Hi everyone,
I have a 19 week old pup, Cooper, who is doing well except for eating. I know about the "15 min' food down, take away til next meal", don't keep changing food, etc. Cooper totally disregards his food after 1 sniff. I have asked the vet who suggested mixing a bit of wet food in with the Wellness puppy kibble; that worked for about 3 meals and now the not eating behavior is continuing. Cooper hasn't eaten since late afternoon yesterday and pulls this stuff EVERY day. I am really losing it over this situation. Before Cooper, my mini schnauzer wasn't eating due to cancer; now I have Cooper who won't eat!!! Please help me!! Cooper is about 6 and a half pounds right now and seems to have normal energy. He is supposed to eat a total of 3/4 cup per day and MAYBE gets half of that.:crying::crying:
I haven’t tried to calculate calories in a long time, and of course different food will equal different amounts of calories per serving. But just for comparison purposes, my 14lb adult male Havanese eats a bit under 1 cup of food total per day. There have even been times I thought about dialing it back by a couple of tablespoons because it’s way too easy for him to skip a meal when he’s hoping for something better, like whatever my husband is cooking. His weight is consistent and his frame is pretty solid.
If he is losing weight or not growing, or you’re concerned about his health because of other indicators, that’s definitely something to ask your vet about. But if he has a good energy level and does eat, he probably needs less. From what I understand, the manufacturer’s recommendation is based on averages of similar sized dogs of different breeds so it’s really just a starting point.
Thanks for your response. I am seeing the vet next week and will check with again. Good point of using mfg recommendation just as a starting point. I have never seen a dog turn up his nose to food as this one does and am soooo frustrated. I previously have owned all mini schnauzers and am not used to this. I switched up breeds because the mini schnauzers seem prone to higher cancer rates.
I had a problem with Molly not eating when she was younger. She turned her nose up at everything. I tried kibble, canned, raw, and dehydrated (Honest Kitchen). I finally talked to someone at a local pet store and he recommended a kibble that was coated with raw flavor. We use Instinct ( they have both grain and grain free varieties ) andI top the kibble with freeze dried raw pieces. I believe Stella and Chewys has a similar type of coated kibble. My girl loves it and gobbles up her food now. Good luck!
They are getting along very well! Talie (lab) is very gentle with Cooper. Cooper is definitely the one who looks for trouble!! Talie really missed our schnauzer and has been happier since Cooper joined us. Our only problem with them is that Cooper constantly bites Talie's back legs....any suggestions? Talie will "correct" Cooper if she is really sick of the pestering, but not enough to discourage Cooper from repeating it way too much.
My daughter 9 year old Golden-doodle hasn't been happy with many different foods and she trying out NomNomNow, which is Fresh Cooked Food which comes packaged for each meal. Expensive. So is Honest Kitchen. Will let you know how things.
Working with a nutritionist to learn how to feed a balanced diet to your dog would save tons of money in the long run over what some of these high quality foods costs. Not for everyone but is an option for those so inclined. I have been doing it for 10 years. It is not that hard or expensive.
Hi everyone,
I have a 19 week old pup, Cooper, who is doing well except for eating. I know about the "15 min' food down, take away til next meal", don't keep changing food, etc. Cooper totally disregards his food after 1 sniff. Please help me!! Cooper is about 6 and a half pounds right now and seems to have normal energy. He is supposed to eat a total of 3/4 cup per day and MAYBE gets half of that.:crying::crying:
Well, I had the same trouble with Willow when I got her. Hated her kibble and ate just enough to survive. It was a struggle to get her to eat at all. When we went camping she would go almost a day or to with no food. I even put her kibble in a toy for her try and get out. That didn't help.
Ricky Ricardo's Popi posted about Honest Kitchen. I tried it with Willow and haven't needed to try anything else. She loves it. She anticipates meal times and licks the bowl clean. It's a dehydrated food that you mix with water. Easy to find. A lot of the pet stores and feed stores have it plus it's on Amazon and Chewy. Willow is about 8 lbs. and gets about 1/4 cup. twice a day.
Good luck. Seems like not eating is a fairly common problem on this forum.
I use Honest Kitchen, too. Patti is 14-15lbs and she, too, gets 1/4 cup twice a day. I do add a third of a Honest Kitchen's broth, about 10 pieces of Honest Kitchen crunches and bites of fresh cooked chicken. I tried feeding her 1/2 cup a day and although she ate it all, it was too much and some of it threw.
I started adding toppings because Patti got to where she wasn't very interested in eating. She'd go a day without eating or wait until later in the day to eat breakfast. She now is either sitting in the kitchen staring at the counter top or barking to eat and licks her bowel clean.
However, she LOVES! the bites of chicken on top and won't start eating until I put it on there. :wink2:
1/4 cup mixed with a little broth and water turns into a 1/2 cup. You can add a lot of liquid and as you stir the dehydrated food keeps expanding.
If I added tempting toppings, Cooper would most certainly just eat those!! He is eating some Wellness Kibble with Wellness Puppy canned mixed in. Problem is, he will eat something a few times and then quit. I hope this lasts!! I have never had such a finicky dog in my life and it is soooo frustrating. I will def keep the Honest Kitchen idea as a possible solution if he stops with the Wellness! Does feeding just wet food not a good idea? It would certainly be expensive.
I think, the problem is Cooper is still a puppy and he's changing. Deciding what he likes and doesn't. Patti, now 2 years, old was the same way. If Cooper stops liking Wellness there are many other good dog foods you can switch to. The good thing is Havanese are tiny and don't eat very much, so expensive foods are a whole more affordable than if you have a Golden Retriever or Lab, who will eat about anything.
I don't know how many dog foods I tried. When I brought Patti home at 8 weeks the breeder said to feed her Kibble. I assume all her dogs eat that and when you have many dogs, they'll probably eat anything since there's competition for food. It wasn't long before Patti turned her nose up over Kibble type food.
My daughter's Golden-doodle is 9 years old, her dog has suddenly decided she no longer likes her food, so daughter is in the process of finding something.
Before getting Patti, it had been a long while since I had a dog, and I use to buy whatever canned food was on the shelf, not thinking about dog-nutrition and they ate it. My last dog was 17 years old when I had her put to sleep. She could have gone on for a while longer but it was kinder to let her go. Now there's so many choices and competition between dog food companies, in order to sell dog food there's lots of marketing and emphasis on nutrition.
I'm at a point, I want to feed Patti good nutritional dog food and have figured out it's not that expensive considering the amount she eats.
Sorry I'm so late to respond. Shama's breeder included a clause in her contract that we could not change her food without consulting her. She's been eating Now Fresh kibble since we got her, first the small breed puppy variety, and now the small breed dog variety. We also give her Wellness stew (lamb or venison) as soft food and one spoonful of canned pumpkin. She gets a breakfast every day, and sometimes she also gets a dinner. She'll occasionally go a couple of days without eating. It's hard to track, however, because when I take her to classes (three days a week), I give her treats and kibble there. (A wise friend once advised me to mix in kibble with my treats for training. The kibble takes on the flavor of the treats, and then she gets some kibble along with the treats, resulting in more solid BMs.)
All that to say, I haven't experimented much with food so cannot really advise you, but I can suggest three things. 1) I think you have to try something for a while before determining whether your dog likes it and you like it for what you pick up in your yard, so try one thing without interference for a significant time period (two weeks?) before trying something else. 2) If you cave to a finicky eater, s/he will be a finicky eater for life. 3) Your dog won't starve himself. He'll eventually eat what you give him.
My suggestions may be naive, coming from someone whose dog just eats her kibble. I do remember reading once of a man who had a friend babysit his dog, however. The friend started putting rich treats in the dog's food, and then the dog would no longer eat the simple kibble the man was used to feeding his dog. (Although surely that dog wouldn't have starved itself ...)
I am not a super experienced dog owner since my two current dogs are the only dogs I have ever had. My two dogs love their food. They have never skipped a meal in their entire life! I am not sure if this is because of the food I feed them or they are just food loving dogs. Perhaps some dogs eat to live and others live to eat? I guess some people are that way too. And perhaps some dogs refuse to eat sometimes to self regulate. However, several forum members have reported that their “finicky” dogs started to love their food after switching to something else. Therefore, switching foods may be a good thing to try if people are worried about their dog not eating. I do not think this necessarily leads to always having a finicky eater. Dogs have a natural instinct to eat and if they don’t, perhaps they are trying to tell us something. I personally derive lots of pleasure watching my dogs enjoy their food. If they did not enjoy it, I would definitely switch. Sure, they would eventually eat whatever I would feed them and I doubt a dog will ever starve itself. But I see no harm in trying a few different food options if your dog is not wild about it’s food, as long as that food is balanced.
I agree that it is a good idea to stick with a new food for a bit of time before switching again. Any time there is a change in diet, there could be some adjustment period. I also think it is good to keep an eye on your dogs poop on a regular basis whether or not you switch diets. A dogs poop can tell you many things.
Comfortable and Cooperative Care - to help her be calmer in general - in theory it's good for going to the groomer's and the vet
Family Manners I - to help her have better manners around people - we still need help with some of our basics, like loose leash walking and coming when called
Intermediate Agility - we do our best ...
We've taken many obedience classes (beginning twice and intermediate around six times), and we're pretty good in the class, but our skills don't really transfer to the real world.
We don't intend to ever compete in obedience. We have done a number of agility trials, but we're taking a break from trials right now.
I like to take classes because we rarely practice between classes. I admire the people who practice between classes!
We went to open mat agility today and did terribly. Earlier we'd done fine at Family Manners I class, and afterwards, she did fine at her "photo shoot" (see my Valentine's Day thread), so I should be happy. It drives me crazy at agility when she just STOPS. I wish she were like those border collies who seem to just LOVE the activity. Oh well. We're a work in progress!
There are so many things I wish I'd known when I first got my puppy. One thing you could try is always making it fun, exciting, and yummy to come to you when you say your puppy's name. What I mean is have really good treats ready, let Cooper see the treats, call his name, then reward with treat and play when he comes. If you need to get your puppy to crate him or take him to the vet or take him somewhere else he doesn't want to go, do NOT call his name. Just go get him without saying anything. He should equate name with fun.
Kikopup videos are great, and so are the resources at the following link:
Thanks for those tips (taking him for vet visit today).
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