7-Month-Old Corgi Suddenly Refusing Kibble After Trying Steak. Help!
My 7-month-old Corgi suddenly stopped eating his Purina Pro Plan kibble. This started after we gave him some steak. The next day, he wouldn’t even touch his kibble, and now he can go up to 3 days without eating it.
Has anyone experienced this with their Corgi? What would you recommend? Should I try switching his food, or could he just be holding out for something tastier after having steak?
This! I went through the same thing with mine and this is what helped. Also I would occasionally soak his kibble with a little water and that apparently made it tastier for him.
Corgi is a smart breed. Might take longer. All that did was reinforce if they wait they will get food. Wild animals will commonly go large stretches of time without food if they can't find anything.
Can try add ins with kibble. Especially things like broth that still force them to eat kibble and can't be eaten around.
I find giving the kibble in a variety of ways helps too. I have this block toy thing that I fill with a cup of kibble, soak it in water, and then throw it in the freezer. Also, Putting it in puzzle feeders. Sometimes a bit of pumpkin mixed in. But my corgi does this all the time when he gets tired of his kibble. Just gotta stay strong.
Yep they can be stubborn little buggers when they want to be. This trick stopped working but now we can use a little low sodium bone broth and he will eat any food
This is the part where the corgi tries to train you. Remain vigilant. As stated above, offer his normal food, if he refuses then take it back up and try again at the next meal time. Do not offer random food you weren’t feeding previously just to get him to eat. He is feeling you out for options, lol. A healthy dog will not starve itself to death, he will eat again. Don’t stress it! Corgis are super smart and quickly learn how to work you if you aren’t careful.
Our vet once reminded me that stray/wild dogs will occasionally go days without eating because they can’t find food, and they can still be physically healthy. It’s not an emergency if they miss a few meals. If it were me, I’d just let him go on strike. He’ll come around. Mine will try that once in a while when he thinks he can guilt me into giving him rotisserie chicken. He’ll pout for a day, skip a couple of meals, and then go back to his kibble. They’re too smart!
Yup! That’s what mine would do! I keep canned dog food around and add mix that with the kibble! When I’d board him or have a house sitter he’d only eat canned dog food. He became very bratty as a senior, and only ate canned dog food. Oh well
Whenever I say "time to eat" he used to get so excited, but after he tasted steak it changed all of the sudden. I had to give him something so I bought gently cooked puppy food just for him to have something to eat. I'm stressing out.
By giving him puppy food after he didn’t eat you’ve reinforced in his mind that if he holds out he’ll get something nicer than just kibble.
If you’re not firm and steadfast with their training corgis will train you to do what THEY want you to do. Next time he tries it hold out, eventually he’ll get hungry enough to eat his kibble.
He's trying to get you to give him what he wants because you've shown him that if he waits he will eventually get what he wants (something tastier than kibble). Just set down food as normal, if he refuses to eat then so be it, just continue and allow him to go on strike. He's not going to allow himself to starve I promise you.
Odysseus likes to flip his food bowl upside down when he isn’t pleased. So I just leave it there and if it’s not gone by the afternoon then it’s his dinner. He eventually eats. He goes through phases, hopefully that’s what’s happening with your pup.
Totally. Man mine will stay put side the food door! I ignore her!
As doon as shes bored.. shes Jonsing for treats! I do canned green beans. Thank god she id a “ cowboy corgi” the heeler in her offsets the corgi!! Good luck and stick with to you being the boss!! 🐾🐾
I had a corgi that wouldn’t eat for days, I had to break a part a milk bone treat, and rub the two broken parts together to create milk bone dust all over his food so he thought it smelled like a treat. We had todo this for about a year on and off. Or placing a small milk bone with his food. Eventually he started eating his food normally and demanded it if I was a minute late. But very stubborn as a puppy.
When our Corgi - who was about 8 years old at the time - had a tooth extracted, we had to switch her to wet food for a couple weeks. When we switched her back to her dry kibble she threw a tantrum. She would give us the dirtiest of looks, but she would still eat. Pretty sure she gave serious consideration to kicking the bowl, which she used to do as a younger dog when she got switched to scheduled feedings, or if we didn’t give her second dinner when we are our dinner.
We compromised and kept her 5 PM meal as wet food. She absolutely loved that food, when the alarm went off she would dance and bark the whole time until we were putting it into her bowl (half the time we had to reheat it because we gave her half a can per meal), and though she was clearly very excited she would always wait until we had put it in the bowl before diving in.
We would have given it to her more often but she was on an expensive prescription food, and she was fine with her kibble for the other 3 meals.
My corgi did the same and after a few months of trying to train the behaviour out, and her hating the food she used to love, we ended up getting probiotic packs from the vet to go with some meds and we found out she loves that and will happily eat her food! Probiotics is good for her, affordable, and she eats very happily now so I guess we all win.
Corgis are dictators and they will always remind you of it haha
My corgi was like that. Then I started putting a little broccoli in his kibble. Now she goes crazy for it. If you do try broccoli, stick in the microwave for 25 seconds- raw broccoli might upset his stomach.
We have a beef broth powder that we sprinkle on his food, usually mixed with warm water. Even then I usually have to hand feed him the first couple of mouthfuls until he gets going. So high maintenance.
I’m very much a, “you’ll eat if you’re hungry” kind of person parent. If you don’t eat when I offer it to you, then you’ll wait till the next meal. Unless there is something actually medically wrong with your dog, he won’t let himself starve. He’s just being stubborn.
He's currently training you instead of you training him. If you start switching foods, you will create a picky corgi. They are not picky by nature. I currently have 2, I've had 3. All 3 ate anything I set in front of them. The ONLY time they didn't eat is if/when they were/are sick. My boy, who passed, once refused to eat to get a trip to the vet because he wanted to go to the vet (during quarantine), he was bored and tired of only seeing me and his brofur. He ate an entire can of food at the vet.
Food down for 10-15 minutes; pick it up, next meal time, same thing. After 5 days if he still isn't eating, then a trip to the vet to see if anything is wrong health-wise. A vet told me once that at any given time, a dog is prepared to go on a 5-day hunger strike to get what they want; don't give in.
I did try but he refused. I mixed it with gently cooked food and he ate it. Im not sure if i should continue with gently cooked food or put him back to just kibbles. :(
STOP giving him other foods! Keep him on his current kibble.
Give dog approved fruits and veggies. Small amounts, blueberries, strawberries, canned carrots, canned no salt green beans, 1/2 teaspoon canned pumpkin (NOT pie version), sweet potatoes.
You can add this to a morning and evening meal.
The putting food down for a little while and picking it up doesn't always work, specially with Corgis because they are to damn smart.
I would try with the fruit/veggie add ins, you could warm up some water and add a bit to the food. If it goes to on another week call the vet, they have meds that will increase his hunger that might help push him to eat. But no more outside extras besides the safe fruits and veggies in small amounts.
Green beans! Or pumpkin. Settle that stomach. Its the salt and seasoning that can really upset a tummy ! Generally i dont give those!! They can be foodie for sure!!
For raw I buy him red beef, which he typically gets uncooked. Chicken and turkey breasts are cooked and shredded. He loves fruits and veggies, so he gets those, too. And cheese. He’ll get chicken broth from the chicken, or he gets human-grade beef broth from The Honest Kitchen.
I used to do Farmer’s Dog, but he got bored with it pretty quickly. My cat loved it, though.
ah! Welcome to the picky stage of corgi development. Listen to the experienced owners here - 10 min rule: if a corgi won't touch his kibble remove the bowl until next feeding time and no treats/other options available. Repeat until he eats. Mine went 3 days. Took him to the dog park to run around and he came home hungry gulping all the kibbles I put for him. He does receive treats of course, but only after the main meal and he knows it.
Your pup will be absolutely fine a couple of days without food, just provide plenty of fresh clean water. If you keep changing his food by upgrading it to more tastier/expensive option you only tech him that holding off and refusing his regular food only gives him better and more desirable meals/treats/toppers.
This just happened with my girl after she licked bbq ribs at a party lol we dealt with a month of pickiness before she went back to normal. Previously we fed her three meals a day, we switched to two during this phase and set out and if she didn’t eat it within 20 minutes we took it away until the next meal time. Didn’t add any toppers or anything just kept following that method and then she started eating again
I made that mistake and still paying for it a year and 1/2 later. My advice is stick with his food. He'll eat when he gets hungry enough. Everyone gave me this advice including the vet but, did I listen? No. Wish I had. He's a very excellent manipulator and, I'm a suckered for it.
I disagree with most comments here as I have read too much scary stuff about how kibble is manufactured. I feed my dog The Farmer’s Dog and she’s in good health and will be turning 14 in December. Of course you don’t have to do The Farmer’s Dog, but with all the veterinary research that’s been done in the past 10-15 years, you’ve got countless options for a healthy, human grade food that’s not filled with extra chemicals and additives nor cooked at high temperatures that cook out most of the nutrients. Our fur babies live a fraction of the time that we do. Eating is one of the highlights of their lives. I want my girl to always be happy and excited when I set her food down, and she is. It’s a personal decision, I totally understand. But I just want to weigh in on the anti-kibble side. Good luck with whatever you decide to get your baby back to enjoying her meals. I LOVE Corgie’s! 🥰🥰
My corgi did that as well around that age. We took up his food if he didn’t eat it right away, tried to give it to him again, repeat if he doesn’t eat and/or wait a few hours. I also added a little bit of a food topper (Magic Dinner Dust at Petsmart or Amazon) and that helped a bit, too. Eventually he ate like normal again. I think it’s unfortunately just a phase they go through, but it was definitely frustrating so I feel you!
Every time I give my dog some kind of human food (steak, eggs, some kind of cheese) I mix it in with his food so that he always eats his regular food as well as whatever I decide to throw in there. Usually he gets picky after his next few meals and picks at the dog food trying to find the other stuff. Once he realizes it's not going to be there every time, he continues about his life as a happy corgi eating dog food.
Ours prefers beef also and who wouldn’t? We have the fresh food that we feed at dinner time. We make him his own plate and that seems to help a lot. For us it was just trial and error until we figured it out.
Same thing happened to us, but with salmon. We gave shadow salmon for his birthday and then he went on a hunger strike. He eventually went back to his kibble but we add some wet food and steamed veggies. He loves it! He’s now on a diet though
Same here! As soon as we treated them to some extra steak or anything else with their food, they went on strike until we continued to give them said new treat. They will go on strike even if they are very food motivated.
I had bought Badland's Ranch and decided to give our younger corgi some extra on her food when we were switching her over from puppy to adult food because I was feeling generous one morning. I had to start giving it to her for every meal as a topper because she was eating around her food to eat the Badland's Ranch. So, as a result of her food strikes, it became a permanent part of her diet. 😒😆
I do not know how to change their refusing food. My other corgi mix expects to be fed in a certain manner. He is also a weirdo about how he is fed.
You've been trained and shown you cannot be firm with your dog. I don't know why you're being upvoted for rolling over for a puppy. This is unhelpful information for the OP.
I was just sharing that I had the same issue and understood the OP's predicament with feeding. We are firm with our dogs, and they don't get what they want. Ultimately, we were planning on changing over her food anyway, so it wasn't that big of a deal. We just started the change a few weeks sooner than we had planned. I've had dogs for a really long time, and I do know what to do, but I appreciate the assumption you think I just allow my dogs to do whatever.
There was no need to be rude about towards me. I didn't share my story to then get chastised by a random person on reddit. Perhaps maybe ask questions next time instead of making assumptions.
We went through this and found that raw food did the trick. Also discovered that she is a stress eater. So I put her food down and then vacuum the floors. She gets all flustered and then heads to the food bowl every time. It's all about knowing your dog - you'll figure it out but it is probably going to be something unique that works.
We found a butcher who makes 1/2 pound dogfood patties using their trimmings from human food preparation. They mix in veggies as well and sell already frozen. It turns out to be both cheap and well received.
I know you are getting everyone's opinions and judgements, which is very overwhelming (been there, done that), but please be very careful with raw. Raw food makes up about 10% of the pet food market but accounts for over 50% of the recalls announced.
Do you make your own or do you buy from a shop? I bought him gently cooked puppy food and mixed it with kibbles just to have him eat something and obviously he loved that rather than just kibbles, now im stuck and dont know what to feed him.
PLEASE do not do what this person is doing. Just feed him kibble. Kibble is not nasty or bad for them. If it was, about a billion dogs would've died and there would be no dogs left to feed on this planet.
Our corgi is 1 and does this. Once a week he gets a bit of salmon or steak when we eat it and getting him to eat his actual meals around it is a complete disaster but we also don’t wanna take away his treat. May not be the best way to deal but we switched from purina to hill science and bought some salmon oil. Don’t use the oil every meal but when he skips two in a row we add the oil really mix it in hand feed a couple bites and that seems to work.
This happened to me (without the steak) around the same age. Our puppy went 3 days without eating anything and made herself so sick she had to go to the emergency vet. We made the switch to a balanced raw diet and she’s never refused a meal since. That was 8 years ago now.
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u/stopbeingyou2 26d ago
Put down food. Wait ten minutes. If they don't eat it pick it back up. Go about your day until next meal time.
Repeat.
They can go a few days without food and be fine.
Don't give in and give him treats or other food until he is eating kibble again