HELP!! Puppie's both refusing to eat?!

VixRose

Hi im desperate for an answer as to why my pup's are suddenly refusing to eat!
Elsa is 7 months old, she has always had a healthy appetite but up to about 2 weeks ago she decided she no longer liked her food, we changed her food to the same as our friend feeds as she'd always gobbled it up when we were round there and she had some of their feed, she's since had a bit of tummy upset ue to the food change, so iv put her on a tiny amount of food with rice, she picked at it yesterday but clearly doesn't want it... i can here here tummy rumbling so she must be hungry?! it worries me as she's only 7 months old!

And my other pup, Murphy, who is 5 months is just picking at his, eating slightly more than Elsa but still seems un-interested. They have been for long walks almost everyday and constantly running round the garden so they must be building up an appetite.

Could it just be that they have upset tummy's and are just not feeling great?

Can any one help at all?!?!

baaaa

Wormed?

mymo

First, were they eating the old food, did this start when you changed?
Maybe you can get some of the old food and mix a bit in, you should always change food gradually, a sudden change can cause problems.
Do the dogs have upset tums? Have they vomited or anything?

Pups should be wormed monthly until 6 months then every 3 months.

Also you say they have very long daily walks, the current advice is 5 mins per month of age, so 3 months =15mins, 4months=20, 5=25mins. Be careful of too much walking on hard ground especially as it can damage growing joints.

andreac

Did you change the food all of a sudden in one day? Changes should be made gradually over the space of a week or so as it causes upset tummy's if done too quick as you have found out.

What food are you feeding now? Had you been adding anything different to their feed or giving extra treats etc?

If you have ruled out a bug/medical reasons why they arent eating then i would advise this:

Feed them at set times, i presume at 7 months you are feeding 2 meals a day?
Offer the food, leave it down and walk away. Leave them with the food for 15 mins then take away the bowls, even if the food hasnt been touched.
Do not make a fuss, or try and encourage them to eat, dogs are well able to eat themselves.
Do not offer anything, not even treats until next mealtime which should try and encourage their appetite.
Again, offer the meal, leave it for 15 mins and take away again even if not eaten.
Repeat this process for a few days, the dogs will soon get the message that this is all they are getting so will eat up.

I have a dog who went a bit fussy on me (all my fault), he held out for 3 days, not eating a single piece of food. Like your dogs, i could hear his belly rumbling. He was holding out for something tastier but eventually realised it was all he was getting so he decided to eat.

You need to be tough and not give in to the eyes and thinking they will go hungry, because they wont.

VixRose

Thanks for all the quick response's, they have both been wormed regularly so i ruled that out, that was my first thought, but i always thought dogs ate more but did not gain weight when they have wormed?

mymo - no they werent eating the old food at all, they ate it for a while but then both went off it at the same time so because they were picking at our friends dog food when we went round there i bought the same food as them, i did introduce it gradually but they refused to eat it with the old food mixed in so i tried mixing the new food with rice to also help their running tummys, this is what im still doing now, Murphy ate his meal at lunch time but Elsa still refuses!

Andreac i feed them both 3 times a day, small amounts as Murphy is only 5 months so its easier to feed them the same time rather than cause arguments between them! Admittedly i was making a fuss to start with but this morning i put their food down an turned my back on them, they didnt eat so i picked it up, same again at lunch, then Murphy ate his so i picked Elsa's up.

They seem fine character wise, they're still running round the garden and having regular toilet breaks! Their tummys still seem slighly upset but no vomit.
If they vomited i would take them straight to the vet. Im also wondering whether they may have eaten something in the garden as i have a cat that hunts and often brings dead shrews into the garden so its possible Elsa may have cleaned that up!
Thanks again for the help its appreciated!

andreac

Another suggestion, is to soak half of their meal in hot, not boiling, water. This will help bring out the flavours in the food and make it more appealing to them.

This way you are not atually adding anything to the food but it seems tasier to them so they might be more inclined to eat it.

You need to keep up the routine of taking up the bowl after each mealtime for a couple of days as it could take 3-4 day for the dog to actually realise this is all he gets.

I would make sure they get absolutely no other food, treats etc apart from their meal so they are hungry for their dinner.

Make sure you leave the bowls down for at least 15 mins to give them a chance to eat it.
I would try cutting out the lunchtime feed and just feed 2 meals so again, they should have built up an appetite for the morn and eve feeds.

VixRose

Yes thats a good idea, i will try that!
she's definitely hungry as she seemed pretty interested in my food at lunch time!
I will skip lunch time meals for her now then as you suggested and see what happens

The Sweeper

Growing puppies also seem to have weeks on and weeks off when it comes to food.

I have a mongrel who could be a Bull Arab (a glorified mongrel really, but essentially a large breed dog). About three weeks ago his growth rate had slowed from about 1kg a week to about 800g a week. Grand, I thought, adult weight will be about 25kgs.

Then he sort of went off his food somewhat - I feed my guy raw but occasionally throw in a Canidae grain-free kibble, or some 'puppy sausage' (which is an australian processed dogfood that comes in a long, plastic-wrapped sausage you keep in the fridge - you cut a wedge off at dinner time and feed that in chunks - it's usually a meat and veg mixture, with few additives due to being refrigerated).

Anyway - for nearly three weeks he was mostly disinterested in his food - turned his nose up at the processed stuff completely, enjoyed the kibble, but was hit and miss with his raw. Some evenings he had two chicken necks for dinner and that was it. I feed him twice a day.

I looked at him the other day and thought he looked suddenly ENORMOUS. I weighed him - 18kgs!! He went from putting on 800g a week to putting on 1.1 kg per week every week for the three weeks where he wasn't eating much!?

Growth spurt! He's six months old on 1st November, the big lump.

Now, of course, he's eating me out of house and home as though trying to retrospectively fuel that growth spurt.

Sigma Force

At that age two times day should be enough, if they don't eat the food then take it off the floor and don't offer them any until the next meal time.
As they have been wormed and if they are generally healthy and feeling ok then they are probably just chancing their paws and waiting to see if something nicer will come along.

Measure out the food so you can gauge how much has been eaten, perhaps if they are being fed together feed them seperatly or if they are being fed seperatly feed them together.

Just noticed some of the stuff above was already suggested. Give some dogs and inch and they'll take a mile.

Our two girls will eat anything if they could get away with it, our youngest will wait at breakfast time thinking he'll get something and won't go near his food bowl until he's sure there's nothing on offer or there's nothing being put in his dish aside from dog food.
The parents dog and cats are the same they are totally spoilt and my parents wonder why the won't touch their own food after they've been fed chicken and cat milk lol.

pitbull_fanatic

i wouldnt worry bout it. if u makke a fuss you'l only make it worse. dont nurture dat behaviour. give them their meal and if they dont want it take it back. they'l eat when they are hungry and when theres no fuss being made

VixRose

yea i tried all the advice with the no fuss and just chicken and rice, picking it up if they dont eat and finally they ate their food last night and this morning, so fingers crossed, they should eat their meal at 5 o clock this evening without too much bother!!
thanks guys