@Tayda_Lenny:
So I am the one that does the pilling in my house. Tayda really doesn't like it but I try to make the experience as "matter of fact" as possible. She has always been a picky eater so it really hasn't surprised me that she doesn't want to eat.
BUT, I was out of town this weekend and my boyfriend watched the dogs for me. Tayda gobbled up EVERYTHING he fed her… right away. He fed her the exact same thing that I feed her. But when I do it, she slowly comes up, takes a sniff, maybe licks a kibble or two and then walks away. I got home and watched him feed her in the morning and was shocked that she walked right over to it, started eating and finished it all! She never does that when I feed her. Then that very same night, I fed her, and she was back to not eating.
This makes me sad. Is she suspicious of me and what I feed her since I do the pilling and she doesn't like it? Is there any way for me to reverse this behavior of hers toward me or toward the food when I feed her?
The only thing I can think of would be to pill her at a totally different time than the feeding. So she doesn't associate them? Maybe you are already doing that. Maybe change the place, the time, everything that you can change for both pilling and feeding. Also maybe you could reward her with something super special after the pilling…like a big hunk of liver or steak? But not her regular food.
It may just be a phase too...she may realize, as Pat said with Jaadii, that this will happen, and she may as well get used to it.
I am really sorry you have to go through this...I can imagine it must be heartbreaking. Hang in there.