Why does my dog take a bite of food and walk away? Tips and Tricks

The 8 Most Common Reasons Why a Dog Walks Away From Its Food

Whenever your dog is acting strangely, it’s a good idea to first rule out a medical condition. If your dog has usually been excited to eat and is now walking away from its full food bowl, something might be going on with its health.

Bring them to the vet for a complete exam. In some cases, your dog may have a mouth injury that makes eating painful. Dental disease can also cause extreme pain in teeth and gums. If your dog has a cracked or broken tooth, a nerve may be exposed. Even if your dog is hungry, the pain may be too overwhelming for them to try to eat.

Your vet will check them out and perhaps run a few tests to make sure nothing else is happening internally. Once you have ruled out a medical condition, you can use trial and error to see if the issue is any of the following.

Why does my dog take a bite of food and walk away?

They’re Not Hungry

Just like you don’t want to eat when your belly is full, neither does your dog. They might come to check out the food to see what’s there, but that doesn’t mean they want to eat just yet. If you are feeding dry just leave the food out and see if they come back to it later. If you are feeding fresh or wet food refrigerate the food and try again after 2 hours or so.

Enticing Your Pup to Eat

If you’re dealing with a picky eater, there are a few things that you can do to entice them to eat their food. Just keep in mind that as long as there’s not an underlying medical condition that’s keeping them from eating, there’s nothing that you strictly need to do to get them to eat.

Eventually, their survival instincts will kick in, and your dog will eat their food. But if you’re trying to speed the process along or just want your dog to enjoy their meals more, you can try these three things to get your dog to eat their food:

  • Add water or dog-safe bone broth to the food.
  • Mix in dog-safe human food.
  • Mix dry and wet food.
  • Just keep in mind that once you start with one of these methods, there’s a good chance that your dog will start to expect it and won’t eat their food unless you do it each time.

    Food Aggression | National Geographic

    Does your dog seem uninterested in their food? Do they take a few bites of their dinner and wander away, leaving the remainder of their meal untouched? Dogs who seem less than enthused about their meals can worry their parents, especially if the vet has mentioned that they look a bit too thin. This lack of enthusiasm towards mealtime is often described as “distracted eating,” and while the problem can seem worrying at first, it’s not impossible to solve.