Primedogs Posted January 4, 2010 Share Posted January 4, 2010 (edited) At the moment my almost 9 month old labrador is off his food, he has never really been big about his meals but at the moment he is mostly just sniffing them mabey having a nibble then just ignoring his bowl, now we were at the vet today getting his chin checked out and mentioned that he was off his food and the vet said it could be him holding out to get something better or the heat affecting his apppetite. Now my question if its the heat affecting his appetite which there is a chance it could be, should I be taking away his meal after a set period of time or just leave it there for him to graze on when he feels like it? Next question if I do take away his meal after a period of time should I be adding what he didn't eat to his next meal, giving him his normal amount or just feed him the leftover's of the meal he didn't eat? Thanks Edited January 4, 2010 by goblygouck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ons Posted January 4, 2010 Share Posted January 4, 2010 unusual for a labrador I'd give him 10 minutes to eat, if he hasn't take bowl away. And give him normal amount for his next feed - but not leftovers, fresh stuff! He will soon learn quickly that is what happens and what he has been given is what he gets. I doubt that much harm would come to a 9 month old pup for missing a meal or two until he cottons on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aziah Posted January 4, 2010 Share Posted January 4, 2010 Offer the food, walk away, return in 10 minutes - if he's not eaten, remove the food and give it to him at his normal meal time the following day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
labsrule Posted January 4, 2010 Share Posted January 4, 2010 At the moment my almost 9 month old labrador is off his food, he has never really been big about his meals but at the moment he is mostly just sniffing them mabey having a nibble then just ignoring his bowl, now we were at the vet today getting his chin checked out and mentioned that he was off his food and the vet said it could be him holding out to get something better or the heat affecting his apppetite.Now my question if its the heat affecting his appetite which there is a chance it could be, should I be taking away his meal after a set period of time or just leave it there for him to graze on when he feels like it? Next question if I do take away his meal after a period of time should I be adding what he didn't eat to his next meal, giving him his normal amount or just feed him the leftover's of the meal he didn't eat? Thanks In my experience, when a Lab is off his food there is normally something wrong ;) and it could either be the food itself or a health problem with the Lab. To work out whether or not it is an issue with the food, I would feed them something else, preferably a favourite in their bowl and see if they eat it. If they don't, then I normally suspect it is a health problem and give it say 24 hrs before I take them to the vet. If they eat the replacement food, then I would be looking at the original food a little more closely i.e. could it be contaminated? if it is kibble what is the expiry date on the bag? One thing you mention is you were getting his chin checked out at the vet, so am wondering what is the problem with his chin and whether this chin problem has anything to do with his loss of appetite? i.e. does it hurt him to eat? Also I think the Vet should know better than to make a comments like "he is holding out to get something better" as Labrador's are renowned for their well deserved Gutses of the Canine world title and he/she should have taken you more seriously when you advised them of his loss of appetite. What do you feed your Lab? Has he always been fed the same food? Has there been any change to his food of late? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dogsfevr Posted January 4, 2010 Share Posted January 4, 2010 Has he always been picky? Have you changed his diet at all? how long do you leave the food for?? What snacks/treats does he get?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primedogs Posted January 4, 2010 Author Share Posted January 4, 2010 In my experience, when a Lab is off his food there is normally something wrong :D and it could either be the food itself or a health problem with the Lab. To work out whether or not it is an issue with the food, I would feed them something else, preferably a favourite in their bowl and see if they eat it. If they don't, then I normally suspect it is a health problem and give it say 24 hrs before I take them to the vet. If they eat the replacement food, then I would be looking at the original food a little more closely i.e. could it be contaminated? if it is kibble what is the expiry date on the bag?One thing you mention is you were getting his chin checked out at the vet, so am wondering what is the problem with his chin and whether this chin problem has anything to do with his loss of appetite? i.e. does it hurt him to eat? Also I think the Vet should know better than to make a comments like "he is holding out to get something better" as Labrador's are renowned for their well deserved Gutses of the Canine world title and he/she should have taken you more seriously when you advised them of his loss of appetite. What do you feed your Lab? Has he always been fed the same food? Has there been any change to his food of late? His chin was getting checked as he ended up with a large lump on his chin that didn't go away with antibiotics so it needeed to be opened up, today was just a checkup to see if his stiches looked fine and there wasn't a fluid build up due to him pulling his drainage tube out before even leaving the vet's examiniation room :D . The vet did give him a quick check over, took his temperature, felt his abdomen and asked up a few questions and all sounded fine. We see him again in roughly a week to get his stiches out anyway so can have another chat then if I'm worried, or if something else comes up that worries me can always pop in sooner. He hasn't had any changes in food lately. At the moment he is getting fed Hills Science Diet Large Breed of which the bag is almost finished, before he was getting fed royal cain labrador puppy but he didn't do well on it so we needed to switch and hills was suggested to us at petbarn. He isn't as bad with his treats and other yummy food (exept the stuff I try to hide his antibiotics in) taking them most of the time. His current bag of food looks fine and within the expiary date so all looking good there, but might pop down to the shops tomorrow and see if I can get a sample bag or a small bag of it to see if he reacts to it the same. I think either way I will just get rid of the current one as there is only a few day's left anyway so not much of a waste just to be sure. If he doesn't eat his new bag of kibble and I feel he is just being picky will pick the bowl up after 10mins and follow that untill he learns to eat it. If he still doesn't eat it after a while I think I might try either a different brand or give barf a go as I worry easily and he made me feel so bad today as he only ate a cup of kibble compared to the 6 or so cups he is supposed to be getting. Thanks for the advice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erny Posted January 4, 2010 Share Posted January 4, 2010 Does he enjoy meaty bones, raw meat? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primedogs Posted January 4, 2010 Author Share Posted January 4, 2010 Has he always been picky?Have you changed his diet at all? how long do you leave the food for?? What snacks/treats does he get?? He hasn't been this picky, when he was younger he sometimes didn't finish all his meal but that could have been a case of being fed to much, but he has never really just totally ignored a meal untill recently. No In the past it has differed dependin on who was feeding him and it hasn't really been consistent someday if he didn't eat it it has been left there untill it needs to be picked up because the ants have found it, other day's if he didn't eat it it gets picked up after a short while. Though now the family has agreed one person will feed him so it can be consistent and we no exactly how much he is eating. In the last day or so it has been getting picked up after 15 mins. Well the past few day's the only treats he has been reciving are the one's we hide the antibotics tables he is taking in, so thats either some peanut butter or a few chunker and its in the morning and evening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primedogs Posted January 4, 2010 Author Share Posted January 4, 2010 Erny - yes he does Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erny Posted January 4, 2010 Share Posted January 4, 2010 I'd be inclined to trust your dog and go the whole raw meal diet. If he turns off that, THEN I'd be suspicious of either something wrong or him 'playing' you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dogsfevr Posted January 4, 2010 Share Posted January 4, 2010 Scrape the Hills.yucky stuff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primedogs Posted January 4, 2010 Author Share Posted January 4, 2010 okay thanks, so now off to investigate barf diets more indepth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notale Posted January 5, 2010 Share Posted January 5, 2010 [Well the past few day's the only treats he has been reciving are the one's we hide the antibotics tables he is taking in, so thats either some peanut butter or a few chunker and its in the morning and evening. ...maybe he has an upset stomach from the antibiotics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aziah Posted January 6, 2010 Share Posted January 6, 2010 Which AB's is he on??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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