Difficult Eater

[Jen21]

I'm having a similar issue - since moving to Hill's at the Vet's recommendation, I can't get my 4 mth old puppy to eat at meal times, and instead have had to leave food outside with him when I'm at work, and do a similar thing at night just to know he will eventually eat. Will start a bit of tough love with shortened meal times now, and maybe try putting some water in with the biscuits to soften them a little.

Are there other kinds of dry food available that are more enjoyable for a puppy to eat, but still give them a well rounded diet? Do you need to buy them from a petshop or can you get anything decent at a supermarket?

[huski]

I'm having a similar issue - since moving to Hill's at the Vet's recommendation, I can't get my 4 mth old puppy to eat at meal times, and instead have had to leave food outside with him when I'm at work, and do a similar thing at night just to know he will eventually eat. Will start a bit of tough love with shortened meal times now, and maybe try putting some water in with the biscuits to soften them a little.

Are there other kinds of dry food available that are more enjoyable for a puppy to eat, but still give them a well rounded diet? Do you need to buy them from a petshop or can you get anything decent at a supermarket?

Generally supermarket brands are not that crash hot - you can buy super premium food from pet stores or supply places or online. Supermarket brands tend to have a fairly high grain content as do some of the more expensive brands like Science Diet (which is ok but very expensive for what it is, I wouldn't feed it).

It would be worthwhile to have a read of some of the dried food threads in the Health forum, but some of the super premium brands include:

- Eagle Pack/Eagle pack Holistic

- Artemis

- Royal Canin

- Nutrience

- Advance

There are heaps out there! You could also look into a BARF or raw diet. This is a great website that has a few of the above mentioned brands and does $5 delivery to a few cities:

http://www.pookinuk.com.au/dog-special.asp

[Oscar (AmBull)]

Hi, I have a 9 week old AmStaff, who is currently on home made meatloaf, chicken necks, puppy milk and hills science.

I too have found that he does not seem to want to eat the dry food at all. I am at the moment looking to slowly switch to RAW. Is RAW ok for puppies? Do you still mix in dry food with it? Any help on the subject of Puppy diet and RAW would be much appreciated.

He is my first pup.

[Jen21]

It does seem to be a "trial and error" thing. I swapped from Hill's to Advance Puppy back in March when I last posted in this thread, and although my pup loved the taste much more, Advance gives him the runs, so am going to have to try something else (he still doesn't like Hill's, even though I have plenty left and it doesn't disagree with his tummy).

Any advice on which of Eagle Pack / Artemis / Royal Canine would be best tasting for a fussy eater? Do they all make puppy specific dried food?

[Oscar (AmBull)]

I went to the pet store today and I bought some barf so see how he goes on that. I also want to change his food from hills science to another brand. I am tossing up between Royal Canin and Nutrience, any advice on these brands is much appreciated.

I was thinking of going to advance but think I will pass now, not really a fan of the runs.

[Puppy2009]

Lol, at the risk of sound stupid, I didnt realize dogs could be so fussy until I started reading on here, lol.

And I had a friend here the other day, and I thought I'd crack open a bag of doggy treats, only to find her little pup wouldn't touch them. So I opened another , and then another... lol... Throughout the whole process I was thinking... "Dam, my puppy better not be so fussy" (she arrives in 3 days)

That doesn't help you though, sorry

http://www.kerryblues.info/index.html?http...LTH/FATTEN.HTML - Here are the recipes for "Fatten Balls". Homemade dog treat recipes like this is one can really help in putting weight on

Extra carbs in her diet may fatten her up (works for me..lol).. but I guess you still need to actually get her to want to eat...

I also found the following info - that may or may not be relevant.. (I'll just cut and paste below)

-Has she been wormed recently? What are his faeces like? Firm and well formed or soft with no defined shape?

If they are soft then see response to first question above, and if there is no improvement she should have a veterinary check to make sure that there is no underlying cause (i.e. EPI - e x o crine pancreatic insufficiency).

If her faecal matter is normal, then she may have a greater need for a little more carbohydrate than he currently has in his diet. Dogs that are naturally anxious, over-active or stressed may fall into this category

Good luck - My 4 year old son is also a fussy eater & ATM ... However if i put sprinkles on his dinner he seems to eat it with less fuss... lol... though, I'm not sure that will help your situation... ha ha

My 5 1/2 month toy poodle is underweight and I am looking at ideas to entice her to eat!! She won't eat if we are at home (probably too much else to do) unless you hand feed her (bad habit I am told to get into).

The vet suggested chicken necks and dry puppy food. She is sick of both.

[poodle proud]

It does seem to be a "trial and error" thing. I swapped from Hill's to Advance Puppy back in March when I last posted in this thread, and although my pup loved the taste much more, Advance gives him the runs, so am going to have to try something else (he still doesn't like Hill's, even though I have plenty left and it doesn't disagree with his tummy).

Any advice on which of Eagle Pack / Artemis / Royal Canine would be best tasting for a fussy eater? Do they all make puppy specific dried food?

Jen21

I have 2 poodles and have had similar problems to others here. My post was "do fussy dogs eat eagle pack". Lot's of great advice from knoweldgeable dol'ers

They are on eagle pack now after being spoilt with a mostly wet diet. Eagle pack is a fabulous food. Good for firming up poos and reducing gas.

I was really strict about only giving them 15 minutes morning and night which was definitely needed when changing them over. Now I have relaxed a bit and may offer it a second time an hour later in the morning if I'm home. As others have said remove treats until they are eating the dried food. Be strong, mine caved after refusing 3 meals.

Also a great tip I got was heating the dry in a microwave for 20 seconds to bring out the aroma. Worked a treat!

Also one of my dogs doesnt seem to like eating from a bowl so he gets his dry food on a plate so he can get one biscuit at a time. Seems to have helped.

I give them youghurt, sardines and raw meaty bones aswell but only if they have been eating the dry food.

Hope you find a good dry food they like. But don't be put off if they sniff it and walk away.

[SmoothieGirl]

Not sure about the other premium brands, but Royal Canin actually smells quite meaty and appetising.

My cat was a fuss pot with biscuits and she loves RC. As soon as I could, I transitioned my puppy to it too, no problems there either.