For the last few days, Edie's been teething and she's finding it uncomfortable to eat her usual diet of Ziwipeak and kibble.

She's always been a bit funny about different textured foods. She'll only eat Burns kibble, not the better quality stuff like Orijen or Acana, and won't eat wet dog food at all - not tinned dog food, not thawed pre-made raw (even super-stinky Natural Instinct tripe, which I'm told makes her special!), not kibble soaked in gravy, nothing. She won't even eat raw fish or fresh raw meats. The only wet food she will eat is cooked frozen prawns (not even the raw ones!), and there's no real nutrition in them. AND she won't eat them if there's anything mixed in there, not even salmon oil! Often she'll nibble at whatever wet food I give her, lick her lips, and then walk away and not come back. It's infuriating, and expensive, and increasingly worrying.

So I guess I'm looking for ideas on what I can try to get her to eat something whilst she's teething. I've ordered some lamb ZP in case the stuff I've been giving her had gone stale, but other than that I'm stumped. Help!

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Will she eat a loosely scrambled egg? Great protein source.

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"Once you have had a wonderful dog, a life without one is a life diminished."Dean Koontz

Would she eat the kibble if ground into powder and made into a liquid she can lap up?

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Nope! I pounded it all up in a pestle and mortar and added:

- Broth
- Water
- Prawns
- Warm milk (only to a tiny amount as an experiment, I know it's bad for them)

and still she wouldn't eat it!

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I think I'd get some Nutri-Cal just in case. I don't know what to tell you. I went through this with Zarita, and it turned out she has reflux. She is now almost 7 yrs old, and eats when she feels like it. We offer the food 3-4 x a day, and finally she eats it. Sometimes breakfast gets eaten at 5 pm. Occasionally 10 pm! I used to rush her to the vets 'cause her stomach would be rumbling, but after many visits and prescribing pepcid I decided she could wait 24 hours to see the vet!

What does the vet say?

I took her in last time something like this happened and unfortunately I didn't get great advice - the vet said she was just fussy and to keep offering the same food until she ate it. Edie did eat, after three days, but then she starved herself for the next three days and repeated. She got thin enough that I could see her ribs, it was really scary. It got better when I switched to mainly feeding ZP, but now it's bad again.

The routine you described with Zarita sounds a lot like Edie's pattern these last few days. Obviously I know advice here is no substitute for a vet, but do you think it might be reflux rather than teething? Her tummy has been making some crazy noises today. I heard that it's okay to give dogs antacids - any experience with that?

(On a side note, it's getting pretty hilarious just how many quirks, neuroses and problems Edie has either that me or my partner also has. She really does take after her "parents"...)

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