# Trouble getting puppy to eat.



## Ajb2320 (Mar 25, 2018)

My puppy is not eating the way I feel he should be. I would expect that in the morning for breakfast that he would eat his food. He doesn't. He sniffs it and walks away. Then picks at it through the day. We started with food that the humane society had. Then went to beniful puppy and now at purina pro plan lg breed puppy food that the vet recommended. All foods he did the same. The vet tech said to get him on a schedule set food down for breakfast leave for 30min if he doesn't eat pick up and do it again at lunch and dinner. He will learn to eat at those times. I have not tried any wet food. Are gsd finicky? I had a black lab with little problems eating. 
I had mixed food with peanut butter and yogurt and he will eat some but not all of it. I had tried making him a yogurt and kibble long treat he licked it for a while then gave up. I give him a chewy bone to play with while I'm working and he devours it. Not sure what to do. From his first vet check till now which was 3 weeks he gained 8lb 21-29. So he's not starving. Over all his total food in take is aliitke less than 2 cups a day. Any thoughts or recommendations would be great. 
Thanks 
Allen


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## tc68 (May 31, 2006)

Try a different brand. There are plenty of better quality dog foods out there. The common brand that I see a lot of people here use is Fromm's Gold for large breed puppies (something like that). I use Victor and my pup loves it. If you're going to change foods, do gradual changes. Instant changes will result in diarrhea. If you don't want to spend a lot of money buying bags of different foods, some stores have trial size bags. If the stores don't have trial size bags, send an email or call the different brand companies. They'll be more than happy to send you samples. Just because your vet tells you to use Purina Pro Plan, doesn't mean you should. I'm not a fan of Purina's. My first GSD developed allergies from their foods when he was a puppy. And my general rule is...any brand that you can find at a grocery store (like Pedigree, Purina, etc.) is not going to be a good quality food.) That's just my personal opinion. No offense to those who like those brands. It may take a while to find the right one, but be patient and good luck.


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## Sabis mom (Mar 20, 2014)

First of all how old is this pup, and how long have you had him? Two cups may be plenty for an 8 lb puppy. 

Not a fan of adding things to dogs food unless it's fresh food. Yes shepherds are a bit notorious for being picky and some pups just don't eat well. If you must add things use raw meat, berries, plain yogurt or eggs. Many dogs love raw eggs. Stay away from peanut butter unless it's real, all natural peanut butter.


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## Ajb2320 (Mar 25, 2018)

I have had him for about 4 and a 1/2 months now and he weighs 28 pounds


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## Nurse Bishop (Nov 20, 2016)

Did you get an approximate age when you got him? ( from the pound I presume).


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## Sabis mom (Mar 20, 2014)

Ajb2320 said:


> I have had him for about 4 and a 1/2 months now and he weighs 28 pounds


Sorry I misread the post. LOL. Not enough coffee. 

That said, everything else I posted stands. GSD's are notorious for being finicky eaters. Adding toppings to kibble usually devolves into a battle to find new and interesting things to feed. I would try your vets advice first, put the food down, leave it for 15-20 minutes and pick it up. No more until next meal time.
I have also found that some dogs just like to work for their food, so use a portion of your daily kibble as training treats. Or even all of it. Some days Shadow leaves her breakfast, but if I pick up the dish and do sit, come, down, heel exercises with her she will gobble it down as fast as I offer it.


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## Ajb2320 (Mar 25, 2018)

They said he was 8 weeks but my vet said he will lose baby teeth around 16 weeks and he still has those ferocious things


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## Ajb2320 (Mar 25, 2018)

I tried making a yogurt and kibble kong he licked it for as little while then gave up. Not used to the not eating it all at one clip like my lan was.


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## McGloomy (Mar 13, 2018)

Hi Allen, I'm sorry that you're having trouble feeding your puppy. I'm gonna tell you my experience with my boy, hopefully it will help. I've had my boy since he was 7 1/2 weeks. When he was around 4/5mo, suddenly he was not as interested in his food as he was before. Like your pup, he will sniff, eat a little bit then back away. I was puzzled by this because it was new and unusual. I tried mixing it with rice, he still didn't want to eat unless he was really hungry. Now that's one of the keys! If he does not want to eat when you have prepped the food, take the food away and don't have it available throughout the day, he has to learn that food has to be eaten when it is served. So for 2-3 days he only ate half of his food intake, but he ate it for dinner anyways. Since I was worried, I finally tried purchasing wet food, and mixed it up with the dry food. WORKED LIKE A CHARM. He ate like a champ and has been ever since. For some reason, dogs (or at least my dog) has less sensitivity to wet food, so while his dry food is one of the top notch brands (I feed him Pro Pac, no corn no wheat no soy no by-product), his wet food is 'basic': Alpo ($6.79 /dozen). No issues with that, he's physically healthy, his coat is shiny, teeth are great AND he is growing on a healthy rate, he was VERY skinny before he had the wet food (he has 1 can per day, subtitutes 100g/1 cup of dry food). What I am trying to say is, try mixing his diet with wet food, like actually mixing the dry and wet food together in his bowl. If you're up for that, hopefully your pup will eat with no problem again! Good luck.


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## Ajb2320 (Mar 25, 2018)

Thank u for all the help and info.


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## McGloomy (Mar 13, 2018)

Keep us updated! ?


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## Ajb2320 (Mar 25, 2018)

Is it a bad thing to add wet up his food. I no I'm not a big fan of it just because I feel it's gross. But I'll do what it takes to get him to eat. Lol


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## desertsage01 (Jan 3, 2018)

My puppy has always eaten a little at a time and it drives me crazy because I'm a bit OCD about this sort of thing. Eat on schedule. 3 times a day. I also thought maybe I should add something to it because I don't want to switch brands since she's doing so well on what she's on. Poops normal etc.... I got her when she was 7 weeks old and the breeder was free feeding so I think mine was used to just eating whenever she wanted all day. If we do a lot of exercise or play, she has a much better appetite and eats all her kibble in one sitting (like I would like to see). There are days she eats all in one sitting and days where she picks at it. She's the worst in the morning. She will eat about half and then the other half a couple hours later. We are retired so it isn't like we're not here. But I don't like the idea of leaving it sit. But right now mine is 12 weeks old so I don't want to take it away too soon. After about 2-3 hours, I do take it away if she hasn't finished. She likes her kibble, she's just not hungry sometimes and if they look good, good weight, I wouldn't worry about it. If they refuse to eat it at all, then I would worry and look into something else. I was also thinking about adding in some wet food but then decided against it for now anyway. Mine will eat just about anything. She's NOT food picky. She even ate some green beans!


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## atjurhs (Apr 10, 2018)

hi guys, new here, with my first German Sheppard 

so Samuel is 11 weeks and weighs 28lbs, he's a monster! at 9 weeks when i picked him up from the breeder he also weighed 28lbs. so i've had him for the past 2 weeks, and his eating habits have slowed down from when he would gobble it up. initially he would eat one full coffee cup of kibble in the morning and another full coffee cup at night. now it's more like 1/2 a coffee cup in the morning and 1/2 a coffee cup at night (btw, because i've had many Golden Retrievers in the past, and i believe in feeding my dogs high quality dog food, for Samuel Wellness CORE for Large Breed Puppies, i've done my homework on this and i don't mind spending the money to get a healthy dog). anyways to get him more interested in eating i've mixed in a egg with his kibble.

question, is adding an egg in the morning and an egg at night too much extra protein & cholesterol?


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## McGloomy (Mar 13, 2018)

If you're already feeding Samuel his essential nutrition, 2 eggs a day might be too much. I feed mine 3-4 eggs/week. Healthy as a horse!


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## Ajb2320 (Mar 25, 2018)

Still not eating great. Feeding brands started out was what the humane society started. Then I switched to beniful healthy puppy which I fed my lab for long time and the new puppy seemed to love it but our vet said we want feeding him enough. He went from eating it as fast as he could to having a full bowl sit and not eat much. I thought I read something about beniful not being si good so I switched to purina pro plan. Didn't really like it at all. So I switched back to the beniful hoping he would start liking that again and still not so much. I have also started to add some can puppy pedigree wet in with it thought that would do the trick. The first day are it all down. I was excited thinking that was going to work. But we are back to the same thing again. As I'm getting his food ready he seems excited. But when I set it down he comes over maybe take a couple bites or sniffs and walks away. But there are times that he will eat it all in one setting. I don't under stand. I also like the one person in this post. OCD. It's there eat it and I'll get u some for lunch. That's how my lab was. Any other thoughts. 
Mav is around 4months old weighs 35lb and is lond and tall.


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## Heartandsoul (Jan 5, 2012)

I don't say much about kibble brands or kibble feeding but from my own experience way back with our first three dogs (two died from cancer, the other was switched to better kibble plus some raw and good people food). Stay away from Beneful or any other kibble that has the same basic ingredients in it.

Your pup may be finicky but also, his nose may be telling him something that you can't see or smell.

With my boy, and he wasn't finicky but was backing away from kibble periodically (tried five over the course of 3-4 years) even though I knew he was hungry.

That said, bone broth, high quality colostrum, a little bit of appropriate human food are some of the things that may stimulate his appetite.


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## tc68 (May 31, 2006)

Ajb2320 said:


> Still not eating great. Feeding brands started out was what the humane society started. Then I switched to beniful healthy puppy which I fed my lab for long time and the new puppy seemed to love it but our vet said we want feeding him enough. He went from eating it as fast as he could to having a full bowl sit and not eat much. I thought I read something about beniful not being si good so I switched to purina pro plan. Didn't really like it at all. So I switched back to the beniful hoping he would start liking that again and still not so much. I have also started to add some can puppy pedigree wet in with it thought that would do the trick. The first day are it all down. I was excited thinking that was going to work. But we are back to the same thing again. As I'm getting his food ready he seems excited. But when I set it down he comes over maybe take a couple bites or sniffs and walks away. But there are times that he will eat it all in one setting. I don't under stand. I also like the one person in this post. OCD. It's there eat it and I'll get u some for lunch. That's how my lab was. Any other thoughts.
> Mav is around 4months old weighs 35lb and is lond and tall.



Do you have access to other brands around your area? It just seems like you are stuck on Purina. There are many better quality kibble than Purina. Give any of those a shot. You've got nothing to lose right now. The dog's already not eating. And buy the smallest bags possible while you're trying to find the right one.


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## Ajb2320 (Mar 25, 2018)

No I do have access to all kind of different brands. The vet that we go to is the one that suggested the purina. What are others good ones to look into? We also have Petco and pet smart around also


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