Labrador Puppy Leaving Food

[Sticks1977]

Since last night my labrador puppy (Henry) has been leaving his food and being very slow when eating his meal...

I have never experienced this problem with a pup before so I am a bit bemused as to what action to take or what to do. I realise that if he is hungry he will eat but in the back of my mind I am starting to worry that it may be something more serious.

At the moment he is 18 weeks of age and 5 days ago I gave him his first Sentinel Spectrum chew tablet to cover him against fleas, worms etc.

Recently he was at the vet due to having diarrhea and they told me to put him on a diet of chicken & rice and once his poo had firmed back up to slowly put him back onto his own dry food. He has been back on his own dry food for just on a week now and previous to last night has always been eager to eat his meal.

He has started to wait for a verbal command before eating (the word used is "yum yums"), he will sit as the food is poured into his bowl and will then begin eating once the word has been said.

When I arrived home last night after a quick bite to eat some of his food was still there - I said the command to him and his tail wagged but he did not get up out of a sit and only advanced to his bowl and started to eat when I was down at his level pretending to eat his food.

Currently he is being fed Artemis Fresh Mix Medium/Large Breed Puppy dry food. I am wondering whether it is not agreeing with him and to perhaps switch to another food (although the reviews I heard about Artemis were quite good)... if it turns out to be the food could some people recommend any reasonable dry food to purchase?

Thanks for reading and I look forward to reading some replies - will keep you updated with Henry's progress over the next few days.

Regards, Shaun (Sticks1977)

[Lab lady]

Not the behaviour you would expect from a Lab pup.

If it were me i would put him back on chicken & rice for a day or two, if the he is still not returning to his normal speed of eating then get him seen to.

Is he bright and alert? If he has any signs of lethargy or depression get him to a vet.

[poodlefan]

Is he teething?

[GoldenGirl85]

Is he teething?

That was my first thought, but if he is anything like my 17 week old Golden who is teething ...maybe he doesnt chew his food if its small enough to swallow whole lol

[Mas1981]

That is not normal, I would take him to the vet.

[Sticks1977]

Is he teething?

Yeah he is teething at the moment, his two front teeth on the top and bottom have come through and some of his other teeth are just starting to come through as well.

That is not normal, I would take him to the vet.

I just gave the vet a call and have booked him in for 3.15 this afternoon, hopefully it will be nothing but good to at least get him checked out.

Thanks to all for the replies so far!

[Mas1981]

Is he teething?

Yeah he is teething at the moment, his two front teeth on the top and bottom have come through and some of his other teeth are just starting to come through as well.

That is not normal, I would take him to the vet.

I just gave the vet a call and have booked him in for 3.15 this afternoon, hopefully it will be nothing but good to at least get him checked out.

Thanks to all for the replies so far!

Its best to just get him checked out, my pup ate the whole way through teething, in fact he was looking for more things to chew because his gums were bothering him so much

[Dogsfevr]

I have had 2 large dogs who went off there food whilst teething

[Sticks1977]

Update: Have just been to the vet and currently steaming chicken breast fillets for Henry - read on for the whole episode...

He was being seen to by the vet and as I explained his symptoms and why he was not eating (or reluctantly wanting his food), Henry spun around and did a very liquid diarrhea with some gas. He seemed to feel awful for doing it and did not leave my side afterwards.

The vet has given me "Metrogyl" tablets and has instructed me to give him 3/4 of a tablet twice a day. She took his temperature and it was 39.2 - she did not rule out parvovirus but she said he is fully vaccinated (C3 at 8 weeks of age, and C5 - a needle then injection in the nose - at 12 weeks), she said if he did happen to have parvo that he would be vomitting and would be very lethergic.

He is not dehydrated at the moment and is keeping up his fluid intake, he has had another bout of diarrhea since being home and currently is resting on the kitchen floor.

Henry is now on a diet of plain steamed chicken breast for the next few days - hopefully his stomach and intestines (and what comes out the other end) will be on the improve over the coming days!

As mentioned Henry is on Artemis at the moment and I am wondering whether the food is not agreeing with him. I may end up switching his dry food to another brand. If I was to do so, could I introduce a new food when weaning him off the plain chicken breast?

Thanks to all for your replies - will keep you updated on his progress.

[persephone]

The vet did not do a test for parvo? That seems odd ...

I hope he will now improve poor boy. - if he gets ANY worse over the next 12-24 hours, contact a vet ..puppies can go downhill quickly .

[Mas1981]

Update: Have just been to the vet and currently steaming chicken breast fillets for Henry - read on for the whole episode...

He was being seen to by the vet and as I explained his symptoms and why he was not eating (or reluctantly wanting his food), Henry spun around and did a very liquid diarrhea with some gas. He seemed to feel awful for doing it and did not leave my side afterwards.

The vet has given me "Metrogyl" tablets and has instructed me to give him 3/4 of a tablet twice a day. She took his temperature and it was 39.2 - she did not rule out parvovirus but she said he is fully vaccinated (C3 at 8 weeks of age, and C5 - a needle then injection in the nose - at 12 weeks), she said if he did happen to have parvo that he would be vomitting and would be very lethergic.

He is not dehydrated at the moment and is keeping up his fluid intake, he has had another bout of diarrhea since being home and currently is resting on the kitchen floor.

Henry is now on a diet of plain steamed chicken breast for the next few days - hopefully his stomach and intestines (and what comes out the other end) will be on the improve over the coming days!

As mentioned Henry is on Artemis at the moment and I am wondering whether the food is not agreeing with him. I may end up switching his dry food to another brand. If I was to do so, could I introduce a new food when weaning him off the plain chicken breast?

Thanks to all for your replies - will keep you updated on his progress.

Did the vet give you any Protexin or any other probiotics for your boy? If not it may be worth getting some, a lot of people on here use inner health plus too My pup had a lot of tummy probs as a pup but as soon as I started him on the Protexin they went away. I feed EP Holistic Select, Artemis is a good food though. I dont think you would be able to change him to a new food straight off the chicken and rice, maybe others will have some better advice though??

[poodlefan]

If the vet has given you antibiotics, then he/she must suspect a gastric infection, not a food reaction.

Keep a close eye on things. Continued diarrohea may lead to dehydration.

[GoldenGirl85]

If the vet has given you antibiotics, then he/she must suspect a gastric infection, not a food reaction.

Keep a close eye on things. Continued diarrohea may lead to dehydration.

Unless some vets are just as bad as some doctors and prescribe antibiotics just because too many people believe antibiotics are a "cure all" and the doctors just prescribe them to keep people happy

Hope your pup is ok though

[sandgrubber]

As others have stated, Labs aren't usually fussy and are usually gutsers. But there are exceptions. Could be a tummy bug of some sort. A practical vet may prescribe antibiotics to take care of this possibilty rather than go through a series of expensive, and possibly inconclusive, tests. I'd hang in there and watch unless the pup starts acting lethargic, unresponsive, slow, groggy, or showing a fever . . . and if you trust your vet, trust your vet on the diagnosis.

Since last night my labrador puppy (Henry) has been leaving his food and being very slow when eating his meal...

I have never experienced this problem with a pup before so I am a bit bemused as to what action to take or what to do. I realise that if he is hungry he will eat but in the back of my mind I am starting to worry that it may be something more serious.

At the moment he is 18 weeks of age and 5 days ago I gave him his first Sentinel Spectrum chew tablet to cover him against fleas, worms etc.

Recently he was at the vet due to having diarrhea and they told me to put him on a diet of chicken & rice and once his poo had firmed back up to slowly put him back onto his own dry food. He has been back on his own dry food for just on a week now and previous to last night has always been eager to eat his meal.

He has started to wait for a verbal command before eating (the word used is "yum yums"), he will sit as the food is poured into his bowl and will then begin eating once the word has been said.

When I arrived home last night after a quick bite to eat some of his food was still there - I said the command to him and his tail wagged but he did not get up out of a sit and only advanced to his bowl and started to eat when I was down at his level pretending to eat his food.

Currently he is being fed Artemis Fresh Mix Medium/Large Breed Puppy dry food. I am wondering whether it is not agreeing with him and to perhaps switch to another food (although the reviews I heard about Artemis were quite good)... if it turns out to be the food could some people recommend any reasonable dry food to purchase?

Thanks for reading and I look forward to reading some replies - will keep you updated with Henry's progress over the next few days.

Regards, Shaun (Sticks1977)

Edited April 10, 2010 by sandgrubber

[Serket]

Make sure to reintroduce the dry food gradually - don't go from chicken & rice straight back to dry food, mix it in, so 3/4 chicken/rice + 1/4 dry, for a meal or two, and then gradually increase dry and reduce chicken/rice IF there are no problems.

Gypsy had a similar gastric upset when she was about 9 weeks old (eating proplan at the time) but it wasn't food related, although we did later change to Artemis (but that was always our intention)