Picky Eating Puppy Advice

Karebear614 · New member Joined: 19 Jan 2006 Posts: 10

I have a 7 month old Papillon and he is a picky eater. When he was younger (probably up to 4 months old) he was on Wellness Puppy mixed with Royal Canin food and he always had loose stool. The vet said it was one of the food and I determined it was the wellness. Once I took him off wellness and was on the Royal Canin he became picky. He used to eat his food faster then I can see, then he started being slow about it and picking. I tried Nautres Receipe small breed formula and he ate that for awhile and then got picky again. I started adding canned food and it helped a little. I thought again, maybe he didnt like the food so I switched to Pro Plan small breed puppy. Still giving him some canned food. Again he ate it for a bit then slowed down on the food. I thought maybe he would like bigger kibble instead, so I bought Pro Plan Puppy which were a little bigger and mixed them together. I have been giving him three meals a day and he will rarely eat all three. He tends to eat parts of them or not at all it seems. Sometimes he will eat it all. I'm just concerned he is not getting enough to eat by not eating all his food. Plus, it is hard to get a schedule of when he has to poop if he is not consistenly eating the same time each day. I dont know what else to try and I dont want to keep switching foods and I dont want him eating low quality food like Kibbles and Bits just so he would eat or switch to just canned because it is not good for his teeth. He used to get Yogurt when he was younger and would eat that (but again when he became picky that stopped working too) and I worry about putting stuff like that in it because he takes awhile to eat and i worry about it sitting out too long. Any suggestions on what to do?

charmedagain · Moderator Joined: 19 Mar 2004 Posts: 2250 Location: uk

What i do is put tehre food down if they do not eat it i pick it up and they do not get anything else until the next feed time, I keep doing this until they realise i am not going to give in and give them what they want.

At the moment the pup is the boss of you, if he dont like something you will either add or change it so best not to do that.

He will get hungry and eat whats put infront of him, My vet always said that some dogs and puppies have gone 3 or more days without food because they got used to owner doing what they wanted.

My 11month old lab cross became a picky eater at 12weeks old but after missing 2 feeds she started eating and had a very hearty appetite and now she can eat anything and everything and is no longer a picky eater.

So its best to nip it in the bud now before he gets any older.

I know its seems harsh but trust me it works in the long run. You are the master he needs to learn that.
Its like a child if they wants something and there parents do not give them it then they throw a trantrum until they get it, Once they realise there not going to get it they start to see that your in charge not them..

Mike

Jamiya · Moderator Joined: 19 Mar 2004 Posts: 5593

I agree. Someone else was just posting about this, and there was a response with info from an article. It was saying that the reason the dog starts eating a new food and then stops in a couple days is he is wondering what you will give him next!

Just pick a healthy food, put it down, and pick it up if he doesn't eat. Or if you want to free feed, just leave it down and replace it if it gets too old. He'll eat.

hermann muenster · Member Joined: 19 Jan 2006 Posts: 304

I see far too often folks with small breed dogs playing around with their food. Feeding table scraps, fancy little cans of mush, and treats of all kinds. I admit they are cute little things -- but don't their owners realize how much harm they are doing to the dog physically (a lot of these dogs get really obese!) and the damage they are doing to them socially (I hate going to my friends houses that have those yappy little things that beg at the table and jump on you - there is no reason for ANY dog to not be trained to have good social manners).

I totally agree with Charmed and Jamiya. Pick a good food for your pet. And stick with it!! Put the food down. If the dog doesn't eat it within a reasonable amount of time (15-30min) Pick it up and don't feed until the the next meal time.

You probably have had problems with loose stools because you are overfeeding - talk to your vet and READ the suggested feeding amounts on the package. Follow the suggestion! If over a period of time (4-6months!) you notice the dog getting fat or becoming too skinny - then make your adjustments or change foods. And keep a scheduled feeding time - at least for a year!

It takes 2weeks or more to SLOWLY change the dogs diet. If you play around and change the food or introduce a new food too quickly ---- you will have your dog suffering with diarreha.

Good luck