# 9 month old male not eating/seems depressed



## Saynt J (Feb 22, 2012)

I have a 9 month old male, who at his last vet visit was a healthy 86 lbs about a month ago. We have been feeding him kibble since he was 9 weeks old, and he never had a problem with eating it. About 3 cups daily. Once we took him off the puppy formula (Wellness large breed puppy - well before the recall), he started getting what seemed to be picky. The first adult food (Wellness), he ate the first few days but then turned his nose up and walked away. Trying to hand feed it to him would only get a paw pushing your hand away. I figured he had gotten tired of the Wellness brand after the 6 months we had been feeding it to him, and since I only bought a 15 lb bag I didnt take it as too much of a loss and switched to Life's Abundance. He (Kanan) ate the entire bowl of the new kibble the first time we served it to him, and thought that was the solution. It wasn't.

I'm on my 3rd type of food in a month now (by Nature), and he's quickly grown tired of that. Mixing a small can of soft food in worked for about 3 days. 

I've tried the NILIF approach, and that ended in a 2 day hunger strike from him. Now I'm concerned... he's starting to lose weight, I'd say almost 10 lbs. When is enough enough? I also hope that my wife's good intentions of mixing either yogurt or Ricotta or whatever else she's used into the food hasn't made him into a food diva. I have a feeling that that may be it, because her lack of understanding the basic obedience commands (I had to train the both of them, and the dog picked it up twice as fast) and using commands like "sit down" instead of only "sit" or "down", accompanied by the wrong hand signal has made me have to overexaggerate the hand signals when we are in public and there is any type of distraction around. 

I can either attribute his lack of hunger to boredom, my wife, or his adolescence. Also, he ahs been moping around the house with his ears low. He'd rather lay on the couch more than anything. The only thing that stimulates him is when I grab the leash or if he sees the next door neighbor's 5 month old Whetland Terrier. Yesterday I did both with him and for a minute my old guy was back. He even ate his entire dinner. However, this morning he's back to moping around. 

I hope this isnt a medical condition, I'm making a vet appointment.


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## Clyde (Feb 13, 2011)

Get him checked by the vet to rule out any medical causes. If anything pops up then follow the vets advise otherwise I would stop babying him.

The attempts at hand feeding, switching food and mixing in extras especially if you do it because he refused the plain kibble will help to create a picky eater. Put the food down twice a day when he walks away from it pick it up. If he does not finish what was put in his bowl in the morning then do not top up the bowl at night. Then if he finishes the food at night let him be do not refill just because he ate it all. He will get the chance to eat a full portion the next day. If he is healthy do not feel bad if he does not eat. You are offering him the chance to eat and he is not taking it. He will learn. 

Make sure you are not over feeding. 3 cups I would think is ok but it depends on the dog. Get him plenty of exercise to stimulate his appetite.


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## Pandora (Feb 29, 2012)

Is he neutered? I don't know why some people, usually men, think it is emasculating to spare a male dog from the turmoil and turbulence of hormones. It is a great kindness to alleviate the hassles of hormones.
It sounds as if your dog needs more activity.


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## msvette2u (Mar 20, 2006)

> because her lack of understanding the basic obedience commands (I had to train the both of them, and the dog picked it up twice as fast)


Seriously? If your wife's feeding style is so offensive maybe you ought to try doing it yourself 

I think this may be a vet-related issue and you'd do well to get the pup in to the vet, especially if he's lost 10lbs.

**Especially since he apparently liked to play with and/or eat rocks. He could have something in there making him feel sick.



> Sounds like my guy, Kanan. He would snatch up rocks, pieces of cement, and even chew on my stone wall until he was about 3 1/2 months.


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

I don't think being neutered or not has a THING to do with it. I agree on a vet check along with a CBC, Chemistries, and urinalysis.


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## msvette2u (Mar 20, 2006)

jocoyn said:


> I don't think being neutered or not has a THING to do with it. I agree on a vet check along with a CBC, Chemistries, and urinalysis.


Well, at 9mos., if there's a girl in heat next door, it could very well drive a boy to depression and not eating. 
Or at least I've seen those comments in threads by people w/both male and female intact dogs (Mrs. K recently had a thread about this very thing).


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

Ummm ok. I have had intact males, even had one in class with an "in heat" female and he paid no real attention at 10 months. 

Hormones really have not kicked in yet.

Besides any dog I have seen wanting to get to a female in heat has not been mopy and laying around but is running himself ragged, pacing, whining, etc.. But that is after owning a limited (4) number of intact males. I just think it is a very remote possiblity and something else is probably going on.


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## msvette2u (Mar 20, 2006)

Oh yeah something else is going on, maybe a rock in there. If the dog has truly lost 10lbs., that's a problem.

I don't know about owning intact males, except Ruger, who doesn't seem as if he has 2 hormones to rub together, but I _hear _of folks talk about their males not eating for wanting to breed, that's all  
Some on this forum. I'd have to look and haven't had coffee yet so that's not gonna happen!


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## jang (May 1, 2011)

Saynt J said:


> I have a 9 month old male, who at his last vet visit was a healthy 86 lbs about a month ago. We have been feeding him kibble since he was 9 weeks old, and he never had a problem with eating it. About 3 cups daily. Once we took him off the puppy formula (Wellness large breed puppy - well before the recall), he started getting what seemed to be picky. The first adult food (Wellness), he ate the first few days but then turned his nose up and walked away. Trying to hand feed it to him would only get a paw pushing your hand away. I figured he had gotten tired of the Wellness brand after the 6 months we had been feeding it to him, and since I only bought a 15 lb bag I didnt take it as too much of a loss and switched to Life's Abundance. He (Kanan) ate the entire bowl of the new kibble the first time we served it to him, and thought that was the solution. It wasn't.
> 
> I'm on my 3rd type of food in a month now (by Nature), and he's quickly grown tired of that. Mixing a small can of soft food in worked for about 3 days.
> 
> ...


Thank goodness you got your wife trained..Hope your pup feels better soon.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

> The first adult food (Wellness)


Was this bag of Wellness part of the recall for salmonella? 

If he's not eating to the point that he is losing weight then a visit to the vet is in order. Healthy animals will not starve themselves to that point.

And if I was your wife...I'd shave your eyebrows in your sleep for that above snarky comment....at the very minimum.


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## msvette2u (Mar 20, 2006)

Well, we can only hope the wife comes across the forum while searching his computer


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## Beau (Feb 12, 2012)

Jax08 said:


> And if I was your wife...I'd shave your eyebrows in your sleep for that above snarky comment....at the very minimum.


:rofl:


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## bocron (Mar 15, 2009)

All males (intact or not) react differently to a female in heat in the vicinity. I have 11 dogs, all intact. 4 females, 7 males. So we have someone in heat on a regular basis (although the oldest girl seems to have quit at age 10). Anyway, I have one male who just loses all common sense starting about a week BEFORE a female goes in heat (everyone refers to him as "The Indicator" LOL), and he is a basket case for the entire 3 weeks, although he never goes off his food he will scream and howl if he knows she is nearby, but is fine once I take him up to the house and away from the kennel. One of the males is totally oblivious until the female is actually at the point of being ready to stand. The others are all somewhere in the middle, they get frothy at the mouth from sniffing so hard and will get a bit whiny if the girl in question is around and they are in their crate and confined. One or 2 of them will get less interested in food for a few days at the height of the cycle. We just wait them out and sure enough they go back to eating just fine when they are over the lovesick stage. I will say that for the most part, the older the males get and the more times they've been around a female in heat, the less concerned they become about it.


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## msvette2u (Mar 20, 2006)

> I will say that for the most part, the older the males get and the more times they've been around a female in heat, the less concerned they become about it.


From my experience, the hardest part is the 'teenage' stage, when they are just coming into puberty.


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## Saynt J (Feb 22, 2012)

msvette2u said:


> Seriously? If your wife's feeding style is so offensive maybe you ought to try doing it yourself
> 
> I think this may be a vet-related issue and you'd do well to get the pup in to the vet, especially if he's lost 10lbs.
> 
> **Especially since he apparently liked to play with and/or eat rocks. He could have something in there making him feel sick.



I didn't say it was offensive. I said that her good intentions may have created a picky eater. (Where did I use the word offensive? .... Stop being a picky poster when replying about my picky eater  )

I'll ask about spaying/neutering at the next appt with the vet. And I was playing with him outside before, in and out of the pool, for about an hour. Yesterday we did a 3 mile walk with some jogging mixed in to get him used to running at my side for when he's older and his hips are more developed.


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## Saynt J (Feb 22, 2012)

msvette2u said:


> Well, we can only hope the wife comes across the forum while searching his computer


I've said it to her face.... as I would to yours. 

Jax08 ... the Wellness was well before the recall. 

Jang ... that's a never ending chore.


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## Saynt J (Feb 22, 2012)

Oh, and the eating rocks thing... was never "eating" rocks, merely exploring his world like all babies do. I (AAAAAAND my wonderfully trained hopefully computer-illiterate wife) have fished every foreign object out of his mouth.


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## jang (May 1, 2011)

Saynt J said:


> Oh, and the eating rocks thing... was never "eating" rocks, merely exploring his world like all babies do. I (AAAAAAND my wonderfully trained hopefully computer-illiterate wife) have fished every foreign object out of his mouth.



OMG! You are the poster child for divorce!! Thanks for the memories..Jan


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## Saynt J (Feb 22, 2012)

jang said:


> OMG! You are the poster child for divorce!! Thanks for the memories..Jan


Apparently, sarcasm is not well understood on here.... 

Read back in the thread to identify the callbacks.


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## Sunflowers (Feb 17, 2012)

Have you taken him to the vet to rule out health problems, and what do you do as far as working with him on a daily basis?


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## Saynt J (Feb 22, 2012)

Sunflowers said:


> Have you taken him to the vet to rule out health problems, and what do you do as far as working with him on a daily basis?


 
The vet appt is next week. Daily excercise is a minimum 2 mile walk, if not a 3 mile walk and trot. Now the pool is warming up i'm bringing in with me for some swimming. Even got him a life jacket for when he's in the deep end and cant stand and rest with his front paws on the pool deck like he can in the 3 ft end.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

Saynt J said:


> Apparently, sarcasm is not well understood on here....
> 
> Read back in the thread to identify the callbacks.


I got it...and thought it was funny!


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## Saynt J (Feb 22, 2012)

Thanks jax.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

But I still would have shaved your eyebrows in your sleep!


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## fuzzybunny (Apr 29, 2011)

Jax08 said:


> I got it...and thought it was funny!


Same here . I agree, the eyebrows would be funny though


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## Saynt J (Feb 22, 2012)

OK, so vet visit went well (even the blood drawing) and Kanan's liver and kidney functions are normal, and he's negative for Lyme's. 

Just have a picky adolescent on my hands. On one hand this is good news cause he's not sick, but on the other hand it may be harder to fix or wait out. :crazy:


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

you might have to switch foods a few times before
finding one your dog likes. i mix a lot of different things
in my dogs kibble. i also give it to him plain (just water added).
he eats his food whether it's topped or not. 

i don't subscribe to the "stages", adolescent, fear, 2nd fear,
human socialization period, etc.

dogs can learn different words for the same command. if i
say "sit" to my dog he sits. if i say "sit down" he sits. knowing
different words for the same command is like giving
hand signals. a hand signal is totally different than
a verbal command. when i wave my arm towards me
my dog comes. if i wiggle my first finger back and forth
(the way you signal a child to come to you) my dog
comes.



Saynt J said:


> OK, so vet visit went well (even the blood drawing) and Kanan's liver and kidney functions are normal, and he's negative for Lyme's.
> 
> >>>> Just have a picky adolescent on my hands. <<<<
> 
> On one hand this is good news cause he's not sick, but on the other hand it may be harder to fix or wait out. :crazy:


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## doggerel (Aug 3, 2011)

I'm following this thread with interest, because my 1-year-old female rescue, Pyrrha, has recently started this same behavior: As of Monday morning, she won't eat her kibble and has been moping around the house.

She's been on this same kibble since April and has never displayed any dislike of it before; up until yesterday, she would eat it with excitement and rather quickly, too. 

I've been following the advice of everyone else and picking up her bowl after she's ignored it, but we're going on the second day of not eating, and I'm getting concerned. 

She will eat treats, rawhides, any human food scraps that fall on the floor, so I am disinclined to think this is a medical issue. 

My question is: How long do you keep up this pattern of taking her untouched food away? When do you take her to the vet? Immediately? After a few days?


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## bocron (Mar 15, 2009)

doggerel said:


> My question is: How long do you keep up this pattern of taking her untouched food away? When do you take her to the vet? Immediately? After a few days?


That depends on many factors. Is the dog in a good weight, underweight or overweight? If underweight, then I'd only allow it to go a couple days before either trying another food or consulting the vet. If overweight or in a decent weight I'd allow it to go longer. We never leave food down for any of our dogs from the minute they arrive here so they learn to eat it the minute it hits the bowl. If they don't eat, we know there's a problem.

We did have a dog a couple years ago that suddenly turned up his nose at a food he'd been eating for 6 months or more. All the other dogs had no issue with the food, just him. After a few weeks of very finicky eating and some skin issues developing, we went to the vet. Turns out he was allergic to beef and the food was beef based. We switched to another food with no beef and in a few weeks skin was back to normal and he'd gained back any weight he'd lost. So sometimes I don't think they are just being finicky, they know something instinctively and avoid the food. Not very common I'm sure, but something to think about. 
What are you feeding by the way?


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## pyratemom (Jan 10, 2011)

We have always done the 20 minutes til the dish goes away thing with younger dogs. I leave the dish with the food in it down for 20 minutes then pick it up and give no more food until the next feeding time (I feed twice a day). Again 20 minutes with the dish is all. I have never had a dog that took more than a few days to get it. Raina can finish her kibble in under a minute. I have to admit that Pyrate was a picky eater and I used to cook boneless chicken to chop up on top of his kibble to get him to eat so that he wouldn't lose weight as he got older. I also gave him grated cheese sometimes - yellow cheese is the worst for gas! I did give him extras every day like fish and chicken when he got older because he had a picky stomach and the smells were the only thing that would get his appetite back. Raina has to work for anything extra because she is a NILIF dog and has to remain so.


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## doggerel (Aug 3, 2011)

She's a healthy weight: Right at 70 lbs., and you can see her waist, but her ribs aren't sticking out, though you can feel them easily. 

We're feeding her Diamond Naturals (lamb recipe), which is what she was eating at her foster's. We were also sure to buy safe bags from the store, as I know they were also caught up in the Diamond recall. 

She doesn't appear to have any skin problems at all; I've been checking her. It just seems so strange that she'd suddenly reject this food that she was very eager about just a few days ago.

Her foster wonders if she has an upset stomach from something (she was given rawhide strips for the first time at an event on Sunday afternoon). I believe she had loose stool last night, when I took her out around 11 p.m. 

We'll continue to monitor her closely; if she keeps this up for another day, we may take her into the vet, despite no other physical signs of illness.


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## Saynt J (Feb 22, 2012)

Hi again, 

Well.... Kanan's problem has disappeared as abruptly as it had began. He's recovered his appetite, and is making up for lost time. I think he is going to lick the bowl right our of its holder sometimes. He's gained some of his lost weight back, and his energy level is back to full again. He swims almost every morning for about a half hour either by playing fetch in the pool with me or just coming in to make sure everything is ok. 

Now, I think that these very active mornings and noon naps are leaving him with a reserve of energy when I go to work around 3 or 4. I come home around 7 just to feed him and let him go to the bathroom. Some days I can stay longer and we will play a little in the backyard so he can stretch his legs... but other days, like yesterday, I just fed him, let him go out, played some tug of war with him, and had to run back out. When the wife got home she saw he had chewed the door and baseboard molding in his room. She is scheduled to get out of work around 9, and yesterday she had to work late and got in around 1030. 

I can only think that either he was frustrated that I didnt give him enough time when I came home or he had a little anxiety when my wife didn't come home on time. I don't think it's full blown Sep Anxiety because we haven't heard from any of the neighbors that he howls or barks incessantly (although I've heard it once or twice), and he's not jittery or whimpering before we leave to go out. 

I'm trying to break routine as much as I can. I'll get dressed early and put my shoes on and grab my keys and then sit on the couch for 15 minutes. I'll go outside without even looking at him and come back 20 minutes later without a hello to him. I'll pick up his collar and leash and not put it on him, and take him for a walk at all different times. And, the last change is I'm changing my work hours to midnights.... but that's two-fold. I also can't tolerate going to work on a gorgeous summer day when I/we can be out running, playing with Kanan, at the beach or pool, or having a family dinner. 

I think the irregular routine that we all have become accustomed to needs a little shift.


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## doggerel (Aug 3, 2011)

Happy to hear that Kanan is doing better! Pyrrha also recovered rather quickly from her similar bout of "depression"/not eating. After one more morning of ignoring her food, she has eaten every day with her typical gusto--and we haven't had to modify any routines or "bribe" her in any way. I'm guessing she may have just had an upset stomach or something, and was wisely foregoing food.


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## Saynt J (Feb 22, 2012)

I think his front right paw was bothering him, most likely a muscle strain byt he way he was acting. And he just lost appetite. I'm very glad too that he's feeling better, and for Pyrrha also.


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