These suggestions are in response to my request for ideas for getting a Dal to eat, when he went on a hunger strike after living with several bitches in season.

• Tuna, canned salmon (pick out the bones first), macaroni and cheese, baby food.
  
• Parmesan cheese, cheddar cheese, chicken, Campbell's soups, peanut butter spread throughout the food....carrots
  
• My dog does this to me when we have to travel far for a show and stay in Hotel the night before a show. I boil chicken for her and that she always eats. Also cheese and brown bread with a thick layer of butter work wonders.
  
• Try Gotu Kola, a herb. I have used this in the past and it stimulates appetite. My bitch is 45 pounds I used 3 tabs am/pm for 14 days
  
• I use Nilda's recipe on http://www.dogskitchen.com - he scarfs down!
  
• No guarantees but what worked for me for several months when my old bitch had liver cancer and no appetite was to feed a can of Mighty Dog mixed with 1 cup of Puppy Eukanuba. She would only eat that once a day. My plan was to get the most useful calories into her in the smallest package. And the Mighty Dog and Puppy Eukanuba was easy to swallow and enticing in small quantities. Smells 'real' good too!! And then again most dogs like Filet Mignon - rare!
  
• Have they tried raw meat? If they can get him to eat some food, extra oil will add weight. Maybe a tbs of olive oil AM and PM. Since I have been BARFing none of my boys has missed a meal even when we have had two bitches in season at the same time.
  
• How about Frozen Bil-Jac Everyone always loves it and it seems to do a good job of putting weight on in a hurry.....
  
• Frozen Biljac always worked well for me. If he won't eat it makes great stuff balls....
  
• I used peanut butter mixed with food for my dog for a while. It helps put the pounds on if they like it. Also did the force feed for too long. I crushed the kibble and mixed it with instant mashed potato (dry) with hot water to make meatballs and popped those down. Sometimes he even took them willingly.
  
• Cook chicken, and hard boiled eggs. My Dal also liked Chinese fried rice.... With the eggs, our dogs just take the entire cooked egg, shell and all; they love it!
  
• How about Kraft macaroni & cheese? That worked on some of the rescue dogs that came through here.
  
• We have had good luck with canned spaghetti, macaroni and cheese, and canned salmon.
  
• I have this happen quite frequently both with girls in season and on the road, my guy never eats good on the road. I mix cottage cheese or plain yogurt with his normal dry kibble and sometimes I mix Iams canned chicken with my normal dry kibble. This usually works like a charm. My guy even likes a slice of bread.
  
• 1) canned cat food - not a lot, but some of the fishy ones mixed in with their regular food
  2) Bil-Jac, the frozen variety - smells like Purina Omolene (horse feed) but again, a bit mixed in gets attention
  3) there is a gravy-like substance whose name I forget, but the local pet store carries it. Pour it over regular dry food.
  
• No guarantees on this, but when my pup tried to be a picky eater, I added bananas. I have yet to see a dog deny these. Also, since they are a bulk fruit, they help in gaining weight. Mash some bananas in the food, maybe even mix with some pasta and/or cottage cheese.
  
• One of my Dals was a very picky eater, and I continue to have boy dogs that are finicky. For emergencies I dose with Nutri-Cal.
  
• As enticements, my best recipe is macaroni and cheese, warmed slightly with garlic powder (not salt). The heat increases the smell and garlic makes most dogs salivate and then they eat. Scrambled eggs with lots of cheese also was a favorite. My new puppy, also a picky eater, likes anything with bacon grease on it. Just some thoughts. But the garlic works best.
  
• I have a very finicky bitch who has always been a poor eater - tried lots of different enticements, one day she'd eat the next not. Well, I've been feeding my whole crew Pedigree for years (dry, canned for treats) - I've been reading the list about olive oil ...... my finicky girl is now licking her bowl clean & cleaning her brothers! As a side benefit, they're also getting even better coats. I fee then 1 T morning & evening with their dry - they ALL go nuts for it. I use Bertollini's extra light.
  
• I Looked after a dal sometime ago while his owners went to Europe..the dog just wouldn't eat the stuff they left me here..so I made him a roast chicken..meat ball..peanut butter and banana sandwiches... he never lost a pound!!
  
• I have had and or lived with another breed that didn't eat well while going through adolescence. One of my current Dals is also the pickiest eater I have ever had for a Dal. Like yours, my guys are usually pigs. I have force fed but it takes a lot of time and with the other breed there is always a concern with bloat. What has worked for me on several occasions is to get a whole chicken or a whole turkey; Then boil it and make soup keep adding water as it boils down and boil the carcass until all the meat falls off. Then pour liberal amounts over there regular food. It keeps well in the fridge so I nuke it in the microwave for each meal. All my guys prefer it warm to hot and a pot lasts about one week and you can keep adding a little water. I have also had luck with melting margarine 1/4 to 1/2 cup and pouring that over there food and work them up to the 1/2 cup or it could upset their stomach.
  
• And then there is "Saluki Formula," which sighthound breeders feed dams with new litters when the bitches just can't be bothered to eat otherwise - here's the recipe:
  1 c. Cottage Cheese - regular
  1 c. yogurt - plain
  6 egg yolks (in light of salmonella being found in eggs, these should probably be cooked now, though they were raw in the original recipe)
  1 c. mayonnaise
  1/2 Karo syrup
  1 can Evaporated milk
  Optional: Vitamin B
  Mix in blender till soupy. Pour in bowl.
  
• Some other ideas: Put him in a crate in the car and try feeding him there - maybe even taking him for a ride to a parking lot away from all those girls. Alternately, crate him next to the girls - our boys sometimes are calmer if they know exactly where the object(s) of their affection are located - and no other boys are nearby.
  
• In lieu of really force feeding, you might liquify the food (or use Saluki Formula) and use a syringe (without needle) to get the first few swallows down....sometimes getting started helps, and then the appetite comes back.
  
• Another weight gain is ENSURE. Long time ago, had a 5wk. old pup that survived parvo but when off I V's he had such a hard time. I finally remembered what my sister's Dr. put her on, after a servere concussion, a complete liquid diet. Use the vanilla flavored one. Use by it's self or add to regular food. My now retired vet, said he then used it for dogs after surgery, intestinal disorders and when all else failed for whatever reason
  
• There is ONE thing, that I finally stumbled on, that I could add. And, I found that they would eat it.. for sometimes even up to a week or more, before turning their picky little noses up at it! Homemade "chicken soup" poured over, and thoroughly mixed into, their food! All I did to make the "chicken soup"...was to slow simmer/low boil a small package of dark meat chicken (dark..more fat), in a pot of water...and also added a dash of garlic powder/or garlic salt to the water. And that's ALL! I didn't add anything else. When the chicken is fully cooked, remove any bones (if any) and shred it, in as tiny sized shreds as possible. (Then put the shredded chicken back into the same water that you boiled it in, the "soup") You can then evenly divide the "soup" up into little Tupperware containers....for later meals. At each meal, just pour about a cup of the "soup" over the food, and mix thoroughly (I fixed my girls the food and soup mixture as almost "floating"). I also found that the very tiny, just shreds, of chicken helped eliminate "picking out the good stuff, and leaving the dog food behind" trick. And, the water, fat that has boiled off, and garlic, all add taste to help "disguise" the dog food. They loved it (at least for a few days!
  
• What worked for me with my Dal, is to take him off the premises when our bitch is in season. Let him have a really good run to get the bitch off his mind and then hand feed him. Chicken breast and pasta was something he would always eat too.
  
• I've been there and done that way too many times. What we do is add a little canned peas, canned carrots, boiled white rice and or baked beans in their meals. Not all at the same time. One or the other. All our dogs love it. I had a boarder here this week and she didn't eat until I added something special in her meal every day. Never had another problem.
  
• We fed our Dal potato skins. I don't know it its a quick fix but it did help put weight back on him after we had females in season.
  
• My Dal was always my fussy eater. I did everything from spoon feeding her to anything I could get her to eat. She liked rice, cottage cheese, yogurt, chicken broth, some of those gravy flavorings, she loves noodles and butter. Sometime just a little bit of bait was enough of get her to eat.
  
• Fat Balls Recipe
  6 pounds fatty ground beef or turkey cheapest you can buy
  1 1/2 cups Total Cereal
  1 1/2 cups Wheat Germ
  1 1/2 cups Regular Oatmeal
  1/2 cup olive oil
  1/2 cup Peanut Butter
  2 pkg. unflavored Knox Gelatin
  3 to 4 Medium Eggs
  1/2 cup Honey or Molasses
  Mix it all together in a large bowl with you hands, and make into appropriate sized balls for your dog, I make about 1 inch to golf ball sized for adult Golden Retrievers. We use this for a picky eater at shows, and for quick weight gain when needed. Also used it to introduce RAW meat to our dogs.

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