# 8 month old not eating



## JeepGirlSurf

I have a male GSD who just turned 8 months old this week. I'm getting very concerned about his eating habits. He's never been food driven and it has always taken him a while to eat his food. If he was our only dog I would just free feed him, but we have 2 other dogs one of which is a beagle. Food can't be left out for him to eat whenever he wants. Recently he hasn't been interested in eating at all. He just looks at it and walks away. We've been doing everything we can think of to make him eat. Hand feeding him worked for about 2 days, adding yummy stuff to it worked for about a week. Now I can't find anything to make him eat. The vet said not to worry but since he stopped gaining weight and in fact has lost a few pounds I'm getting concerned.

We feed him Blue Buffalo large breed formula. He gets 5 C a day. He is a VERY active dog so he needs to be eating. He goes with us when my husband and I run (I know the arguments about running puppies) he isn't forced to do anything, he just trots along with us and usually we can't keep up with him. Mind you this never tires him out either. 

Any suggestions on what to do? I don't feed human food! I've tried other puppy formulas but it doesn't seem to matter what it tastes like.


----------



## MaggieRoseLee

Have you had a chance to look at this site? 

http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/diet-nutrition/164205-picky-eater-help.html

You are SO not alone with this and your GSD...


----------



## JeepGirlSurf

Thanks I read that and I'm with everyone else on trying everything mixed in the food with little to no success. I did find something very interesting but no one answered the question. The fact that intact males seem to have a consistency with this. He is currently intact (dual cryptorchid) just waiting to do the surgery until we can be home with him and have our other dogs staying somewhere else for a while. 

Any ideas why intact males seem to refuse their food around this age?


----------



## BlackGSD

JeepGirlSurf said:


> I did find something very interesting but no one answered the question. The fact that intact males seem to have a consistency with this.
> 
> Any ideas why intact males seem to refuse their food around this age?



I've had multiple intact males over the past 30 YEARS, and had this issue with exactly NONE of them. Matter of fact, I've never even heard this before now.


----------



## Clyde

Agree this is not an intact male dog issue.

Either it is a human created issue (certainly some dogs will never be picky eaters no matter who they live with and then there are dogs who perhaps are a bit predisposed to this? I say this with some reserve because I still think in the end it is up to the person who feeds the dogs)

or

There could be something medical going on? Less likely and it sounds like you have approached your vet with this already.


----------



## BlackGSD

I agree with Clyde re: the "picky eater" thing too.

A HEALTHY dog will NOT starve itself if food is available. I've NEVER had a "picky eater". My dogs have all gladly eaten whatever kind of kibble I have fed then. And that is plain old DRY kibble. I do not jump thru hoops, not will I doctor up kibble to get them to eat it.

IMO healthy "picky eaters" are man made.


----------



## JeepGirlSurf

well thanks for all the info guys. Trust me I was very against adding anything to his kibble but when he started losing weight is when I became concerned and tried it. 

Yes I've talked to my vet about it and he's not worried about it, but this was before he lost a few pounds. At that point he had just stopped gaining weight.

So in your opinion, I want honest answers please, should I just leave his food plain and simple if he chooses not to eat it then he will just have to wait til the next meal? Hopefully at that point he will eat. I don't want a "picky eater" and and definitely don't want to be the cause of one. I've never had one before so I'd like to keep it that way.


----------



## BlackGSD

That is what I would do. Feed him his dry kibble, give him 15 minutes to eat it, if he doesn't, pick it up and give him NOTHING to eat until the next meal. (Meaning no treats, snacks, ect....) At the next meal time, repeat. Don't make a big deal out of it, just do it. 

One thing though, do you feed all of the dogs together? If so, if there any chance one of the others is giving him the "stink eye" causing him to be afraid to eat?


----------



## BlackGSD

Also wanted to add, if you WANT to doctor up his kibble, that is one thing. Many folks add some canned food or people food BECAUSE THEY WANT TO. IMO, that isn't the same as doing it to try to bribe the dog to eat. And, if you doctor it up, and they don't eat it, you end up throwing away perfectly good food. (This doesn't happen with dry kibble.)

Just know that if you choose to doctor it up, and then run out of canned, he probably won't eat it plain.


----------



## mysweetkaos

In my opinion, I wouldn't start adding canned. We did that with our senior, he went on a 2 day hunger strike. I started adding a bit of canned....that was 5 months ago, now he won't eat if I don't. I don't mind because he is old and deserves it...but I wouldn't wanted to start that any earlier than we did.


----------



## Clyde

It is hard to see a dog loosing weight but if you bribe him to eat you are either creating a picky eater issue or just covering up a potential medical problem. 

This is what I would do...
Pick up food bowl as soon as your dog walks away from the food.
If he ate half or less I would offer the leftovers at the next meal (do not add in more kibble)
Repeat at the next meal if he eats all the kibble from his bowl do not give him more even though it was not a full meal. This will leave him wanting more and should put him back on track.

You said he eats 5 cups a day or do you mean you offer 5 cups a day. I would offer 2 cups at each meal until he has a good appetite and see how he does from there. (I am feeling generous with the 2 cups per meal if it was me I would probably on the first day do 1.5c X 2)

It is nice to have a voracious eater because at least this way you know if your dog is not feeling well.


----------



## JeepGirlSurf

That's a great idea. Thanks Clyde. I have been giving him 3 cups in the morning and 2 at night. But I have been picking up whatever is left in the morning and adding the 2 cups to it at night. When we can get him to eat he will eat all 5 cups but I have been offering him all 5 every day. I like your idea about leaving him wanting more, to help get him back on track. I think I will try that starting now (he ate maybe a cup tonight) I'll just picked it up and I'll start with less amounts tomorrow. Wish us luck!


----------



## Clyde

Good luck! It is hard for most people to feel like they left their dog a little hungry but if a few days of this makes him have a different attitude towards his food for the rest of his life it is worth it.

Once I fed my shepherd a raw meal of a fish mix and he was so not into the fish. He almost walked away from his food and did a scan of the room all the other guys had kibble which he apparently would have much rather had than his fish. But he turned around and ate his fish I have never seen him eat something so slowly Had he actually walked away I would have picked it up and given it to him again for his next meal. He had eaten salmon just fine in the past so I wasn't going to just give up and offer something else. Of course I don't feed him that fish to often since he obviously didn't like it much (my other dog just loves the fish). But I figure if I put something perfectly good and edible down its not his place to turn his nose up and decide he wants something else.


----------



## Konotashi

5 cups a day? For a puppy? That seems like a ton. 

When Ozzy was a puppy, he was a little picky. He was on Blue Buffalo chicken/rice. When he was a bit older, I attempted to switch him to WellnessCORE. Didn't touch it. I tried for a week. Offering 2 meals per day, 15 minutes per meal, and also what Clyde suggested. He didn't touch a single kibble for a week, and he was losing weight. It was very hard to watch. I ran and got him some Taste of the Wild, and he downed it. 
I learned that Ozzy gets bored with his food. He would get 1/2 a cup of food per day. For the first few days, he'd INHALE it. After that, he would kind of pick at it and eat it slowly, then walk away from it. After 3 bags of TOTW (2 bision/venison, one lamb), I went out and bought a bag of EVO and Blue Wilderness for him to try. Didn't care much for the Wilderness, but he loved the EVO. I took the Wilderness back. 
After a few days, he would only eat half of what I would feed him, if that. So I gave up on trying to find him a kibble he would just eat and now I mix a spoonful of canned food with it every night. He eats like a champ now. 
Something else that worked was spraying it with chicken broth. I didn't keep doing this because it was a hassle to run up and down the stairs just to spritz his food with it.


----------



## katieliz

double check your vet's opinion that there's nothing going on. vets can miss things sometimes. i'd want to make absolutely sure this wasn't a health issue.


----------



## jetscarbie

Sometimes...mine won't eat if the weather is warm. Mine seem to eat very good if they have been active that day. Like running, hiking, chasing balls, etc.... If it's a nasty day and they haven't done anything....it seems like their appetite isn't as big.


Also, there was a time mine wouldn't eat this one bag of food. It was very weird. I went out to the garage to check it......there was a dead mouse in their food. My hubby had put poison out the week before. I started looking in some of the bags that were mostly empty that I haven't thrown away yet.....and there were dead mice in those. I don't know if the poison killed them....or if they got in the bag and couldn't get out again. So since then, we keep our dog's food put up.
I would suggest checking your dog's food real good to make sure nothing ruined it....especially if you keep it in the garage.


----------



## JeanKBBMMMAAN

katieliz said:


> double check your vet's opinion that there's nothing going on. vets can miss things sometimes. i'd want to make absolutely sure this wasn't a health issue.


Agreed. Especially with a GSD. 

I have forgotten - how are his stools?


----------



## JeepGirlSurf

Konotashi said:


> 5 cups a day? For a puppy? That seems like a ton.


Well he is 8 months old he was nearing a trim 70lbs but now back down to 65. He was eating 6 cups a day but when his appetite started to drop we cut back to 5 cups 



katieliz said:


> double check your vet's opinion that there's nothing going on. vets can miss things sometimes. i'd want to make absolutely sure this wasn't a health issue.


I just had him in this month, vet said he was perfectly healthy (just his dual cryptorchid, which we have the surgery planned). But it couldn't hurt to ask again. 



jetscarbie said:


> Sometimes...mine won't eat if the weather is warm. Mine seem to eat very good if they have been active that day. Like running, hiking, chasing balls, etc.... If it's a nasty day and they haven't done anything....it seems like their appetite isn't as big.
> 
> I would suggest checking your dog's food real good to make sure nothing ruined it....especially if you keep it in the garage.


I've noticed he doesn't have much of an appetite in the morning if he hasn't gone for a long walk, a run, or played really hard yet. Dinner though I haven't seen a pattern. 

We keep both his food and his sisters' food in the bottom of our pantry in the house. I know its good, but thanks always a good thing to keep an eye on.



JeanKBBMMMAAN said:


> Agreed. Especially with a GSD.
> 
> I have forgotten - how are his stools?


He had a bacterial imbalance a few months ago and they were really runny, got over that and they have been perfect up to this not wanting to eat. Now they are usually good, but sometimes a little soft. Haven't noticed them being too runny. I considered it that the there might be an imbalance again but when that happened it didn't effect his appetite. 



Real quick I just realized there has been one BIG change since all of this started. Since we got him he loves to chew on sticks, we have a wood pile in our yard for our fire pit. He would drag out pieces and chew on them all the time. I got fed up with cleaning up the yard everyday and having to restack the pile and as he has gotten bigger so has the size of the wood he was dragging out. So I blocked it off and he hasn't been able to chew on his sticks. Mind you he has some bones and his antler to chew on still. This has caused him to now chew on EVERYTHING else. He got a hold of a bag of paper towels and shredded 6 new rolls all over the yard. He's never chewed on things like this before, and he started digging as well. All of this in the past month. Any ideas?


----------



## Clyde

What if you put his food in interactive toys so he had to work a little for the food.

My favourites are Everlasting Treatballs, I also have a Bobalotte which can hold lots of food, kongs are only really good if you can freeze the kibble to make it harder and I never have time for that. I also have the kong version of the Bobalotte I got the small one because it had a smaller opening so kibble wouldn't come out as easy.


If your dog misses having something to do he could be bored and this may stimulate him. Also the walks or other exercise before eating is good. That reminds me of the Newfie that was on the Dog Whisperer he had no appetite and was just bored. 

I find with the interactive toys they can actually stimulate appetite in certain dogs because all of a sudden the food is interesting if they had to put a little effort out. Just make sure you make it really easy at first (like fall out of the ball easy) until he has a good appetite.

Also at the age he is at a lot of puppies all of a sudden need way less food. They are just not growing as fast.

Glad you took away the sticks! My first thought was does he have a splinter stuck in his mouth. That can lead to infection and loss of appetite.


----------



## PaddyD

At 8 months his growth has slowed WAY down.
5 cups a day for that size dog is a LOT.
My dog is a picky eater too. Her growth stopped at 8-9 months and she has held at 68-70 pounds for over 1.5 years. She eats 3+ cups
a day and she gets a lot of exercise. I agree with the suggestions to not try and bribe him but to feed him twice a day and pick up his food after 15 minutes (unless he is in the middle of eating it). I realize that this is very hard to do to your well-loved dog but it will get him in a routine. Good luck.


----------



## katieliz

just fyi, probably not relating directly to your current problem, but just wanted to share something about chewing on wood that surprised me...make really sure your dog never chews on fresh sticks (tree limbs or branches that still have some green in them under the bark), there is something in fresh wood that causes unbelievable bloody, and full of mucus stools.

also, can i ask, what is a "bacterial imbalance"?


----------



## JeepGirlSurf

Clyde said:


> What if you put his food in interactive toys so he had to work a little for the food.


We do have a dice that makes him work really hard to get food out, I didn't think to try that. 




PaddyD said:


> At 8 months his growth has slowed WAY down.
> 5 cups a day for that size dog is a LOT.
> My dog is a picky eater too. Her growth stopped at 8-9 months and she has held at 68-70 pounds for over 1.5 years. She eats 3+ cups
> a day and she gets a lot of exercise.


I wondered when I should cut back his food some more. I will gladly cut back his food, save my wallet a bit would be nice. I was really hoping he would get bigger. Both parents are about 85 pounds. 



katieliz said:


> just fyi, probably not relating directly to your current problem, but just wanted to share something about chewing on wood that surprised me...make really sure your dog never chews on fresh sticks (tree limbs or branches that still have some green in them under the bark), there is something in fresh wood that causes unbelievable bloody, and full of mucus stools.
> 
> also, can i ask, what is a "bacterial imbalance"?


I did not know that about fresh wood. This was however dry wood ready for the fire pit. 

He was having very running stools and I asked the vet about it and they tested it. They said the bacteria in his digestive system was out of balance and gave me some pills (so probiotics I believe) to correct it. This did firm up his stools and he was much happier as well.


----------

