# Ok, pup will barely eat! GRR - Need some suggestions



## AdrianVall (May 10, 2010)

Hey guys,

I rescued a german shepherd pup, who is 6 weeks old. I brought him home saturday. He ate a good amount of food the day I brought him home. I fed him Blue Buffalo, which was what was at my parents house when I went over to show them. So the next morning, I was at my house, and tried to feed him the Kirkland puppy kibble that we feed our dogs, and he wouldn't touch it. Hmm.. ok, so we went and bought some Blue Buffalo thinking he'd like that more.. right? Well, he didn't eat anything early in the afternoon. GRR. Early evening rolled around, and he decided to eat some. Ok, good. Glad he's eating.

Next say, NOTHING in the morning. Afternoon, a few pieces but that was it. Evening time, maybe, and I mean maybe, he ate 1/4 of a cup. Same thing for yesterday and today.

What gives?!?! I've never seen a puppy that doesn't eat much! My two pups eat like its trying to run away from them, and always have. I feed him in a seperate area in the house so he doesn't get scared of my other 2 dogs. He's warmed up to us quite nicely, and plays quite a bit. He drinks a LOOOOOOOOOT of water. Always drinks water when offered. He's pretty skinny too, which worries me a bit. He's only been eating maybe 1/4th cup of Blue Buffalo a day. I bought some puppy powder formula for dogs 4-8 weeks that you mix with water and feed to them, but I mixed the formula with water, and added it to the kibble. He didn't really seem to much interested in it, but did lick the stuff quite a bit. Should I just continue to try that? I'm getting a bit worried now. He seems to be acting just fine, playing with toys, chewing on bones, ect ect..

Anway, suggestions would be AWESOME!

Thanks guys!
Adrian


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

You rescued him, from where? Do you know what he was eating before you got him? Maybe soak some of the kibble for a day or two in the milk replacer to get him going...he won't starve, and I wouldn't let him get in the habit of free feeding, pick up the food after about 10 minutes if he doesn't eat, try again a couple hours later.

I'd take him to the vet for a fecal, but no vax til he is at least 8 weeks old. Was he raised by his mom? Or bottle fed? If he wasn't nursed his immunity may be compromised so keep him safe from other strange dogs.


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## LaRen616 (Mar 4, 2010)

AdrianVall said:


> *I fed him Blue Buffalo, which was what was at my parents house when I went over to show them*. So the next morning, I was at my house, and tried to feed him the Kirkland puppy kibble that we feed our dogs, and he wouldn't touch it. Hmm.. ok, so we went and bought some Blue Buffalo thinking he'd like that more.. right?


 
Your feeding him Blue Buffalo Large Breed Puppy food right?


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## MaggieRoseLee (Aug 17, 2001)

Many GSD's are chow hounds and will eat everything in sight.

But many are also VERY picky eaters and will skip meals for days! 

I know I've had both, so just learned what was 'normal' for each.

My Elsa was the 'skip meals for days' dogs but I knew if she's willingly snarf down a treat, she's was not sick. Since she literally would lose weight rather than eat and be fine with it, I tended to just accept that as a fact and not hold out and allow her to eat zero food for days.

Instead, I'd just add a small amount of yummy stuff to her kibble with a ton of water. This would thin out and make a gravy of the delicious stuff to coat the kibble, and get her to eat. Opening up the fridge to scan my leftovers would almost always work (almost ANY of my food was gourmet to her  ). But also 1/4 of a small can (like tuna fish sized ) of almost any CAT food would tempt her to start up.

Whatever they have to put into cat food to make a picky cat eat, worked for my Elsa. Easy to store and transport these small cans, and store leftovers in the fridge. The huge variety of flavor was important so she wouldn't get bored. And I could buy any of whatever canned cat food was on sale. Since I was only putting such a small amount in mixed with water and dog kibble, it is still the dog food that's giving all the nutrition. The cat food was just to get her to start eating.

Good luck, and if she IS a picky eater, people that haven't got one of them have no idea how frustrating this can be. 

Remember, if in any doubt of this being a medical issue, get to the vet to make sure.


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## Bama4us (Oct 24, 2009)

We soaked Bears food in water for the first week or so when we got him at 8 weeks. You could try hand feeding him, or tossing a kibble and let him chase it. Make a game out of it. I did that with Bear often. Hand feeding will help with food aggression down the road too.


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## AdrianVall (May 10, 2010)

Yeah, were going to have to take him to the vet Friday. He seems to be perfectly healthy, just seems picky. This is very frustrating. I guess I'll keep trying with him. He didn't eat anything again this morning. And he CRIED like someone was trying to KILL him inside his crate last night. Sheesh... that was so annoying.

He was eating Purina puppy chow when we got him. We should have just bought some of that. Hmmmm..

We haven't been free feeding him. We leave food down for 10 minutes, and if he doesn't eat, it gets picked right back up. Thats what we've been doing since we got him.

Supposedly, he nursed from mother up to 42 days of age, but I don't know if I believe that. Like I said before, he came from a scumbag, so I don't know whats the truth. Also, supposedly he got his first set of vaccines, and the guy told me he's due for his next set on the 22nd. I don't know if thats true or not. I don't know if that could have potentially hurt him or not. I don't know.

I just hope he doesn't grow to be a picky eater like yours, Maggie. That will drive me MAD. lol..


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## Bama4us (Oct 24, 2009)

I also got Bear from a byb but don't tell any one! I didn't know any better then. The guy also said they had their first shots, but our vet said that if they had them, we should have been given paper work stating that, so our vet gave him another? first round of shots.


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## AdrianVall (May 10, 2010)

Yeah. 

But, I got good news!!

He ate a meal this afternoon, finally. He ate a little more then 1/4th of a cup. Hopefully he'll eat tonight.


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## MaggieRoseLee (Aug 17, 2001)

AdrianVall said:


> Yeah.
> 
> But, I got good news!!
> 
> He ate a meal this afternoon, finally. He ate a little more then 1/4th of a cup. Hopefully he'll eat tonight.


Glad he's eating.

Are you keeping his crate beside your bed at night? Best way to reassure a lonely puppy and get a good night's sleep. Though I tend to set my alarm clock for around 2 am for the first few weeks to wake up, take the pup out for a quick pee, and then still be able to fall asleep for the rest of the night.


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## AdrianVall (May 10, 2010)

MaggieRoseLee said:


> Glad he's eating.
> 
> Are you keeping his crate beside your bed at night? Best way to reassure a lonely puppy and get a good night's sleep. Though I tend to set my alarm clock for around 2 am for the first few weeks to wake up, take the pup out for a quick pee, and then still be able to fall asleep for the rest of the night.


No, but I guess I'm going to have to start doing that. I did that with my other two pups for about a month each, but figured I'd try not to do it with the new guy, but apparently its not working to well. Guess I'll go ahead and move his crate on in!  Thanks for the help.


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## AdrianVall (May 10, 2010)

Well, he ate a little more then 1/4 a cup of food yesterday afternoon, and then yesterday evening, he ate just about 1/2 a cup of food. I was very pleased with that!


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