chi not eating much

My chi is about 4 yrs old and lately she isn't eating much of her dry dog food ( IAms) Proactive . I have to take it out of the bowl and coax her to eat a couple  of bites , she nibbles but not much , any ideas whats up with this , our cat is the same way , so i got her some moist food , and she ate half of it !

[ginger899]

I looked after someone's dog the other day for 12 hours while they were away. He was a good dog, not spoilt at all. They left some kibble for me to give him (very good quality by Burns) a glucosamine dog-treat, and four tiny gravy-bones as treats)
He ate the gravy bones, he ate the glucosamine treat....so there was nothing wrong with his appetite. And there can't have been anything wrong with his teeth either as he was fine with the biscuits.
But when it came to the kibble, he wouldn't eat!
His owners told me beforehand I might have difficulty getting him to eat this, as he was never keen. They put it down to him being awkward.
Anyway, when I saw this I thought he might like it moistened. So I added a small amount of water, swirled it all around a bit, then gave it to him.
Guess what? He wolfed the lot down straight away!

You could try this. You could also try adding a little chicken stock too and doing the same thing with that. (water left after chicken has been boiled and strained, unseasoned)

[pixie76]

hi im a vet tech and the first thing that comes to mind for what you described is her teeth. first i would have her teeth checked, she could have a broken tooth or an abscess that would make it painfull for her to eat hard food. also i would see what else is going on with her, is she otherwise acting normal or has she not been herself lately? or it could just simply mean that she is sick of the flavor of the hard food

[Misfits4Me]

I agree....Have her teeth checked & rule that out.....85% of dogs have periodontal disease by the age of 3...That blows the hard food theory!!!!!  
However, I'm leaning towards she's not happy about her food....Is this all she's ever had???  Iams is pretty low grade & it could be that she's trying to tell you that.
Please, check out "Dogfood Analysis (Dot)Com"  for food information....They've done all the work for you.....It's a great resource when determining a better quality food to feed....
They rate food from 1-6 Stars....Iams is rated 1 (Which is the lowest grade)!  Look into feeding her from the 4-5-6 Star group and I know she'll Thank you for it!
She needs a change..........Good luck and let us know....Karla

[Margot49]

Agree, first thing to do is give her mouth and teeth a good inspection to make sure that is not the problem or, best yet, have your Vet do an exam.
If that is not the problem (I deal with that here with a very picky Greyhound, probably the only one.  LOL), you might try what I do and cook up a little chicken breast (no skin) and some brown rice and try adding some of that with a little water to the kibble and see if that encourages the eating.  If it is hot where you live, often some animals just do not eat as much in hot weather.