Young Puppies Not Eating Well

[Stitch]

I have raised quite a few litters of pups however I am having feeding issues with the 2 pups I am running on at the moment and could really do with the combined wisdom of DOLers.

These pups are now 9 weeks old. I started to wean them on raw mince, yoghurt & Advance Puppy at 4-5 weeks of age which they were eating reasonably well until they reached 7 weeks.

It that time they made it clear they were not impressed with the yoghurt, wouldn't eat much of the mix at all, so I just left out the yoghurt and used the mince and the Advance Puppy. That worked for a while and the same thing started to happen again. They wouldn't eat the mixture.

The following week I swapped the mince for BARF (as BARF is what I prefer to feed my dogs) mixing it with the Advance Puppy plus they got a chicken neck afterwards. They got into that like there was no tomorrow but...now they are refusing to eat much of the BARF, they will eat a little of the Advance.

I am starting to see a pattern here and it isn't good!! I am feeding them 3 small meals a day because of their lack of appetite. I tried just feeding them twice daily and it didn't make any difference. They have been vet checked and apart from the lack of appetite they are bouncy, active, healthy pups.

I have now stopped the chicken necks because it is beginning to look like I am being conned however they are a small to medium size breed and what they are eating is obviously not sufficient and IMO they are too young to fool around with.

I can go to feeding Advance canned food - not my preferred option I can tell you as I do not like feeding canned food - or I can come up with another food combination but ...........

Anyone had any experience with this kind of thing before??? I don't feel like I am in control of this situation at all.

The last puppy I raised about 6 months ago ate the same mix BARF & Advance mix no problems at all and he still has a fantastic appetite unlike these ones from different lines.

HELP!!!

[poodlefan]

After years of committed raw feeding I got Howie (Whippet)

He refused point blank to eat any home made BARF mix. After some weeks of struggling I gave in and fed him what he wanted - kibble and RMBs. That's what he gets to this day.

It might not sit well with your ideals but I think its important to feed pups what they will eat. If its decent kibble, at least you know they're getting a balanced diet.

Feed them chicken necks and Advance kibble - that's a good diet. Add wings when they're ready.

Edited September 4, 2011 by poodlefan

[Stitch]

Is that enough???

What concerns me is if they don't eat enough of the Advance - chicken necks doesn't seem balanced to me??

At this age for a small/breed do you think 2 or 3 meals daily?

I am starting to doubt my abilities with this lot!!

[JulesP]

My advice would be further testing at the vets.

Being fussy with food was really the only problem I had with my dog until recently. She would eat a food for a week and then refuse to eat it. Bones were always eaten.

Hopefully your pups are ok. What breed are they?

[poodlefan]

Is that enough???

What concerns me is if they don't eat enough of the Advance - chicken necks doesn't seem balanced to me??

At this age for a small/breed do you think 2 or 3 meals daily?

I am starting to doubt my abilities with this lot!!

Chicken necks have a pretty much perfect calcium/phosphorus ratio.. and most premium kibbles have a surplus of nutrition. I'd say they'll do just fine - Howie did.

You can also feed lamb ribs, chicken wings and lamb necks for variety and to add more fat to the diet - important for growing pups.

[Stitch]

I was wondering about ProPeak. I have pups in the past that have really loved that.

[Fordogs]

Are you feeding from separate bowls or one? Sometimes makes a difference with competition. The last time I had one like that I scattered the dry food on the ground, worked a treat.

I don't believe in changing the food for them, makes them too fussy, put the food down and any left after 10 minutes I would take away. they will eat when they are hungry enough.

Sounds harsh I know and when you are so worried about them not eating enough but try for a couple of days.

[Stitch]

I would do that for an older puppy but for little ones of that age I am reluctant to be too harsh but I will if things don't improve.

I am going to cut it back to twice daily and see if that helps.

Maybe I am underestimating the nutrition available in the dry food??

I will allow one more change before I bring out the big guns ie. the tough love scenario.

ETA: Yes I feed in one bowl only but there is no competition happening except for the chicken necks. There are fights over them!!!

Edited September 5, 2011 by Stitch

[Ltiger773]

I had a few issues when i first got my GSD puppy, she would eat things for a while and then stop and id change tactics. She used to get the most complex hand made meals, better than we would eat. Things i tried

- mince with grated vegies with advance which you literally had to sit there and handfeed her.

- advance soaked in puppy milk

- absolutly loved liver!! Would eat all the liver out of the meal and nothing else. So naturally used to chop it up so fine that she couldnt pick it out (ps it really stinks and feels gross)

- Absolutly loved anything that you cracked an egg over. Didnt matter if it was mince, kibble. Anything. She would eat the entire bowl of kibble if you cracked an egg over it. Definitly try the egg.

- and she also always ate chicken necks, went through a stage where that was all she would eat and me being terrified would feed her as many as she would take because she was looking really skinny.

- also chicken hearts she liked them too.

- also if you are getting really worried and are worried that something is really wrong try a BBQ chicken (meat and skin only obviously). I was told by my breeder, if they dont take BBQ chicken then you can be worried. When i was worried i also used to shred the darker meat from the chicken legs/wings (which i hate) and mix it though her meal to help boost her appetite. But dont let them get into this habit lol. BBQ chicken isnt cheap.

Good luck....let me know how the egg goes.

[Stitch]

Thanks for the reminder. Yes I will try the eggs.

Tonight I cut up the Scotty Nature Roll which is supposed to contain vitamins and minerals and be a balanced diet.

They ate a HUGE amount of it, so tonight I am happy - tomorrow might be a different story!!!

I am resigned to taking one day at a time with this lot but I am not down to the BBQ chook yet!! LOL

Funnily enough they eat the Advance Puppy Chicken dry as treats when I am training them to walk on a lead but will leave most of it if I put it in a dog bowl.

I am only going to feed twice a day from now on but will give some Eukanuba puppy biscuits when I put them to bed.

LTiger how does your GSD eat now??

[Ltiger773]

Yeh the eggs were a total winner. Put some on their biscuits and see how they go.

Sad story unfortunatly she died three weeks ago at eight months old. I wrote about it in the health forum "8 month old GSD died". I wont write about it here but were not sure what killed her. Really devestated. But yeh up until she died she was eating well, everything you fed her. She always was a slow eater, i would say she definitly ate like a lady.

[Stitch]

Yes LTiger I read your post and was very sorry about losing her.

I find it strange that the vet couldn't find a cause. It is at times like that you realise that their knowledge of dogs isn't as great as we tend to think it is.

I think you could be forgiven for thinking that because of her history of poor appetite that the cause of death may be connected but it is not necessarily the case.

You mentioned that some internal organs were black?? I wonder about intercecessions which can occur if a puppy vomits too much for whatever cause. So many different possibilities and without an autopsy you will never know.

Good news though about my pups. I spent some time thinking about what they were eating and although it was 'good & nutritious' food it was also based on 'raw' food with premium dry added.

I gave them Scottys Natural dog roll last night, which is cooked, and they ate it with great enthusiasm. This morning a defrosted some raw mince, added water and cooked it completely in the microwave for 60 secs. Then I added the Advance Puppy dry to it and mixed it in. They attacked it with great enthusiasm again. My thinking on this - at the moment - is that some dogs can't tolerate raw food at a young age. If you want to extrapolate that theory, 'in the wild' the mother regurgitates food for her pups which means it is warm and somewhat 'cooked' which may suit their young digestive systems better.

Anyway, taking one day at a time, they have eaten well last night and this morning so I hope it continues.

Thanks everyone for your help!