Puppy Only Eats Meat

[Mango]

Hi all,

Just hoping for a bit of advice here. I got my new pup a week and a half ago and started feeding him dry food and tinned puppy food. He has been eating a little but never heaps (and I always thought puppies were ravenous!). When I offered him other treats like cooked chicken pulled off the bone, cooked sausage, fat left over from steak, etc, he was only mildly interested. The only thing he got absolutely excited about (after a week) was when I recently defrosted some mince, he loved the left over blood. So I bought him some raw mince and raw chicken, which he was very enthused about for a while. He has since lost interest in the mince after I mixed it with a little dog food. He still thinks raw chicken is awesome, and today I gave him raw chicken wing as well.

I don't know what to do as I know full well I can't keep him on an all meat diet. I can't believe he doesn't like tinned food, etc - should I just try different brands and flavours? I haven't tried wetting dry food yet and mixing it in, but the mince (even pure mince) now seems completely uninteresting to him.

I might add he has been healthy and very energetic and happy the whole time. I am taking him to get his second round of shots tomorrow, so will also talk to the vet. Help!

[sas]

My puppy was a nightmere to feed as a puppy and just wouldn't eat enough. Some puppies are really fussy, but it' really important you don't keep changing the food all the time as what you will create is a fussy eater.

What worked for us was Eagle Pack Kibble with Eagle Pack Holstic canned food mixed through out with a bit of water to moisten and taste.

Put the food down for 15 minutes and then pick it up. Puppy may go without for a day but will soon learn.

There is a gel you can get from the vet to increase puppies desire to eat, I think it's called Nutrogel or something like that.

We found tinned sardines in tomarto sauce worked well too.

Depending on the breed of your dog a high protein diet (all meat) may cause growth issues so it is advisable to contact your breeder.

Good idea to have puppy checked by a vet to make sure everything is ok there though.

Some puppies love their food and others are pain in the butts LOL

Edited September 27, 2007 by sas

[Poodle wrangler]

What breed is your pup? Can you ask the breeder/ rescue about what they suggest?

Vast majority of fussy eaters are made, not born, and an otherwise healthy dog will not starve itself.

Once you've worked out a reasonable diet you can afford, stick with it.

Offer it to dog, leave for no more than 20 minutes, take it away, then present it back to pup at the next meal.

Won't take long for pup to get the idea.

You'd think meat only is a good diet for dogs, but it's not. No mince in the wild- they need raw bones, offal, that sort of thing if you want to feed meat only.

What do you want to feed? Dry food? Canned? Mixture? Some raw foods (e.g. chicken necks, raw bones etc.)?

I don't feed cans only because they usually have quite high sugar content- I go for dry food + some raw. Raw bones are great for puppy teeth.

[Mango]

What breed is your pup? Can you ask the breeder/ rescue about what they suggest?

What do you want to feed? Dry food? Canned? Mixture? Some raw foods (e.g. chicken necks, raw bones etc.)?

I don't feed cans only because they usually have quite high sugar content- I go for dry food + some raw. Raw bones are great for puppy teeth.

He's a Parson Russell Terrier. I asked the breeder originally and he said he fed them anything. No particular brand of food, and mentioned chicken carcasses (I assumed cooked at the time, but judging from the pup's behaviour, maybe they were raw?!) I was expecting to feed mainly dry food, with a combination of a small amount of tinned food, food scraps (ie sausages, fat off meat, etc) and supplement with raw bones, chicken/lamb necks, etc. I don't mind feeding what it takes, but as per the first post above, don't want to be responsible for creating a fussy eater.

Well, this morning, he must have been hungry, as the mince he rejected last night was acceptable in the end after all!

[aranyoz]

Your pup sounds as if he may have been raised on a mainly raw food diet.

Please do not give him cooked chicken bones. They could splinter and choke him.

Raw chicken bones are much safer.

[sas]

Perhaps you may like to contact a Breed Club to find out a suitable diet for the puppy if the Breeder hasn't given you a feed guide.

[MissMaddy]

My German Shepherd did this for over a month when we brought her home.

Initially I was really concerned, and did everything I could to make her eat, including giving her stuff she did like (which was only raw meat).

After a while, I decided it was too much trouble, so used the method sas and poodle wrangler mentioned, by taking it away and not feeding her til her next meal (and I found it pretty hard 1st few times).

Funnily enough, it only took a few meals for her to realise there was nothing else coming, and she'd go hungry!

She never really liked her dry food, however, until I got her Natural Balance dry food, which she loved from the start, and looks great on it, so I've kept using it. I tried various supermarket brands, as well as Eagle Pack initially, and she ate them the 1st few times, then didn't want them. She would eventually eat them, though.

She's now 9 months old, and I still have her on the Natural Balance, but she'll devour anything you give her! If I give her just dry food and no meat, she looks at me as if to ask "where's the rest?!" but still eats it cos she knows she'll go hungry! ;)

Good luck, but you need to get tough if you don't want a fussy puppy all his life.

[Darkrai]

My young Afghan would only eat meat, or should i say chicken...

I mixed his food in with his meat, so that he would get the idea of eating biscuits as well...

Although when i put out biscuits they eat slow but meat BANG!!!! its gone and so is a finger too someday lol

Now he eats what eva i put out to him...

One thing i got tought a while ago with fussy eaters, make them eat it.... ie leave the food there and only that food when they are hungry they'll eat it... Im not one for having fussy eaters, they learn to eat whats put before them or otherwise someone else eats it the other dogs...

But they all still get fed... Normally i give in to them and give them what they want ;)

As long as his eating that the main thing...

[BenjiMom]

Benji would only eat chicken at first..but we did the same.....put food down...and then took away. Now he eats anything we give him. But i always add a chicken neck at nite, whatever else he has.

[rugerfly]

try not to feed your dog table scraps like fat off meat. Its no good for their diet.

[persephone]

raw chicken wings,necks etc are fine for your pup.... DO NOT feed cooked bones!!! Cooking changes the chemicals in the bone, and they become very hard to digest, and can splinter.

By all means feed him RAW MEATY bones...all sorts..chicken, beef, lamb,turkey, but try and get him to eat some premium puppy food as well

Canned food is mostly water..he is showing good sense in not eating it

See if he will eat a small teaspoon of finely grated/pureed vegetables ( NO ONION, or cabbagey things) mixed with some chopped up chicken, maybe?

The sausage & fat offcuts can be treats..freeze bits for later use

[Poodle wrangler]

try not to feed your dog table scraps like fat off meat. Its no good for their diet.

The fatty offcuts can also cause pancreatitis which can be fatal.

Quite a few DOLers would suggest high quality, higher price dry foods like Eagle Pack, Nutro, Royal Canin etc. You should be able to get samples.

I feed a lower quality dry food (Purina One) from supermarket (about $27 for 7 kg) but add raw bones (mostly Brisket), chicken wings, small amount roo mince etc. Purina was refunding the price of your first 1.5- 4.0kg bag of food as a promotion, if you check out their website. I think Optimum (another supermarket food) is doing something similar. As long as your pup is looking healthy- bright eyes, active, good weight, poos normal- keep up whatever works.

[percyk]

dont worry

they dont starve

dont cater too much for them

if they skip a meal or even a day

they will get hungry and eat

if hes lethargic or seems sick then of course its something else

but the quicker u establish that this is all u get

the sooner he will get on with whats on the menu

i know its a pain and worrisome but sometimes dogs on their own dont believe that food wont drop out of the skyand they just wait til something better comes along

dogs that live in a mulitpet household quickly get the message...if ur not gonna have it...i will!!

good luck

[Mango]

Thanks everyone, he's already eating a little better. He eats two reasonable meals a day. I'd still like to see him eating more, but he's happy and healthy and energetic. I mix the mince in with his dry food, which I pre-soak in water so that it expands and softens. We leave dry food around for him but he doesn't eat much at night or during the day when we're not there, and I'm pretty much only feeding the ants and birds really. Later in the evening, well after he's eaten as much normal food as he wants, I drag out some chicken for a small treat, so I guess he's getting almost a third small meal. I will move on to a top quality dry food once we've used up the standard supermarket brand we've got.

PS Percyk, I absolutely love some of your logic...

Edited October 4, 2007 by Mango

[Tilly]

I make up a mince mix for my boy which he loves - this was given to me by a breeder.

It is a mix of about 6kg of mince (mainly beef but also a little liver and/or heart), 4 kg of chicken mince (minced frames not all the fatty stuff but I do get some skin/fat added in winter), 3 or 4 tins of mackerel, a little garlic and then a mix of vegies (if I am lazy then it is just frozen vegie mix). This is all mixed together with a little hot water and then divided up into portions and frozen. (You don't need to make this much but this is just to give an idea of the ratio/proportions)

When I serve it up I then mix it in with the dry food and occassionally top with an egg or extra sardines.

My elderly rottie used to go crazy for it and would only eat his dry food if it was mixed up with the mince. My GSD didn't care how it came as long as it was in his bowl.

Edited to add: They also used to get other things like chicken necks, chicken frames, turkey necks, brisket bones etc ... but not all in the same day

Also my boys where given set meal times. It was either eat it within 30 minutes or it is gone. After my GSD tried the fussy stage he quickly learnt that it wasn't tollerated and if he didn't eat it then it was taken away and he went without. I never left food out for them to pick at.

Edited October 4, 2007 by Tilly