I searched through past threads and found a posting where a man seemed to have the same challenge I'm facing right now with Maya. I feed her Innova and pump salmon oil on it. She's not wanting to eat when I feed her. This has happened here and there in the past, but it's become an every day thing the past week. I'm not worried about her health--we recently got a clean bill of health from the vet, and she still has lots of energy.

From what I've gathered here, it seems like I should take away her food after 15 minutes. My question is whether I should ditch the food that has salmon oil on it from the morning, and whether I should only feed her the amount she would get at night, or give her the full day's helping in one meal. I'd also love any insight as to why dogs do this....frisbees and squirrels are a higher priority? Could she need more morning exercise?

Do you mean the dog is losing weight from not eating?

And I'd put it down, pick it up after a few minutes, and refrigerate it to offer it again for the next meal.

No, she's the same weight. I'll make space in the fridge for her food.

If her weight is good on what she does eat, then don't you think that maybe the amount you are offering is more than she needs?

Sometimes the fats in the food or oils can get old and rancid. That can throw a dog off the food.

Try it without the oil. Or, try a fresh bag of kibble.

Oh, good catch. If a dog starts refusing a food previously accepted, I would always believe the dog (after the horrible 2006 recalls).

And oil, of course, is not just non-beneficial if it's rancid; it's potentially carcinogenic.

I've been following the recommended amount for her weight (2 and 5/8), but maybe it's still too much. I can try reducing her amount to see if that changes anything. Any guidelines for how much to reduce by?

I wondered if her food could be going bad. It's a new bag, but I've kept it in a part of the kitchen that can get warm. I do keep it in a plastic bin with a tight fit, and it doesn't smell bad, but I wondered if it is still going bad. I also wondered about the salmon oil--I worried about it going rancid as well, so I threw the last bottle out and have been refrigerating the new one.

Thank you (as always!) for the advice.

If you try reducing the food amount and/or increasing the exercise with no change in food refusal you may want to consider feeding once a day. Alyssa made that suggestion to me after struggling horribly with food refusal and it absolutely did the trick with my dog.

While I believe twice daily feedings are preferable, my dog really does better with one meal/day.

I have had (and currently having) this problem with my dogs. Rogue started being picky and refusing food at around 11mo and took her until almost 2yo to finally eat well. She would now eat drywall if I fed it to her. Her son Stryker is now doing the same thing. He is the one I posted on a while back who has dysplasia in both hips and is undergoing corrective surgery on both. It is very difficult to get this boy to eat! he does better when I hand feed him or do training commands (sit, heel etc). He became very skinny and I was worried about him missing ANY calories. My good friend is a vet and suggested i have him checked for Giardia as she has seen dogs refuse to eat when they had this(I have had it and yes you are sick to your stomach!). He had no other symptoms (solid stools normal energy levels). Sure enough he was positive for giardia and they also found that he had Sarcocystis. Jyl called a specialist on this as she wasn't sure where they got this from. They can get it from raw meat and yes I am a raw feeder. He is now being treated with drontal and everyone is on Flagyl. I can't say his appetite is greatly better but he has gained a couple of pounds. I give him a slurry of K-9 super fuel twice a day and offer him anything I can get him to eat. I have also made satin balls for him and added peanut butter to the recipe. this is a VERY high calorie food. if anyone wants the recipe I can post it. I am hoping things will improve once:
a) he is out of pain with his hips
b) the bugs are gone
c) he out grows his pickyness like his mother
For now he gets whatever he wants to eat, whenever he wants to eat it. He is only 65lbs (1yo rottie) and should be closer to 75-80 lbs).