i have a 21 week old chi puppy, she has always had a good appetite and has developing well, however for the past few days her eating has been irrational. i had her in a good routing with meal times, she would eat the same food in her crate at the same time, she would occasionally have a treat of some oats in hot water and a bit of her normal food mixed in. but now she generally doesnt want her food, she refuses to eat unless im right next to her or feeding her off of a spoon! she seems to be hungry, she will eat it and she will have treats when we do obedience but cant seem to work out what to do! i think this is probably more behavioral more than the food im giving her otherwise she wouldn't eat at all.

She's training you well to be her slave! ;-)

I guess she will be asking you to peel her a grape soon!

I can guarantee that my breed do NOT need oats in hot water as a treat.  She needs nutrition, and if you offer a sensible puppy food, that is enough.  I feed half wet, half dry and pups that don't eat it go without.  However it does depend what you call her "normal" food.  And I assume that her breeder advised you on feeding correctly?

She has probably gone down from 4 meals a day to 3 meals a day?  And with a small tummy, remember that you can fill her up too much with training treats.

sounds like my mother you got their lol,

Dogs can suck us in so easily if you allow them too, I stopped a similar malarkey just last week when my bitch decided she couldn't possibly eat unless i was hand feeding her in her bed !. She soon discovered if she didn't eat, she went without.

she has royal canin twice a day with a little cesar puppy mixed in and only has her oats as an occasional treat. its not been a gradual thing she just literally stopped one day!

It does sound as though she is training you, sorry.
I would place her meal down 4-5 times a day for 10 minutes and then take it up whether she has eaten it or not. She is simply trying her luck and seeing what else she can get you to give her if she doesnt eat and you are actually training her by making a fuss when she doesnt eat. She wont starve herself honest.

My guess would be that one meal or day she did not want to eat and you spoon fed her and that she liked so stop it, missing a couple of meals will do not harm and she will soon understand that spoon feeding is not going to happen unless you want to spend the next 15 years or so feeding a dog twice a day from a spoon.

Oh, and as a PS don't make up for the missed meal with hand fed treats, no dinner no treats either.

i have taking it away and putting it back later but she refused for nearly two days and i didnt want her to be unhealthy so caved in, how long should i be sticking to my guns for before its a problem to her health?

I would say put it down for however long it would normally take her to eat it then pick it up, don't give it back because she knows that leaving it does not matter you will give it back later and no treats at all. Don't know if small dogs are different from larger ones but providing she is drinking I would not worry for about 4 days but she won't go that long, after a day try something very taste in the food like a pilchard or some chicken but just put it down and make no comment if she eats it.

> Don't know if small dogs are different from larger ones but providing she is drinking I would not worry for about 4 days but she won't go that long,

Yup, they're different.  She would collapse with hypoglycemia if she didn't eat for that length of time.  I'm a bit concerned that only 2 meals a day are offered for this particular breed, at this age.

I would be feeding two tablespoons wet feed 3 times a day, and the RC mini junior left down.  They tend to graze throughout the day, keeping the blood sugar levels up.

> only has her oats as an occasional treat

??????  WHY     

I find with my small breed that when the growth spurt slows they are not as hungry and this could be mistaken for being fussy eaters, I reduce the amount I feed and it works out fine, then when they are coming into season for the first time their appetite picks up again and they can't get enough to eat.

> only has her oats as an occasional treat

Did her breeder suggest this to you?  There is absolutely no nutritional value in this for her and, like porridge for us, it's a slow release food that will keep her feeling full for quite a long time.  Stopping this 'treat' might help solve your problems

If I had your breed I'd certainly listen to JeanSW for advice - she's a good un, with a lot of experience, and won't steer you wrong :)  ...Perhaps you could PM her for more info regarding your dogs weight and the best amounts and timings for feeds?

I had to laugh when I read this thread as I know how stressful it is when a dog won't eat as a dog we bred ourselves had me on a string refusing food for seven years! People are quite right when they say they won't starve themselves but our lad always looked underweight and we had to stop showing him. Sometimes he looked quite embarrassingly thin. I tried all the methods which have been suggested here without success- he just didn't really like food! It only stopped when he had to be castrated at 7 years old, and then he got quite bulky. I did find out that his sire was just the same so it could be in the genes.
He was always healthy, and lived to a ripe old age, so try not to worry too much. 

Anyone ever hear of a sane dog starving itself to death?????

Nope??? Didn't think so!!!

Cats are good at this especially older siamese cats. No puppy normal healthly puppy starved itself to death. 

So they say, but my picky princess did her best - we tried eat or starve for months, she would go without for 3 days, eat half one day, go without for another 2 days, and so on. She was skin and bone! It's taken us a lot of effort to find something she will eat reliably, and she's still not very enthusiastic about it. She's now on the low side of normal at 19 months old.

being a fusyy eater and only eating by being hand fed was what my pug used to do,little did i know this was a major symptom of BAOS and larynx collapse,i had no idea,the specialist said it was to do with the position of his throat during feeding,plus the fact he was not getting enough air etc etc,so its not always down to being fussy,since major surgery,he eats ansome :)

Gosh, I never knew that. I did actually get my vet to check Hetty's mouth and throat to see if there was a physical problem, but in her case I think she's just a fussy miss!

hey lucydogs,neither did i know it until it was too late,i thought he was being fussy,tried all foods,raw,cooked,tinned,dry,had to feed by hand bit by bit,i didnt find out that he had baos until he was referred to cambridge  vet hosp,after collapsing and screaming at home,my local vets thought it was his spine(hv,kyphosis and scoliosis)but when i got to cambridge they asked about his feeding,his behaviour after walks etc,and thats when i found out it was baos,the collapsing and screaming was the larynx colapsing into stage 2 and was verging on stage 3,so he had surgery and now he eats fine,i felt so bad as i used to get annoyed with him,x

Poor little soul! I don't know anything about this condition. Is it to do with a flattened face?
I knew my picky eater was okay as sometimes he would take a fancy to something and eat it and then the next day turn up his nose.
At one time he would only eat corned beef and Bonios - I used to throw the Bonios and he would run after them and crunch them up, and eat the corned beef separately. The things we do for dogs! ( But if the kids wouldn't eat their dinner, I'd say "Well, you won't get anything else!")

Hi Cobus.
Yes,BAOS,or and excuse the spelling, Brachycephalic airway obstruction disorder, is found in dogs with flat faces,and it was my pug that had it,he is ok now.he is still at risk so cant have sedation or full anthetic as his larynx will completly collapse,he is lucky to be here,he will be 9 in may x

''Refusing to eat unless spoon fed''! it sounds just like my mothers dog when we were children! us kids had to eat what was on our plate or go without, but not our dog she had to be spoon fed or she wouldn't eat!! my mother would make me spoon feed her until i got fed up with doing it and refused to do it anymore & so my mother took over. Our dog wouldn't eat eat dog food oh no, she had to have cooked chicken, or cooked hearts, all food was bought especially for her from the butcher to temp her to eat. She would eat one type of dinner for 2 days and then refuse it the following day, and then it would be a constant worry for my mum about what to give her to eat.

When i got married and had my own dogs i wouldn't allow this behavour, they have to eat what i give them or they do go without. Our first dog was an Irish Setter and she had a period when she wouldn't eat and wanted to become fussy, so i left her food down for 15 mins when it wasn't eaten i took it up and put it in the fridge, at the next feed time i gave it to her again and again she turned her nose up and wouldn't eat it so i threw it all away. The next food time i gave the same food to her again and again she refused it, so again i put it in the fridge, the next time she was fed she ate it all! And she never again refused to eat what i gave her, it was all a battle of wills and i was determined  to win. ps she wasn't allowed any treats inbetween meals as i wanted her hungry.

The meal in question was cooked melts in gravy with mixer meal and it was 39 years ago. :)