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What to do when my picky 8-month-old puppy won't eat dry food?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Miniature Poodle | Female | unspayed | 8 lbs

My 8 month old puppy is extremely picky with food. After about a month of having her, she stopped eating her original dry food. I switched to wholehearted. After a while, she stopped eating that too. I tried meal mixers and food toppers, but she picks around the dry and ONLY eats the toppers. I tried wet food as well but her body doesn’t process it well (it’s hard to transition properly since she won’t eat dry food at all). Her eating habits are totally irregular. What can i do?

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Dr. Elizabeth

Veterinarian

Published on April 11th, 2020

This can be difficult. Finicky eaters are not uncommon with small breed dogs. Fixing this depends on how stubborn both you and Freya are. A dog who is healthy will not starve themselves to the point of illness. You can pick a high-quality food, I recommend the brands Royal Canin or Purina pro plan. Offer the diet and don’t offer her anything else. It is likely she will refuse the food and may do so for a couple days but eventually she will eat. You can try adding in canned food or meal toppers, a very small amount of shredded boiled chicken or some plain brown or white rice to make it more appealing. An alternative is to look into a diet more like fresh pet or Nom Nom pet food. These will be more like meals humans eat and you may have more successful. When you have a finicky eater, it is crucial not to offer any human food or food from your plate. Treats must be minimal. I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions.

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    Answered By Daniel Fonza, DVM

    Veterinarian

    Published on January 8th, 2018

    Hi there and thank you for using PetCoach to address your concern. I would recommend offering a variety of food types and try dry or canned dog food to find which one Idalia likes best. You can also try and add in a probiotic such as Purina Fortiflora to her food, as this can enhance the flavor of the dog food. Yogurt does not provide any probiotic benefits for dogs as the bacteria is much different for dogs as it is in humans. Fortiflora can be found online quite easily. If you want to try home cooked food, you can visit the following website (www. balanceit.com) and formulate your own home cooked meal to see if she will eat this better. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further!

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