I picked up my pup 2 days ago from her breeder with all the info on what he fed and how often and I was appalled.  He fed cr@p!  Weetabix, tinned food, scrambled eggs(OK, I'll let that one slide) but absolutely no complete/real meat.  I brought her home and immediately started her on complete as I think it's the best to get all the nutrients into her.  The first day was OK.  She ate 4 times throughout the day but not very much but today she's only ate her brekkie.  Hardly any lunch and no tea at all.  She did pinch a custard cream bikkie from my daughter which was almost the same size as her head!  I just can't tempt her to eat anything that's good for her.  And I'm so paranoid as she isn't a chunky pup as it is.  Should I get some real meat to mix with the complete to tempt her?  Or should I just leave it as is and wait till she's hungry?

Has she been to the toilet, with such a quick change she could be constipated.  You need to change her slowly no matter bad you think her diet was.  Tinned food can be better than some completes so maybe check the ingredients.

She is going to the toilet fine.  Poo was solid and still is.  It was run of the mill tinned food which was mostly water.  I have tried mixing wet food in to tempt her but still she is just picking. 

Are you soaking her kibble with water?  This brings out the flavour & it softens it.  I still wet the kibble for my adult dogs, as they won't eat it dry. 
You could try adding in some Nature Diet or Butchers Tripe, also worth trying a little tuna, chicken etc.

Dogs don't have as good a sense of taste as humans, although their sense of smell is obviously better.  Would you want to try mixing a bit of minced chicken in with her complete?  It might be a way of getting her to eat some of it, and you can try weaning her off the added incentives later?

Weetabix isn't that crap btw, I've used it in the past with my two growing pups, with warm goats milk for their supper.  But then they did get good quality raw meat for their other three meals.  Some old fashioned breeders (not that I'm one btw, not even a breeder yet) swear by rice pudding! 

what breed and size (weight) is your pup? And how much dry (you said complete, I assumed dry?) food have you been giving her each meal? After you've been used to an adult dog its hard to gauge how much to put in a pups bowl. I'm wondering if she's just full....on that line, do you have other dogs or cats? is it possible she's been sneaking food from someone else's bowl?
It's very early days yet and a sudden change of environment is upsetting enough so I would agree it'd be better to change her diet over a week or so rather than an abrupt shift that her stomach isn't used to.
(BTW I agree re the importance of a good diet, I feed Raw and always have but I know a lot of people aren't confident with it so a good quality complete is easier.)
Has she been wormed lately? if he wormed he just before you got her that could maybe have upset her stomach enough to make her lose her appetite.
good luck,

The worst thing you can do is take a pup from the breeder and change the diet straight away no matter how rubbish you think the diet is you slowly introduce new things.
Wheetabix whilst no real nutritional value is commonly used as is rice pudding.
My pups were alwas reared on  semi solid  first rather than litter lac or lactol usually ready brek or similar adding pulversised mince ,minced lamb ,rice pudding always introduced good quality complete usually Royal cannin the key is to get them interested in food after mums milk.
Sardines are ok,eggs are fine.
A friend who weans and  hand rears orphan litters both kittens and puppies swears by carnation milk let down think its two  to one ie one can and two parts warm water  never failed yet.

Thanks for your input everyone!  She is a cocker and she is just over 7 weeks.  I didn't think their was much nutrition in weetabix.  Learn something new everyday!  I haven't completely changed the diet as I am still adding the tinned food to the complete and I have been soaking it.  We have other dogs and a cat but although I know she isn't getting anything off the dogs, she did have a sneak at the cats dried food and I also have kids and she is trying her hardest to sneak bites off their food too.  But hard considering my daughter is 18 months and has no problems at all sharing food with her new buddy!  Do you know, I am probably putting far more than she could eat in her bowl as I'm so used to the big dogs meal size.  I will measure it out properly today as see if that's where I'm going wrong.
She ate some brekkie but still not loads.  She isn't malnourished but she is tucked in at the waist and I would rather she had a big of a rounded tummy.

As you appear to be an experienced dog owner, I'd have thought you would have enquired as to what puppies were being weaned on before taking pup away.  I certainly tell my new potential puppy owners very early on what mine are fed on as it is expensive and always a consideration when purchasing a puppy.

If you knew earlier that she was being fed on **** as you put it, you may well have decided to go elswhere for a puppy.

Also, it may take her a few days to settle in, it is quite a lot to ask of a 7 week old puppy, leaving its mum, possibly first car journey, new environment, children may be new to her and also getting to know your other dogs - I think a change of diet is too much for her to take on board.  I'd stick with what she's been used to for a few days until she's well settled and gradually introduce what you would like to feed her on.

Good luck - I'm sure she'll be fine.

To be honest, what they are weaned on is never really a big consideration as usually when you collect your pup, the breeder gives you a sample and I always move my pups onto the puppy version of what I feed my older dogs as that is usually what I feel is the best option.  Cost is irrelevant as you obviously are going to be out of pocket quite considerably for the first things; puppy, vaccs, food, insurance, beds, etc, so adding whatever food the breeder has fed is usually the cheapest thing you have to think about(compared to everything else, I mean).

You are right in that I am an experienced dog/cat owner and breeder but I always panic when they don't eat.  I hate to have a dog that doesn't eat.  And this is the first time in 8 years that I have brought a pup in from somewhere else so I am a bit out of sorts with this one.  Usually my pups have been weaned in my house with the rest of the litter so there is little disruption when they are on their own as mum is still here.

>She isn't malnourished but she is tucked in at the waist and I would rather she had a big of a rounded tummy.

Is she supposed to look like that?  I only ask as I had rather assumed my gundog puppy would look more roly poly as a puppy.  I think I had been conditioned by toilet roll puppies which is daft as mine is a different breed altogether!!

Check with the breeder, shape changes all the time and you may be expecting too much.  It's worth mentioning that at this very young age they can 'look' full after each meal but look like little waifs 3 hours later.    ...or maybe that's what mine wanted me to think, perhaps he was breathing in

Measuring and weighing is a very sensible idea as it's really important to know what they are getting if only to stop you a) worrying or b) overfeeding :)

I feed my pups wheetabix and eggs, though of course thy also eat a good dried food and a meat meal for another meal.

A rounded stomach doesn't usually mean something good in a pup.

Hello, my 10 month old Keeshond is a very poor eater. She has been ever since I picked her up at 8 weeks old. She has driven me crazy for the last 8 months and I have spent a fortune on every kind of food available. She will even turn her nose up at fillet steak! She weighs 13.2 kgs and the average suggested (wet) daily food intake is between 600 -700gms, she eats between 150 - 300gms!  She has been to the vets more times than a cat with hypochondria, they say there is nothing wrong with her and she is in perfect health. I find it amazing that she can eat so little and have the energy to wrestle a Lab all day and then 'run the wall of death' around the garden in the evening!
Has anyone else had this problem? Will she grow out of it? Will I ever stop worrying?

I think it was just new home nerves for both me and her!  Her appetite is OK.  She tends to pick at her lunchtime meal but scoffs her brekkie and her other 2 dinners.  She absolutely loves getting raw meat and bones which I have been adding to her meals.  She went for her first vaccs today and the vet has told me to stop worrying as she is at her perfect size/weight.

> Has anyone else had this problem? Will she grow out of it? Will I ever stop worrying?

Yes.  i wonder where they get their energy from.  I do have days where they eat a lot but still not enough.  They can go for a run on the park with loads of energy.  i think sometimes they are like humans and all have different metabolisms, which doesn't help us if showing (lol).

You could try brewers yeast to get her appitite going, agter a few days she might be hungry or borrow a friends dog to give her a little compition.

Cracar, glad pup is doing well and started eating.  One of mine found an appitite with raw, which surprized me, she wolfed down some lamb and looked for more (nearly faited with the shock).

Good luck hope it continues for you.

I have a 10 month GSD and he is just the same. I am spending a fortune at the moment trying to find food he likes and will eat. His breakfast as I type is still sitting there untouched. I feed complete and am trying to tempt by adding a little tinned food to it. Still turning his nose up. The only thing he will eat without too much hassle is boiled chicken with rice. I just worry this isn't giving him all the nutrients he needs. He should be eating about 600gms of dried food a day and and like your dog he is lucky if he manages 300gms a day. He weighs 35kgs so I am really worried he's not eating enough for his size. Again, I totally agree, I don't know where he gets his energy!!!

One of my youngsters has had me tearing my hair out over the 'do I really have to eat?' situation! She ate her puppy food beautifully up to around 4 months, then decided she didn't really want to be bothered with eating. I did the same as you, tried her on a few different things, though never caving in too quickly. I finally got her eating what I'd term sensible amounts by taking her off the wheat gluten free food and putting her onto a wheat based food! She loves it. She has the same frame and build as her mum, she's full of energy, she's healthy, has a really silky and glossy coat and beautiful alert bright eyes. Just seems she really does want her dose of wheat but it just took a little while to get it through to me!!

She will even turn her nose up at fillet steak! ... yeah, me too!!

My first collie really wasn't bothered by food until she was 18 months!

If she's fit and healthy, with a good coat and the vets are happy with her, then stop worrying - if you can - you may well find that it all changes in a few months!!

>the average suggested (wet) daily food intake is between 600 -700gms, she eats between 150 - 300gms!

The average manufacturer tends to recommend feeding far more than most dogs need ;)   If I fed my dogs the recommended amount they would either stop eating or be HUGE!  I tend to feed about half that recommended for their size/ energy and they are the perfect weight with good muscle and energy;)

With picky dogs, it's best to find a food YOU think is excellent and feed that, give half what you normally give and remove if they don't eat it.  Next meal give the amount that they ate, not the amount you think they should have.   Once they have finished eating and have walked away pick it up and don't offer any more until the next meal.  Soon the dog will be looking for more food and this is the time to start adding in a little more.  Build up very slowly until you have an amount that is eaten quickly with no left overs.  I constantly make minor adjustments to the amounts depending on how much weight is on the dog and whether they leave some food.

Don't leave food down for them, Don't feed titbits, Don't keep changing foods.   Once you start changing foods because they aren't eating it, they expect NEW tastes and textures every time.  This is an impossibility and sooner or later you run out of foods to offer and the dog is refusing EVERYTHING!  I know, I was that person with my first dog, until I wised up ;)

these days I only change a food if it becomes unavailable, or it affects their health/digestion.  I want clean teeth, clean ears, good coats/skin/no 'smell', plenty of energy, firm muscle, no smelly wind and firm poos.  If this isn't the case, I look for a different food.  I am also not a fan of complete foods with long lists of ingredients, having had a dog with severe allergies I prefer to be able to pinpoint what's likely to be causing a problem.

That is very good advice! I will try a smaller portion with her next meal although I have just given her a dose of Visorbin as an appetite boost (first ever dose). The weights I referred to were not a manufacturer's recommendation , they were suggested to me via a raw feeding forum. They don't try and sell you anything so that's why I'm so hung up on the quantity. She has lost about 600gms over the last couple of weeks but that could be due to the weather, her Lab companion has been on 'holiday' and she has just had her first season. She's still as bonkers as ever. As you recommended, I don't leave her food down if she doesn't eat and she doesn't get any treats other than a Pet-Tab vitamin supplement and a nibble on a calves hoof. I have noticed that she wants a drink, she stands over the bowl for a few seconds, and then she'll lick around the rim until she remembers to lap. Also, when she does eat, she twitches her head from side to side.  She has had her mouth checked out, so nothing wrong there, I guess that she just doesn't like the texture in her mouth.

Anyway, thank you all for your valued replies!

I was at the end of my tether too with my eldest through puppyhood, nightmare and he just wouldn't put on any weight. I moved him onto a raw food diet and he ate more, but not greatly. I started to feed him raw breast of lamb which did start to put the weight on him.
Though what they do say is not to try and put too much weight on a pup too quickly, not good for their joints.
My boy is now 3 and likes his food, but again can take it or leave it unless its Waaaabbbbiittt!!!  lol

Hi,
I'm another one who went through a complete nightmare trying to get my little puppy to eat.  I was determined she would eat dry dog food in some form, so I came up with several recipes incorporating the dry that she seemed to like.  I also started giving her one wet meal as well so that if at least she didn't eat her dry food, she would definitely eat something every day.

At 2 1/2 years old, she now eats adult dry (either hand fed or pulverized with a little tuna mixed in), and still has one wet meal a day. I don't worry nearly so much if she misses a meal; I know that means she will eat more at the next one.

The things we go through!  I can completely sympathise with anyone trying to get their puppy to eat, and can only add my reassurance that things do get better!!

its so nice to know you're not on your own and hearing other have the issues. 

Yes it is Sunshine, it was very reassuring to hear that other people also have the same troubles with their 'little angels'. Anyway, I don't want to be hasty, but I think the Vi-Sorbin is working! Keisha ate almost all of her supper last night and every scrap of her lunch. The recently returned Lab was back though, and I was holding him 2 inches away from her plate!
Does anyone know if Vi-Sorbin has any side effects? I know it's got lots of vitamins in it, should I stop giving her the Pet Tab vitamin? Is it dangerous for dogs to have too many supplements?

Has anyone else had this problem?

Oh yes, mishandkeisha...my oldest was great when I got him, but immediately he had no competition from litter mates for dinner he got very offhand about it all. I used to be very embarrassed whenever his breeder saw him because he was such a long and skinny pup--I always felt I must sound like I was making excuses. Despite tempting him with every treat known to man and dog (fresh salmon, breast of lamb, tons of tripe etc) he didn't really change till I got anther dog :)

And these days, age 2.5, he is looking very robust indeed. He still is the last one to the food bowl and I think it's his private joke. He sits in the living room while the other two stuff themselves, waits to hear what's on the menu and then walks in very slowly, wags his tail and has a look at the food--raw bantam egg and the occasional sausage being a winner. I swear one of these days he'll wink at me.

ooh the same old problem. my pup is 5 months old now....and has been a difficult eater from day 1. croquettes, the dry food stuff she ignores still...unless given it when out somewhere by hand...tried everything...grated cheese on it...oils...wetting it...mixing it with tinned dogfod...she picked at it...

the RAW meat however was ALWAYS gulped down at ONCE ! lol...now BEEF is supposed to be not so good as CHICKEN...so cooked roast chicken or raw she eats...but i have to vary it. and the prob with raw meat is she tends to DRAG it onto my bed or couch where it attracts flies and stinks very fast ! this is southern france...hot.

oooh all that advice i got from vets here etc said STARVE the thing for a few days then she will eat anything...well they obviously do not live with dogs...who if watching humans eat and smell it and are hungry and get irritable are rather dangerous...hungry animals tend to bite....so i did nto fancy that...and anyway...she is stubborn...

she loves to eat what is given BY HAND i noticed...that seems to make a difference...but that is tiresome...as mine is a very slow eater....and i do not like rasping tongue on my skin.

she loves to eat what she sees ME eating....oh ja...that is good...but careful...she watches to make sure i am REALLY eating it...not stupid...picks up on the ANXIETY i have about her not eating.

so my advice ? well taking food away is one piece of advice i got...but then i changed that...could not be bothered...leave out water and dry food all the time...pup went through period when she ate like a horse...so it was good that food was there for her instead of wolfing down in one go.

eats cherries...take the stones out though...and gets the runs from them...but sees me eating them so eats them.

one thing...my pup likes milk...i can only get cows milk here...supposed not to be good for them...and if not regularly drunk upsets stomaches...but it has calcium and my pup likes it...so she is back on that...in small doses...the runs are a nuissance if overdosed.

yogurt also she will eat and cheese. that has calcium in it...and is high fat content in France of course so hey...i am always pleased she eats it and saves me some extra calories ! LOL !

Black fairy, I think we are on the same wavelenth.  I won't starve my pup.  She is eating but, boy, does she love what we are eating.  I feed her own complete food for breakfast and lunch which she eats great but by teatime, she started getting picky, so now I mix leftovers from the tea into her dinner and supper and she wolfs it down.  She's getting a right wee fatty now!

a dog i like then....no prob...and am pleased SOMEONE here at LAST thinks they might be on my wavelength !!! LOL !  i have had a break...forgot what i got annoyed about here now...will be reminded no doubt to set me off again...but never mind that....LET THE DOG EAT when it wants WHAT it wants...all that stuff about them not being fussy eaters or having need for VARIETY ? poppycock i say. maybe less tastebuds than me...but she is fussy ! and LIKES VARIETY !