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Picky pets, picky people and their stressed out families










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  • 08/30/2007 10:52am

    I had one foster dog for six months (Trixie, who now belongs to my aunt) who never failed to find the raccoon poop in my overgrown, one-acre lot--and roll in it. For a time it was like having to de-skunk her every day (fyi: hydrogen peroxide, baking soda and Dawn works wonders). I always knew it was raccoon feces from the quantity and the particular aroma of dead things it carries with it. Yuck!

  • 08/29/2007 02:01pm

    that's too funny..."excuse me sir, we couldn't help but notice you scratching you but and scooting across the floor...we'd like to ask you a couple of questions about some recent pool poopings." :)

    My hound mix, Baxter, loves to eat crap so I wound up finding out more than I ever wanted to know about raccoons. Raccoons usually use a latrine, so the egg concentration would be very high there. They rarely just dump out in the yard in random places, but I'm always careful about keeping an eye on the Baxter anyway. By learning his body language I've gained at least 3 and half to four seconds to work with before his tail wags and he inhales the scattered PEZ.

  • 08/28/2007 09:28pm

    Thanks Brian. I think it's probably from racoons though I feel like I live in wildlife central and it could be from the foxes, opossums, iguanas or something else. Oddly, I had a racoon poop in my pool a couple years ago. Looked for all the world like human poop, (ie BIG) except with visible worms. I freaked out and called my pool guy (thinking some psycho came into my yard at night and pooped in my pool, fer pete's sake!) who told me they love to poop into water and he got this call frequently. Think I'll deworm the hungry Golden vacuum cleaner just to be safe.

  • 08/28/2007 08:04pm


    watch out for the raccoon poop. If you know your dog has eaten some, it may be wise to treat him with a de-wormer that targets ascarids. Baylisascaris(raccoon roundworm) can cause serious problems.

  • 08/28/2007 12:44pm

    Midnight (original no?) my cat has no problem with any food put in front of him, though he has been put on Iams (dry food) by the vet...please notice the irony here...to prevent kidney disease. Anyways, there is one thing he is super picky about, and that is his cat nip...he must have the right brand- from the right container. No plastic bags for him only the margerine container type of packaging. He wont even eat the fresh stuff or the treats.

  • 08/28/2007 10:52am

    I have a VERY picky cat. She will change her food preferences from morning to evening feedings. She gets worse during stressful times, so the last six weeks of having my moms dog visiting has been a nightmare for her and me. I agree that allowing dogs to go without food is ok but if Katie stops eating I'll go to every length to get her started again. Canned tuna or salmon, freeze dried lamb lung (actually a dog treat but she eats it), whatever she'll take in.

    I had a friend whos cat died while she was away, because the stress caused the cat to stop eating and the person taking care of the cat didn't know how important it was to make a cat eat.

  • 08/28/2007 09:21am

    Barb: Thanks for the opportunity to remind everyone that felines *need* to eat every day--even if just a little. Overweight cats are especially prone to hepatic lipidosis (fatty liver disease) when they don't eat and should be catered to accordingly.

    Herper: I'm trying to get my rat snake to eat frozen mice. Any tips?

  • 08/28/2007 04:39am

    The only picky eaters I cater to are king cobras. And they can be gotten on cheap food (frozen/thawed rats) with effort, it just takes a year or two.

    This does remind me of one dog, who would eat dog food, but made it abundantly clear that people food was infinitely superior in all ways. He performed his pre-dishwasher role with great enthusiasm.

    Anyway, one day I discovered Patak's extra-hot lime pickle. This is a pickle (sauce; think relish) made with small limes, and I was loving it so much that I was just eating it out of the jar with a spoon.

    The dog, of course, sees me eating with relish and comes over to beg. "I'm not sure you're going to like this," I think, but offer him a small spoonful anyway.

    Ouch! Eep! It bit me! Much snorting and paws-over-nose.

    Now he likes all people food EXCEPT Patak's extra-hot lime pickle. When that comes out, he runs out of the room.

  • 08/28/2007 12:27am

    I have had dogs my entire life, and they always ate their dog food as soon as it was poured into their bowls. I always suspected when people said their dog was a picky eater it was because they indulged their dog. I have often said to people that when their dog got hungry enough it would eat dog food.And now I have had to eat my words! LOL! We have a two year old standard poodle that barely eats enough to stay alive, no matter what I offer her. Her vet says she is healthy but her disinterest in food drives me nuts. Thank god, she is good natured and eager to please because treats during training don't interest her at all. On the other hand, we have a JRT that will eat anything that can't move faster than her-LOL!

  • 08/27/2007 10:28pm

    Great post as always Dr. P!!

    One suggestion - or an idea for a future post - is to explain to your readers that while it's usually OK to let a dog go hungry until he decides to eat what you know is good for him (assuming no health problems of course) it can be really dangerous to do the same with cats. If my facts are correct, even lean cats can develop hepatic lipidosis after a period of fasting. Am I right?

  • 08/27/2007 09:53pm

    I've been very... fortunate(? or not..lol) in having pets that will eat what is put in front of them. And sometimes behind them.. on them.. near them.. and a couple times, put in front of/on me!

    Agreed on the lab comment...lol. Shiloh never met a food she didn't like.

    Though, the animals I work with are a different story. Lemurs in particular.

  • 08/27/2007 07:44pm

    One of my cat's is like that. One time we went to three different stores looking for the purple bag of treats because those were the only ones she would eat. I tend to cater to her because she weighs 5# and is TINY. So if she wants the purple bag of treats, then she gets the purple bag of treats. Only, after driving from store to store and finally finding them, she decided she didn't like those any more and wouldn't eat any.

    I'm sorry, but that made me laugh.

    She has you trained well. =)

  • 08/27/2007 06:28pm


    Fortunately, the other two are not picky and ate up all three purple bags.

    What we'll do for our kids.

  • 08/27/2007 02:15pm

    Interesting..... while I won't go to Dr. Kuhly extremes with what I will consider food, I do pretty much eat anything. And I am the spawn of two who are neophobic. Actually, I consider that to be the cause. Any opportunity I ever had to eat anything new, I took it. Spices? The more the better!

    I can't comment on the finicky dog thing because it's outside of my experience. (Retrievers and retriever mixes live here.) I've heard of finicky cats, but the barn cats (spayed/neutered!) pretty much eat anything we put out for them. Except the Strongid smeared on white bread that the vet assured us would be an easy way to de-worm them.

  • 08/27/2007 01:49pm

    Also....for the record, just so no one thinks I'm projecting my issues onto my dog.....My dog is a canine Hoover. She will inhale anything I put in front of her. It's fascinating.....the only thing I've seen her spit out was a piece of pickle. Otherwise, she's game for anything!

  • 08/27/2007 01:42pm

    I have a simple rule about this: Eat it or go hungry.

    The cats seem to think I'm not onto them when they decide that their food isn't as tasty as Taz's. It's the people at the organic pet food place that fall into the food trap. I'll tell them how the cats have been picking out of Taz's bowl and they'll say things like "Ohhhh...they must need a change." No, they don't. They are fine with their Serengeti, thank you very much.

    Along those same lines, cats are all about texture, so if something doesn't feel right in their mouths, there is a good chance they won't eat it so in that regard, I cut them some slack sometimes. But if they've been eating the same diet for months then stick their nose up in the air at it suddenly and neither of them are sick, I let them mull it over for as long as they see fit. The food and water bowl are still going to be there when they are ready to quit being food snobs and get over themselves.

    Taz will eat anything so I don't have to worry about him going on a food strike. My mother's Jack Russell used to go on food strikes when they disappeared on vacation. I treated him the same way I do with the cats. The food was there when he was ready to eat it.

    I really think it's the humans that cause such problems. Animals don't have food issues like people do and people tend to forget that.

  • 08/27/2007 01:35pm

    I'm am a total Neophobic (thanks for the new word!!). And, as much as people shrivel their faces and roll their eyes at us, or talk down to us because we are not true 'foodies'....well, all I can say is we can't help it. I love food. And I love really good food. But some ingredients I find so completely repulsive, that the mere thought of my mouth coming into contact with them is enough to make me skeptical of any new dish. I could subsist entirely on PB&J or plain pasta with butter and be happy as a clam. I could also eat anything my chef/step father puts in front of me (but he knows my dislikes and I trust him). I will eat at favorite restaurants, typically ordering the same thing every time. I don't know how to explain it except it is not a CHOICE. I came out this way. I remember being 4 or 5, sitting at the dinner table in the dark after beign told "you will not leave the table until you try it....". NOT FUN.

    So, before you cast dispersions upon us, just know that it is something most of us are aware of and try to overcome, if very slowly. The good thing is, I never have any qualm with kids that are picky or other people that might have a food preference, I can totally relate and a very accommodating hostess!

  • 08/27/2007 12:48pm

    I have a pekinese that has decided that ANY type of food that has been in his bowl is obviously tainted and not to be eaten. (It used to just be dog food.)

    He had definite preferences. The problem is he tends to hoard food and we can't always tell if he doesn't like something or just hoarding it!



  • 08/27/2007 11:39am

    Can't say I've got that problem here, either. The dog will eat pretty much anything, as will one of my cats. (Once he actually knocked a cheeseburger OUT OF MY HAND.) The other cat will eat any cat food offered, but isn't quite as interested in the human food that comes out of the kitchen. Unless it's veg beef soup, then he's VERY interested.

  • 08/27/2007 10:34am

    Wow, that would be a pain in the butt! No neophobics in my house. My kid was raised to eat anything and now she revels in it. My dog has a very short list of dislikes, running toward the sour-salty of certain chips or pickles, and that's about it. She's 4 and thriving on the BARF diet and some human leftovers (plus an occasional chip!) And she will eat racoon poop and iguana poop with real relish. Go figure. The cats eat with abandon and announce each dinnertime vocally. I switched them to organic-free range etc after the NutroMax they used to eat was involved in the pet food recall. I thought they might not go for it but no problem.

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