Last Fall I shared with you my thoughts on solving the picky eater problem with your dogs and cats.  At the end of the blog, I asked you to share strategies about this issue that have worked for you. Evidently, very few of you have this problem with your pets which, if you are feeding a palatable raw food diet, I understand why this is usually not a concern.

However, pickiness is not always associated with a poor-quality or boring diet. As one reader stressed, he is sure his dog’s problem with food is psychological. He has a male Alpha dog who his owner feels is playing dominance games with him by trying to take control over his food choices. That may be true as many of us have lived with a manipulative dog or cat at some time in our lives. Think about it; our pets usually have very few choices in their lives. We are the ones who largely determine when they wake up, go to sleep, when they eat, what they eat, when they go for walks, get to go for car rides, their health care, how much active playtime they have, their elimination schedule, etc., in fact, we basically control every aspect of their lives. Dogs and, to a lesser extent, cats are domesticated animals, and one way to think of domestication is it is a drastic reduction of a species’ freedom of choice.  Obviously, domestication has worked out very well for dogs and cats, but there may be areas in the animal subconscious that still crave some self-determination, and manipulative behaviors may be a result of those subliminal urges.  Perhaps if we make an effort to allow our pets some flexibility in other aspects of their lives, they will not feel the need to take control over their food choices. Thank you, Greg, for sharing your thoughts on this interesting concept.  It is definitely food for thought!

Janice in Arizona said we must be more patient about waiting through these hunger strikes. She reiterated that dogs and cats are not suicidal and sooner or later will eat.

Bethany from Idaho added that as you are practicing tough love, be sure not to reinforce picky behavior by giving your pet sympathetic eye contact and enabling behaviors. This is a very good observation. If your pet is trying to gain more attention from you by refusing to eat, your consoling actions are reinforcing his bad behavior instead of reducing it.

Kari swears her super-picky dogs will eat like champions if she adds the right supplementary goodies. She often adds homemade chicken or beef bone broth or NWN’s pork, beef, or chicken liver treats as toppers to her pet’s food. With these super tasty additions, her pets will eat good, healthy meals that they usually reject.  She wrote — I mix in the toppers then put a few extras on top, and once they get started eating the irresistible toppers, they just keep eating until the bowl is empty.

A few readers, who most likely feed kibble, recommended using their pet’s hunting instinct to stimulate their hunger by hiding caches of their meals around the house or outdoors and letting their pets hunt for their food, find it, and eat it. Lick mats and puzzles were mentioned, too. I’m not sure if these would work with raw diets, but enrichment activities involving meals are an excellent idea.

Another suggestion came from Douglas in Washington state, who believes pet parents must be intentional about the energy they project during mealtimes. He is using positive visualization and stress-releasing techniques to reduce anxiety at mealtimes. He feels his cats are becoming more accepting of a variety of foods through the focused energy he is using with them.

Thank you, readers, for your contributions. I like these ideas and know they give all of us more options to help pets become less difficult to feed.  Remember, a calm, relaxed attitude for you and your pet at mealtimes will sweeten your mood and definitely improve everyone’s digestion. Bon appétit!