Puppy not eating well...

[MissSBird]

Hey guys, was hoping you could give me some advice. We have a young puppy. He's 9 weeks on Wednesday and we got him on the third of May. He's not our first puppy, but it's been 10 years since we had one so is kind of a learning curve again.

We've been finding he doesn't eat very well. He's currently on a puppy dry food, at the lowest of the 'amount guide' for his type on the back of the bag. He gets excited about his food, eats a bit of it, then just leaves it. Sometimes he'll go back and nibble, but he rarely finishes a meal completely. When you pet him you can feel his little ribs easily.

He has grown and put on weight since he arrived, but still feels thin and doesn't finish a meal. Yet he seems healthy in every other way. He's active and playful, sleeps a fair bit but that's what I expected him to do at this age. His eyes are bright, nose is wet, gums are pink - in every way seems a healthy dog apart from doesn't seem to want to eat.

Thinking of taking him to the vet if his appetite doesn't improve soon, but thought I'd check in and get some opinions of those a bit more experienced than me.

He's a bernese mountain dog, should it make any difference.

Thanks!

 

[AmyMay]

Don't you feed him any wet food??

 

[MissSBird]

No, though the dry food is softened with hot water (cooled before we put it out). Our last bernie was brought up on dry food quite happily until his last 3 months when his appetite was disappearing, and this is also the diet that both breeders that we've got puppy's from recommended to us for them.

 

[ChesnutsRoasting]

With my pups, i st@rt to introduce gr@du@lly @ v@riety of foods @swell, including sm@ll @mounts of r@w mince, chicken, rice &eggs just to m@ke their diet @ bit more interesting. Your pup sounds bored with his current diet & I think you just need to introduce new fl@vours. Excuse the @'s, my key to the norm@l letter h@s broken!

 

[CorvusCorax]

I do think it's a wee bit too early to be feeding straight dry food and water, FI we never used to let our pups go before eight weeks, he is still a tiny baby and it is probably too much for him.
But that's by the by, BS has given some good suggestions (an egg over it, mix with goat's or cow's milk, etc) and remember to still break up the meals into three or four a day at this age.

 

[MissSBird]

Alright, I'll try adding some different things to his diet and see if that helps. It is being split into three meals

What, ideally, would you have been feeding him CC, and when would you have started to make the transition to dry food?

 

[CorvusCorax]

Well back in the day when we were rearing puppies there was hardly any dry food about
It depends on the puppy of course, but he does sound overfaced.

As BS says, things like scrambled eggs, milk, Weetabix, porridgey type things as the main ingredients and introduce the dry more gradually.
Some dogs never really take to dry food. FI my dogs rarely get just dry food on its' own as adults - tin of tuna in oil, yoghurt, eggs and milk (with a culture) all get added for a bit of variety.

 

[MurphysMinder]

If he is 9 weeks on Wednesday by my calculation he was under 6 weeks when you got him so was imo very young to leave his litter so he may just need a little time. Although latterly I have used dry food as oppose to minced beef etc to wean pups I always soak it well so it is very soft and then mush up with a fork, you could try doing that. Adding goats milk is a good idea, or specific puppy milk like lactol, ditto eggs, tuna etc, but I think pups do eat less when the haven't got litter mates to compete with. As he is a bernese he is probably feeling the heat, my dogs appetites tend to drop off in this very hot weather.
Presumably you will be visiting a vet in a week or so for injections so unless he seems under the weather I wouldn't bother before then.

 

[MissSBird]

After chatting to my sister my memory has failed me slightly (too much time in uni books) and he is 10 weeks this Wednesday, not 9 weeks. Not much better, but a little.

Thanks for the further suggestions

 

[BigRed]

Don't forget that young puppies have very small stomach's. It is easy to put some food down and be disappointed they are not eating it all, when in fact they couldn't get it all down if they tried. I have a 14 week old whippet puppy, she eats well, but she is growing so fast, I can easily feel her ribs because all that food is going into her long legs. I leave complete puppy biscuit down, but I also give her a small bowl of milk for breakfast and raw minced beef with an egg on it. She will also get cooked chicken.

Finally, it's much easier when you have more than 1 dog, because dogs, especially puppies eat better in a competitive situation - ie, I better eat it before she does...

 

[galaxy]

From my experience, I'd say don't worry.

Harley didn't eat properly until he was out walking at 12 weeks. I think he just wasn't hungry....

He was only purely dry puppy food then. We used to mix it with weetabix (or sometimes a little grated cheese which we were using for training, it was only a little and didn't upset his tum). But otherwise, we didn't worry as he was growing well and putting on weight. As soon as he started going for walks, his appetite came and now we have to slow him down!!

 

[MissSBird]

Well I gave him his lunch, the usual mixed with a little tuna I had, and it went down very well. Didn't eat it all but much more than usual. Thanks for the tips and reassurance

 

[Ponyfeet]

This all sounds like good advice, especially about giving him scrambled egg, porridge etc. My puppy loved all that. Then start mixing the dry in with it, but gradually. I was also suprised how young you got him.

Good luck!

 

[haycroft]

im sure he'l settle soon with his eating
good advice given
me personnaly wouldnt leave any food down al the time(makes them fussy)..set meals times,even 4/5 small meals..dogs wont sarve themselves,they soon learn when its for their meal
maybe try giving smaller meals so he can finish his bowl and then as soon hes eating all add a little more food

i have a 16 week old whippy puppy shes fed on redmills plus meat/eggs/fish/chicken/goats milk..not all at once though

good luck

maybe weigh him regulary to check his weight also have you wormed

puppies need to be worm regulary,ask you vet

 

[bex1984]

I've been getting worried about my puppy not eating enough too, he just picks at his meals, but last night we discovered that he just doesn't want to eat out of a bowl...put the same food on the floor or on a plate and it all gets eaten. Worth a try maybe?!

 

[MissSBird]

Yes, he has been wormed etc.

I was a little surprised myself at how young he was - though again my original post is slightly off. New forum won't allow me to edit and correct it. The situation was a bit out of my hands though, and is by the by now.

 

[CherryB]

My lab puppy was the same, which was a big shock compaired to our last lab which ate everything within seconds! she was on dry food that came in her puppy pack, we then changed it to half dry and half meat, and she is now on just meat as she seems to enjoy in more and now (at 6 months) is eating fine and eventually at a good weight.
The vets always advised us not to worry, even when she looked vey skinny as she was still alert and active. They just suggested she may not like her food and to gradually try other food. She has also gone through stages of eating loads and then the next week eating very little. Im not sure if this is 'correct' but if she was hungry we would feed her as much as she liked as we knew the next week she might not eat at all!
I wouldn't worry too much, as the vets seemed to think it was quite normal. the only time the vet was concerned was when she was sick 3p! and she had an xray to make sure there wasn't anymore money inside her!

 

[MissSBird]

My lab puppy was the same, which was a big shock compaired to our last lab which ate everything within seconds! she was on dry food that came in her puppy pack, we then changed it to half dry and half meat, and she is now on just meat as she seems to enjoy in more and now (at 6 months) is eating fine and eventually at a good weight.
The vets always advised us not to worry, even when she looked vey skinny as she was still alert and active. They just suggested she may not like her food and to gradually try other food. She has also gone through stages of eating loads and then the next week eating very little. Im not sure if this is 'correct' but if she was hungry we would feed her as much as she liked as we knew the next week she might not eat at all!
I wouldn't worry too much, as the vets seemed to think it was quite normal. the only time the vet was concerned was when she was sick 3p! and she had an xray to make sure there wasn't anymore money inside her!

Thanks for the reassurance, though I really hope he eventually goes to dry food. It'd be rediculous to try and feed him on wet food once fully grown. I think it's something like 12 tins a day!

 

[littlemisslauren]

My little Pup has recently gotten a little bit more fussy with her food. At first she was wolfing it down so fast she gave herself hiccups but now she will have some then have a run around to see whats going on then go back to it.
She sometimes gets scrambled eggs, sometimes with some ham in it. She loves it.
I cannot wait to cut this Bakers out of her diet completely - she is pooping about 40 times a day erghhhh