# Teething Puppy Won’t Eat, But Will Play Tug



## Mjwright91 (Jun 18, 2020)

Our (almost) 5 month old male, Steel, is in the throes of teething. Feeding him has become quite the event 3 times a day. He won’t eat his kibble dry straight of the bowl, but will take a small amount out of our hand if we trick him into thinking it’s a treat (“sit”, “speak”, “good boy!!” ...lol). We usually end up soaking his kibble in warm water or beef broth, but even then sometimes we literally need to spoon feed it to him. Obviously this level of babying would probably be frowned on by some people, but he’s a growing pup and needs to eat, so we do whatever we need to make sure he eats his whole meal.

However.... this is the part that baffles me. His mouth obviously hurts. He can barely eat and he’s not faking it.... but he still loves to very vigorously play tug... like whipping him around at the end of the rope, head thrashing, full force GSD tug play sessions. He even keeps bringing the rope back to me begging for more after 10-15 minutes of this. How can he not want to eat because his mouth hurts.... but still be all game for tug?? Is this normal?!


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## Lexie’s mom (Oct 27, 2019)

Very cute pup!!!
In my opinion teething pups are like teething babies.. both get some relief on chewing something cold. Like they sell special rings for the babies that you can freeze and let them chew on. With puppies it’s easier. Lex enjoyed greatly chewing on her Instinct frozen beef or chicken patties. No kibbles. Took her a bit with her baby teeth but it gave her some relief and helped a lot with preventing of biting/chewing other stuff. Also I would buy a pack of marrow bones from a grocery store and she will chew those and then you can reuse them stuffing them with yogurt or cottage cheese or a bit of peanut butter mixed with something and freeze those for a couple of hours and reuse.


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## WNGD (Jan 15, 2005)

I doubt the non-eating is teething


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## Mjwright91 (Jun 18, 2020)

Lexie’s mom said:


> Very cute pup!!!
> In my opinion teething pups are like teething babies.. both get some relief on chewing something cold. Like they sell special rings for the babies that you can freeze and let them chew on. With puppies it’s easier. Lex enjoyed greatly chewing on her Instinct frozen beef or chicken patties. No kibbles. Took her a bit with her baby teeth but it gave her some relief and helped a lot with preventing of biting/chewing other stuff. Also I would buy a pack of marrow bones from a grocery store and she will chew those and then you can reuse them stuffing them with yogurt or cottage cheese or a bit of peanut butter mixed with something and freeze those for a couple of hours and reuse.


Oh gosh yes, he loves his ice cubes!! We try to avoid bones with him now since we have them to him a lot a few months ago and we realized he wore his puppy canines down to like half their size! He chews and scrapes so hard and I don’t want him doing that to his adult teeth. Do you have a problem with teeth wear with Lex??


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## Lexie’s mom (Oct 27, 2019)

Not at all. She still enjoys her marrow bones, bully sticks, raw hide every day.


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## Mjwright91 (Jun 18, 2020)

WNGD said:


> I doubt the non-eating is teething


Think he’s just being a princess? Totally possible, but when he tries to grab a mouthful of kibble now it all usually just falls back out of his mouth because he can’t chew it lol - poor dude. He really has no excuse when the kibble is wet down and mushy though. Hopefully he gets over it soon - the little bugger needs to eat!


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## Lexie’s mom (Oct 27, 2019)

Maybe he just doesn’t like those particular kibbles. What are you feeding him? Sometimes it’s as simple as adding some good stuff to the kibbles like yogurt or pumpkin or some canned tripe or different canned food. Some freshly cooked liver pate will probably make him eat anything.
Lex once in a while likes munching on some Fromm dry food but she won’t touch it if it will be her plain every day meal unless she is super hungry.


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## Mjwright91 (Jun 18, 2020)

Lexie’s mom said:


> Maybe he just doesn’t like those particular kibbles. What are you feeding him? Sometimes it’s as simple as adding some good stuff to the kibbles like yogurt or pumpkin or some canned tripe or different canned food. Some freshly cooked liver pate will probably make him eat anything.
> Lex once in a while likes munching on some Fromm dry food but she won’t touch it if it will be her plain every day meal unless she is super hungry.


He’s never had an issue until like last week when his molar’s started really pushing through. He’s on Purina Pro Plan Large Breed Puppy kibble. He’s always liked it and honestly he still shows interest, he just gives up after a while lol. We often mix canned wet food, plain scrambled eggs, raw eggs, carrots, blueberries, raw ground beef, and once in a while pineapple, apple, and banana. We try to keep the kibble constant though otherwise the output is a bit mushy haha!! The dog is normally a garbage disposal - he goes crazy for his daily krill oil chews and even his monthly flea/tick/heartworm pill haha!


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## Lexie’s mom (Oct 27, 2019)

Lex won’t eat any veggies or fruits. She doesn’t like any... I tried.. but anyway you should be aware of how much sugar all of those fruits contain.
I personally was never a fan of using a large breed puppy formulas.. old timer.. they say they are all improved now but I still changed Lex’s food shortly after I got her at around 10 weeks. 
I would try gradually switching him off the Purina to some good adult formula.
Also I don’t know what state do you live in but I personally don’t use heartworm/flea/tick pills monthly.


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## David Winners (Apr 30, 2012)

Maybe the full on tug sessions are making his mouth sore later. He's in drive playing tug so the pain takes a back seat.


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## Sunflowers (Feb 17, 2012)

Ice cubes crack teeth.
I am about to pay over $2000 to a veterinary dentist because Hans loves ice cubes.
Also, no tug when teething, until all teeth are in. You want to make sure the teeth come in properly. At least, that’s what my breeder recommended.


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## Lexie’s mom (Oct 27, 2019)

My husband used to chew those. He will have a glass of milk with some ice cubes and will chew on those...all the dentist work after. Also after he stopped smoking.. probably about 17 years ago he is still chewing on the darn Nicoretts.. yet again another trip to the dentist.


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## Sunflowers (Feb 17, 2012)

All Purina has, in my opinion, is a nice name (implies purity) and some great marketing. Oh, and availability convenience (grocery store.)
People buy it because they think it is less expensive, but you have to feed more of it because it has so many fillers and your dog poops most of them out.
I like dogfoodadvisor.com because they explain why they rate a food highly.
This is a good place to start.








Best Dog Food for German Shepherds | DogFoodAdvisor


The best dog and puppy food for German Shepherds according to The Dog Food Advisor. Includes our top picks in each category.




www.dogfoodadvisor.com


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## Lexie’s mom (Oct 27, 2019)

Along with Royal Canine, Science Diet and Iams...


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