Hello my name is Charlotte and I am the very proud owner of a 16month old flatcoat bitch called Fern. The only problem is that she wont put any weight on, she is currently 21kg and has not had a season yet. We would love to show her but as she is at the moment we dare not. She has had blood tests done recently which came back fine and the vet cant find anything wrong with her. At the moment we are feeding her on Naturediet and moist dog biscuit with some dry biscuit as we have tried every known dog food on the market from the most exspensive to the cheapest. If there is anyone that has had a fussy flatcoat we would appreciate any advice you could give, and also how long should we wait for her to come into season before really worrying as we would really like to breed from her one day. Many thanks Charlotte & Fussy Ferny!!

hi charlotte i got 4 f/c and 6 puppie at the moment, brie was a fussy eat untill she had her first season and puppies.if you stand still she may eat me now,if you like to give me a call on 01252310267 i be please to help you out,if i can

terri

Flatcoats can be very fussy, I have one here who is eight and still as fussy. The thing to do is not to worry about it, the more fuss you make the worse they get! If you really think she is underweight, feed her boiled breast of lamb, with biscuit, use the water you boiled the lamb in to moisten the biscuit. You could try tempting her with pilchards in tomato sauce, always popular with Rosebud. Are you using a complete feed? I have found that some flatcoats just don't want to eat complete foods. I try to give mine a mixture of foods, so they do get complete feeds but also they have table scraps, fresh meats which I feed raw or cooked, biscuits etc..
As to her season I have had bitches which have not had a season until they are 14+ months of age, and have heard of other bitches not having a first season until much later than eighteen months. So again don't worry about that either.
Go ahead and show her, and enjoy doing things with her. Have you thought about training her for work, obedience or some other doggy sport? Flatcoats love to use their intelligence, as much as we do, and usually take to some form of "work" very happily.
Where do you live? If you live in the south of england then I'd suggest you contact Jill Whitwell and go along to her excellent training group. They cover showing, as well as various other forms of canine sport.
Contact Jill on 01483 416982
Regards
Polly & Foxpath Flatcoats

Well we had many fussy flatcoats in the years we had them. one would only eat curry chilli concarne and anything else they could steal off the worktops at home but we always found tripe was best and the smellier the better hope you find an answer to your problem soon gwen at hasweth

Hi Guest

I'm pleased you mentioned this subject; as my 13 month old f/c is suddenly very unenthusiastic about her food. The same food only weeks ago that she was drooling over ???
Otherwise she seems very healthy, loves her dog treats and biscuits. Same old hooligan; I just wondered if she'd smelt too much of my cooking?? :)

On a more serious note, I will keep my eye on her, but the posts you've received have been most helpful :)

liberty