Hi my 6 month old ridgeback has always had the most enormous appetite.  He has always been a bit on the skinny side although about 8 weeks ago after seeing his breeder and litter sister we upped his food (gradually) quite considerably as the breeder felt he needed some more weight on him in case he got ill and lost any.  For the last 4 weeks he has been on 2 meals of Nutro (350g per meal).  This seems to have been fine - you can no longer count his ribs but they are easily felt and when i went to get some worming tablets the other week from the vet, he was weighed (29kg) and vet said he was in great shape.  However the last 3 days he has had no interest in breakfast.  From almost finishing it in a couple of gulps, he has just walked away.  He eventually ate it - after i put a bit of chicken on top - but nto reallly into it.  Nor was he particuarly interested in dinner - he ate it but much slower and walked away from the bowl a few times - very unlike him.  Today he didn't want to know again so i left it 10 minutes then took it away.  It is so out of character for him!  He is fine in every other way as far as i can see.  Could it be boredom?  Could it be he just doesn't need breakfast anymore?  He certainly doesn't want to lose any weight - and i would have thought a 6 month ridgey would need more than one meal a day? Should i try other foods - my mum is convinced he's bored of nutro and thinks i should add wet  or something to it?  If i was to go down to one meal a day  -is it too much to feed 700g in one go - and if so any ideas for keeping his weight on?  Many thanks and apolgies for overly long post!

Growth slows down at 6 months of age in breeds of this size.

Provided he is not ill or swallowed something I would keep to two meals a day, halve his rations and this should bring back his appetite.

(I realise that as a worried owner who thinks their dog is too thin you will find this advice a bit strange, but adding chicken etc to his meal will train your dog to be very fussy).

Dogs go through fits and starts in growth just like kids

Hi Winston,
I wouldn't worry if I were you. Since you've recently increased his rations, he's probably not really hungry anymore. I would give half of what you've been giving at each meal from now on. After a couple of days you'll find he's back to his normal apetite. Then I'd slowly increase the amount of each meal, as long as he's still eating with a good apetite. As soon as he starts being fuzzy, reduce a bit and stay with that.
Many RRs are like your boy, they actually don't eat more than they need to keep healthy. Of course you can add a small piece of something tasty, like chicken, ham or whatever, on top of each meal. But don't start changing his food, or add to it what you don't want to keep adding :p
Good luck, I'm sure he'll be eating with a healthy apetite again within a couple of days! If not, I'd take him for a health check, just to be on the safe side.
I might add that my girls have all turned down their breakfast at the age of 6-8 months. After that age they have allways had only one meal a day, in the evenings, with only a doggy biscuit for breakfast.
Karen

I used to free feed my German S/Chow dog from the time she was a puppy until now when she is over 7 years old.  I've too only fed her Nutro, though I'm thinking of switching to a Wellness diet.  (I've noticed a bit of change in ingredients and prices for Nutro since the massive recall).
She would eat when she felt like that.  If she had an unusually active day: swimming, hiking and such she would eat more,, if she had a normal activity or hot day, she sometimes wouldn't even eat that day, or get the munchies very late at night and eat a little bit.  She has always stayed almost the exact same weight.  Now that she is older I just leave the appropriate amount of food my dog should eat in one day in her bowl.  I still get the same reaction and find some days she just doesn't feel like eating.
She is a very picky eater and turns down all treats offered, unless it is chicken, steak, or certain cheese of course. While she doesn't neccessarily beg, I've noticed that she won't go near her food, until our own meal is over and hadn't received any scraps  from the table.  It seems that once she gives up on getting any people food she'll settle in to eat her own food.  On a normal activity day, Even just getting a few scraps here and there during breakfast or dinner will prevent her from eating her own food at all during the day.  I've even seen her turn down a steak bone that has meat on it, or take it and drop it off somewhere, until she knows for sure she won't get easy food, without having to "work" for it.
Just felt like sharing my story, thanks :)
I once read in a Rottweiler manual, that one trainer doesn't feed her dogs one day a week to keep them linked to the "wild" days of not always having food readily available.  Maybe dogs do that for themselves sometimes.

Thanks to you both for your responses.  He is now interested in food again!  I've reduced his rations slightly and having missed almost a day of eating he is nwo back to normal.  Your responses put my mind at rest so thanks very much. x

It cant hurt to add some wet food to his bowl though. It cagets very boring for a dog to have just dried food day in day out, its like us having to eat the same meal everyday all day for the next 15 years!
We feed our girl a John beloved dry and a half a tin of butchers varying in taste every day.
Not nesscary but a very nice gesture as dogs cant tell us when theyre bored of a food and its just a change to keep them guessing whats for dinner next!

>We feed our girl a John beloved dry

Is that James Beloved's brother? :D :P :D

Probably not as much loved as the other brother James WELLbeloved. :D