Puppy gone on hunger strike!

[ernikins]

Well not exactly a proper strike - more like will eat treats but not her dinner! Have had her on Purina Pro Plan puppy since I had her (6 months old now) and she was a great eater - really tucks in to her food. However in the last few weeks she has gradually become less interested - I put it down to the fact she is teething so have been soaking it well - but now has given up completely with it!
I don't want to go out and buy a big bag of food that she won't eat - has anyone got any suggestions of good food that I could try with her? Do companies give trial packs? Or would mixing some meat with some new biscuits maybe work? Want to make sure she is getting all the right nutrition!!! Any help welcome!!

 

[sevenoceans]

Mine was like that at 5/6 months too but i stuck with the diet and once all his teeth was through he wolfs them down! he's now 9 months old.

I just left it on the floor as my pup knew it was there for it to eat also i didn't give him anything else at all except chews... they'll eat if they are hungry... he ate about half during his teething stage. Plenty of chews recommended to save your furniture!

 

[SilverSkye]

My dog did exactly the same and i panicked tried nearly every food going and cooked tripe liver you name it i tried it! Have a friend that is really into dog behaviour and when i spoke to her she advised to lift the food as soon as she took her nose away from it and not put it back down again until the next meal time. It took about 3 days of her barely eating but now she eats properly and regulary and i dont have to mess about changing food she eats just dry complete and we dont end up with food down all the time.
If you think it could be teeth there is a brand called frolic that are really really soft maybe that might help.
Good luck

 

[CAYLA]

I agree......Remove the food if she shows no interest after a few minutes......if the food is there whenever she feels like it, there is no hurry for her to eat it......where as if you lift it....she is more likely to think I wil get it before it dissapears.
I would also stop feeding her the treats all together until she begins to eat her own fod as she is treating it as a secondary/backup food supply.
I board dogs and have had some that have gone up to a week without touching their food....they will never let themselvs strarve, its amazing how long the can go without eating and changing food frequently makes them much fussier eaters.

 

[sloulou]

Def agree with what everyone said about leaving food down and taking it away if not eaten after 15 mins. That was certainly the advice I was given.

One other suggestion... Is Purina Pro plan a dry food? Because my puppy (a lab - so not known for being fussy eaters LOL) went completely off dry food and his James Well beloved balls... and would hardly eat them - so i did some research into types of dog food and found that the best quality wet food is Nature Diet and you can feed that with mixer - like laughing dog mixer (which is good or apparently asda own brand is also good as no chemicals).

I think Loki was just telling me he didn't like the food as he loves nature diet and always eats it (I have to admit I don't actually feed that as I do more of a fresh food diet mainly - but that isn't for everyone and so I wouldn't necessarily say you need to do that.)...

Apparently dogs like to have a combination of wet food and something crunchy and dry as well.

 

[JAK]

Ditto everything CALA says basically! In over 30 years of working with dogs, in every conceivable situation, I have never, ever known a healthy dog starve itself to the brink of it being detrimental to its health!
(Cats are another matter, little brutes will merrily starve themselves virtually to death just because the food bowl's in the wrong place or something! lol)

I have worked in many types of kennels, inc. quarantine, where it is pretty imperative that the inmates eat well & regularly, as they are there for the long haul & owners get a miffed if they turn up to visit their little darling & it looks like a starvation case!
I even worked for one woman who routinely starved all her boarders for the first 2-3 days! Trust me, on the day they WERE offered food, not even the fussiest of eaters turned its nose up at what was offered!

If he has eaten the food previously, it is unlikely to be that he dislikes it intently but if you do want to try a change of diet, the time is now but you must stick with it!
(We ahve always found James Wellbeloved to be liked by most canines!)

Get tough on your pup now though, or you'll be a slave to this for the next 12-16 years! Dogs aren't stupid y'know! Good luck!

 

[sloulou]

JAK - I do agree with you, you certainly don't want to end up with a fussy doggie!

But I encourage you to change the food and feed your dog a pet food that doesn't contain nasty things like meat derivatives - instead of proper meat...

Good dog food brands are:
Burns dry food
James Wellbeloved dry food

Nature diet wet food
Forthglade Wet food

and you can add mixer to the wet foods, but again check the ingredients - good ones are the two I mentioned above (laughing dog or asda).

Information comes from a dog behviourist/ trainer nutritionist with 45+ years dog experience. She is happy that I share this with people as it is her passion/ mission in life to get dogs fed better!

 

[JAK]

Well, I have to admit, I wouldn't want to eat some kinds of dog food if I were a dog.......Vitalin for example! Ugh! Yuk!
If he REALLY doesn't like the dry foods, people have been feeding dogs for decades on good old meat & biscuits & they seemed to do pretty well on it! lol

Just don't pander to the little oik out of sympathy or panic!
An old showdog of mine was a complete c*w as a puppy, refused to eat more than one tiny meal a day from the age of about 3 months! She grew to the max. height limit for a bitch of her breed & was full of beans until the day she died!

 

[sloulou]

Yes - meat and biscuits does seem to work well

Jak - what sort of dogs to you have? have you posted pics? I would like to see them anyway

Can't have been a lab your old show dog LOL - mine lives for food...

 

[JAK]

No, not a Lab, thry'll eat anything that can be put in the mouth, chewed & swallowed usually! lol

Belgian Shepherds - Tervueren.
This was my old bitch as a young puppy, all legs & food refusal & the second is a head shot of her as an adult!

She had energy to spare & was still doing agility a few weeks before she died! We always said she'd have a heart attack one day at full pelt but cancer claimed her first!

She was a one-off & there'll never be another like her......the world's official naughtiest dog ever! (Though very well trained! lol)

We have a couple of trials/working bred Border Collies now, which are mowhere near as difficult as some folk make out, mine are lovely, though they have a very strong 'eye' & an incredibly high work drive!

I'd love another Terv one day maybe?

 

[sloulou]

She is beautiful

and a very leggy puppy!

Collies are good too - my parents have one... she is lovely - but I know she was harder work than my lab is... but then again - a lab is an easy option really...

 

[JAK]

Labs are lovely, I have a number of friends who trial & shoot with them, really bright & easy to train but maybe that's just the working type?

 

[sloulou]

Mine is a working type... and he is easy

He will be doing gundog training soon...

we have hi-jacked this thread a little - sorry!

 

[JAK]

Yes, it is a little hi-jacked, oopsie, never mind, we gave advice too so we should be OK!

 

[ernikins]

Thanks for all your replies - I have persevered and not given in - she never has the food down for long as my boyfriends dog was a really fussy eater so they left the food down all the time and now he never eats properly - so I learnt from that one. I have got some samples of the JWB to try as it was something I was interested in before anyway. She has actually been quite keen on the little bits I have tried with her so am going to see what happens!! I just have to decide what flavour she likes the best!!! Think she is going through a naughty phase (when are they not!!) as she has also this week learnt to jump the baby gate that we use to keep her in the kitchen and then chewed (as in destroyed) the carpet on the bottom step!! Hopefully just a phase - but as I have never had a puppy on my own before I worry!!!!

 

[JAK]

Well good luck!

As regards the baby gate, you can get doggy 'baby gates', which are twice the height but they are quite a ridiculous price!

I would be quite strict about the baby gate, not allowing any paws on it or anything. If puppy comes too near or attempts to jump up at it (even slightly!), a sharp 'OFF!' will hopefully teach him to stay clear.

Try & train him to only come through when invited, again not allowing any pawing at it or jumping up at it!
Give it (gate not puppy! lol) a sharp rap with something if necessary to reinforce this!

I have friends with giant breeds 'kept in' with a baby gate! They could now step over it if they wanted to but don't, due to the thorough training they had as pups, so it simply never occurs to them to try!