Doesn't like his food anymore???

[Newf]

I think it's time to change food brands. For the last little while my dog has become more and more picky about his food. It's gotten to the point where he will only eat about half of his serving. At first I thought it may be a medical issue, but he still wants to eat everything else, so I'm thinking it must be the food.

He's never been a typical dog that goes food crazy, so I'm not too worried yet.

Anybody else ever have a dog that got sick of his food?

BTW currently feeding "Canadian natural large breed"

[rboudet]

Never, all mine have always eaten any food I have ever put in front of them. I could change foods everyday and they would not miss a meal.
Maybe something is wrong with that bag. Have you tried a different food?

[Newf]

Yes, I considered the same thing, picked up another bag but same result.

[rboudet]

Do you free feed? If not eaten in 5 mins pick it up

[Newf]

No free feeding either. We feed twice a day, morning and evening. 2cups each.

[mitty]

How old is the dog? Maybe he just doesn't need as much food anymore. 4 cups/day is a lot of food. Is he losing weight?

My 2 year old's need-for-feed went is about half of what is was a couple months ago, she is getting less exercise on account of the weather but mostly I think she is done growing.

[Wayne Nutt]

My experience with this has been that they are getting too much food for their activity level. My recommendation: cut back on the food a bit and buy a can of wet food and mix one tablespoon in with each meal. Gradually reduce the canned food to none. This generally resolves the issue.

I do not free feed but give them about 15 minutes to eat and then pick up the bowls. Five minutes seems a little hasty to me.
Hope this helps.

[Newf]

Some stats:
2.5 year old male, 73lbs. (Intact) vet says he's in excellent shape. I'm guessing he's been that weight for the last year?? I could dig up he's record, but I know he hasn't lost any. Maybe gained a pound or two...
We train almost daily, and he gets lots of exercise otherwise.
Nothing seems to be bothering him, and at this point, he's just a 73 lb dog with a happy puppy attitude.

As I said earlier he's always been picky, so I usually give him about a half hour to eat then take the bowl away. But there's never been a problem, until recently all the food was always eaten. Now that its becoming noticeably worse I just wanted to ask the question to see what everybody else had to say.

Wayne - Thanks for the tip! I'll try mixing a little canned food and see how it goes!

[rboudet]

My experience with this has been that they are getting too much food for their activity level. My recommendation: cut back on the food a bit and buy a can of wet food and mix one tablespoon in with each meal. Gradually reduce the canned food to none. This generally resolves the issue.

I do not free feed but give them about 15 minutes to eat and then pick up the bowls. Five minutes seems a little hasty to me.
Hope this helps.

Not really 5 mins would be a long time to finish 3-4 cups of kibble.

[Don Lietzau]

My dogs get 5 minutes and all visiting dogs learn real quick that 5 minutes is plenty of time if you don't dally. We got other stuff to do......Use to free feed, but never again. Duckdon