We started off feeding our puppy, Harvey, the same dry food as the breeder had been feeding him (Chudleys puppy). However after about a week he refused to eat his food, i tried putting gravey with it but this made no difference. During the christmas period he had a few treats like turkey on christmas day and managed to get bits that my 2 youngest children had dropped on the floor during dinner, not sure if this is why he went off his food. Anyway he did not eat for 2 days so on advice i began mixing his food with naturediet, which seemed to work well, i also made sure he got no scraps or treats that i did not know about. The problem is that he picked out the dry food no matter how well we mixed it, refusing to eat at all if i soaked his dry food so it was impossible for him to pick it out. Lately he refuses to eat the naturediet if it has any dried food in it. I mentioned my concerns to the vetinary nurse and she said to give him just dry food, leave it down for 5 mins and then remove it if he does not eat it. Repeating this step each food time untill he does eat, which we were told should be within 2-3 days. I started this yesterday and Harvey has not eaten anything for 24 hours, he shows no interest in the dry food at all. The problem is that the rest of the family think i am being cruel and that i should give him the wet food and no dry food, they are making comments about poor starving puppies and i do not know whether i should perservere or not. The vet nurse told me that the naturediet even the puppy one is not that good for harvey. Harvey is a 13 weeks old springer spaniel, i would be very grateful for any advice. Thanks in advance. Loraine

Hi, thought I would reply as I wonder if this a typical springer thing! Both mine, as puppies, were dreadful picky eaters. They did not like the chudleys at all either so I did change to Beta puppy with some success. But I found by putting other foods with it, at least they ate something. Boiled rice, pasta and tuna were favourites. I'm afraid I tried to persever with the picking it up and putting it down only at mealtimes but they still refused to eat it, and looked at me as though i was mad!! I feed Autarky now and both dogs love it - they do a puppy version too. If its any consolation, they do seem to grow out of this fussy stage by the time they get to the adult food.

Nic.

Find a food he does like!! You wouldn't put the same stuff down for 3 days for your children would you?

My Lab puppy Ash was the same, refusing to eat the puppy food he came with. I went through about 10 different foods before I found one he was happy with. Taz was not much better, though he only took about 5 trys. The other two don't care and eat whatever is served.

If you go to a decent pet supply store such as Jollyes, they will have smallish bags, if not sample bags that you can try without too large an investment. There will be one he likes.

It may be as well to go for one of the "better brands" (I use Jollyes own brand blah and rice, whch is apparently James Wellbeloved by another name, 1/2 the price, and with less additives and rubbish than some other foods)

As for giving meat, I firmly believe that a little bit of what you fancy does you no harm (after all we do it). My boys get about 2 table sppons of either naturediet or gelert (a tinned meat with no additives) or half a pouch each of pedigree chum. You could always stick all the left overs from dinner in his meal.

I currently have 4 clean bowls at every meal

Hope you find one

Julia, Taz, Ash, Chester & Tamba

Hi Lorraine, have you considered feeding him a raw diet?
Christine, Spain.

Hi christine,
can you let me know what you mean by a raw diet please as i will consider anything to get Harvey eating and keep him healthy. Thanks
Loraine

Hi

I hope that you can help me too. I have just got a Toy Poodle and she doesnt eat much at all but she seems fine in her self. Poppy drinks alot but does not eat. Have you got any suggestions for me please.

Thankyou

Annie

Has your poodle always been like this - if not take her to the vet and try to get a urine sample to take with you

Christine

Hi Lorraine, try this site they deliver raw tripe and other raw foods frozen direct to your door, mine love this and are thriving on it, my 6 month old puppy was weaned on this food by her breeder. www.prizechoice.co.uk they will help you and send you out some samples free of charge to see what your dog will eat.

Hi Irene,
thanks for that i will try the site tommorow and get some samples for Harvey to try. Do you just feed your dogs on raw food or do they need any supplements,
Loraine

Hi. My Golden retriever refused complete foods when she was a puppy. It transpired that eating the foods was giving her pain as it later transpired she had pancreatitis/colitis and couldn't digest fats properly. Complete foods are bound with fat apparently. Anyhoo we were advised to try Chappie. We resisted this for a while as it's about as cheap a food and you can get. But we eventually relented and she loves it. It's stinky (which dogs love) and is easily digestible. She's eight years old now and still has Chappie with low fat biscuits or rice. We sometimes add some vegetable, tuna in springwater and goatsmilk yoghurt with honey. She still looks like a puppy sometimes and has a beautiful soft coat, so it's obviously been good for her. Maybe a tinned food is the answer. I know that lots of dogs don't enjoy dried foods. They like to get their noses stuck into something disgusting. Good luck.
Annie.