Puppy Doesn't Like Dry Food

[zhenjie]

So I've tried feeding my puppy Eukanuba and Hills Science diet and it seems he just doesn't like to eat it. He will eat it if he is hungry but even then he would eat well under the recommended daily amounts.

However, he loves other foods such as the processed puppy rolls and canned puppy food you get from the supermarkets. I'd still like to feed him a premium dry food but just don't know how!

I've tried

-Mixing eggs with it

-Mixing bit of cheese

-Making it moist with hot water (on vets recommendation)

-Adding some yogurt

He's smart boy and just eats everything but leaves alot of the dry food out. Any other ideas I could try?

[TrinaJ]

So I've tried feeding my puppy Eukanuba and Hills Science diet and it seems he just doesn't like to eat it. He will eat it if he is hungry but even then he would eat well under the recommended daily amounts.

However, he loves other foods such as the processed puppy rolls and canned puppy food you get from the supermarkets. I'd still like to feed him a premium dry food but just don't know how!

I've tried

-Mixing eggs with it

-Mixing bit of cheese

-Making it moist with hot water (on vets recommendation)

-Adding some yogurt

He's smart boy and just eats everything but leaves alot of the dry food out. Any other ideas I could try?

I add Yoghurt, Chicken Broth or gravy to Jett's kibble, she is on Eagle Pack Holistic. She loves it.

[persephone]

Maybe you could try the brands some others here use- they are 'premium' foods ,

leave meal in bowl for 15 minutes, remove .

next meal time do the same.....

Every time you add something yummy to the food--- of COURSE pup will eat that in preference, cos he knows you will give him something else yummy next time

Like feeding a toddler ice cream, after he has refused his meat /vegies!!

OR ,you can try feeding puppy on a meat-based diet.... lots of fresh raw meat- soft bones, some fish, egg, yogurt, etc...

check out the health, Nutrition,grooming forum !!

What breed is your pup? How old? (because if pup is around 4-6 mths, he may be teething and have a sore mouth, which hard dry food may hurt)

Edited August 20, 2008 by persephone

[zhenjie]

Thanks for the suggestions. If he doesn't take to the dry foods again, I'll probably try a healty meat based diet.

What type of yogurt do you generally use?

My pup is a Japanese Spitz, 6months old. Only about 6kg so I want him to eatup and grow!

[poodlefan]

Zhenjie:

He will eat it if he is hungry but even then he would eat well under the recommended daily amounts.

Why do you want him to eat if he isn't hungry? Most of the daily recommended amounts on dog food packets are far in excess of what a dog needs.

Thanks for the suggestions. If he doesn't take to the dry foods again, I'll probably try a healty meat based diet.

What type of yogurt do you generally use?

My pup is a Japanese Spitz, 6months old. Only about 6kg so I want him to eatup and grow!

If you ditch the dry food, you'll need to do your homework about home prepared diets. A meat based diet with no bone will leave your dog calcium deficient. You want to grow your puppy as slowly and as long as possible. That said, at 6 months he's not going to get much taller. Given his size, I wouldn't have thought he'd need to be much heavier either. Can you feel his ribs with the flat of your hand?

Edited August 20, 2008 by poodlefan

[TrinaJ]

Thanks for the suggestions. If he doesn't take to the dry foods again, I'll probably try a healty meat based diet.

What type of yogurt do you generally use?

My pup is a Japanese Spitz, 6months old. Only about 6kg so I want him to eatup and grow!

I just use natural yoghurt. Salt free cottage cheese is also okay a couple of times a week mixed in with the kibble and a tablespoon of olive oil. Remember to water the kibble down (hence the chicken stock will not only taste better but its a cup or two of water).

[zhenjie]

Why do you want him to eat if he isn't hungry? Most of the daily recommended amounts on dog food packets are far in excess of what a dog needs.

I was just concerned that he would eat more of the canned/processed foods then the dry foods. Definitely feels like he doesn't like the dry and would only eat if he was super hungry.

He doesn't seem thin or underweight. Just seems smaller then he should be at 6months old.

[husky princess]

So I've tried feeding my puppy Eukanuba and Hills Science diet and it seems he just doesn't like to eat it. He will eat it if he is hungry but even then he would eat well under the recommended daily amounts.

However, he loves other foods such as the processed puppy rolls and canned puppy food you get from the supermarkets. I'd still like to feed him a premium dry food but just don't know how! :D

I've tried

-Mixing eggs with it

-Mixing bit of cheese

-Making it moist with hot water (on vets recommendation)

-Adding some yogurt

He's smart boy and just eats everything but leaves alot of the dry food out. Any other ideas I could try?

Hi Zhenjie, I sometimes still have the exact problem. I can't remember the last time my 9 month old sibe pup eat just dries. But I started pouring milk into it beginning with formulated puppy milk, progressing to cowes milk if she can stomache it then when you know she's fine doesn't get the runs then add that till the dries are submerged and start to moisten.

I tried beating eggs also - she loves that all the protein, chicken soup, tuna, sardines, torn up slice of bread with some mince or canned dog food/ meat log.

Make sure you mix it thorough so the dries aren't poking out where she can see them.

Also cheese, pasta, left over spaghetti sauce, gravy, and now lastly beginning a regular raw meat from dog food section I think it's kangaroo meat, with dries but completely covered she loves crunching them. Try to add small amounts of dries introducing them as a garnish as oppose to basis.

I think they just get bored of eating the same thing, considering when she's surrounded by human food which has alot of flavour, salt, sugar etc then they get a smell or taste for it.

Mix it around everyday, everyday is different. Mondays - raw meat with a little dries, Tuesdays - sliced up meat log, Wednesdays - canned tuna, dries, Thursdays - cut up sausages with eggs, dries and cheese, and so on etc.

Just like us they may get sick of eating the same everyday, I love spaghetti but to have it 3 days in a row and more I'd rather go without and have an apple.

Keep us dated with how it goes and good luck.

[Aubrey]

We have the same with Aubrey.

She occasionally goes of the Hills and the Eagle Pack that we give her.... we've put in fish (tuna and sardines) as well as an egg, but some days she just doesn't fancy it.

Other days though, it is a different story and she eats quite happily.

We also give her tinned food from the Hills plan with the kibble.

I have to agree with the previous post about the teething... I think this has been effecting Aubrey and her eating habbits too (I found a tooth on the floor the other day)... She just loves the softer foods all the time, but will happily eat the dry food when it isn't causing her any issues.

We haven't worried though, and make sure she gets beef bones, chicken mince, chicken necks, carrots and other goodies that keep her healthy, as I am sure you are.

[StaceyB]

I had that problem with Gypsy too, it turns out I was feeding her too much (I was feeding what the guide on the bag said) and she was still full from her last meal. I just halved what I was feeding her and she would gobble up what I gave her at each meal time.

I also had to try a few different brands to find one she liked and I was happy with, we eventually got to Advance and she loves it and does really well on it.

[husky princess]

I think every pup and adult dog has diferent tastes and preference for dry food brands. One person recommend this brand to me at the vet and I got it first feeding ate it all and loved it second feeding snubbed if off and sat on her mat, waiting for something better to come along.

I know alternate with 2 different brands, raw meat plus meat log. Go figure.

[TrinaJ]

Jett HATES European Yoghurt with a passion! One day the supermarket didn't have Paul's Natural Yoghurt so I had to buy the European Yoghurt, she took one mouthfull and spat it back and didn't eat her dinner.

[husky princess]

Jett HATES European Yoghurt with a passion! One day the supermarket didn't have Paul's Natural Yoghurt so I had to buy the European Yoghurt, she took one mouthfull and spat it back and didn't eat her dinner.

Hi TrinaJ, do you get plain yoghurt or flavoured?

[TrinaJ]

Jett HATES European Yoghurt with a passion! One day the supermarket didn't have Paul's Natural Yoghurt so I had to buy the European Yoghurt, she took one mouthfull and spat it back and didn't eat her dinner.

Hi TrinaJ, do you get plain yoghurt or flavoured?

Just get the natural (plain) she loves it if its Paul's but refuses to eat anything if its the European one.

[husky princess]

Jett HATES European Yoghurt with a passion! One day the supermarket didn't have Paul's Natural Yoghurt so I had to buy the European Yoghurt, she took one mouthfull and spat it back and didn't eat her dinner.

Hi TrinaJ, do you get plain yoghurt or flavoured?

Just get the natural (plain) she loves it if its Paul's but refuses to eat anything if its the European one.

Oh great I'll get some tomorrow thanx. :rolleyes:

[ellz]

He's got you trained nicely.

Personally, I think a touch of tough love may be in order before he rules you completely. He won't allow himself to starve. You've already seen that. Dogs don't need variety, their taste buds aren't that sophisticated. They eat to live, not live to eat.

Decide upon a balanced diet, whether it be a good quality dry food or whatever else you feel you'd like to feed and stick to it.

As previously mentioned. Put the food down at regular mealtimes. What he doesn't eat in 15 minutes is removed and nothing goes down again until next meal. Don't coddle him or you're making a rod for your own back. Chopping and changing isn't good either and can lead to diarrhoea.

[Bjelkier]

i had exactly the same issue with my Samoyed pup when he was younger. He wouldn't touch any dry dog food at all, nothing we could do would get him to eat it. We ended up putting raw meat in there and mixing it really well and its really good for him, now he loves it! I also changed he dry kibble to Pro Plan which he just goes crazy for and will eat with nothing else in it.

You could also try fish, sardines and tuna the spitz breeds really seem to love it.

[husky princess]

He's got you trained nicely.

Personally, I think a touch of tough love may be in order before he rules you completely. He won't allow himself to starve. You've already seen that. Dogs don't need variety, their taste buds aren't that sophisticated. They eat to live, not live to eat.

Decide upon a balanced diet, whether it be a good quality dry food or whatever else you feel you'd like to feed and stick to it.

As previously mentioned. Put the food down at regular mealtimes. What he doesn't eat in 15 minutes is removed and nothing goes down again until next meal. Don't coddle him or you're making a rod for your own back. Chopping and changing isn't good either and can lead to diarrhoea.

Question to your game plan, what happens if he doesn't eat after a day or 2 maybe more and the food goes stale, do you still feed it the same thing or throw it out?

After you throw it out is it a new fresh serving of the same thing, and what happens if you go through it again?

[ellz]

He's got you trained nicely.

Personally, I think a touch of tough love may be in order before he rules you completely. He won't allow himself to starve. You've already seen that. Dogs don't need variety, their taste buds aren't that sophisticated. They eat to live, not live to eat.

Decide upon a balanced diet, whether it be a good quality dry food or whatever else you feel you'd like to feed and stick to it.

As previously mentioned. Put the food down at regular mealtimes. What he doesn't eat in 15 minutes is removed and nothing goes down again until next meal. Don't coddle him or you're making a rod for your own back. Chopping and changing isn't good either and can lead to diarrhoea.

Question to your game plan, what happens if he doesn't eat after a day or 2 maybe more and the food goes stale, do you still feed it the same thing or throw it out?

After you throw it out is it a new fresh serving of the same thing, and what happens if you go through it again?

If it is dry food, it won't go stale if you are storing it properly. If it were a mixture of dry and wet, even if he WERE eating some of it, you'd be throwing out the leftovers anyway after a day or so so therefore it really is a moot point. No HEALTHY dog will WILLINGLY choose to starve. Believe me, after 22 years of breeding dogs, it has been my experience that even the fussiest eaters will start to eat when they get hungry enough.

And also, the OP has already stated that the puppy will eat the dry food if he gets hungry enough. It could just be that the OP is putting more down than the puppy requires in one meal, provided they are feeding him more than one meal per day. They could also be confusing him by offering too much choice. Dogs have very simple tastebuds. The wonderful range of flavours and seasonings that are offered in dog foods are more to please OUR sensibilities, the dogs truly don't care. They're more into smell and texture. Why else would they knock back an expensive, lovingly chosen plate of designer doggy food in preference for a munch on roadkill or something just as toxic (to us)?

[husky princess]

He's got you trained nicely.

Personally, I think a touch of tough love may be in order before he rules you completely. He won't allow himself to starve. You've already seen that. Dogs don't need variety, their taste buds aren't that sophisticated. They eat to live, not live to eat.

Decide upon a balanced diet, whether it be a good quality dry food or whatever else you feel you'd like to feed and stick to it.

As previously mentioned. Put the food down at regular mealtimes. What he doesn't eat in 15 minutes is removed and nothing goes down again until next meal. Don't coddle him or you're making a rod for your own back. Chopping and changing isn't good either and can lead to diarrhoea.

Question to your game plan, what happens if he doesn't eat after a day or 2 maybe more and the food goes stale, do you still feed it the same thing or throw it out?

After you throw it out is it a new fresh serving of the same thing, and what happens if you go through it again?

If it is dry food, it won't go stale if you are storing it properly. If it were a mixture of dry and wet, even if he WERE eating some of it, you'd be throwing out the leftovers anyway after a day or so so therefore it really is a moot point. No HEALTHY dog will WILLINGLY choose to starve. Believe me, after 22 years of breeding dogs, it has been my experience that even the fussiest eaters will start to eat when they get hungry enough.

And also, the OP has already stated that the puppy will eat the dry food if he gets hungry enough. It could just be that the OP is putting more down than the puppy requires in one meal, provided they are feeding him more than one meal per day. They could also be confusing him by offering too much choice. Dogs have very simple tastebuds. The wonderful range of flavours and seasonings that are offered in dog foods are more to please OUR sensibilities, the dogs truly don't care. They're more into smell and texture. Why else would they knock back an expensive, lovingly chosen plate of designer doggy food in preference for a munch on roadkill or something just as toxic (to us)?

Hi ellz,

I totally agreed as I only experiemented with the changes last week and even now she's becoming bossy and not eating. So I've tried your method and we'll see tomorrow or the following day.

What dry food brand do you feed your dogs and is it a good balance if I mixed it with dog food raw meat as part of it's regular diet?

How many times daily would you recommend feeding a 9 month?

Thank you for your advice and time.