# Strange eating habits



## Stephah_ (Jun 23, 2016)

We have two dogs: Daisy is a 4 year old Aussie mix, and Larry is a year old APT. We feed them one cup of Blue Buffalo dried food twice daily. Three days ago, Daisy stopped eating her full portion, leaving about half. After this happened three feeds consecutively, I started giving her just a half cup at feedings. Again, she only ate half. Then last night she growled at Larry (something she hasn't done since we brought him home) and took over his food bowl, but only ate a few bites. She didn't even touch her own food. Now she refuses to eat at all. What do I do?

Some other details:
-We have a three month old baby
-We moved about a month ago
-we live with my husband's parents and their two dogs eat different food
-Daisy still runs and plays normally, and drinks plenty of water
-She has never been food-, human-, or dog-aggressive before
-We haven't switched their food since I adopted Daisy two years ago

Please give me any insight you might have!


----------



## naturalfeddogs (Jan 6, 2011)

Your new baby and the move stand out to me as maybe a stress trigger. I'm not an expert on behavior by no means, those would just be my first thoughts. Maybe someone with some more experience on these things can help, and give you advice as to how to handle it.


----------



## Georgiapeach (Jan 24, 2011)

I would be sure to greet Daisy first when getting home (even stopping what your doing with the baby when you get home, at least for a few seconds), feed her first, give her treats first, etc. I think that with all the recent changes, her place in the pecking order has been challenged (in her mind) by the new baby, the new environment, and the new dogs - including your parents' dogs. You may want to feed the dogs in separate rooms or in their crates, facing away from each other, so that Daisy doesn't feel threatened at feeding time. Some dogs get anxious when other dogs are near their food or when changes in the household occur. In other words, she needs to be made to feel like she's top dog again.

If these things don't help, I'd suggest a change in kibble. I've never had good luck with BB. I've had dogs that wouldn't eat it, and others who got stomach problems after eating it.


----------



## Dude and Bucks Mamma (May 14, 2011)

My first move would be to see the vet just to rule out anything hidden. My guess would be the stress from all of the things you have listed, but my fear would be that I would attribute her strange new behavior to the stress only to find out that I guessed wrong. I could never live with myself if one of my dogs started acting so out of character and I assumed it was the stress when it was really something medical that just happened to line up with these other things. 

I am still going to say that I _do_ think it's probably the stress, but if she were my dog, the vet visit would be a precaution. Does that make sense? I feel like I explained that poorly.


----------

