HELP my puppy barely eats!

[bsalem21]

Hi everyone I am having an issue with my puppy eating very little. I could be overreacting as this is my first puppy, but he appears to not be eating as much as he should. He is a toy australian shepherd who is 14 wks old. The bags says that he should be eating 1/4c of food 2x daily, however the vet recommended that we free feed him until he is 6 mo old. So I put a 1/4c down in the morning around 6 am, and by late afternoon he has only picked, and hasn't eaten even an 1/8c. I first had him on Purina small breed puppy food, but then changed to this brand Authority after reading the ingredients. He had a bit of anxiety last week after a thunderstorm, so the vet said give him boilded chicken, or lean ground beef. I tried the chicken and he hated it, but the lean ground beef he loved, which is why I switched the brand bc I wanted to give him lamb. However this isn't working either.

I do not know if this is normal, and it worries me. I was giving him a bone at night in his crate with marrow in it, but I stopped that too to see if that would increase his appetite, but that didnt work either. Any advice will be greatly appreciated, like I said maybe I am just overreacting.

thanks

Brittany

[Leigha]

Does your puppy look underweight?

[bsalem21]

no he doesn't look underweight.

[Leigha]

I think if puppy doesn't look underweight, seems to have normal energy level, isn't lethargic, is still hydrated and all I wouldn't worry too much. A lot of the bag guidelines are more than what dogs need. I tend to use the bag as a starting place and then keep an eye on my dogs to see if I need to increase or decrease what I'm feeding them. My walkerhound puppies are around 5 months now and according to the bag they should be eating around a cup and a half of food twice a day, in reality they eat around 3/4 of a cup to a max of 1 cup twice a day. My beagle will get fed his morning meal and not touch it at all, but will eat his evening meal. My walkerhound female will eat, and eat, and eat, and keep eating. My weenies each eat 1/4 c. twice a day. One of them will pick and maybe eat half of that, the other would eat twice that much. Each dog is different. I just keep an eye on them. If they start too look too skinny I'll add some food to their meal, the puppies get this way when they hit a growth spurt. Most of mine will start to get a bit on the chunky side, so I'll scale back their food. Dixie could probably stand to lose a pound, she still has a waist, but isn't as skinny as other walkers I've seen.

It's all about your puppy and not the bag.

[maximoo]

Good on you for switching from purina Anything Purina is very poor quality. I almost bought Authority once (on sale) but I read the ingredients & said forget it. I can't remember why I didn't think it was good--probably too much corn /grains or an unnamed meat source. Anyway maybe pup simply doesn't like what you are giving her. Sometimes a dog will not eat a certain food for a reason--it upsets their tummy/they are allergic but can't tell you, etc. Does he get alot of training treats? I totally disagree with vet saying to free feed. With free feeding you cannot establish a potty routine as food is moving in their system all the time. A pup should eat 2-3x a day at the same time, till 6 mths of age then 2x a day 6 mths on. However every dog is different so go by your pups cues--2x a day maybe fine for him with meaty bones & treats.
I would say look for a better kibble (read DIET threads) that he loves. You can often get free samples where the food is sold (like taste of the Wild, EVO, Wellness, etc) And there's nothing wrong with adding a little gravy or meat drippings, or low sodium broth to the kibble. Also try putting his food or part of it in a KONG & freeze it. Having imr work for food will keep him busy & he will feel like he acoomplished something. Austrailians are working dogs & are extremely intelligent. It also helps ti walk/play with pup before feeding to build up appetite.

Like the others said if she looks fine then he is eating enough.
Good Luck!

[Zeldacorgi]

As long as he's not looking too thin and he has a clean bill of health from the vet, I wouldn't worry too much. There may also be the possibility that puppy does not like kibble or the particular kibble you're feeding. Some pet stores have samples that you can take home and try. With this, I would not use the samples as whole meals as that can really screw with a puppy's stomach. Rather, use the kibble as treats. If puppy is still not to keen to eat most kibbles, you may need to keep some "people" foods on hand to spruce up meals, like the ground beef mixed with kibble. You could also try things like cottage cheese, cooked yams, carrots, etc. Not in huge quantities mind you. Good luck!

[bsalem21]

Thank you all so much for your input. We do give him training treats he loves these little biscuits, I break them in half so that I can get more training in without him getting too full. I do plan to switch him to a 3 x a day eating plan once my husband gets back from a work trip to see how that goes. He potties pretty regularly even though he is free feeding. He also does really well holding it while he is in the crate, so I have been pretty lucky in that regard. I have started to put little bits of cheese in his food to see if he would eat that and it seemed to work. What kind of gravy or broth would you suggest? I am going to get him a new dog food to see if that helps. I will check out the diet board for some suggestions.

[Zeldacorgi]

What kind of gravy or broth would you suggest? I am going to get him a new dog food to see if that helps.

Beef broth would work just fine, especially since he likes ground beef. Merrick's gravy, I think, is the brand my trainer uses for her dogs.

[Leigha]

Get the low sodium kind.

[bsalem21]

Hey everyone,

just wanted to give you a quick update! I decided to change over my puppy's food to Blue Buffalo small breed puppy chicken and oatmeal and he loves it! I tested it out and put a few pieces in my hand to see if he would like it and he gobbled it right up! So I am going to start the transition this week. He is already digging into his food bowl bc he saw me add some with his other food! Thank you so much for your help. I am also going to soak his food with the beef broth just to change his flavor a little bit, but only after I get him completely on this food!

[Zeldacorgi]

Blue Buffalo is a very good food. I approve of this switch! Just make sure to watch his weight, measure out his daily food. You can start by doing a little less than the bag recommends and see how that works. Glad he likes it!