# 10 week old poor eater



## sheridanwands (Nov 29, 2009)

Hi every one,percy is 10-11 weeks old.i have had him for 3 weeks.he was eating well at first on purina pro plan lamb and rice puppy.the vet told me its crap,and known to cause bloat.he says switch.so i pick up nutro hollistic puppy,my sister take's him to the kennel she works for and they try merrick grammys pot pie.at this point his eating is back sliding.now he is eating a bite here and there.back to pro plan no good,picked up some merrick,no good.he is parasite free, so ???? i am losing it trying to figure this out!he has already had a rough start since the dam turned the whole litter away at birth.PLEASE HELP


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## sheridanwands (Nov 29, 2009)

Percy's pic from bring home to now.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

All of those foods aren't really appropriate for a growing pup. Too much calcium and phosphorus.
Switching back and forth may be confusing him, he is getting different flavors, may be holding out for something else?
Have you tried soaking the kibble? That may get him going. 
The threads in the nutrition section have better option suggestions for diet.

Ohhh, just saw his pics, he is too adorable!! What a cutie!


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## gsdraven (Jul 8, 2009)

Stop switching his food so much. Pick one (preferably not Purina) and feed him on a set schedule. Put his bowl down for 15-20 minutes and if he doesn't eat it then it goes away until the next scheduled feeding time. He will not starve himself unless there is something medically wrong. Do this a couple times and he will learn to eat when it is offered. You can also try feeding him in his crate so nothing distracts him.

My female didn't eat regularly until I started fostering. She would let her food sit all day and eat it late at night. Now, she eats when it's given to her because she risks losing it otherwise.


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## JKlatsky (Apr 21, 2007)

Personally, this is why I don't lke to switch puppies off of the food they came eating for several months. I feel like the stress of adjusting to a new enivornment, the stress on the body with the vaccines, coupled with the stress caused by a change in diet can be too much for some pups.

In this situation, I will generally just tough it out. Put the food down for 15 minutes and take it up, 3x a day. I would try this for a week or so and monitor your pups weight and activity level. If he's in reasonable body condition and he's still perfectly active, I wouldn't really worry. 

A Healthy Puppy will not starve itself, but it may try to hold out for something it likes better for a little while. They also go through eating/growth spurts. Some days they look like they're wasting away, and the next they look like little butterballs, some days they eat and some days they don't.


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## LaRen616 (Mar 4, 2010)

gsdraven said:


> *Stop switching his food so much. Pick one (preferably not Purina) and feed him on a set schedule.* Put his bowl down for 15-20 minutes and if he doesn't eat it then it goes away until the next scheduled feeding time. He will not starve himself unless there is something medically wrong. Do this a couple times and he will learn to eat when it is offered. You can also try feeding him in his crate so nothing distracts him.


 
I agree with this whole paragraph but I highly agree with the words in bold. Pick a food and stick with it, please do not feed Purina .

When my boy was a puppy I fed him Solid Gold Wolf Cub (it slows down the growth rate so the puppy doesn't get too big too fast, very unhealthy to grow rapidly) He got 1 cup for breakfast, 1 cup for lunch and 1 cup for dinner, so 3 cups a day. He ate at the same time everyday.

I had nothing but great experiences on Solid Gold Wolf Cub, I highly recommend it, some of my friends switched their puppies and dogs over to Solid Gold and are also happy with their outcome.


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