My dog is suddenly picky. Is he bored or are table scraps the problem?
Updated On September 23rd, 2025
Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed Small (up to 22lb) | Male | neutered | 3 years and 3 months old | 16 lbs
Dog is all of a sudden starting to turn his nose up and be a picky eater. I'm assuming when my family sneaks him table scraps this is messing up his eating schedule. He used to run to the food bowl the first 3-4 weeks but now he will go over to it and sniff it and look at me. I have to sit there with him and try and get him to eat it. Is it possible he is just bored of it? Should I go searching for something new. What about a food topper or spray something on the dry food. Using Science diet
2 Answers
Most Helpful Answer
Published on August 15th, 2017
I would recommend staying with the same dog food and try having the family stop supplementing people food. Most dogs will not starve themselves. It is kay if Oliver wants to eat through the day too instead on one meal. My dogs will some days not eat till noon and other days eat all of the food as soon as I put it down at 5. I would only become concerned if he goes a day or two with out eating, starting to vomit/diarrhea or looses weight. Again I would recommend sticking with the science diet it is a good brand of food. hope that helps
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
Related Answers from Veterinarians
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Published on April 24th, 2019
Usually this is just a case of your dog being picky. He is hoping that by not eating his food, you will give him some of yours! Try to strictly meal feed him, giving him only 10-15 minutes to eat. If he doesn’t eat in that time he doesn’t get anything else until his next meal. If you do this a few times in a row he will start to understand that he needs to eat when fed. Also, keep in mind that your dog is almost a year old now so he caloric requirements will be less than they see when he was a growing puppy. This may be playing into his behavior as well. And finally, if your dog is consistently refusing food and/or is losing weight or seems lethargic it would be a good idea to have him checked out to make sure nothing else is going on. I hope this helps. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Best of luck!
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
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