# My puppy won't eat



## MarkM (Apr 4, 2013)

Hey, a couple weeks ago I had a thread under health. The issue was told to be posted under the dog food threads. My 12 week old Rottweiler will not eat the amount he should be. We were feeding him totw, but now we are trying to transition him into blue freedom. The amount we try to feed him is 1 cup every meal, 3 meals a day. He usually only eats about a cup and a half, maybe 2 cups. He also seems to go crazy for water and won't even take a bite of his food if we don't give him water first. He is 12 weeks old and weighs 16.8 pounds. His hips seem to be too apparent. He just seems to refuse food. I don't know why. We checked at the vet to see if he is diabetic, and he isn't. Also, if we let him drink on his own without supervision he will literally drink until he pukes. The people we got him from fed him pedigree, but we don't want to feed him low quality food. We feel like we have tried everything to get him to eat, we are stressing out tremendously trying to figure out what we need to do. Please give me any information or suggestions! Thanks!


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## Celt (Dec 27, 2010)

Have you tried soaking his kibble or mixing can in with it? On the water thing does he always drink til he pukes?
You might need to add calories to his food or find one that has more calories to it.


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## MarkM (Apr 4, 2013)

Celt said:


> Have you tried soaking his kibble or mixing can in with it? On the water thing does he always drink til he pukes?
> You might need to add calories to his food or find one that has more calories to it.


Yes we tried soaking the kibble. He will drink the water eat a couple bites then walk away. Tried canned food too, same results as plain dry food. He will drink the water every time until he pukes unless we stop him. Totw is 364 a cup, and blue freedom is 420. What would be an ideal calories per cup? List some brands please?


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## Celt (Dec 27, 2010)

If you google dog food calorie chart, you should geta site that lists various foods and their calories so you can select which ones would fit your criteria. A few people here like annamet (ultra is 500+ calories). It might be possible just to add more fat to his diet but that's something that needs to be done carefully if your dog isn't use to extra fat because it can cause some nasty side effects (from cannon butt to pancreitis). Personally, I free feed kibble. It's easy enough to keep track of how much is eaten in a day (a bit harder if you have more than one pup) and it might encourage more food being eaten through "grazing". On soaking the food, I meant letting it sit til all the liquid is absorbed. I usually do this when I've boiled chicken up for them, soak the kibble (depending on how much liquid you use determines the "mushiness" of the kibble) then mix in the shredded meat. For the water problem, I would either freeze it and serve like that, use ice cubes instead or buy those water bottle like for rabbits where he has to lick to get some. This way water is always available but he shouldn't be able to suck up a big amount at one time to upset his tummy. Hope some of this might help


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## MarkM (Apr 4, 2013)

We will try the soaking of food that way. Should we wean him off of it? Also I don't know if I mentioned it or not, but his breakfast he always finishes, it's his lunch and dinner that he only eats about half or so of his meal.


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## Celt (Dec 27, 2010)

Weaning him off would be up to you and your pup. If you do, just add less and less liquid to the kibble or soak a shorter time to make a kind of soup. You could try increasing his morning meal to see if he'll eat more then. Personally, I would get sample bags (hit up friends for samples of their foods, etc) to find a food he likes better. Have you tried trippet or green cow canned foods? My niecec's picky pups are more willing to eat kibble if those are mixed in (50/50).


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## MarkM (Apr 4, 2013)

Ok thank you. We recently just bought blue freedom like I mentioned earlier. So far he's eaten breakfast and lunch with no issue. Didn't even add water. I'm hoping this food he enjoys enough to eat. If he doesn't eat his other meals we will try the water in it. I've never heard of those canned foods. Also my wife and I were going to buy the smallest bags first to sample what he enjoys better.


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## 1605 (May 27, 2009)

MarkM said:


> Ok thank you. We recently just bought blue freedom like I mentioned earlier. So far he's eaten breakfast and lunch with no issue. Didn't even add water. I'm hoping this food he enjoys enough to eat. If he doesn't eat his other meals we will try the water in it. I've never heard of those canned foods. Also my wife and I were going to buy the smallest bags first to sample what he enjoys better.


If you have found a food that he is eating and then he suddenly decides he "doesn't like it", DO NOT SWITCH FOODS. While I understand that it can be a little unnerving that  he seems to lose interest in his primary feed, you are encouraging picky eating behaviour if you start feeding him yet another food. 

So if blue freedom is working at this time, I do not advise going out & buying a bunch of smaller bags of food "to sample what he enjoys better". 

We feed our dogs EVO Turkey/Chicken dry food. Throughout the week we may put in additional protein sources like canned tuna or salmon. Or they may get leftover proteins like freshly cooked fish, chicken or pork, esp if they have had some serious time out in the field. But we don't change their main dry food because it works for them.

If one of them suddenly decides he doesn't fancy the food, after 10 minutes we pick it up. By dinner time he is definitely interested in eating it!

FWIW,


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## MarkM (Apr 4, 2013)

SubMariner said:


> If you have found a food that he is eating and then he suddenly decides he "doesn't like it", DO NOT SWITCH FOODS. While I understand that it can be a little unnerving that  he seems to lose interest in his primary feed, you are encouraging picky eating behaviour if you start feeding him yet another food.
> 
> So if blue freedom is working at this time, I do not advise going out & buying a bunch of smaller bags of food "to sample what he enjoys better".
> 
> ...


Well my wife and I have tried doing that with him, picking up his food after 10 minutes of no interest. The next meal.. He eats a bite or two.. Then he stops eating.


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## NutroGeoff (May 15, 2013)

Sometimes when dogs are a little more picky it's because they cant smell the food as well. I have seen that quite a bit in my customers. I would recommend maybe trying a food with fish in it which usually smells a bit more for them. I feed my moms dogs Ultra which has chicken, lamb and salmon which has enticed them to eat a bit more then when I was feeding a food with just chicken in it. I hope that helps a bit.


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## 1605 (May 27, 2009)

MarkM said:


> Well my wife and I have tried doing that with him, picking up his food after 10 minutes of no interest. The next meal.. He eats a bite or two.. Then he stops eating.


No animal will starve itself over the fact that they have suddenly become "disinterested" in the food. You have to be willing to give the process longer than a meal or two because you are fostering an attitude in the dog that you will give him "something better" if he turns his nose up at what you are currently feeding him.

Be patient.


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## MarkM (Apr 4, 2013)

Submariner, also I wasn't saying pick another food or sample just to find something he likes better, I'm just saying one that he will eat and not stop eating. The way you seemed to say it was I'm going to keep looking for better foods, that's not it. Just one that he will eat all of his food and not starve himself. 

Nutrogeoff, I don't believe it has anything to do with scent. And on top of that, I believe dogs have much more powerful noses then us humans so I think he can smell his food good enough.


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## MarkM (Apr 4, 2013)

SubMariner said:


> No animal will starve itself over the fact that they have suddenly become "disinterested" in the food. You have to be willing to give the process longer than a meal or two because you are fostering an attitude in the dog that you will give him "something better" if he turns his nose up at what you are currently feeding him.
> 
> Be patient.


It actually isn't all of a sudden.. It's been happening since we've had him. So I would say about 6 weeks.


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## 1605 (May 27, 2009)

MarkM said:


> Submariner, also I wasn't saying pick another food or sample just to find something he likes better, I'm just saying one that he will eat and not stop eating. The way you seemed to say it was I'm going to keep looking for better foods, that's not it. Just one that he will eat all of his food and not starve himself.


That's the point: he won't starve himself. When he becomes picky and doesn't eat the food he has been eating up until now, you give him something else. This perpetuates the cycle.

Let me put it this way:

- You have researched good foods & found Brand X.
- The dog eats Brand X
- The dog suddenly stops eating Brand X
- You think the dog will starve so you switch him to Brand Y
- The dog eats Brand Y
- The dog suddenly stops eating Brand Y
- You think the dog will starve so you switch him to Brand W

And on it goes.

PICK A FOOD & STICK TO IT.


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## Herzo (Feb 5, 2011)

SubMariner you don't need to yell at Mark, he is worried about his puppy. Have you tried feeding just a little less at each meal to see if you can keep him more hungry during the day. If that makes sense. You say he eats better in the morning which would be after he hasn't eaten in the evening and all night.

Of course you are talking with the person who will not feed just boring old kibble. I either put something I have cooked or canned in it. I also put a raw egg a couple of times a week. But just a thought if you fed less in the morning and maybe not feed the noon meal and then in the evening again to see if he will eat then.


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## MarkM (Apr 4, 2013)

SubMariner said:


> That's the point: he won't starve himself. When he becomes picky and doesn't eat the food he has been eating up until now, you give him something else. This perpetuates the cycle.
> 
> Let me put it this way:
> 
> ...



We weren't going to buy something new every time he stopped. We just wanted to get something he would eat with no problem. He's doing very well with what we have so everything's good


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## MarkM (Apr 4, 2013)

Herzo said:


> SubMariner you don't need to yell at Mark, he is worried about his puppy. Have you tried feeding just a little less at each meal to see if you can keep him more hungry during the day. If that makes sense. You say he eats better in the morning which would be after he hasn't eaten in the evening and all night.
> 
> Of course you are talking with the person who will not feed just boring old kibble. I either put something I have cooked or canned in it. I also put a raw egg a couple of times a week. But just a thought if you fed less in the morning and maybe not feed the noon meal and then in the evening again to see if he will eat then.


Thanks herzo, and yes we have tried that. But now he is doing perfectly fine now with the new food. My wife and I hardly ever add anything extra into the kibble. For our older dogs we add one raw egg every blue moon, and occasionally for dinner meals we will add some canned wet food.


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## 1605 (May 27, 2009)

MarkM said:


> We weren't going to buy something new every time he stopped. We just wanted to get something he would eat with no problem. He's doing very well with what we have so everything's good


Great! :thumb:


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