Hi everyone,

i have a 10 week old bichon frise puppy and am a bit concerned because she's not eating much.  she weighs approx 1.7kgs and her mum is a small bichon so shes quite small but shes just not eating the amount shes meant to.  it says on the pack et she should be eating approx 120g and shes eating about 70g.  i know you dont have to use exactly the right amount but she just eats about half of it if that!

i keep encouraging her to eat it by pretending to eat it but she just  eats some then leaves the rest and doesnt seem bothered.  i know she gets hungry around meal times and when i put her food down she enjoys it first of all.

ive read only to put it down for 20 mins but its difficult when shes not eating much as dont want her to starve!should i leave it down or pick it up after 20 even though she hasnt eaten much.  ive been house training her so she does eat a couple of treats in between so could these be filling her up? maybe i should start giving her bits of her food as treats?

currently feeding iams which the breeder was giving her and started putting some natures menu in it as want to change her to that and burns mini bites.  should i be trying to change her food if shes not even eating the old food?apart from the eating she seems fine, full of energy etc.  just a bit concerned!!anyone help?!!

also, just wondered how much puppies sleep?!she seems to play for about half hour then sleep for a bit then play.  lots ofnapping!is this ok?

thanks Gemma (and Maggie)x

Disregard what the packet says, they vastly exaggerate the amounts required on their labelling so that no one sues them for starving their dog.

Feed her slightly LESS than she will eat in one go. So suss out how much she eats (weigh her next feed and then weigh what is left) and next time, feed her just a few grams less than that.

Put her food down, let her eat it, pick it up when she wanders off. Leaving it down longer will actually encourage her to leave it, not to eat it so don't be tempted to try that, it will not achieve what you want at all.

If you follow what I have said strictly and dont be tempted to try and con her into eating more than she wants, or leaving food down longer, you will soon have a puppy who eats up all she is given when she is given it.

ok thanks. wil give it a go, its just hard to pick it up when know shes not eaten much!!will have to be stricter!!also,  i have been putting a little warm water to make biscuits softer but do i still need to do this?thanks

also should i wait until shes eating the iams properly before changing it or would that not matter?was going to do it gradually.

I fe dmy bitch on Iams for all of her life, and weaned her pups onto it. I did find that she got a bit bored of it occasionally though, and I know the pups weren't that excited by it while here, although I didn't want to change them while so young.

I know a few of the puppy owners who's pups weren't eating that much have changed to James Wellbeloved (as I have also changed my bitch onto aswell) and the pups are wolfing it down. They also do a puched complete food which can replace part of the rations or be used alone, and most dogs prefer wet food.

If you want to change the brand, she should be Ok to change now if you make sure you do it very gradually. Just watch out for tummy upsets.

70g would be about what my breed would eat at one sitting 4 times a day and they would weight about 16 pounds or so at 10 weeks, with bigger stomachs than your little one.

My adults only eat about 175g and are 20kg adults so I don't know how they expect a little bit like yours to eat 120g in one sitting.  I think perhaps that should be 120g a day!

As another poster has said weigh out the food just a fraction less than she is eating and put down four times a day for no more than 15 minutes at a time.  A skipped meal won't hurt.

no i meant 70g in one day, not per meal!!x

Are you actually weighing the food?  Do you know how much the breeder feeds pups of this age?  Most importantly what is the pups body condition like?  It is not unusual for the dgos to actually need not much more than half of what it says on the packet, certainly truw in my dogs case.