# 9 month old not eating?



## HIM_Darling (Apr 7, 2015)

We had been feeding our 9 month old puppy Wellness Large Breed puppy since we got her at close to 3 months old. We switched her off of Purina puppy chow to that and she had been doing really well on it. A few weeks ago we noticed that she had stopped eating one of her daily meals. She was fed twice a day, 2.5 cups each meal per Wellness feeding guidelines she should have been eating about 5.5 cups a day based on her weight and age. And she got another .5 cup in her nightly Kong with natural peanut butter. Then she developed diarrhea and stopped eating her meals at all and was only eating the peanut butter and kibble out of her Kong, plus a few handfuls that we tried hand feeding her. The day she stopped eating the Kongs we went to the vet, they gave us a probiotic for her and recommended that we switch foods and cut out all treats until she was eating again. They also ran a fecal test which came back clean(they tested for several things including giardia). Over the last week and a half we've been switching her over to Natural Balance sweet potato and fish, because the vet suggested that she may have just had an upset stomach, maybe due to the food, and I did some research and everything I read said that it is a food that dogs with sensitive stomachs generally do well on. She was doing great, eating all of her food and was finally back up to 5 cups of kibble a day with normal stools and she has stopped eating again, other than her Kong last night. Her breakfast from yesterday morning is still untouched. She will approach the bowl, sniff and walk away, like she wants to eat, but _something_ is stopping her. A smell, her stomach...I don't know what. She has now lost almost 10lbs, down from 72.5lbs 4 weeks ago to about 63lbs as of last night. She is still full of energy and acting her usual self aside from not wanting to eat(well maybe she wants to be loved on more,but that could just be due to her maturing). At this point I have no idea whether this is a medical issue or a "picky eater" issue. How long do we wait before going back to the vet? We are hesitant to try mixing anything with her food because we don't want her dependent on it, as buying food for her is already very expensive and in addition to her we are feeding 3 cats and 2 other dogs(who are elderly and get their food softened with water and a special canned food). She is also boarded on occasion and we don't want her refusing to eat while being boarded if she is used to having us mix stuff in with her food.


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## HIM_Darling (Apr 7, 2015)

Just wanted to check in and give an update. We've switched her food again to Blue buffalo freedom large breed puppy and she is doing great. She yells at us if we are late feeding her now. We still suspect a grain allergy but with her being so young, the vet wasn't wanting to do an allergy test yet. I also suspect that perhaps she thought the Natural Balance fish and sweet potato was too bland. We weighed her a week ago and she was up to 74lbs, a little under where she should be based on how much she was gaining per week before she was sick but with her great appetite now it shouldn't be long before she is back on track.


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## Debanneball (Aug 28, 2014)

Glad to hear she is doing better. When Fritz didn't eat, I tried 'toppers'...cottage cheese, parmesan cheese, small pieces (chopped so finely a little goes a long way) cooked beef or turkey..grated liver treats.. I still mix his meal with the turkey. Someone told me the dog will not starve itself! Good luck


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## yuriy (Dec 23, 2012)

Sounds like nothing more than a picky eater... something I'm unfortunately familiar with!


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