My Puppy Wont Eat!

[kaceymegs]

Hey people

I picked up my 8 week old pup from the breeders on the weekend.. and he wont eat!.. he eats a few biscuits and then leaves the rest. is this normal? i thought it may just be because he had to travel 4 hours to get home to our place from the breeders, and he is still just settling in? What do you guys think??

[Guest Tess32]

Are you feeding him the same diet he was on at the breeder's?

[kaceymegs]

yep yep same food.. he just isnt excited about food at all!! not really interested.. put some meat in there too and he still doesnt really eat that either..

[Kynan]

yep yep same food.. he just isnt excited about food at all!! not really interested.. put some meat in there too and he still doesnt really eat that either..

Kynan didn't eat his meals the first few days and then only about half for the first week when I brought him home at 8 weeks. Then he started gobbling up everything in his dish in about 10 seconds. Give your pup a few more days to settle in and see what happens. Put the food down for 15 minutes and if he doesn't touch it pick it up and try again in a few hours. Don't try tempting your dog to eat with even tastier titbits or else you'll end up with a fussy eater. A dog will not let itself starve so will eat what is in the bowl eventually.

[trishalouise]

I agree - Noodle hardly ate anything the first few days but then she started and we have had no problems. Just give him some more time to settle. Don't fuss about it or try to tempt him with something special - you may well create a fussy dog!!

Trish

[Kelpie_Pup]

when we brought out pup home at 8 weeks, she barely ate. she was on the same food as she had been at the breeders, which was dry food with a bit of meat. call me fussy, but we softened her dry food for a few days with water(soak in water for a bout 5 mins then drain it out) as it was much too hard for her to consume otherwise. we slowly decreased this until it was just dry. that might help ?

[Miranda]

When puppies are with the breeder they have competition from their littermates, once that competition is removed puppies quickly realise that food is readily available and this, combined with the stress of adapting to a new environment causes some puppies to pick at their food for the first few days. Make sure that you don't leave food down and don't attempt to hand feed the pup, put the food down and give the puppy 20 minutes to eat it then remove the bowl and give nothing until the next meal. Providing the puppy is active and happy this behaviour is just part of the settling in process and the puppy should be eating normally within a week providing you don't pander to it.