Hi

I hope someone can give me some advice. I have an 8 month old staff who until now has had a typical greedy puppy appetite. For the last week and a half he seems disinterested in his food. On the odd day he has eaten the food I have put down for him and on other days he has sniffed it and then walked away. I am throwing more away than is being eaten at the moment.

Having said this, he is still drinking as normal and is his normal active self with bright eyes and a shiny coat. He obviously does have an appetite as when we are eating he wants some of what we are having (which we are reluctant to give if he is not eating his own food!) and he has not been poorly either.

He is still on puppy food for the moment and for the last six weeks we have been introducing some adult dry food (on vets advice).

I guess my question is how should I tackle it? I think I am already making too bigger deal about it which is having an effect on him and I dont want to keep offering him different food and confusing him. Can someone please tell me what steps I should take and at what point if any (as I say he still has an appetite but I think he is being stubborn more than anything) I should visit the vet.

If anyone else has a similar dog of similar age I would be interested to know how much he eats too.

I would be really grateful of your advice. Thanks in advance.

At this age he has done his main growth so at times may just not feel hungry, or worse he is holdign out for something bewtter.  Put sown his food for 15 minutes and lift it again until the next meal time.  He will come to no harm at all even if he doesn't eat for several days.

One of mine would only eat about 4 days in any seven and was always healthy though a bit leaner than I woudl ahve liked.

she is now 7 1/2 eating every day and am now finding she is spreading a bit and have had to cut her food by a third :D

Thank you so much. Its such a relief to hear from someone who has been through something similar.

I feel like an anxiouS first time Mum!!

Having said this he has just eaten half a tin (with a bit of spoon feeding - naughty naughty!) and a couple of handfuls of dried food so that should keep him going.

Thanks again.

What yo8 sholdn't do is try and feed extra when he will finally eat again, if anything keep him a bit hungry and wanrting more that way when the next scheduled meal comes around he will be more inclined to finish it off.  If he doesn't give him less the next meal until he is claring each meal, and thenn only gradfually increase the amount to what he should be getting which is likely to be a lot less than it says on most bags or tins.  With my won breed I am usually feeding only 2/3rds of what is advised and most of my freinds in other breeds find the same.

I do only feed him 2/3rds of the advised amount and this was on instruction from the vet as they obviously want to sell more dog food. I think I will try putting a bit less down from now and making a fuss when he finishes. Im sure thats better than fussing and making a big deal of it!

Good Advice, Thanks

I bribe one of my cavaliers by only giving him his favourite treat after he has eaten all his food, he sometimes tries to bring me the dish to show me he has eaten up ;)

Ahh thats very sweet. Very clever arent they?

LOL he is very clever got me well trained ;)

caroline, I was having a similar problem a while ago with my staff and she was getting bribed to eat every day by tempting her with all sorts of human food until someone on here pointed out how well trained she had trained me to pander to her every need.  A bit of a wake up call for me and now if she is not outwardly ill or moping about I know she is either not hungry or is holding out for something off my plate or for some other mug to feed her.  If you don't think he is ill, don't worry he will eat when he is hungry

Caroline my puppy is six months and we also have days where he doesnt appear that fussed about eating, and i like you worry myself sick about him (to the point of spoon feeding him, until my husband put his foot down and said ENOUGH...its a dog LOL).  My pup too looks healthy with a lovely coat so i guess we just worry needlessly.   I now feed him his food and if he eats it thats great, if he doesnt, try again next meal.   GOOD LUCK :o)

Thanks to all for your advice, it really is a weight off my mind!

However, we have some success. Sox ate his breakfast this morning from a different bowl. I noticed yesterday while I was feeding him, he ate the food without too much resistance and seemed hungry but didnt lick the bowl - which made me wonder. I put down the small bowl that he used to have as a baby and gave him some adult food this morning and when I turned around it had gone! He has also eaten his tea this evening so I think he has taken a dislike to the bowl, for some reason.

It also occurred to me that through all of this he has still been pooing (dont know why I didnt notice this before) so he obviously had enough on board to keep him going so all in all panick over.

Thanks again for all of your help and advice.

Caroline xx