So my 7 year old rescue Akita was supposedly raised on Tractor Supply 4 Health. Not the best food, but not the worst. Our 7 month old Akita puppy started off with Holistic Select, and our adult was eating it too. Always soaked in water to prevent bloat. But over the last month or so they have totally lost interest in it and will actually refuse to eat. Giving it to them dry helped for a few days but that novelty wore off. The pup was getting skinny and the adult was losing weight, too. So we tried some EVO. They perked up a little and then went right back to not eating. The we tried the 4 Health. They definitely didn't like that, not even our adult who was raised on it.

Anybody else ever go through this? It's so un-dog-like. I mean, dog + any kind of food = yahoo! But these guys don't get excited when I pour the food and have to be made to go eat, even from the first day we got them.

Before people say "go see a vet", we did and it's a clean bill of health across the board. The vet shrugged his shoulders.

In a fit of desperation we bought the sugar cereal of the dog food world: Iams. Of course they love it. Wolf it right down. This sucks, feeding them crap. But we can't starve them, especially the puppy who really needs to put on another 5 or 10lbs quick (he's way too skinny).

Any other suggestions short of going raw would be most appreciated. Although as soon as we get a freezer (it's in the plan for maybe a month from now) this might just drive us to that (if they'll eat it ) But in the mean time we are going through a very expensive process of buying and trying dog food they won't eat. Heck, we'll see how long the Iams excitement lasts.

Think about going to a mixture of the 2 or 3 different brands

having the one they love the lowest percentage.

Could also do some kind of snack like some kibble with peanut butter in a kong. While its not a long term solution it will help just getting food in the stomach

ETA: Im switching my dogs from Science Diet to 4 Health, looking at the ingredients and percentages its the exact same but much less. But I am switch first with 3:1 of science and to 4 health next batch is a 1:1 then a 3:1 with majority of being 4 health
Then with whatever left over probably a 5:1 until its gone.

4 Health is actually rated pretty well. If they eat that I would be happy.

I noticed my dogs not eating well a month ago.  Same food that they have always eaten.  Diamond Hi-Pro Active.

They ate, but, not much.  

I had gotten a good deal on some of the Diamond 6 months ago and decided to stock up.  The oils had gone rancid.  What was 'mildly off' to my nose, was unpalatable to them.

Bought a new bag and the problem was solved.

Mine do eat treats, table scraps, chicken bones, baby rabbit, mice, you name it.  

You might explore the possibility that your feed bag has become contaminated, spoiled, or tainted.

TRG

Mix some green beans, rice and carrot bits and a bit of burger into their food.

I feed mine the TSC 4health stuff. No issues here with the actual kibble but...

My dogs get tired of the same old kibble all the time and will often refuse to eat if I don't add 'stuff' to the kibble to make it 'better'.

There are a couple of different ways I deal with this when they refuse the kibble. I can either refuse to add ANY extras and they will usually eat after getting really hungry (might take a day or two before they get REALLY hungry and eat the kibble without complaints) OR I can just add something semi-healthy to the kibble (dogs dig variety as well).

last night mine shared a can of tuna split between both of their bowls (gobbled it ALL once the tuna hit it), night before that was a can of mixed veggies shared between them (poured over the kibble), before that was a them sharing a can of mini ravioli over the kibble, Turkey has GOT to be MY dogs favorite 'addition' to the kibble (followed by scrambled eggs).

None of the things I add to the kibble really cost much of anything. Eggs I get from my OWN chickens that lay a LOT more than us humans here care to eat - Surplus eggs are dog food - Chickens that are too old to lay are dog food as well... Still got 2 Turkeys in a freezer that I bought last year around Thanksgiving when they were on super sale (gave something like 65 cents per pound?), Bought a PILE of the 'sale' Turkeys then and dogs can't read the date on them nor do they care.

Canned items that I let the dogs split at mealtimes usually cost me 50 cents or less per can. That comes out to less than 25 cents per bowl to get them EXCITED about the meal.

Mine are in the habit of 'waiting' outside the kitchen (and watching) while I 'fix' the bowls. Not allowed to touch anything until I give the release. I believe that how LONG my particular dogs have to 'wait' for the food is proportional to how excited they are about scarfing the entire bowl down. Meaning: If I toss some turkey bits off in the bowls and immediately give them the release - Sometimes they will just run up and scarf all the turkey bits and leave the kibble behind untouched (they get NO additional 'stuff' added later when they do this shit). It seems to me that the longer mine have to WAIT for the release that the more likely they are to eat everything in the bowls. Something about the 'waiting' seems to get them in 'food mode' and for some reason mine are more likely to eat everything in the bowls if they see it go in there and then have to wait and think about it for a few minutes before being allowed to dive in. Do your own experiments with this and see what I am talking about...

Something else I have noticed is that dogs tend to eat more during a feeding if fed with other dogs at the same time. They tend NOT to leave stuff behind in the bowls (especially not 'good' stuff) when other dogs are around where a single dog eating might eat 1/2 the bowl and then walk away thinking he is 'saving' it for later. A dog may eat more than they normally would IF other dogs are around is what I am getting at here.

Don't let people convince you that adding 'stuff' to the kibble will cause your dogs to become instantly overweight. That depends on how much and WHAT you are adding + the level of the particular dogs activity. One of my girls is 69lbs currently and the other is @ 62 to 64lbs (I forget). 'Average' for a female in my breed is about 65lbs and we are very near to that.  

Your dogs are 'training' YOU what to put in the bowls. (just like mine did me)

My advice is that YOU decide on the kibble they are getting but then 'doctor' it up with a variety of 'healthy' but inexpensive things you likely already have around. It only takes a small bit to get the dogs in gear for food time!

Here is some peanut butter and rice tossed in with the TSC kibble:

+100

ALL of those add-ins are on my dogs 'approved' list!

some dogs when given an unlimited supply of okay and nutritious food (but not super good aka liver and bacon) will self-regulate.  I've seen lost of guys with a couple hounds that used auto-feeders that let the dogs eat as much dogfood as they wanted.

I mix up pumpkin and cottage cheese for my herd. They scarf down everything and are usaully licking the bowls spotless afterwards.

I knew  a dog who stopped eating that way. He LOVED peanut butter sammiches but stopped eating the dog food he'd eaten for a year or so.

Turns out the food had a fungus in it; dog smelled it and refused to eat.

Thanks for the suggestions, folks. I'm seeing two major themes: food has gone bad somehow and food needs to be jazzed up somehow. We'll further investigate/experiment along those lines.

On the finer points: we feed them both together (separate bowls). Neither is self-regulating at a healthy level, i.e. both are skinny. It was affecting their demeanor, too. Their energy levels and drive are returning to normal since they've been eating (the Iams, ugh) again.

Switch to a raw diet.


But then I'm sure by now you knew I was going to say that.

How have you determined they are not self regulating to a healthy level?

Akodo--I'm afraid I'm a bit more qualitative in my approach than you would prefer. In other words, if the dog looks good, feels good and acts good then I'm happy. What "look" and "feel" mean to me is obviously subjective. FWIW, Witchie, the adult, came to us obviously overweight at 100lbs and out of shape. Now, almost 6 months later, she is a trim 85lbs (now that she's been eating again) and in much better shape. Her fur is not falling out all over, either, a problem that I initially attributed to just lack of grooming but ultimately it became clear that her poor coat was caused by an overall diminished state. That is now fixed after 6 months of grooming, nutrition, exercise and love. She eats between two and three cups a day plus treats, Ester C, multi-vitamin and glucosamine.

Magnus is still growing rapidly at only 7 months old. We've tried to keep his growth rate in the 2lbs/week range. He weighed in last Saturday at 83lbs and is already larger than Witchie, and, to my hand and eye, too skinny. He's starting to fill out again now that food tastes better. We have to feed him 4 times a day to keep up with his growth while keeping the risk of bloat down. He's eating almost 6 cups of food a day plus some treats, Ester C, calcium, and multi-vitamin.

At any rate I'm not going to whip out a tape measure. The fact that they are again playing with abandon and are in generally good spirits is an even more important indicator that they were not eating enough, i.e. it was not a self-regulation issue.

Fair enough.  If you are including behavior assessments and something like hairloss to determine your dogs are 'too skinny' that is reasonable.  I just find that most people have no idea how physically skinny a dog can be at ideal weight, with the general exception of dog sledders.  People often use people-centric thinking when dealing with dogs.  (dogs are not fur-children ) Dogs can look very skinny and yet be very healthy.

In a follow up to this, if we put something really great in with the food, like some chicken, they'll eat it with a more normal level of enthusiasm. Otherwise even Iams has become boring.

And, even more bizarre, my young pup caught a rabbit. I dressed it out and we put it in the freezer for a few days to kill any potential parasites, etc. We defrosted it and offered it up before dinner today. No interest at all from either dog. I can't believe it.

Meanwhile the cat thinks raw rabbit is manna from heaven...

Mine refused food (kibble alone) last night and so far today because there was nothing 'good' mixed in with it.

They HAD kibble in bowls all that time but they have not touched it. I am guessing they went 36 hrs so far with them not getting anything but a few pieces of fried okra that they got from a friend at work today...

If I go another night with nothing but kibble they WILL eat the kibble.

I am logging off now so I can go scramble them some eggs. (bitches have ME trained)

Dogs only get "Fussy" for two reasons.

The chow is bad, rancid, or pests like indianmeal moths have gotten into the chow. The Larvae give off an odor that ruins a dogs appetite most times.

#2 they can. Meaning, they know that if they refuse, they cause you to add goodies to the chow, or cook them eggs and peanut butter. AKA Alpha games, and controlling the guy who controls the chow.  

Try cleaning the feed bowls, and the chow bin, and changing chow to a fresh new bag.
If that isn't it, it's alpha games.

Alpha games are fun. Play back.

Offer the chow. Wait 5 min, and if it's refused, put it away, and go tinker in the garage or somewhere away from the pooch for an hour.
Then come back and offer the same chow again. Wait 5 Min, and if refused, put the chow away until the next feeding time.
Be strong, no snacks, no scraps, and don't give in to the whining or other antics. If you do, the pooch owns you, and it's an invite to other alpha games that can be problematic.

One option, they eat what is offered, when it's offered, period.

I suspect you have one dog playing games, and the other falling into line to back him up.

Try feeding the dogs individually, and watch what happens after the first refusal.

We had a Terv that had major Alpha issues. He had my wife cooking him breakfast daily, before I put my foot down and ended that shit.
Same pooch would leave a couple bites of chow for the other dog to gobble up, once he was "done", thereby controlling her food, and reinforcing his position.
Individual feeding, and picking up the bowl as soon as they were each done, ended that crap.

They are always watching us, and know us better than we know ourselves.
Hell yeah they try to get a medium rare T-bone out of us at every feeding!!
They aren't stupid.

All good points but none really applicable to our situation.

All chow was brand new and fed from the original bags or from one of the sealed bins we have to hold the dog food. Bowls are clean for every meal. So it was not bad food or unsanitary conditions. And the dogs were and are fed separately. Each has their own bowl and feeding spot and sharing is not allowed.

We could get them to eat but only by making them hungry enough, as you point out above. Unfortunately that is not a good "game" to be playing with a puppy that is growing rapidly and who needs food to do that. When we tried this approach the puppy lost weight. Not a good thing. And, as bad luck would have it, our adult lost weight as well and she was already at a good weight, we did not want her skinny.

So now we are at a point where we are starting to mix yummy things into their food and they are training us to do that. This week it is boiled chicken. We don't mind. It is easy to do and we are training them to eat the kibble we want them to. Indeed, we are going right back to the Holistic Select that we want them on and had them on originally. All of this other food was crap, at least based on our adult's coat condition, getting bad again, and the pup's growth rate, which slowed.

Quoted:



Still love this pic!

"Topping" tried so far:

Boiled chicken--GOOD!
Boiled kosher hot dog (all beef)--GOOD!
Hard boiled egg--Meh
Potato--love them as snacks, on food--Meh

On the list to try: scrambled eggs, turkey, tuna. Raw egg and peanut butter are out right now, too messy.

Any other suggestions?

Rice (cooked), Canned mixed veggies, Spaghetti (noodles - sauce or both together).

Here lately my garden has dumped a TON of tomatoes on me. I have been making BIG batches of spaghetti sauce with all of my fresh from the backyard garden vegetables and then freezing the 'finished' sauce for later use. (Got a few gallons stocked in the freezer so far that cost me very little to make )

My girls have been LOVING any leftover spaghetti stuff they have been seeing lately.  Have not noticed any sort of issues with their potty breaks or skin / fur.

Spaghetti = CHEAP eats for me!

Last night I was lazy and let them split a can of peas (water from can included) with their kibble. They tore it up! LOL!

If you live in Indiana - Bloomington area, there is a local pet food company called Mister Buck's.  They make extremely high quality pet food and at a great price.  They are a rescue organization and got into the dog food business to feed their rescues.  They support a ton of animal shelters by donating food.  Can't say enough good things about them.  I was feeding Luna, my 2 year old German Shepherd Blue Buffalo - Large Breed Life Protection and recently switched to Mister Buck's Special Rescue Blend.  Her coat was great before but now it feels like she is very soft, just shampoo'd and her shedding has actually decreased (SHOCKING!!  She's a hairnado!).

You can get a 40 lb bag of Mister Buck's Special Rescue Blend for $30.  It's a great deal.  If you can't get it locally they will ship it to you.  They were running a shipping discount last month, don't know if they still are.  It was on their Facebook page.

My dog has done something similar to yours, AA7. It's happened maybe 3 or 4 times over his lifespan - he's now 10.5. He'll completely lose the "taste" he has for his current food and he'll stop eating it. I mean he flat out stops eating it. I will mix things into it and I have sat and watched him pick around and eat around his food. If he got his "regular" dog food in his mouth, he'd spit it out and continue to eat what I had mixed in.
At first I thought there was something wrong with his food (maybe it had gone bad?). After getting brand new food, I thought he was being a snot :o) After several days not eating I figured he was not being a snot :o( I changed brands of food entirely (a few times) before I found one he ate with vigor again. I had to change again about 6 months later (same thing). About a year and a half later - same thing again. It happened again a couple of years ago - changed food everything was fine.
The first time it happened he was probably around 3-4 yrs old and I thought, "I like this - I'll just buy this and he'll eat it" so I bought a bag of food, took it home, etc. Ha! Not so fast because he was having none of it. When it happened after that, I bought the absolute smallest packages of 3 or 4 different foods I thought he might like :o)





Now, to be completely upfront with you - I don't have a lot of experience with dogs. I have experience with the dogs I grew up with when I was little and I have experience with my dog now. That's about it - sometimes it's a wonder the sweet thing has managed to survive despite me being his person LOL But I am not a vet, not a vet assistant, not any sort of animal practitioner at all. I have a dog - one dog - a little dog (15lbs) - maybe they're different than larger dogs, I have no idea. And he's a house dog. But I love dogs.



 

I have trained and owned dogs my entire life.
I have NEVER seen a case where a dog refused to eat food unless it had gone bad or the dog was sick.
Dogs don't care what they eat, they prefer dead rotten shit and cat shit if they have a choice.

The first time anyone tells me" my doggy won't eat, he's such a picky eater" My response is always " give them a few days, they'll eat."

After having him checked at the vet to discover he was not sick - I do not discount the very high possibility I just did not like seeing my dog not eat for 3 / 4 / 5 days. So, I did what I felt I could to encourage him to eat something.




 
 

As others suggested, the food may have gone bad. I spilled some water in the food bin once not much mind you like a few splashes. Two days later it was molding.

My two rip down a 50 pound bag in two weeks plus scraps and such, food doesn't last long enough to go bad round here.

I 100% agree with this, assuming the dog is not sick, of course. However in my case that was not an option. I have a puppy to grow and he needs to eat, every day.

BTW the tuna was a big hit.

akitas are stubborn (you probably know this).

you have to beat them at that game, and they will do what you want.  I feed mine 2x a day, 2 cups per meal.  If they aren't done eating by the time I'm done eating, they don't get anything else until the next meal.

They eat.

Have you tried separating the puppy from the adult when they are fed?  mine go in their crates.  The male can't see the female, so pack dynamics aren't such a big factor.  (The subordinate dog may not be eating because the dominant dog isn't, etc).

I'd also be giving the puppy some sort of fatty food if you want to put weight on him.....fat trimmings from steaks work good.  Anything with a strong odor, like tuna (you already figured this out).  I'm pretty convinced that dogs decide what to eat by how strongly/raunchy it smells.

meh, our dog doesn't eat either, tried different brands, he just eats like 2 bites and then walks away.

But man if he finds a turd in the back yard he will scarf that thing down!

Not stubborn, not dominant, not dumb. Akitas are very self-directed (I so very rarely use the "smug" emoticon, but this time it's justified! ) And rightly so, they are bred for "independent command", much like livestock guardians. My 7 year old, who is a retired show dog/brood bitch, prefers to be a homebody, but she's been somewhat warped by her bizarre existence until we got her last Feb. My new guy, he's already figured out that he wants to be parked in front of the house, in the shade, doing what Akitas do, which is keeping an eye on things. He does have a tendency to hunt/patrol in the early evening though, but he's still so young, only 8 months. We watched him take a little walkabout on our land yesterday on the Garmin Astro. My wife said "Do you want to go get him?" I said, "Nah, let's watch and see what happens." He came back after about a 30 minute patrol, making a big loop through the woods behind the house.

However this proud Akita owner digresses...so, back to the food issue...

They are fed separately. They are crate trained but only for housebreaking and as a life skill so that they'll use the portable crate if we need it. Akitas do not like to be separate from family.

Again, I can't play the "they'll eat when they are hungry" game yet. Not until the pup slows his growth rate. But, we are training them to eat the food we want them to by putting "yummy stuff" on top. so it's a two way street. Once the pup is starting to slow down we can go there, as long as they don't start losing weight. Indeed the 7 year old was losing weight so that did become an issue for a while.

My 2 Shepherds get Taste of the Wild. They have several flavors so we mix it up. I used to make gravey for them when I had time but noticed they would snub the food when I didn't so I stopped for about a month. They would'nt eat for a few day then they would get hungry

We had one food my oldest Shepherd wouldn't eat. He would take a few bites and walk away. We ended up giving that bag to a friend who had labs that would eat anything. We went back to TotW and all was well again.

It may be more expensive than other brands but it helps keep the shedding at bay somewhat better than any other food we have tried.

Update: we are now feeding only twice a day. We'd prefer to feed three times as a bloat preventative, but they are just not hungry enough. This, combined with a little "mix in magic", has changed the eating dynamic quite a bit. They like turkey, chicken and beef, but don't like egg, potato or tuna. Any other suggestions? We may try to get a few other kinds of fish.

We also tried Showtime added to the kibble when they were not eating. The directions state to use 3 scoops but we used one and stirred it into the food. They loved it and it worked great on restoring their coat and slowed the shedding.
ShowStopper
We actually buy it from Jeffer's as they are local.
http://cdn01.jefferspet.weblinc-cdn.com/product_images/k9-showstopper/53728b1a9fa260c26100102f/detail.jpg?c=1405958338