# Four month old puppy not eating enough.



## MadameRed (Jun 11, 2013)

Sora is four months old (okay, he will be tomorrow) and is a healthy puppy. He just graduated from puppy classes at PetSmart and he knows his commands very well. He's a smart little guy; still a complete landshark, but he's really teething, so I don't fault him for that. 

He's supposed to be eating about four cups of food per day, but he won't. He's properly active and gets at least one 45 minute walk per day (it's hot and humid down here in NC, so I don't make them too long during the day) and I play with him during the day [in the house], and my husband plays with him when he gets home from work. He's starting to enter the "I'm going to sleep ALL the time" phase, and our trainer says the next phase is "I'm going to run around ALL the time". So, developmentally, he seems to be on the right track. But he's just not eating what he should be. 

I offer him food three times a day, around the same time every day. He's been on a consistent schedule since we brought him home at nine weeks old. We put him on Blue Buffalo Wilderness Puppy kibble, and he does like it. Before we started phasing it into his previous food, I brought a small handful out of the bag and he ate it, then sniffed around for more. When he does want to eat, he eats it without picking around certain pieces. It just seems to me that he's not hungry. I don't want to force him to eat if he's not hungry, but I don't want to stunt his growth, either.

TLDR; he's not starved, he's not sick, he just doesn't feel like eating the amount that he should be.

Do any of you have similar problems with your puppy? And have you found any tricks to get them to eat? (Someone once told me that goat's milk is good to give dogs; I'm going to do a bit of research in this, but opinions are loved!)


----------



## juliejujubean (May 4, 2011)

Just a question. Where did you get the "he needs to eat 4 cups a day" from?


----------



## MadameRed (Jun 11, 2013)

From our vet, and from the feeding guide on the bottom of the Blue Buffalo bag.


----------



## Courtney (Feb 12, 2010)

Those feeding recommendations are really just guides. They are not a one size fits all. To me 4 cups sounds pretty generous. I think it's totally OK for a dog to only eat what they want. Now, not eating at all and skipping meals needs to be brought to the vet's attention. It really could be that he's just full. I would let him be


----------



## MadameRed (Jun 11, 2013)

Courtney said:


> Those feeding recommendations are really just guides. They are not a one size fits all. To me 4 cups sounds pretty generous. I think it's totally OK for a dog to only eat what they want. Now, not eating at all and skipping meals needs to be brought to the vet's attention. It really could be that he's just full. I would let him be


He didn't eat breakfast or lunch today. I even set the food bowl next to me because he's a clingy little turd, and he still didn't eat. He'll get the bowl again at five - five thirty as usual. He has another vet trip on Thursday, so I can bring it up to her then.


----------



## dioworld (Feb 1, 2012)

Is your puppy underweight a lot? if not, i wouldn't worry too much

My dog is a very picky eater. I tried a lot of different kind of dogfood, he just doesn't like dry dogfood
At the end, we gave him honest kitchen preference + meat, that's the only one he likes except for raw.


----------



## Neko (Dec 13, 2012)

Now i feel like i am overfeeding mine! 5 cups of Fromm LBP and he acts like we STARVE him. + treats, carrots, kong stuffed with his vet food. etc I guess all puppies are different and have different needs. if mine was growing too fast i would be careful, but he was growing slow and steady. 

as for pup not eating at all, check exp date on the bag? do you keep the bag well sealed and inside? 

I hope the little guy is ok! Our pup did not eat well because of giardia and once that was cured, oh boy! hungry hippo!


----------



## Courtney (Feb 12, 2010)

I like how your picking up the bowl after a period of time. Good thing to mention to the vet when you are there anyway this week. You could always bring in a stool sample for the heck of it.


----------



## Sri (Apr 25, 2013)

I have gone through days like this with our puppy. He did not want to eat at all in the beginning. Some days now it is because of loose teeth/ painful gums. I mixed some cottage cheese and/or a tablespoon of canned dog food like ground lamb or chicken and that perked up his appetite quite a bit. I also do this to disguise the taste of pumpkin paste whenever he has diarrhea. 

You could also try mashed up leftovers, mixing it in with his kibble.


----------



## JakodaCD OA (May 14, 2000)

could be the heat you may see a decrease in appetite, altho mine would still eat all day.

My adult dog gets 2 cups 2x a day, plus some raw...

At 4mnths I was probably feeding 1 c 3x a day..

You may just have a picky eater


----------



## Galathiel (Nov 30, 2012)

My pup eats BB LBP (not the wilderness LBP..yet). It has a LOT more calories than some of the other puppy foods I looked at ... like 125 calories per cup more. Varik right now eats 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups 3 times a day. So yeah, he eats a lot. And looks like a bean pole.


----------



## Neko (Dec 13, 2012)

Forgot to mention that we put a little bit of warm water into puppy's food and let it soften, he was not chewing his food but swallowing kibble. probably from teething. I still add warm water with every meal so prozyme is activated. He seams to like it.


----------



## BowWowMeow (May 7, 2007)

4 cups might be too much but if he's skipping meals entirely that is a problem. My cousins dog refused his food for days as a puppy. THey had him checked out by a vet and he was fine. I suggested adding in a couple of tbsps of high quality canned food (something like Merrick usually goes over well because it has gravy). They didn't want to do it at first because they didn't want a "picky" eater but he was already a picky eater and he was literally starving himself, poor guy was really skinny. I gave him some of my dog's canned food and he gobbled up his kibble. If your pup checks out medically I would just try adding some good canned food to his kibble and make a gravy. It's not worth risking malnourishment from lack of eating!


----------



## Neko (Dec 13, 2012)

Merrick working dog stew is a good canned food =)


----------



## MadameRed (Jun 11, 2013)

I added some warm water to his food, let it sit for a few minutes, and then set it down. He ate everything yesterday and most of his breakfast this morning. His gums were bleeding around his teeth yesterday, and he's been whimpering while chewing, rubbing his muzzle along the rug, and generally showing all signs that his teeth are killing him. Poor little guy didn't want to eat his kibble.

Now that it's moist, he shows interest in it, and I'm very relieved.

Thank you all for your responses! They really assuaged me


----------



## Neko (Dec 13, 2012)

MadameRed said:


> I added some warm water to his food, let it sit for a few minutes, and then set it down. He ate everything yesterday and most of his breakfast this morning. His gums were bleeding around his teeth yesterday, and he's been whimpering while chewing, rubbing his muzzle along the rug, and generally showing all signs that his teeth are killing him. Poor little guy didn't want to eat his kibble.
> 
> Now that it's moist, he shows interest in it, and I'm very relieved.
> 
> Thank you all for your responses! They really assuaged me


yay!!! now take a kitchen towel, wet it, twist it, freeze it and let him play with it. You can also add a little broth to it or hide kibble. Kepps him entertained and helps with those sore gums. Some people get a few natural ropes and freeze them instead
we rotated towels in the freezer for a month


----------



## Courtney (Feb 12, 2010)

My boy liked frozen carrots when he was teething


----------



## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

he's probably not eating 4 cups because he's not hungry. use
the bag recommendations and your Vet's advice as a guide line. 
cut his food back to 3 cups a day and see what happens.

when my dog was teething i use to give him ice cubes that were smashed.
sometimes i would run my hands under cold water or dip them in a bowl
of ice water and then massage his gums.


----------



## MadameRed (Jun 11, 2013)

He'll toss around a frozen towel sometimes, but his attention span is so short that it usually just melts all over my floor. Same with the ice cubes. I was thinking about soaking the towel in chicken or beef bullion and then freezing it. He still likes the kongs with peanut butter/Stuff'n paste. The vet said it's normal for him to not want to crunch on the kibble when he's teething - it's not the kind of pressure he wants on his gums, and it just hurts. 

So he gets warm water in his kibble and it softens it up well, and he happily partakes of that. 

@Doggiedad, I would do that, but he's WAY too bitey. I can't even look at his mouth without him biting me. He's not doing it to hurt, he's just a mouthy little puppy. I still can't wait for it to end!


----------



## Greg123 (Jul 30, 2013)

MadameRed said:


> Sora is four months old (okay, he will be tomorrow) and is a healthy puppy. He just graduated from puppy classes at PetSmart and he knows his commands very well. He's a smart little guy; still a complete landshark, but he's really teething, so I don't fault him for that.
> 
> He's supposed to be eating about four cups of food per day, but he won't. He's properly active and gets at least one 45 minute walk per day (it's hot and humid down here in NC, so I don't make them too long during the day) and I play with him during the day [in the house], and my husband plays with him when he gets home from work. He's starting to enter the "I'm going to sleep ALL the time" phase, and our trainer says the next phase is "I'm going to run around ALL the time". So, developmentally, he seems to be on the right track. But he's just not eating what he should be.
> 
> ...


When my dog was still a pup he didn't ate 4 cups a day either, sometimes he did but most times he didn't.
I noticed that he only ate that much if he was playing all day with the kids, the best part is that he used to sleep like a baby on those days.

I'm not sure why you say 4 cups "is what he's supposed to eat", probably you've read that from the food bag, know that 4 cups is mostly a guideline. 

You should make food available to your dog, but never force him to eat it. If he doesn't eat 4 cups and you know for sure nothing is wrong with him, try 3 cups or 3 cups and half instead.

Maybe your puppy isn't one of those very active ones, or he's just going through that moment where sleeping is all they want.

About teething, I didn't used frozen carrots to be truth didn't thought of that, I used those toys people often buy at pet shops that are good for teething. However if your pup is having a hard time with teething, maybe you should see what your vet has to say about it.

Well this is what I think, lets see what other more experience members have to say.


----------



## NNorthern (Aug 2, 2013)

Our guy wasn't quite ready for four cups at 4 mo. Some days he ate all of it, some days he didn't. Wetting it seemed to help a little. I worried a lot that he wasn't getting enough because he seemed so long and lean at 4 months, but they keep hitting growth spurts right now.

We did frozen rags, cold carrots, bully sticks and chicken broth ice cubes to help with teething. He just lost his last milk teeth a few weeks ago. Good luck~!


----------

