A different trick works with my cat. If I take the dry food bin over to his bowl and scoop some into it, he won’t touch it. However, if I take his food bowl over to the cabinet where we keep the dry food, scoop it into his bowl, and then leave it over by the cabinet, he chows down.
I think he knows he’s not allowed in the cabinet (forbidden food!), it’s closer to where he sometimes gets treats, and just the novelty of having it somewhere new all help.
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Those cats have their human well trained.
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There’s no challenge in tricking a dog.
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Not starve, no, not unless something else is wrong, but they do have preferences, and may not eat consistently. For many dogs that’s fine, but in other cases it means next time they’ll eat too fast and throw up. And of course, if they get spoiled with human food or even too many dog treats, they may not want their normal food.
My own dog’s weirdness is that he gets bored with the same food every day. Seriously. We do dog boarding at home, and sometimes the other dogs have like half a meal’s worth of leftovers when they leave, and if we mix that in he’s thrilled, no matter what it is. I used to mix dry and canned food for him, and he’d eat better if I did different cans each time.
Now as he’s getting older he gets a mix of kibble and a vet-approved recipe I make myself (not every day, in large batches that I freeze every month or two), which is a lot more people-food-like even though it’s as cheap as dog food, and he eats much more consistently than ever before.
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when a family dog was fading, I would put the canned food on a human plate, microwave it for a minute, and sit down at the table with a fork and pretend to eat it. Then give it to him It was the only eay he would eat an entire meal. It was icky- the food was beef, which I don’t eat and extra fragrant from warming. But I did it every night anyway. Bro did mornings.
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