I have had a 9 week old Pekingese pup for the past two weeks. He came home with kennel cough and enteritis which are being treated. My major problem with him is that he will not eat any kind of puppy food. I have tried Eukanuba (which he was on from the breeder), Science Diet, Iams, Puppy Chow, Pedigree, and Purina One. He won't touch any of it. He weighed 2# 4oz on the day that I brought him home, 2# 1oz on the next day when he went to the vet, then 2# 2oz the following week at his vet checkup. (I had been giving him Nutri-Cal supplement and 1/2 strength pedialyte to drink to keep his blood sugar up. ) My vet says that any kind of puppy food is better for him than meat and to keep trying. In desperation last night I tried lean beef and he actually ate some for the first time since I got him. I don't know what to do. I am truly afraid that he will starve to death at the rate he is going, but I don't want to compromise his health by getting him used to meat if it truly is not good for him.

I am encouraged by the posts on this site about using real food (ie meat and eggs and such) to feed to our pets. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Hi,
What a worrying time for you. Has your vet explained his logical reasons for his anti-meat stance? After all, 'proper' dog food was only comparatively recently invented, and dogs have survived happily on meat etc for millions of years! (How many wild canines eat commercial dog food?)

I'm not a 'nutritionist' but if this was my puppy I would have to start feeding a mixed diet of meat, eggs, cereal etc with a little of the puppy food mixed in it. You may want to go down the 'BARF' (Bones and Raw Food) route. For this you will need to read the books by Ian Billinghurst ("Give a Dog a Bone" and others) to understand the principles.

The important thing is to get your puppy eating.
Good luck.
:)

PS.
I forgot to ask, what was the puppy being fed by the breeder? It is usually a good idea to keep the pup on the same food for a couple of weeks after rehoming so it can settle in better. Changing homes is very traumatic, so the more gradual the changes the better.
Good luck.
:)

Thanks Jean. The puppy store that I got him from gave me a small bag of Eukanuba puppy food which is what they said he was eating. He drug the bag from the area where I keep the variety of foods into what I jokingly call his lair (a little alcove under the stereo equipment), but when I put it in his bowl, he won't touch it. I'm sure that part of the problem is that he wasn't in great health when I got him... coughing frequently and having diarrhea (sometimes with blood in it... he tested parvo negative, so I don't think that it is that). These conditions are being treated with antibiotics, but though his health state seems somewhat better, he still won't eat the puppy food.

American veterinarians are really funny about dog food vs. "people food". They generally recommend only dog food since most of the more expensive ones were developed by veterinarians. I asked my questions on this board as I had already decided that if I was going to get him to eat something and not starve himself to death, I was probably going to have to go with "people food". I tried sirloin burgers tonight and he ate about 8 small bites. He also took his Nutrical supplement today without me having to force it down him, which I consider a good sign. I have just never had this kind of problem with a new puppy. He seems to be reasonably bonded to me already so I don't really think his is pining over being taken from his litter, though I guess I don't know that for sure.

Thanks for the advice. Any suggestions on where I can get the books that you recommended on the BARF diet here in the U.S.?

If he is a pet store pup, he may well have been taken from his mother very young shipped across diatances, and mixed with other pups not from his litter, reared poorlythat is why you have a sickly pup.

As you may have gathered from reading this board any breder worth the name would no more dream of allowing one of their precious pups to be sold through a pet store, than selling one of their own children.

I would take anything the pet store said about the pup with a great pinch of salt.

Your veterinarian is right in some respects in advocating Dog Food, as few pet owners understand nutrional principles sufficently to feed a properly balnced mixed diet. Meat alone will be very unbabalnced and not lead to a healthy pup.

With feeding there are basically fur ways to go.

Dry complete, Wet Complete, meat and mixer biscuit *the biscuit having vitamins etc that the meat lacks), and the Raw Food diet, or as many call it BARF.

he latter has to be studied, and reading a book on the principles, and practicalities is needed.

It must also be remembered that a Peke is of an extreme conformnation, and mouth structure, and may be unable to manage to chomp raw meaty bones as easily as some, but they can be minced.

Try putting the initials BARF into a search engine.

What the pup needs now is highly digestible high quality food. Have you tried scrambled eggs to temp him. Are you soaking the dry puppy food?

Hi, any improvement? The poor little thing has had a rough start, hasn't he? As Brainless says, high quality food is what he needs: scrambled egg, ground beef etc, with a little plain breakfast cereal (do you have Weetabix over there?) with the soaked Puppy complete mixed in. And does he drink milk? If you can get him started, then as time goes on gradually increase the proportion of the Complete.

The books should be available from Amazon over the net.
Good luck.

(I think your comment about vets recommending complete foods because they developed (and sell!) them is very valid!)

Update and another strange happening...
First, thanks so much for all of your help. It lessens the frustration somewhat just having a board to post these questions to. I am going to try the scrambled eggs this morning and see how he reacts to that. Last night after the few bites of ground sirloin, I was feeding my cats their usual evening can of tuna and he acted very interested in the process (under my feet in the kitchen yipping at me). I gave the pup a small amount of the tuna which he ate several bites of. Shortly thereafter, my male cat went out into the backyard (fenced with a cat fence so they can enjoy outdoors), and threw up most of his tuna which he had just eaten. This is a common thing for him and didn't cause undo alarm until... the puppy went immediately over to where the cat had just threw up and started to eat the yakked up tuna. I picked him up and moved him away, and he immediately ran back to the spot. I took him in the house and closed the glass door (he doesn't yet know how to use the kitty door), and he sat at the glass door and cried. I finally gave in and took him back outside. After cleaning up the yak, I let him go over to the spot and he licked at the cement for a few minutes, then calmed down.

Now I'm wondering, should I have let him eat it? This was the most excited he had been about any kind of food since I've had him. Is there any harm in a puppy eating what another animal yakked?

Brainless, I agree completely with everything that you said and now realize why I have never bought a pet store pup before. The scenario that you mentioned about the taken too early from mom, shipped a large distance, and placed with other pups not from his litter seems absolutely correct. He was in with 6 other pekes in the store only one of which came from his litter, and the breeder address is Arkansas yet I bought him in Vegas. My closest friend talked me into going to hold puppies after I had to have my 12 1/2 year old peke put down after developing a brain tumor that had rendered her unable to walk or support her own body weight. This little guy kind of sold himself to me by cuddling up and tucking his head under my chin. In retrospect, the decision to go into the pet store was probably a bad one.

I will check Amazon for the recommended books and keep trying the foods that you suggested. Jean, Weetabix is not available in the U.S. to the best of my knowledge, and so far he has refused a puppy milk replacement that I tried initially. I will try cow's milk or goat milk if you think it will help. Thanks again for all advice.

Goat's milk is better than cow's if you can get it.

My dogs eat vomit too - yuck! Tuna is particularly pungent at the best of times, and warmed up.... I don't want to think about it!

Your pup may like his food warmed to blood heat - I know my vet advised me to do that when I had a sick elderly dog who didn't want to eat. It worked.
Good luck.
:)

Sadly it is people who know better but fel sorry for the pups that allow the pet stores to flourish. It is very sad. :(

There are a lot of email lists for specific breeds, I am on two for my breed, both US based.

You may find a lot of help from other Peke owners, especially those of Rescue ones, with the problems you are having, as most breeds have their own little foibles!

No luck with the scrambled eggs. He just sniffed the plate and went over to his bed and layed down. I will attempt the goat's milk today. The good news is that he is still taking his Nutrical without my having to force it. (I'm not sure if you have this stuff in the UK but it is basically a very dense high calorie goo that you squeeze out of a tube that looks like a toothpaste tube. It has 26 kcal/tsp and basically all of the necessary vitamins and fat to sustain a dog or cat that isn't eating well.) His poop has started looking like normal, slightly formed, puppy poo as opposed to the watery stuff he was doing.

Brainless, consider me duly scorned for the trip to the puppy store. It won't happen again. As for the message boards for Peke owners, where can I find more information about them?

Thanks in advance.

No scorn intended, just got you at a vulnerable moment, and that is what they are counting on to make a sale.

We do have something like that her is tis Enervite paste, maybe has other brand names.

This is what I found when doing a search for Peke lists:

PEKINGESE
Steve R, Cstever@on-ramp.ior.com, opened up a mailing list for those interested in the Pekingese.

To: pekes@prowlers.net
Subject: SUBSCRIBE

Hi Lonestar, I'm an American stationed in England. If you cannot find the books on BARF, let me know and I'll be glad to purchase them for you here and mail them to you. I have an APO address so it is U.S. postage. Also if you would like some Weetabix I would be glad to mail you some of that as well. Just click on my name and email me if you want to take me up on my offer. I think the closest thing we have to Weetabix in the states is the very large Shredded Wheat. Sorry to hear about your little fellow, hope he improves soon.

In my humble opinion, I think the vets back there would love for you to purchase the Iams, Science Diet etc. I would purchase a good quality Natural Complete food and put a little warm water in it. I know they have Burns Dog food in the states. It is very good, so is Nutro. You may have to order it online there, but it would be worth a try. If you contact them by email or phone, they will send you a sample, that's what I did here. I'm not sure if the pet stores carry it.

Hope this helps. Shirl :D

Is it possible that your puppy may be younger than 9 weeks and that is why he is finding is difficult to cope with food. It was just a thought when I read that he scoffed up what the cat peuked up, something that a mother would do for her puppies. Also has he been wormed ?

Margaret

Sorry for the tardy reply... my internet connection has been on the fritz for the past few days. Update on the baby boy... he seems to feeling much better. Other than the hacky cough that won't quite go away, his symptoms have gotten better. The nurse in me kicked in and started him on a short course of prednisone to help reduce the inflammation in the bronchi and hopefully improve his appetite. (My vet approved this, btw). He is now almost done with his antibiotics and I am weaning him off the prednisone. He has been eating about 1/2 oz of lean beef twice a day and nibbling a little in between (it's tough to tell how much he is nibbling and how much the kitties are eating his yummies).

Margaret, it's possible the breeder may have fudged his age though his birth date on his registration paperwork is 3/15/03. I don't know if the AKC keeps tabs on breeders being upfront about that. He did have intestinal worms and was treated with Panacur by me started the day after I got him for three days. (The breeder listed on his paperwork that he had been wormed twice, the last 8 days before I got him, so I don't know how valid the records were.)

The eating thing is slow going. Each time he acts interested in something that I am eating that is healthy for him, I try giving him a little bit of it. He is still taking the Nutrical without any difficulty which makes me fairly confident that he is getting the vitamins and minerals that he needs. He seems a bit less boney as well (nice round tummy) and I will take him back to the vet for a weight check in a couple of days.

Brainless, thanks for the email list. I have already sent the subscribe email.

Thanks also for the offer for the books and weetabix. I will let you know if I am not able to get the books here. I don't think I could interest him in the cereal just yet as he doesn't seem interested in much of anything except the meat. He is now even refusing the little bit of tuna that I started offering him a few days ago when I give the cats their evening can. I am sure that I am creating a very picky eating puppy, but he is now an alive, weight gaining, picky puppy as opposed to the starving one that he was a week or so ago. :)

Thanks to all for the responses and support.

Regards,
LoneStar

Pleased to hear progress is being made.

I would tend to advise that you give him say 6 meals a day to start with and let him see that after 15 minutes it is gone. Then 4 hours later more food is available, and with luck he will start to look forward to his meals, and not expect to pick and choose.

Once he seems well and thriving I would get him on four small meals, and then treat him as a normal puppy reducing the nu8mber of meals as he matures.

So pleased to hear your boy is making progress and long may it continue. It is always such a huge worry when theyare so young. Keep up the good work it will be woth it.

Margaret.