Fussy Eater

I`m writing on behalf of my mother who has a 3 year old Yorkie,Molly.Her diet consists of salad,hot dog sausages,scrambled or boiled egg.Molly will not eat any form of dog meat or biscuits.
We have tried feeding meat with additives to tempt her such as gravy,fish,oils etc which she sniffs then leaves.
With our dogs we have always put food down if it wasnt eaten that day it would be thrown away.The dogs would always eat it eventually.
Molly will not eat sometimes for 3 days then my mum feels guilty and will give her a salad which she eats.
My mum has took her to the vets who say because she has a very small stomach she doesnt need to eat so much, and not to worry.
I`m just wondering if anyone has had a similar experience with a Yorkie or can shed any light on this dilemma.

I wouldn't call it a dilema i would say your mum is well trained and the dog has it well sussed.
3 days isn't long and i would hold old but sadley your mums feels bad and gives in which isn;t the dogs fault really

there really isn;t much help to offer you and your mum..you already know that its persistance thats required
salad and hot dogs are no diet for a dog and i feel its later in life this dog may pay for the poor diet

good luck

Yes, the dogs just smart
I mean, would you eat dry food if you knew if you held out for a while you will get something better

that is a bit rubbish advice from the vet - sure she dosent need to eat much - and she dosent need all the salt muck from the hotdogs - she is getting v little in the way of neutrients that a dog needs and she will suffer

the eggs are OK has she tried mixing the eggs with the dry food??

I had a very fussy eater (bichon) she would go 4 days without food (but never longer than that).

I hated the fact that she only ate when she had to and at one time home cooked food for her based on the 1/3 of meat, rice and vegetables. She did really well on that so when she was finally into the habit of eating every day i started giving her Arden Grange.

Eventually i phased out the homecooked and she was quite happy on AG. Then the pet shop stopped selling AG so I switched to James WellBeloved and she had no problems (or hissy fits!)

Persistence is the key, good luck

another thing I have noticed with a fussy eater
several really tiny meals a day seem better for keepiing them wanting to eat - sort of never filling them up
Ben would just not look at a huge bowl of food = but a tiny amount and he would eat no problem

We had a big problem getting our Beagle eating when she was young. It all started when she got a tummy bug at around 12 weeks old. The vet told us to give her chicken and white rice for 24 hours. We did this and Beanie loved it the first time I served it up. The second time she turned her nose up at it. I was worried because she was so young and had been ill, so I cooked her some tasty liver. She ate it the first time, the second time she turned her nose up. This continued for a few days with Beanie getting more and more fussy. Her breeder advised us to try and get her eating kibble by mixing little bits of tasty food in with it. It didn't work. She'd pick out the nice bits. If we put tasty gravy on the kibble she'd suck the gravy out and spit out the kibble. We tried every brand of food known to man.

I finally went to the vets to ask her advice about feeding a home cooked diet as I was worried that beanie wasn't getting a balanced diet. The vet told me in no uncertain terms not to be so silly. She said choose a quality kibble and put it down for 10 minutes. If the dog doesn't eat it then throw it away and give her nothing until the next meal. She guaranteed that Beanie would be eating within 4 days, and that 4 days without food wouldn't do any harm. She was right!

She remained fussy until 6 months old and then turned into a dustbin. But up to 6 months we had to be strict and not feed her tasty food or she'd go on hunger strike again.

I have an elkhound who was the fussiest dog ever...tried everything with no luck
He was that bad that he looked far from great and his energy level was not good either.At the age of 2 I considered retiring him from the ring despite a promising puppy career as he was just getting binned every class.
I then got some advice....remove the choice! By putting down food you are allowing him to make a choice not to eat.Do not feed him for 3 days(he would starve himself for longer than this!!)....nothing ,no treats etc JUST water.After 3 days feed what you want him to eat.
My boy has never looked back.He is 6 now and never turned his nose up at anything.He is now competing on open classes and holding his own and hopefully will be siring his first litter this/next year.
I know its drastic but it works!

Check her teeth and mouth for damaged teeth or foreign objects . Then try and last the 4 days of offering the dog food then taking it away after 20 minutes. I used to feed 2 of my fussy eaters (Yorkies)chicken and rice etc some times with gravy. I never managed to last 4 days though.