Hi everyone,
Nellie my boxer is just coming out of her first season, and for the past few days hasnt wanted to have anything to do with me. All she seems to want to do is sleep, she is back to normal when we go on a walk full of energy and bounding about but at home she just ignores me. She doesnt come for cuddles and only wants to play when she feels like it. and she keeps looking at me with I cant be bothered with you eyes. Is there a reason for this? or is it because she is 7mths she is trying to be leader?
Help please!!!

My cocker puppy has had her first season and she was really miserable during it - all she wanted to do was sit on me and sleep. She did get over it and I can only assume it was because she felt uncomfortable nad a bit hormonal.

Fiona
x x x

I call this post season depression. they seem to do a lot of sighing, and can't be bothered with anything at hoime, but as you have found once out they are too busy to be hormonal.

Just don't let her nurse toys or bedding. If she shows these signs of a phantom pregnancy take away all comfort objects and comfy bedding, give more excersise, and temporarily reduce the protein level in her food (perhaps putting her on the adult formula ofher food) until all signs of phantom are gone.

The positive side to this phase seems to be as they gradually come out of it over the next few weeks that period of being quiet and a bit withdrawn seems to leave a permanent claming influence, and they are rarely as mad as before they had a season, somehow more groen up.

I like my girls groen up, which is one reason I don't like early spaying, as I do think it has an effect on mental development. Others may disagree, but bitches that I know who were spayed before a season seem to have this immature mental outlook, peter pan at 12 years old. JMHO :D

I would also be inclined to lower (halve) her food intake for a few weeks to try to prevent it going into a full blown phantom.

If she starts to look off colour as well as being depressed take her to the vet in case of pyometra

Hopefuly she will be back to her normal self soon

Christine

Thanks for that, I thought it was something id done. At the mo I am feeding her on JW puppy performance and I buy chicken peices form tescos and boil them the mix the chicken meat and juices with her dinner as she wont eat it on its own, I also add sardines sometimes, Is this too much protein adding chicken does anybody have any other suggestions about what to put in with her JW to make her eat it.

Hunger is the best sauce, I don't think she will starve herself so I wouldn't go down the road of adding tasty bits to tempt her to eat. It can't be she doesn't like the JW if she will eat it with tasty bits. My Beardie went through a stage like that at about 9 months when I thought she would never eat properly this is the 12 1/2 year old who has eaten like a horse for the past 11 years never goes to the vet except for boosters and has to have the amount of food she gets watched as she puts on weight easily, like her Mum:-) My Beardie boy was the same at about the same age and it passed
Anne

i add the chicken sausage things that you buy from asda, the dog food ones ,they come in a big roll, or you can get tripe or beef!! that usually gets them going, its cheap to buy too, and it go's a long way mixed,

If those big meat roll things are anything like they used to be try this:

Put it in a pan and gently heat and tell us what happens :)

Christine

not bloody likely!!!!! bet it stinks-it is asdas and they do have a quality gaurantee on everything ----WHY???? / what happened when you did that, and why did you do it,???? where you making soup for your inlaws

I can't remember why I did it, possibly when I was doing the food section of one of my courses, but all that was left was greasy water!

Christine

Hi Everyone
I hope you don`t mind me joining in,discussing Nellie the Boxer.I`m new to all this(not had the computer very long and still trying to learn how to use it!!!!).I have owned a large breed for over 20 years,in my breed the bitches are very maternal and are prone to "False Pregnancy".I always use homeopathic remediesand have hadgood results.If Nellie was one of my girls I would give her Sepia 30c,one dose morning and evening for a week.That usually does the trick and puts an end to withdrawn,moody behaviour.If they are in the "nursing" mode then Pulsatilla is the remedy.As some bitches go the whole hog and produce milk,there is a different remedy for that Urtica(use in very low potency)Follow the handling and storage instructions carefully.
Was it Nellie who has become a faddy eater,wasn`t sure anyway,I don`t think its a good idea to add "high protein titbits"to complete food ,especially in the larger breeds.They are already supposed to be a balanced diet.Some skeletal problems are said to be caused by doing this.Hope I haven`t bored are offended anyone by sticking my nose in .Hope Nellie is soon back to normal.TTFN

Hi pennyforum,
Thanks for your post, but please dont feel you need to ask if you can join in this site is for everybody and thats why I posted to get advice from knowledgable people like your self!
where do I get sepia 30c from? I am a bit worried now about taking her off the fresh chicken as she is used to it any suggestions on weaning her off it? because she does tend to lose weight quickly and I know she will start losing weight again as she will only take a couple of mouthfulls of JW and walk off. I read some stories on here of people force feeding there dogs and I dont want to be in that situation. What about changing her diet can you recommend any thing?

Many thanks
Sam

Hi sam, Is there any particular reason that she has to stay on JW. It may just be a case of she really dosnt like it?

Hi phillipa,
No there is no paticular reason, my last dog a GSD had it because it was the only thing he could get on with and it didnt make him hyper. That was four years ago so when I got Nellie she was on eukanuba puppy and she ate it for the first few days then stopped, So I put her on James Wellbeloved but having the same problem. Now I have the problem that I have been "adding stuff" for the past five months and dont think she will eat any dry food, Ive dug my own grave really.
Thought about BARF but a vets nurse who is at my dog training club said she has recently treated dogs who had salmonella poisening through eating it which put me off.
Have tried tripe which she will only eat occasionally and it has to be cooked! Ive always thought dried complete foods were better than tinned or that was I was led to believe.
Ideas will be greatly recieved!!

Sam xx

Hi sam, She appears from what you say to really enjoy chicken. You dont have to go the whole hog with the BARF diet. Dogs, like us, can get food poisoning from any source, althought their stomachs can put up with a lot more than ours could!! :D
How about letting her have cooked chicken, and some home cooked vegetables? For her biscuit intake she could have Bonios, Shapes etc until she gets her appetite back?

Sound like a good idea! How much chicken and veg a day, will she be getting all the vit and mins she needs from this or will I have to add any thing, I remember when I looked into Barf it suggested adding Kelp. The chicken peices I buy dont have that much meat on them Ive heard rice is also a good thing could I add that?

Hi Sam
You can get Sepia from Boots and Health Food Shops,I get mine from an Homeopathic Pharmacy,am I allowed to give telephone numbers?The tablets from the pharmacy are soft and dissolve quite quickly
Remedies are also available in liquid form in small dropper bottles.
Has Nellie always been a faddy eater or did it coincide
with her season?Dogs are creatures of habit,I wouldn`t worry at the moment about the quality of the food,its more important to establish a pattern and routine and get her into the "habit " of eating.When you have a fussy eater we very often make the mistake of feeding anytime anywhere as long as they eat and this is not good for the dogs digestive system. Not being on a good diet for a short space of time will not have any adverse affects.Talking to a friend at the dog club tonight,she has been giving her bitch Fit`n `Fertile in the hope it would give her a better coat.She`s not been giving it to her long enough to make a difference to her coat yet but she said shes polishing off her food and would eat the dish if she could,she said it really has boosted her
appetite.That might be worth a try.Good luck.

You might not get the 30c from Boots or Health food stores. I get my homoepathic medicines mail order from Ainsworths. They are excellent for advice and for quick service.

Joan
Take the rough with the smooth

Hi
I notice you can put contact details up.I use the Helios Homeopathy Pharmacy
their help and order tel.number is 01892 537254,Email, pharmacy@helios.co.uk
They do next day delivery and once you have a reference number if you don`t need advice they have a 24 hour tel. number which is 01892 536393.

Hi Nellie,
If I remeber from a previous posting that the tripe you were trying to feed was the cleaned white tripe, that has had all the 'flavour' cleaned out of it for human consumption.

I have had a bitch that only ate 3 days out of 7 if I am lucky, but even she would not refuse 'Green raw tripe' As far as dogs are conmcerned it is really yummy. It is a bit smelly, but doesn't leave the breath smelling too bad.

So defrost some in a seraled container, and give about a 1/3 of a block a day with her dry food. Yoou will be able to keep it in the fridge the next two days in the container.

As this will only be 4 or 5 ounces it should not unbalance her diet.