# 6 Month old GSD not eating, a couple questions.



## nizran (Apr 22, 2009)

Hi, new to the forums and I did a bit of searching around and saw some suggestions for getting your dog to eat, here's my problem:

My wife and I just got a 6 month old GSD about 3 days ago and her ribs stick out enough that my wife can put her fingers between her ribs without pushing on the skin so she was obviously not eating or eating well with the previous owner either. (She fed her blocks of cheese often and purina (yuck) dog food). As of right now, the only way I can get her to eat is with some cottage cheese mixed in with Costco's Lamb and Rice formula and even at that she ate maybe a cup and a half at best. I know that dogs don't eat much when getting a new owner for awhile, however, she is already dangerously thin and I cannot condone letting her starve and "wait it out".

We have been contemplating going to PetSmart and getting her some Royal Canin puppy food, however I wanted to ask you folks first whether it would be better to feed her the puppy version of the costco stuff and replace approx. 30 percent of it with yogurt (with acidophilus), some sort of cheap meat protein and hard-boiled eggs or if the Royal Canin is a better mix instead. If we went the royal canin route, we wouldn't be able to mix the other stuff in with it.

Thanks for your time!


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## Elaine (Sep 10, 2006)

This dog may be one of those dogs that just doesn't eat much and will always be thin no matter what you do. That said, I might just try switching to a bland diet first, chicken and rice, and see if she will eat that. If she does, then gradually add in the kibble of your choice. You can get into a lot of long term pickiness if you start doing the adding things like cheese and yogurt at this point and would try the bland diet first. Have you had her into the vet yet?


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## greenleaf2001 (Mar 1, 2009)

You may want to try a raw diet. My puppy often did not finish his kibble and we had so many digestive issues we switched to raw about 3 weeks ago. 

Now he can't wait to eat his food, no more tummy issues, and his coat is as black as ink. He is gaining now about 3 pds per week ( and he was the runt).


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## IN101 (Jul 21, 2000)

If it were me I would start this puppy on a bland diet to get an appetite back. Like boiled hamburger, ground turkey, ground chicken and a bit of rice too. When she starts to eat after a couple days I would add dry food to it gradually and see if she starts to eat it that way. I have tried this for dogs that have the runs and it works to get an appetite back and settle what is going on in their stomach/intestines. Maybe someone else has a better solution, but that is what I would try. Good luck and let us know what happens with her. I hope she comes around pretty soon. I pretty much repeated what Elain said, but I agree with her.


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## SouthernThistle (Nov 16, 2005)

If it were me, I'd be bringing her to the veterinarian.


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## Alto (Nov 18, 2008)

If she hasn't been vet checked, I'd start there: she may be on her way to heartworm positive (depending where you live, HW preventatives need to be done year round - starting her on preventative now will protect her even if she has been exposed, waiting another few months may mean that she will develop adult heartworms), she most likely has intestinal parasites such as worms which will make it difficult for her to gain weight etc.

Replacing ~ 30% of her food with yoghurt is likely to precipitate diarhea which will not help with her weight gain - only add ~1T natural yoghurt with each meal. 
With all the food changes, diarhea or loose stool is likely anyway, so I'd also add ~1T pumpkin at each meal.

How much water is she drinking, how much is she peeing? if she's not eating, she may become dehydrated (this is about electrolyte balance not just liquids in/out) so I'd be trying to feed her yummy canned food for a couple weeks.

Bland diets are great for tummy upset but they also tend to be lower calorie, so try to estimate the calories she's getting if you go that route- the rice is not really all the digestible so make sure it's over-cooked: watch what comes out to assess what her digestive system is doing ...


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