Fussy Eater!

[MissB]

Hey everyone! I need some feeding advice. I was currently feeding my GSD puppy chicken mince mixed with cooked brown rice, vegetables, cheese and puppy biscuits, twice a day. Along with a something in the middle of the day, such as a few chicken necks or a tin of sardines. She still loves the middle meal but doesn't want the other 2 which she used to love! Ive tried swapping it for canned food mixed with dry, puppy roll mixed with dry and dry on its own and she doesn't want any of them! Its driving me crazy! :crazy:Does any one have any suggestions? She is otherwise healthy and happy. Thanks.

[mumof4girls]

Hey MissB my little man did this for a couple of weeks then he got back on track.. I feed raw, I was thinking maybe it tied in with his injection but who knows.. My man is eating like a trooper now at 17 weeks maybe it is just a bump in the road, I kept a watch on his weight which even though he was only have half a meal a day he was gaining.. Just don't get in the trap of leaving his food down for ages hoping he will eat it, I leave Rogues food down for 15 mins then take it away, this is hard when they are being fussy but if you don't you will set yourself up with a fussy long term eater.. I think I offered more food during the day but he wouldn't touch it and I gave him frozen kongs as well with sardines and Greek yoghurt sometimes I would come home to it touched which was also frustrating.. You can lead a horse to water but :-)

Don't get down about it he will eat when he is hungry :-)

I am sure more experienced People will have more help :-)

[persephone]

How old is your pup?

She is possibly just not hungry!

Or, she knows what is yummy and good for her ,,brown rice and veges are not really what a growing pup needs ..they are fillers and full of fibre .

Maybe try just the mince and puppy kibble , and see if that makes a difference :)

Chicken necks/sardines have much more nutrients than rice/veges.

[MissB]

Hi mumof4girls, your puppy is absolutely gorgeous! Thank you for all of your suggestions, I was thinking about the needle as well, she ate so well before she got her last one, so I will have to look into that.

Hi Persephone, Adra is about 14 weeks now. I will try the mince and the puppy kibble and see how she goes. I know the rice and vegetables are just filler, but she was only 4 kilos when I got her at 8 weeks ( far too small for a GSD ) so I worked very hard for the next month to get her weight up and what I was giving her worked. She was almost 10 kilos by her 12 week vacs. The vet said she was healthy and has a beautiful shiny coat. She is just so very active and i don't no where she is getting her energy from if she is not eating that much!

I will let you both know how it goes, thank you so much to both of you!

[Tralee]

Hi MissB. :)

Is your pup male or female.

My big female would only eat every second day, for at least two weeks.

I regularly chucked a chicken wing that just sat in her bowl.

She is also a large breed, and eats much more competitively now to keep the other three dogs off.

Some dogs are just not gluttons.

Px

[WreckitWhippet]

Cut the third meal out.

Get rid of the veg and the cooked rice and feed her raw for one meal and your dry with some sardine or whatever mixed through for the next.

Take what you are feeding her now and halve it and see how she goes on that, once she starts to eat it all, then increase the amounts. She'll eat a lot more when she's having a growth spurt and usually less when she's teething.

[MissB]

Hi Tralee, Adra is a female. Thanks so much for the advice. I fed her this morning a puppy roll with dry and she almost ate it all! So I will see how tonight goes!

Hi Pav Lova, you have given me a light bulb moment!!! As she is very destructive at the moment and chewing everything, she may be teething! Thank you so much for your help.:D

[pesh]

14 weeks, many pups are cutting out the third meal.

Good luck....

[RiverStar-Aura]

I know my small breed pup, Kirah started getting fussy around the 14-15 age weeks so I completely cut out the midday meal and hey presto, she tucked into her breakfast and dinner no probs after that

[MissB]

Hey everyone, thank you all for your advice. I have been waiting for her to get to 16 weeks before I cut out the last meal as I'm still worried about her weight. If anyone has any good ideas for weight gain ( not to much, obviously! ) Id appreciate it heaps! She is 15 weeks and weighs about 12 kg. To me she looks a bit on the lean side. It doesn't help that her coat is pure black, its a very slimming color! :laugh:

[ktig]

It doesn't seem so long ago that I was having this same battle with my pup, who is now 9 months old! I too planned to keep him on 3 meals a day until the 16 week mark as the everyone had suggested...from memory it started getting a bit of a struggle around the 12 week mark and by about 14weeks I had dropped the lunch meal altogether. I just slightly increased the breaky and dinner quantities and then readjusted them at 16weeks, that way we were both happy!