Molly has stopped eating her breakfast.

Anyone who's read any of my earlier posts will know that Molly has always been a fussy eater. She's now 18weeks and has stopped eating breakfast completely (She's a Westie). We thought it might be separation anxiety as we both go out in the morning but she does the same if we're there.

She's on Burns Puppy Mini Bites and Naturediet and is now only eating one meal a day - although if you were to give her treats or human food she'd eat the lot.

I tried cooking her meals for her - chicken, veg and rice but she just picks the chicken out and leaves the rest so obv. don't want to do this. If you mix chicken with her Burns she just picks the chicken out again.

She's not thin and still full of beans so is this normal?

By adding chicken to the meal you will make her more fussy. I know it is a worry when they won't eat, but rest assured they won't starve either.

Try feeding the Burns as treats when training her, just simple sits, downs and recalls. For some reason they seem more palatable as a reward, then at least she is eating a meal one way or the other.

Have you tried a weak solution of Marmite gravy added to her meal, the smell sometimes gets them eating.

Hope this helps

Sandra

Hadn't thought of the marmite. Tried some human gravy but she still wouldn't eat the dried and I also heard human gravy is no good as it has too much salt in it, so didn't do that again.

She didn't eat one meal yesterday, and is quite sleepy. She is teething though but this has been going on for a week or so and hasn't bothered her thus far so don't know if this is the issue.

Bought her a Kong yesterday and left it packed with Naturediet this morning so will see how she gets on. Tried it with a little bit of Peanut Butter last night and she loved it, but chances are she'll turn her nose up at 'real food'.

Marmite is very salty.

Puppies often go off their food a bit when they are teething, her energy level may not show she is bothered by it, but her gums may be very sore. She may only be eating when she is really hungry.

As long as she is the correct weight and healthy I would not worry. Dogs do not read books, she may be ready to cut back her meals before the textbook says so. If you give her a healthy snack (Burns do a treat biscuit, so do JWB) in the morning she should be fine until meal time.

Stacey

She def isn't under weight so I'm sure she'll be fine. Before she'd only lost her front teeth but felt her fangs last night and ones gone, the other is wobbly. I would imagine these are more painful as they're bigger???

Other post mentioned the Burns as training aids which we did anyway, so will stick with this and do loads of training!!!!! LOL

Just as a competely diff question - how often is cheese acceptable? She absolutely loves it but I know she shouldn't have too much. She has very small pieces for her class once a week - enough for an hours training but is that her limit for the week or can she have more? Does anyone have any idea?

peanut butter is also extremely salty!

Claire M, I have a 13 week old Labrador Retriever, who would not eat very much at all, it didn't even amount to 1 meal a day. Somebody then suggested that I give her a Weetabix with milk and water, and now she can't get enough of it!!. She has 1 for breakfast, 1 for lunch then Pegridgree Chum Puppy Food for dinner. She is now a much happier puppy!!!

Puppies need more protein than adult dogs. Weetabix and watery milk may not be providing enough, especially if you pup is only eating one complete meal day. You might consider adding a bit of scrambled egg to one of the Weetabix meals.

Allergy to wheat is one of the most common food allergies in dogs, so not all can tolerate Weetabix.

Stacey

the problem with weetabix is its just a filler and adds no benefits to a puppies diet, try just giving watered evaporated milk,although its up to you if shes happy with the weetabix fair enough whats the harm really ,theres too much fuss these days regarding a puppies diet ,dogs are born scavengers,they don't care if the meats rotten or fresh they'll still eat it its the smell that encourages them to eat things not the taste.

Tried both Weetabix and Scrambled Egg when she was very little and she didn't think much of either!

She ate no breakfast again yesterday. Went to Puppy class last night and she's normally hungry when we get back so made her dried burns with tuna which she'd normally love but she turned her nose up at it. In the end I was scooping bits out and feeding it to her as if it was a treat. (Even then she prob didn't even manage half) I know hand-feeding is a big no-no but after two days of no food I just had to get something inside her.

Got some liver cake last night at class which she thought was great (how smelly???!!!!!) but don't know how nutritous this is and I know if I chopped it up in her food she'd just pick out the cake. Don't want to go down the route of pandering to her (already been there) so have stopped all treats yesterday - but then I think that's worse as now she's not getting anything.

Apart from being sleepy (presumably due to lack of energy) she's still her normal self. Am thinking Vets tomorrow if no better.

I would take her to the vet at this point too for a check up to see why she is suddenly so sleepy and off her food. Could all be teething related.

Years ago I had a GSD that just would not eat either. I tried every dog food manufactured, cooked food for her, but she she would have so little interest she would not eat for a day or two. This was as a growing puppy, not just as an adult. She did grow up fine and kept this behaviour up until she was four years old and I added a second dog, from then on she never missed a meal.

Stacey

Just wanted to let everybody know that Molly ate all her dinner last night and cleared her bowl again this morning (which is very rare).

Made her normal Naturediet (warmed) and handful of Burns but also added some very tiny pieces of cooked sausage and she ate the lot. Not sure if sausage is good for her or not but at least she's eating (was prob about half a sausage per meal).

Normally I put her breakfast down and she walks away - too busy playing after sleeping all night - but this morning she didn't leave the kitchen until it had all gone. So I'm a very happy owner at the minute. She got lots of praise for clearing her bowl.

Thanks to everyone for your advice.

Hi Claire,

I feel quite reassured having read all these posts as I was about to post similar this morning. Cassie is 17 weeks old and quite a fussy eater but she too doesn't seem interested in her breakfast (you would think she'd be starving after going all night without food). I am a novice dog owner so all these posts are so helpful. Cassie isn't particularly interested in her lunch but loves her evening meal!! She is on nature diet puppy and jwb puppy so I have started to fill her kong with a mixture of the 2 leftover at breakfast...surprise surprise she cleans it out.

Hope all continues well with you and thanks again for your post.

Debbie.

P.s Cassie is a very tiny Yorkie x Norfolk Terrier