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Won't eat/drink at work

Kujo

Well-Known Member
Hey folks!!

It's been waaaay too long since my last post, new job has changed my entire daily routine and I'm rarely at my computer anymore. I miss all the banter that came with this forum, hopefully most of those people are still here and still bantering ;-)

In my new line of work I no longer work from home, luckily Kujo is more than welcome at my place of business so he doesn't have to be alone all day at home. Now my only concern is that he won't eat/drink while we're at work. I believe it's because of the change in routine, also he's always had a bad case of "mama's-boy" and won't eat at home unless he's 100% sure I'm not leaving. (He will literally pause in the middle of his meal to find me and make sure I'm still around before going back and finishing his meal). So while he can come to work with us, a lot of the day he is alone anyway because he is not allowed in the back part of the business and that's where I am the majority of the day. Still better than him being alone at home, but I think since he's such a mama's-boy that he gets separation anxiety and he won't eat/drink.

His feed schedule used to be breakfast and dinner, but he now refuses to eat in the morning before we leave for work because he gets anxious about maybe being left alone and us never coming back. And then he won't eat when we get to work, I'm guessing this is mostly due to the routine change. So I changed his feed schedule so he now gets one meal a day for dinner. I know of other owners who do this, I just personally never agreed with it. But now it seems to be my only option as I want to make sure he gets all the food he's supposed to in a given day. He doesn't seem to mind, he certainly is ready for dinner right when we get home every day though. More concerning is he won't drink his water when we're at work. This one has me baffled, I keep his bowl clean with fresh water so I know it's not him just being prissy. And I know I could just put some light chicken broth in his water to encourage him to drink, but I feel he would just over-drink then to get all that yummy chicken broth.

Overall he's still a very healthy happy boy and doesn't seem to be suffering by waiting to consume anything until we get home, I just don't like it lol.

And since it's been so long since my last post, here are some mandatory pictures :p he turned 4 in July :)

IMG_6378.JPG IMG_6446.JPG IMG_6542.JPG IMG_6681 (1).JPG
 

Nik

Well-Known Member
Welcome back!!! It sounds to me like you are right. I think it is the routine change. The water thing would worry me as well but this sounds stress related.

Love the photos also!
 

MM1234

Well-Known Member
I think you are right that it's the routine change that got your dude a bit off. I would just keep offering the water & keep it available to him, but wouldn't do anything else. He'll drink it when he is really thirsty.
 

DennasMom

Well-Known Member
If you think he's getting dehydrated (like he inhales a bunch of water once you get home) you could take some chicken (or beef) broth ice cubes to work, and give them out as treats. Denna LOVES broth-cubes.

But, I wouldn't worry much about it - if water's available, he'll drink if he needs to... eventually...
Denna's raw fed, so she gets most of her liquid in her meals. She hardly ever drinks water - especially on dreary, rainy days like we get here in the Seattle winter...

He's a looker! I can see why they have no problem letting him go to work with you. :)
 

maryl

Well-Known Member
Have you tried bringing water from home? I've had Newfs that wouldn't drink water when they were being shown unless it was from home.
 

Kujo

Well-Known Member
Have you tried bringing water from home? I've had Newfs that wouldn't drink water when they were being shown unless it was from home.

Interesting!! I know the pH of the water at home is MUCH different than the pH of the water at work. Maybe he can tell the difference and doesn't care for it? I haven't done a lot of research on preferred water pH for dogs drinking water, I can't imagine they're much different than people though. And just like people some prefer their water with more minerals. Thank you for the idea!