Having trouble getting your basenji to eat their food?

[Maya]

I almost wish i had that problem with Maya she will eat anything and everthing. I regularly find her IN the bags of dog food helping herself. She is a little pig.

I had a pug who was a terribly fussy eater as a baby. Breeder said she definately will eat sooner or later, keep offering her a bowl of food etc etc etc. After about FIVE days of her eating nothing i had to start hand feeding her cooked chicken!! She is also a little pig now. Its so worrying when they are so fussy though.

I've yet to have a dog that doesnt like the raw food though :)

[Elscodobermann]

@Maya:

I've yet to have a dog that doesnt like the raw food though :)

Unfortunately i did. I used to feed flank of lamb (before the Mad Cow crisis which put Lamb prices through the roof). One of my dobe boys used to grab his flank of lamb, run to the bottom of the garden, i presumed it was to eat in peace - but he would leave it for the girls to find - took me a few weeks to find out why he was losing weight and they were gaining.

[dash]

@sky:

NANO is almost a year old. Friends of ours gave him to us because he was nauty and always jumping over fences, but since he stayed with us he still tries to get out but that problem has beeb fixed the only problem left is the food. I dont want to give him everytime something else to eat because they are going to get used to not eat their pellets because he know if he doesn't eat i will give him something better. MY other two dogs eat the same pellets for over two years now and they still love it, sometimes they all get a bone after a braai but not everyday.

First, check his teeth. The vet should have done that but if not check yourself. One may be absessed or something else may be wrong. You could also go to a different vet and get a second opinion. Did the vet think he was too thin?

I personally do not change my dogs food, but I will add bonus treats to it. My dog loves green peppers, sour cream, gravy etc. If you didn't want to add a topper to his current food, you could try just adding hot water. That will give it some flavor.

You could also try feeding him in his crate. Maybe he feels threatened by the other dogs.

[tanza]

I think that "free" feeding is a mistake to anyone that does it. (In my opinion and in 99% of the cases)
It is best to develope good eating habits by giving them a certain amount of time to eat and when that passes, its gone. Also that they all are fed separate in a crate or in different places so that they can all "eat" in peace….

What food are you using?

[JazzysMom]

First of all, not all dogs like the same food and your Nano may just not care for the food.

On occasion Jazz will refuse to eat for a day or so. I will flavor up her food then – a little broth or egg or cottage cheese, whatever I have handy -- just a bit. I can do that for a meal or two and she'll eat okay, then I cut out the flavoring and she eats her kibble just fine.

[JazzysMom]

@etzbseder:

Are you sure it's a basenji? 20.1kg is too heavy for a basenji. Medjai is a light basenji (also a little short) and he only weighs about 8.1kg. I think standard for a male should be about 11.3kg.

He will eat if he's hungry enough, just do the best you can with picking something he'll like based on what the rest like and he'll eat it in time. If the vet says that nothing's wrong, go with it. It'd help if you could post pictures.

Yeah, that does sound HUGE….like almost double the accepted weight for a male Basenji. Must be a mix with something. Can't wait to see pictures.

[hamez]

We feed Tupper Blue Buffalo with the life sources bits. He loves it. On special nights try adding a little pumpkin to the dry food. Make sure you get real pumpkin and not pumpkin pie filling and add NO MORE then a tablespoon. Anymore then that the dog with have a bathroom problem. As soon as we put the pumpkin mixed food down Tupper goes crazy, it's so cute

[sky]

The vet told me that he is to thin.I found an absessed in his mouth, took him to see the vet and now everything is fine.He started to eat a bit more then usually but not like my other 2 dogs.There are 3 bowls for each dog but i place it far apart from each other and they eat in peace.Thenk you so much for everything.

[sky]

Every morning and evening they will get some extra with their food but i know that Nano loves and going crazy if i pour some meat flovour soup over his pellets. He doesn't like to share his food but that's okay, i never share my food not even with my kids or husband.I put a red light in their kennel so they can sleep warm during the night in the winter because Nano easily get cold and the he doesnt want to play but i understand it's too cold outside so he would rather snuggled. Oh, i LOVE MY NANO>

[Badbasenji]

@wizard I have tried that no luck, so left food out all day no luck. he will eat SOME food at night when I put him in it for bedtime. I hate to see him go with out food for so long. we are on our 6 food still no luck.

[tanza]

@badbasenji - Should be feeding on a schedule not free fed... NOTE that they will NOT starve themselves unless sick.... give them 10 minutes to eat and then take it away until the next feeding time. If they are hungry they will eat.

[DebraDownSouth]

@tanza
While I agree that is almost always true, it is not absolutely. You can say "must not know where the sickness is"... but I have personally know known of a dozen for whom no medical issues were found that WOULD hold out until skeletal.

[tanza]

@debradownsouth - People should always first have a health check on their pets if there is a problem..... obviously

[DebraDownSouth]

Absolutely!

[DogGoneCrazy]

Check for a cracked tooth.