# My Puppy Won't Eat :/



## matilda62301 (Nov 11, 2013)

I have an almost six month old German Shepherd female. Lately, she has been refusing to eat. She gets fed twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. Some days she eats one meal, some days she eats half a meal, and some days she just refuses to eat at all. We've switched her food twice now and it hasn't helped. (We switched it gradually by mixing the food together). She is currently on blue buffalo wilderness puppy. We also tried putting wet food in with her dry and that didn't help. The only way I can get her to eat is if I feed her food by hand in pieces, because then she thinks that it's treats and not her food. What should I do? We asked her vet and the vet said as long as she isn't losing weight, she'll be okay. But I'm worried that if she isn't eating, she's not going to grow correctly.


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## Baillif (Jun 26, 2013)

whats her current weight and food intake in cups per day on average?


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## matilda62301 (Nov 11, 2013)

She's about 53 pounds currently. We give her 3 1/2 cups of food a day total, which is the recommended amount on the bag for her age and weight. On a good day, she eats about 1 1/2-2 cups. She usually never eats the whole 3 1/2 cups.


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## MaggieRoseLee (Aug 17, 2001)

As long as there is no medical issue going on that requires a vet, she may just be a picky eater. And she also may require a bit less food anyways. Every dog is different.

If you have a piece of chicken/cheese/roast beef.... will she eat that? Cause if she will, welcome to the Wonderful World of a Picky GSD! Not uncommon in our breed and I have one too.

Since I'm on my 2nd picky eater I decided with the first that mealtime isn't a battleground and I don't have to 'Win'. For me, my dogs eating their 2 meals a day is a win, not me picking up their food for a week each time they fail to eat it and just walk away. I don't win if my dogs don't eat.

There are great hints and tips to get our picky eaters more interested in eating their meals so we also can go on with our day --> http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/feeding-our-puppy/162644-pup-doesnt-want-eat-picky-eater.html


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## matilda62301 (Nov 11, 2013)

MaggieRoseLee said:


> As long as there is no medical issue going on that requires a vet, she may just be a picky eater. And she also may require a bit less food anyways. Every dog is different.
> 
> If you have a piece of chicken/cheese/roast beef.... will she eat that? Cause if she will, welcome to the Wonderful World of a Picky GSD! Not uncommon in our breed and I have one too.
> 
> ...


Thank you for that information. I'll try some of those tips. I'm not really sure if she's picky or not though because we don't feed her a lot of human food. But I will definitely look into some of these suggestions and see if that will get her to eat. I just hate that she won't eat. Someone else suggested that she may be teething and we should try just plain wet dog food, would that be a good option?


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## My5dogs (Aug 30, 2013)

I wouldn't do just canned food. I sometimes add alittle beef broth on top of their food as well.


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## Baillif (Jun 26, 2013)

Is she showing ribs? If not I wouldn't stress it too much. Does she have a free feed bowl?


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## matilda62301 (Nov 11, 2013)

Baillif said:


> Is she showing ribs? If not I wouldn't stress it too much. Does she have a free feed bowl?


She's not showing ribs. But she hasn't been gaining weight. We tried not to do a free feed but when she started to not eat, we just started to leave the food she doesn't eat in the bowl so she can eat later if she wants. Is that bad?


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## matilda62301 (Nov 11, 2013)

My5dogs said:


> I wouldn't do just canned food. I sometimes add alittle beef broth on top of their food as well.


Okay. We'll definitely try that. Is there any other food brands that you can recommend if the tips don't work? We want something with the same nutritional value or better than blue buffalo if we do switch.


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## Baillif (Jun 26, 2013)

I wouldn't be super concerned if she isn't showing ribs 53 pounds at that age as a female sounds normal. Just because she isn't hitting the recommended feeding on the bag is no reason to be concerned. She's a shortcoat or long?


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## matilda62301 (Nov 11, 2013)

She's a short coat.


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## Baillif (Jun 26, 2013)

Yeah if you don't see ribs she's more than good to go weight wise.


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## ladyb (Oct 11, 2013)

Welcome to my world! It seems that many GSD's are picky, and it seems that I may be a part of the problem 
However, I decided shortly after getting her that my personal preference would be for her to eat, even if it was more work for ME...soooo, she gets a high quality kibble with other "toppings", including yogurt, chicken, rice, salmon...just to name a few....switching things around to keep variety. Yep, she's very spoiled!









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## Kira4589 (Jun 21, 2013)

My puppy is the exact same way! Just turned,7 months and 55 lbs. Lately,she just won't eat! I had her on. Blue buffalo wilderness puppy... then switched to the large breed,puppy... turns out when she actually ate it... a little... She we noticed she was showing,signs of an allergy. I'm guessing grain... cause her,other foods were grain Free... I emailed Canidae and,they sent me samples of their grain free Pure line. And she actually really liked them! Go on their website (Canidae.com) And contact them. Ask for some free samples and see,if your dog likes them. If not... at least they were free  

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## matilda62301 (Nov 11, 2013)

Kira4589 said:


> My puppy is the exact same way! Just turned,7 months and 55 lbs. Lately,she just won't eat! I had her on. Blue buffalo wilderness puppy... then switched to the large breed,puppy... turns out when she actually ate it... a little... She we noticed she was showing,signs of an allergy. I'm guessing grain... cause her,other foods were grain Free... I emailed Canidae and,they sent me samples of their grain free Pure line. And she actually really liked them! Go on their website (Canidae.com) And contact them. Ask for some free samples and see,if your dog likes them. If not... at least they were free
> 
> Sent from Petguide.com Free App


I'll definitely try that! Thanks for that! And I thought blue buffalo was grain free?


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

i would switch food untill i found something my dog liked.
maybe there's an ingredient change in the food and your dog
doesn't like it. i'm not sure why people think a dog has to
like the food that's bought for them.


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

your dog isn't spoiled. she's well taken care of.



ladyb said:


> Welcome to my world! It seems that many GSD's are picky, and it seems that I may be a part of the problem
> However, I decided shortly after getting her that my personal preference would be for her to eat, even if it was more work for ME...soooo, she gets a high quality kibble with other "toppings", including yogurt, chicken, rice, salmon...just to name a few....switching things around to keep variety. Yep, she's very spoiled!
> View attachment 142633
> 
> ...


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## matilda62301 (Nov 11, 2013)

doggiedad said:


> i would switch food untill i found something my dog liked.
> maybe there's an ingredient change in the food and your dog
> doesn't like it. i'm not sure why people think a dog has to
> like the food that's bought for them.


I don't think she has to like the food I'm getting her. I just want to make sure that her not liking the food is the reason she isn't eating and if it is, get advice on what to add on it or what food to change it to. I only like to feed my dog high quality food, which can be very expensive and I don't want to buy a bag and then have her not eat it and go through a bunch of bags half-eaten. I want to find a suitable way to feed her a good quality food and get her to eat it.


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## bellske (Jul 30, 2013)

I had problems with my 6 month old not "liking" her food first Wellness and then I swapped to Canidae(her coat looks so much better now too) then she seemed to go off that, I tried leaving it longer, taking it away sooner, hand feeding, in the end I just threw it in her bowl mixed it with her mince and didn't moisten it, hey presto we're eating again morning and night. Just a thought if your still moistening it.


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## Baillif (Jun 26, 2013)

You could always do things to create drive for the food too. Hunger or taste isn't the only thing that makes food "taste better." You can hand feed and make it exciting as you do so. Have her chase the food as you use it to lure her around like you would a toy. Food that has to be earned always tastes better.


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## Galathiel (Nov 30, 2012)

I guess I just didn't worry so much about it. My GSD pup isn't a picky eater AT ALL, but my old man shih tzu has always been 'eh' about meal time. Some days he wouldn't eat at all, the next he would clean his bowl. I just let him eat if he wanted and didn't sweat it if he didn't (of course I do now as he is almost 14 years old). I'm not about to start catering to a picky eater. He once did a hold out for a few days (he had been sick and I had been giving him scrambled eggs for his gastroenteritis). I just ignored it and eventually he went back to eating.


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