year old GSD no longer likes his food - Page 1

 My year old GSD was ill (throwing up for 5 hours), while I was away (handler). Until I returned he didn't eat much and was not himself. Vet visit came up with nothing. 
Since I have returned he is back to his playful self, but no longer likes his kibble food. He has been eating Chicken Soup for large breed since the beginning and has always loved it.  I have cooked chicken/rice and mixed it in with his dry. He is eating some of it but not all. (He never left food before).I noticed that he stretched after eating. Does that mean anything?
Should I be concerned?  Now what??

I would listen to your dog and try a different food.  I was just checking out some different brands of food today, including Canidae and noticed several people who mentioned they had fed this food to their dogs for a while, but now their dogs were turning up their noses or getting sick after eating it.  The company could well have changed its ingredients and your dog may have noticed and no longer likes it.  My dogs are all on TOTW Wetlands and have done really well on this food.  Would be worth checking out some different brands and see if your dog will do better on something else.

I've had dogs that WON'T eat their normal food unless in desperation...I then changed it to TOTW and they all eat very good...I do feed twice a day and feed TOTW in mornings and RAW Chicken in the Evening...I normally feed the Salmon flavor...but have now been using the Lamb flavor...the reason I use these two is because of the 25% Protein...the others are 32%...Just try a bag of this and see how they like it and how they do on it...

~Bob~

 Thank you for the advise. I have been feeding my cats TOTW with great success. I try to keep the protein below 27% so TOTW will fit the bill.

i would think after throwing up for 5 hours there would be a downturn in appetite - give the dog some time to recover

Bob & JoEllen -- why do you use a kibble that is lower in protein?

This link is an independant analysis of dog foods. Great info
Reggie
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/

Sounds like my cat... when I first got her (she was a rescue), I fed her wet food, and she loved it. I had to put her medicine on it, seeing as she was sick, but at any rate, she got better so I switched her to kibble and she hasnt eaten wet since.

Some are just picky, I guess. :)

How long has this been going on, because Turk is right, he needs a little time to get back to normal.

Was he off his feed, and then you mixed in the chicken and rice and he ate that?

Is he now refusing even the chicken & rice? Because maybe he wants the chicken and is holding out on just eating the kibble-only diet.

You say he's happy & playful. Bowel movements normal? (Maybe less because of less food, but normal?).

If he's really happy & healthy, you can try the old trick of putting his food down for 20 minutes, then pick it up and nothing, no treats, table food, chewies, nothing, until the next meal, and make that 50% of normal.
Say you feed him 4 cups of kibble.  He doesn't eat it all in 20 minutes. Put it away and the next day offer only 2 cups. He doesn't finish that in 20 minutes, the next day offer 1 cup. If he still refuses food after all this, there may be an underlying problem. But often this method helps get a finicky eater back on track and back to normal quantities.

Wait! Are you guys serious? The handler was gone. Upon return, the dog is yacking and refuses to eat what was once good. How do you know Mr. Roper wasn't giving the dog anything it wanted while gone? Hence, the vomitting and refusal to eat his food.