Hi
I have a 10 week old Bichon Frise. At the moment he is playful and nipping. I have bought him a Kong and noticed that fillings that people use inc cream cheese or peanut butter. Are these OK for a puppy so young?

I would not fill a kong with food for a pup that small unless it is part of its daily diet - in fact I never fill kongs at all as my lot will only play with them when I am around (except for my male who eats them and costs me a fortune at the vet to get them back).

Tiny amounts would probably be okay but not a kong full :)  Think of cream cheese and peanut butter as junk food

I dont see it being a problem, as long as you cut his food down so your not over feeding him, i used to use some of my dogs proper food, fill it up, bung the hole up with peanut butter, put it in the freezer till it went hard and then gave it to him. He loves it and i just take it out of his dinner so he still gets the right amount. :)

I agree.  Filling a kong would be far too much for a toy pup.  I also would not be using it to replace oart of the pup's meals at the moment as I think it is important to teach a pup this young to eat its meal properly from a bowl.  For the moment I would stick with the kong as a toy rather than a source of food.

Joan
Take the rough with the smooth.

I might keep away from the treats as he is turning his nose up at his food. It is hard to not bow down to feeding a variety and keep with his dried food but as the vet nurse said he will eat when hungry. Gnawable toys seem so big for his small mouth.

Cheese of any kind can be difficult for some dogs as they may not tolerate either the milk protein (casein) or the milk sugar (lactose) which will result in diarrhoea and gas!

Peanut butter is very oily and salty.

Breeds as small as Chihuahuas are perfectly capable of gnawing on raw bones etc and do.

If your dog does not like what you feed maybe there is a reason :D

If you are feeding dry food you can soften it in warm water and stuff one of his meals in the kong.

If you are in the U.K. you might also like to try Naturediet puppy food, it's a moist food and most dogs like it.  Very easy to stuff into Kongs too.

You can also try feeding your dog from different dishes. A little bowl one meal and the next time a flat dish - you may find that your dog prefers a flat dish, or, that switching the dish rather than the food encourages him to eat.

By the way - if a puppy starts to turn their nose up at food it is often a signal to reduce the number of times a day you are feeding him.  If you are still on four times a day you might want to cut back to three times.

Stacey

Thanks Stacey
He is almost 11 weeks now and I was thinking of cutting down to 3 meals per day. Is this the right time? What time is missed out. Is it supper time?

Perosnally I would not cut down to 3 meals just yet. I reduced my cocker spainel puppy to 3 meals at 14 weeks, which some still say is too early. 

She now has her breakfast at 7.00  lunch at 12.00 and her dinner at 5pm.

She is fed of dried food.