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One Year Old Aussie Won't Eat

by Jonathan Doody
(Meath, Ireland)

My 1 year old Aussie is eating half the amount of food he should be eating. I've had him vet checked, changed his food and cooked him food. I've done it all.

I'm not too worried. No dog will starve itself to death, but this is the time in his life when he's doing all his growing and he needs his food. Any tips?

Comments for One Year Old Aussie Won't Eat

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one year old aussie won't eat
by: Anonymous

Hi:

That happened to me as well and it has being really hard. I also changed her food several times but she got bored of it very fast. The only thing that has worked for me is that I combine dry and wet food and mixed them up with my own hands. After, I ask my dog to do a trick or just to sit down (since they are very smart, I use food as the price) then I let her lick my hands so she can taste the food and after I give her the plate. This has really worked for me and now she has gain weight and eats her whole meal most of the times. I know it sounds a little crazy, but it has worked. Also, it was very important that just one person feeds the dog every time. Hope this helps you.

Aussie won't eat
by: Anonymous

If you live in a part of the country that is very hot, your Aussie might not eat as much as you expect. We live in Texas and Aussie is not eating as much as normal. I have cut her food back to about half what I was feeding her during the winter, but watch her and offer more or something else if she acts hungry. She is just 10 1/2 months old. My trainer feels her appetite will return when it cools down.

Aussie won't eat
by: Patti

I have one Aussie who is a hog and runs for his food bowl. The other, sometimes he eats a little and that's it. Other times, he will eat everything. Vet checked and no problems, so the vet said just continue to pay attention as to how much he is eating. I have noticed since he turned 3 recently, he is eating more consistently now. I would suggest to keep watching him and if there is a noticeable weight loss, you may need another vet check. But in having these type of dogs for 15 years it appears that some are eaters and others are not.

Aussie mix hasn't eaten in two days!!!
by: Janine

I just adopted the sweetest dog from the pound two days ago. They told me he was a 10th month old lab/beagle mix, but later that day, the Vet told me he was without a doubt a 2 yr old mix of mostly Australian Shepard and little bit of something else. I'm used to boxers, so I'm a bit out of my element with this one. He seems to be very intelligent, attentive, and loving, but he hasn't eaten any food since I got him. I've tried 3 brands of dry, kibble, and wet food, and he doesn't want to eat any of it. He does like bacon and vienna sausages, but he can't live on that and it's certainly unhealthy for him. I even tried crumbling the viennas into bits and mixing them in his food, but the smart fella weeded out even the tiniest bits and left all the food! I'll try mixing the wet with dry, but I have a strong feeling it's not gonna work. Very worried but fingers crossed! After reading some of your posts I'm starting to wonder if this is common with Aussies, so I'm trying to decided if I should take him to the vet today or wait him out. In case the mixing doesn't work, any other ideas?

hope this helps
by: Wilda

they have days when they're sooo hungry, and want to eat everything, and or everyones, but they have days when their stomachs need a break, or they're hot, tired, or lack of excercise, so it all depends. I would definetly keep a watch, but don't change the food alot, that only confusses them. I would buy a realy good,organic or holistic dry food, wet it alittle, and put it down, he will eat evenutally. I too mix dry and wet, but not regularlly, because then they won't ever eat the dry alone, so I do it once a week for a "treat". If he continues not to eat for a long period of time, and you see he is getting thinner, and maybe sad, or unmotivated, I would definelty have the vet do some blood work, and make sure everyhthing is ok
hope this helps.

6 month old puppy.
by: Anonymous

My puppy aussie he will be a 1yr old in October and he has My eating all day and he ate a pork chop that my son dropped on the floor and I was wondering of that would effect his appetite and he throw it up the pork chop and then he throw up some mucus too and he still won't way or drink any water all day would he be ok?

When Aussie mix doesn't eat
by: Janine

I posted here a few years ago when I first adopted my Aussie mix (Quigley) and he wouldn't eat. It turns out that as a breed, Aussie's really like to be busy. The more I give him to do the better off he is. I've taken him through training and I've taught him to help me find things in the yard. Whenever he gets bored he doesn't want to eat but he chews things instead (like my heirloom quilt). He recently had to have surgery to remove an obstruction (sock) but fortunately he's recovering well. But that's just behavioral stuff. It could be something else. My experience with Quigs is when he doesn't want to eat I give him a Pepcid (he has chronic pancreatitis) and see if his interest in food returns in a few hours. If that doesn't help then your pup may've gotten into something, like eating something that didn't agree with him (which can also trigger pancreatitis attack) or ingesting an object. No food for a day is ok, but I'd get concerned at 2 days and have him checked. Hope this helps.

Aussies are like cats
by: Anonymous

Aussies are like cats which means they will eat whatever they want or not and they could eat like hungry wolf but at times , they would not eat for two days at the most so that's very common on those kinds of dogs

Blue Merle Aussie boy
by: LOREE

My Aussie used to eat everything you gave him. Now at 2 he is exceedingly fussy. Too smart and a passive aggressive personality make for a moody pup.
He loves sweet potatoes, carrots, pet ice cream, steak, boiled chicken legs, duck breasts, turkey legs, and lamb. Innards and such... livers, of all sorts.
He is such a great dog, but doesn't like other dogs... loves people. What to do?

3 year old Aussie
by: Megs

My Aussie recently stopped wanting to eat his food. So I switched food, first day was fine and then he realized i wasn't putting anything with it to make it more 'exciting' . I've stopped adding things to his food all together because i realized this is part of the problem.

What has worked is: If he doesn't eat I take his bowl away and trying to wear him out with play. Eventually he gets really hungry and we had to turn his dinner into a treat game. He does tricks to earn his reward which is food.

So far it's only kind of working, because he's incredibly smart and stubborn. Hopefully this will help someone. If anyone else has any tips, I'd love to hear them.

Fixed prob with dry kibbles
by: JEANETTE

I also have a 10 month told Mini Aussie Shepard and i found if you mix a little gravy in he likes that. I did half of hamburger patty with cup of dry kibble with beef gravy. I also got chicken and turkey gravy so I can switch off. So far so good.

My 1 year old dog won't eat
by: B

If you have any tips let me now

Picky Aussie
by: Linda M.

My 9 month old mini Aussie is starting to get picky. On vacation he loved daughter's dog's kibble. Got home and he wasn't eating. I mixed some of daughter's brand in with his and he won't eat unless I add wet dog food or hamburger or chicken. (desperate attempts to get him to eat). He will only eat chunky wet dog food, not pate. Some days just picks out the chicken, hamburger or wet chunks. Some days won't eat any wet food either. Then other times will eat plain kibble. He is very active and loves to play. His coat is soft and shiny. He's in training for service and I want to make sure he stays healthy.

Doesn't eat breakfast
by: Anonymous

My aussiedor is 18 months. She is 76lbs. She doesn't eat like she use to. It's 3:00 she hasn't ate her breakfast. This has been going on for a few weeks. I mix her food with yogurt then she'll eat. I put food in the Kong at 8:00 if she hasn't ate her dinner. It is also mixed with bananas blueberries and apples. Do you think she is over weight. And I've spoiled her? Could that be the reason she won't eat breakfast?

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