[Syllean]

Worf has been getting a bit picky recently, but to be honest I don't think he ever really liked his science diet puppy food. I'm getting to the end of the bag and decided to switch him over to The Honest Kitchen chicken with whole grains recipe based on reviews I've seen here and in Reddit.

I started him on the transition on Sunday, and then on Sunday evening I noticed he finally had a permanent tooth coming in and a baby tooth hanging by a thread. It looks like several more are coming through today.

I was planning to transition him gradually over a week but he seems to be eating around the kibble and I've noticed he's chewing his freeze dried treats a bit funny. I don't want to keep throwing away food that costs me $98 a box.

Does anyone have tips for transitioning a picky eater or for feeding as new teeth are coming in?

 

[krandall]

Worf has been getting a bit picky recently, but to be honest I don't think he ever really liked his science diet puppy food. I'm getting to the end of the bag and decided to switch him over to The Honest Kitchen chicken with whole grains recipe based on reviews I've seen here and in Reddit.

I started him on the transition on Sunday, and then on Sunday evening I noticed he finally had a permanent tooth coming in and a baby tooth hanging by a thread. It looks like several more are coming through today.

I was planning to transition him gradually over a week but he seems to be eating around the kibble and I've noticed he's chewing his freeze dried treats a bit funny. I don't want to keep throwing away food that costs me $98 a box.

Does anyone have tips for transitioning a picky eater or for feeding as new teeth are coming in?

It is not likely that his picky eating has much to do with his teething... Many puppies eat dry kibble before they have any teeth at all, and many older adult dogs who have had lots of teeth pulled eat dry kibble.

Freeze dried treats are not that hard... if he is chewing them "funny" his mouth may feel a bit odd, but he's still eating them, right? My guess is he is eating around the kibble because he likes the new food better. Science Diet isn't very good food.

 

[Syllean]

It is not likely that his picky eating has much to do with his teething... Many puppies eat dry kibble before they have any teeth at all, and many older adult dogs who have had lots of teeth pulled eat dry kibble.

Freeze dried treats are not that hard... if he is chewing them "funny" his mouth may feel a bit odd, but he's still eating them, right? My guess is he is eating around the kibble because he likes the new food better. Science Diet isn't very good food.

He was chewing his treats normally until this week and he seems to be favoriting certain spouts in his mouth. That's why I assumed that his gums are a bit sore. He still wants the treats more than he wants to chase a rabbit and that's saying something.

I agree about avoiding the less tasty food and would jump right to just THK if it wouldn't upset his stomach.

 

[krandall]

He was chewing his treats normally until this week and he seems to be favoriting certain spouts in his mouth. That's why I assumed that his gums are a bit sore. He still wants the treats more than he wants to chase a rabbit and that's saying something.

I agree about avoiding the less tasty food and would jump right to just THK if it wouldn't upset his stomach.

If you want to make sure he eats it, you can grind it up on a food processor or blender. That's how I make puppy mush when weaning puppies who have no teeth at all! I mix it with goats milk, but you can just mix it with a bit of water and whatever new food you want to feed. Then he can't avoid it.

 

[Syllean]

That's a great idea and I never thought of it. I just need to do enough for a few days.

 

[krandall]

That's a great idea and I never thought of it. I just need to do enough for a few days.

That shouldn't be hard... I was doing enough for 5 puppies for several meals a day, and I could do a couple of day's worth at a time in a couple of minutes in my Magic Bullet!

 

[EvaE1izabeth]

Sundance ate around kibble and picked out the one he liked best, especially to pick out freeze dried, and he’s really good at it! He usually gives up after a few days, because he ends up with smaller meals, but I get that you’re trying to prevent stomach upset. I dont know how the freeze dried bits are in your formulation, but I give about 1/8 cup freeze dried kibble. I press the freeze dried apart (mine crumbles easily) and sprinkle it at the bottom of the bowl. Then kibble goes on top and water on top of that. Blending them together sounds easier!

 

[Silk Dog]

Help! It's been a long time since I had a Havi pup. At what age do they lose their baby teeth and is it okay to give a pup kibble mixed with canned food (that's what the breeder has recommended?) I can't even remember my first Havanese losing his baby teeth, but then again, I'm having more and more senior moments.

 

[krandall]

Help! It's been a long time since I had a Havi pup. At what age do they lose their baby teeth and is it okay to give a pup kibble mixed with canned food (that's what the breeder has recommended?) I can't even remember my first Havanese losing his baby teeth, but then again, I'm having more and more senior moments.

They usually start losing teeth around 4 months or so. But like with human children, it's a process. It doesn't happen all at once. It happens one tooth at a time. For most, it is not a big deal at all.

And yes, ALWAYS start feeding exactly what they have been eating with the breeder! They have enough changes going on in their little lives! You don't want to change food right away too. If there is a reason that you don't care for what the breeder was feeding, you can start to transition once you've had him home for a couple of weeks.

 

[Silk Dog]

They usually start losing teeth around 4 months or so. But like with human children, it's a process. It doesn't happen all at once. It happens one tooth at a time. For most, it is not a big deal at all.

And yes, ALWAYS start feeding exactly what they have been eating with the breeder! They have enough changes going on in their little lives! You don't want to change food right away too. If there is a reason that you don't care for what the breeder was feeding, you can start to transition once you've had him home for a couple of weeks.

Many thanks!

 

[Syllean]

Help! It's been a long time since I had a Havi pup. At what age do they lose their baby teeth and is it okay to give a pup kibble mixed with canned food (that's what the breeder has recommended?) I can't even remember my first Havanese losing his baby teeth, but then again, I'm having more and more senior moments.

I'm not sure if my boy lost some teeth without me noticing but I think he just started having his permanent teeth appear at about 5 and a half months old.

 

[EvaE1izabeth]

Help! It's been a long time since I had a Havi pup. At what age do they lose their baby teeth and is it okay to give a pup kibble mixed with canned food (that's what the breeder has recommended?) I can't even remember my first Havanese losing his baby teeth, but then again, I'm having more and more senior moments.

My breeder recommended mixing kibble with canned food to moisten it for the first 6 months or until permanent teeth were in, and to start out with 3 smaller meals a day if possible. I think Sundance probably showed signs of being able to move to 2 meals around the time we stopped the canned food. I didn’t notice when he lost his teeth! But it worked with my schedule to feed him 3 meals because lunch was a convenient time for me to take a break and work on training. I adjusted the servings sizes and started using freeze dried toppers instead of canned and he did well on 3 meals for 6 more months, which worked out great for us.

I think the purpose was to soften and to provide more nutritional value and moisture. Rehydrated freeze dried or frozen patties both retain more nutrients than kibble and both have more moisture than kibble. If you’re interested in something like that, maybe get input from your breeder. It’s probably better to wait until the puppy is settled in, but adding canned food seems unnecessary in that case.

I was obsessively careful about food transitions! Sundance was my first puppy and during his first weeks home he had a diarrhea from a virus. After that “learning experience” I wasn’t taking any chances on stomach upset I might be able to prevent! I usually prepared at least 2 weeks worth of food into bags, more if I had enough of the old food, increasing the amount new food only after a few days, and only by a couple of tablespoons at a time.

 

[LWalks]

If you end up w a very small puppy, my only note is that you may need 3 meals for a bit longer! We initially transitioned JoJo to two meals when she was maybe 5 months old, because she wasn’t always eating, but she was tiny (I think about 4-5 lbs at that point) and wasn’t getting enough to eat when I tried to give it to her in two portions. So we went back to 3x for a couple more months. We’re now back at two— kibble in the am, and Just Food For Dogs (a fresh food) for dinner. I tried to increase the size of her meals as the vet said she could stand to gain a little weight (she’s not dangerously underweight, but he said is definitely a little thin) and she would leave the extra portion. So now I’ve been increasing a TINY amount in hopes of getting her to a slightly bigger meal. She is funny though- she likes kibble, and she likes wet food, but she doesn’t like them mixed together, which is what I tried initially! I tried wetting kibble initially to make it more palatable as well; and she also wasn’t a fan of that. So we stick to what works! The mixing them up in a blender is a good idea— she probably would have gone for that!

 

[krandall]

I'm not sure if my boy lost some teeth without me noticing but I think he just started having his permanent teeth appear at about 5 and a half months old.

It would be extremely unusual (and not a good thing!!!) for him to be getting his permanent teeth without LOSING his baby teeth. THAT would be a reason for a trip to the vet!

The first teeth they normally lose are their incisors... the little row of teeth they have, top and bottom, along the front of their mouth.

 

[krandall]

My breeder recommended mixing kibble with canned food to moisten it for the first 6 months or until permanent teeth were in, and to start out with 3 smaller meals a day if possible. I think Sundance probably showed signs of being able to move to 2 meals around the time we stopped the canned food. I didn’t notice when he lost his teeth! But it worked with my schedule to feed him 3 meals because lunch was a convenient time for me to take a break and work on training. I adjusted the servings sizes and started using freeze dried toppers instead of canned and he did well on 3 meals for 6 more months, which worked out great for us.

I think the purpose was to soften and to provide more nutritional value and moisture. Rehydrated freeze dried or frozen patties both retain more nutrients than kibble and both have more moisture than kibble. If you’re interested in something like that, maybe get input from your breeder. It’s probably better to wait until the puppy is settled in, but adding canned food seems unnecessary in that case.

I was obsessively careful about food transitions! Sundance was my first puppy and during his first weeks home he had a diarrhea from a virus. After that “learning experience” I wasn’t taking any chances on stomach upset I might be able to prevent! I usually prepared at least 2 weeks worth of food into bags, more if I had enough of the old food, increasing the amount new food only after a few days, and only by a couple of tablespoons at a time.

Lots and lots of puppies have absolutely NO problem eating kibble with no canned food from day one. A friend of mine has a litter right now, and whence came time to wean them, she tried all the "usual" weaning foods (all "mushy" things and goats milk mixes, ground up cooked chicken, ground up hamburger,,, you name it, she tried it) and they flatly refused. One day, she put a bowl of kibble in the pen for the mom, and FOUR WEEK OLD puppies with NO TEETH AT ALL went over and started chowing down on totally dry puppy kibble! (it is pretty common to feed moms puppy kibble because it is higher in nutrients and calories than adult kibble, and the moms need that when they are nursing!)

So... They weaned DIRECTLY onto DRY puppy kibble at 4 weeks! Now, they were still nursing several times a day too at that point, but they are 8 weeks old now, and still with her. The mom is not nursing them anymore, and all they eat is kibble. We did their evals last week, and they are wonderful puppies... but they all failed the "food" test! They don't want ANYTHING but their kibble, and they want it in their BOWL, thankyouverymuch! LOL!

So. a particular breeder may have a "thing" about feeding puppies canned food for a certain length of time, but they don't NEED it just because they are puppies.

 

[krandall]

If you end up w a very small puppy, my only note is that you may need 3 meals for a bit longer! We initially transitioned JoJo to two meals when she was maybe 5 months old, because she wasn’t always eating, but she was tiny (I think about 4-5 lbs at that point) and wasn’t getting enough to eat when I tried to give it to her in two portions. So we went back to 3x for a couple more months. We’re now back at two— kibble in the am, and Just Food For Dogs (a fresh food) for dinner. I tried to increase the size of her meals as the vet said she could stand to gain a little weight (she’s not dangerously underweight, but he said is definitely a little thin) and she would leave the extra portion. So now I’ve been increasing a TINY amount in hopes of getting her to a slightly bigger meal. She is funny though- she likes kibble, and she likes wet food, but she doesn’t like them mixed together, which is what I tried initially! I tried wetting kibble initially to make it more palatable as well; and she also wasn’t a fan of that. So we stick to what works! The mixing them up in a blender is a good idea— she probably would have gone for that!

This CAN be size-related, and it CAN just be the dog. When Ducky was an adolescent, he also got kind of skinny for a while, and I needed to up his calories more than I could add into his two meals. So I added a much in for him too. I just gave him a soaked Stella and Chewies patty for lunch and eh scarfed it RIGHT down! (his Nom Nom is pre-portioned, so can't easily add to that, and didn't really want to feed him more than the breakfast kibble he's already getting)

 

[Syllean]

It would be extremely unusual (and not a good thing!!!) for him to be getting his permanent teeth without LOSING his baby teeth. THAT would be a reason for a trip to the vet!

The first teeth they normally lose are their incisors... the little row of teeth they have, top and bottom, along the front of their mouth.

He's definitely losing his baby teeth, I just don't know if he already lost the insisors or if those are still baby teeth. I don't know what permanent teeth look like. Most of his premolars are quite loose right now and I think I can see one of his canines coming through.

 

[krandall]

He's definitely losing his baby teeth, I just don't know if he already lost the insisors or if those are still baby teeth. I don't know what permanent teeth look like. Most of his premolars are quite loose right now and I think I can see one of his canines coming through.

If he’s working on those, he’s probably done with his incisors.

 

[EvaE1izabeth]

Lots and lots of puppies have absolutely NO problem eating kibble with no canned food from day one. A friend of mine has a litter right now, and whence came time to wean them, she tried all the "usual" weaning foods (all "mushy" things and goats milk mixes, ground up cooked chicken, ground up hamburger,,, you name it, she tried it) and they flatly refused. One day, she put a bowl of kibble in the pen for the mom, and FOUR WEEK OLD puppies with NO TEETH AT ALL went over and started chowing down on totally dry puppy kibble! (it is pretty common to feed moms puppy kibble because it is higher in nutrients and calories than adult kibble, and the moms need that when they are nursing!)

So... They weaned DIRECTLY onto DRY puppy kibble at 4 weeks! Now, they were still nursing several times a day too at that point, but they are 8 weeks old now, and still with her. The mom is not nursing them anymore, and all they eat is kibble. We did their evals last week, and they are wonderful puppies... but they all failed the "food" test! They don't want ANYTHING but their kibble, and they want it in their BOWL, thankyouverymuch! LOL!

So. a particular breeder may have a "thing" about feeding puppies canned food for a certain length of time, but they don't NEED it just because they are puppies.

I honestly think Sundance would have been fine without it. Same with the adult food instead of puppy size kibble. He is such an enthusiastic chewer, he really gets in there with his teeth when he’s eating, even though he eats fast. Which is interesting because he isn’t at all aggressive with chews! But it was one of those things that didn’t hurt anything and since we were feeding kibble it added nutritional value.

I think our breeder provided this kind of information as a starting point. It worked out well for us. Talking with the breeder about specifics is a good way to go.

 

[krandall]

I honestly think Sundance would have been fine without it. Same with the adult food instead of puppy size kibble. He is such an enthusiastic chewer, he really gets in there with his teeth when he’s eating, even though he eats fast. Which is interesting because he isn’t at all aggressive with chews! But it was one of those things that didn’t hurt anything and since we were feeding kibble it added nutritional value.

I think our breeder provided this kind of information as a starting point. It worked out well for us. Talking with the breeder about specifics is a good way to go.

Right! It is REALLY important to lean on your breeder for information about your puppy! You trusted your breeder enough to BUY a puppy from them, right? If you trusted them THAT much, why would you not trust their advice on how to handle the puppy when you first get them home? They know THEIR puppies better than anyone else!

If you DON'T trust their advice, I don't know why you would be buying a puppy from them...