his next feeding time. If you free feed him, he's never really hungry....If he's not neutered, you should consider neutering him as soon as possible, dogs can smell the scent of a female in heat for up to 2 miles, and food is the last thing on their minds when females are in estrus....Stop being his caterer, and show him some leadership-a true pack leader is in control of food sources....

try baking some plain chicken...low fat and mixing some tiny pieces into some dry food. The chicken is good for them so he will like it. Also, try some steamed green beans. Those are VERY healthy and they like the flavors.

try him with a tin of felix cat food mixed with his dry food, you may be surprised, most dogs can't resist cat meat

My dogs a really fussy eater too. The not feeding her for a few days till she was really hungry didn`t work with her she`ll just stick it out - although I`ve heard small breed dogs like her can do that. I have to give her a small amount of human food in with her dog food, even if I just cover her dinner in gravy! I`m not suggesting this is the answer so am interested to watch your answers to see what I should do!

i have 2 labs,(a b*tch who's 5 and a dog who's 18 months) i feed them once a day and they eat dry dog food. I honestly believe that if a dog is hungry enough it'll eat what you give it.. you may not agree with what i am saying but i think your doggie maybe a little bit too fussy for his own good. If the Vet has said there is nothing physically wrong with him, then it must be a psychological thing if you ask me... I'd take him off the dog food completely and feed him boiled fish/chicken and rice (frozen coley is really cheap) feed him that for about 2 weeks and then gradually introduce the dog food of your choice back in until he is back on the dog food full time. his poo will be very yellow to begin with but that's normal. Also, don't worry about him not getting all of his 'essential nutrients' from the fish and rice.. trust me, he'll be fine. try that and see if it works. the boiled fish and rice is also very good if your dog has a dicky tummy xxx

this might sound cruel to some but sometimes you must be cruel to be kind1HUNGER IS A GREAT SAUCE JUST LET HIM GO HUNGRY FOR A WHILE i ASSURE YOU HE WONT STARVE HIM SELF.

I am in the opposite situation lol my 5yr old golden lab is a greedy boy lol .

you have trained him by accident to be fussy do not give him any food for a couple of days but make sure that he has plenty of water down after two day try him on a cup full of dry food again with plenty of water do the same the next day and the next after that feed him the correct amount for his size at the same time each day and DO NOT give him any treats during training and afer one week you will have a happy dog and onwers again

I have three dogs. Two are fussy eaters. I have to homecook one of the dog's food now due to my dog's illness, and have switched the other two to homecooked as well and they LOVE it! You can find great recipes online especially for dog biscuits to die for.However before the switch, my fussy eaters seemed to really like Kirkland Lamb & Rice Kibble (at Costco--the ingredients are some of the best I've ever seen--no by products at all--that's very important) along with Trader Joe's canned Lamb and Rice meat. All natural. Kirkland also makes a decent canned meat. Make sure your dog food does not have preservatives like BHT and BHA, no by-products, specify what type of meat is used (if the meat just says meat it could be horse, or even dog and cat) and the first ingredient should be Lamb or Chicken (not meal--the actually meat item). I've heard good things about Royal Canin but I have to say I don't think Purina makes any quality dog food. I think Iams is just so-so now (used to be better) and I fed my dogs that before making the switch. While I think there is better out there, I think Iams is the best dog food you can buy at the supermarket, but is not up to par w/ the more premium foods out there.I want to add that some dogs are picky and some aren't. I've had both and what may work for one dog won't for the other. You don't want the dog to just eat cause they're finally so hungry they have to--you want to have your dog enjoy it's food and want to eat what you've giving it. You will find something your dog will like. Sometimes it's trial and error.I just want to add the quality of food DOES make a difference. My vet has commented on 2 separate visits how great my dogs' fur looks since I've switched from Iams to Kirkland. She's not the only one to notice. My dogs get complimented like crazy and the only difference is my switching what they eat. Yes they looked fine before but now they look really healthy. Plus one of my dogs started to get arthritis but since the switch (my new food has Glucosamine) any sign of arthritis is gone from her.