Hi. I posted last week as my 5 month old pup has been very fussy recently. He's fed on JWB and isn't at all interested. I've tried everything to get him to eat - taking food away after 20 mins, soaking kibble, adding a bit of wet food and most recently adding a bit of natural yoghurt which worked for a day but now he's turning his nose up at that:rolleyes: I've just checked his mouth over and he has 2 more loose teeth so I'm thinking that this is the problem as he goes through phases of eating and loosing interest. I'm in two minds whether to ditch the JWB and change over to nature diet because he's obviously hungry but declining the food because crunching the kibble is hurting his mouth......I know that once the teething has passed, he'll probably be ok but I hate seeing him like this.

What would you people do?

Thanks, Hayley

Gosh are you sure he is a cavalier LOL -they're usually vacuum cleaners eating anything in sight! :D To be honest I'd never feed a cavalier any food dry, I'd always soak it thoroughly. What happens if the JW is really well soaked so that it is totally soft? (I soak for an hour.)

I once had a puppy who lost all her front teeth at once She simply couldn't get the food into her mouth & was crying with frustation
I fed her very sloppy food, like scrambled egg & tinned Chappie turned to a slop with hot water - anything she could lap instead of actually eating & she was fine. As Goldmali says, can you soak his dried food to a sort of lapping consistency?

Tried soaking completely through but it still doesn't work and I've even tried changing flavours from Turkey to Ocean white fish. I did try him with the Hi Life pouches which seem very good judging by the ingredients and he LOVED this but his bottom didn't.......left him very loose

are you sure he is a cavalier LOL

All mine except the first one were TBH quite picky as puppies & as long as he is eating something & drinking & doesn't look too skinny I wouldn't worry Mine have always been fed dry(holistic organic) kibble with cooked organic chicken One will eat raw if my BC is around but the others have never been interested :(

Gosh MM I think I need to swap one of yours for one of mine -he lives with my MIL and I'm ashamed to admit she has made him put on 100 % more weight than he was when she got him -the poor thing weighs in at 16 kgs! She needs a picky dog as nothing else we have done has stopped her..........

LOL I'll pop JD in the post now as he currently eats well & never puts an ounce on (I'm so jealous ;) ) He weighs 15lbs mind you he does need a GSD/BC etc to keep him fit :D

Send the piggy here I'm good at slimming them off :)

The thing his Moonmaiden, he is rather skinny. He had a very upset tum at 12 weeks where he lost a lot of weight and I've struggled to get it back on. His ribs are nicely covered and don't show but his back end is really narrow. We had a roast chicken yesterday so I gave him some with 2 boiled potatoes, a bit of broccolli, carrots and swede all mashed up with a tiny bit of gravy and he gobbled that up no problem. He tends to prefer 'wet' food as opposed to dry.

If he likes wet food then that's the way to go If he likes chicken then adding that will encourage him. you can chop it up quite small & mix it in well so he has to eat all the food to get the chicken. His hindquarters should fill out as he matures & puts on muscle.

I always have some B Sorb in(well did just given mine to a friend whose Rough Collie wouldn't eat to get him strated which it did) I know Tohme can suggest a mix that will encourage dogs to eat which I think includes Brewers Yeast Hopefully she will see this & add her comments

I get my chicken from an organic source,but any british chicken can be used & the juice used to either soak the kibble or food(not the neat fat though) I put the pieces in water & cook gently until the meat falls off the bone & then chop it up & freeze it in a couple of days portion sizes.

Thanks for the tips MM........I think feeding wet is the way to go with Harvey. He seems to be doing ok on the JWB - no upsets ect and he has a lovely shiny coat although his skin is quite dry so maybe it's not suiting him 100%. Think I'll try Nature Diet again, I tried it once before but I think I overfed and thats what caused the upset at 12 weeks........the feeding recommendations are very generous. Does anyone have a rough idea how much a 5 month old Cav weighing approx 5 - 5.5kg should need per day?

Haven't a clue re Nature Diet, but when changing a dogs food a tablespoon of new & a tablespoon less of old shouldn't upset his tummy & then if he's ok after a week add another & take another off for another week doing it really slowly as he had a problem before. Lots of cavalier "adolescent"puppies can look a bit skinny especially if they are growing upwards & not out ;)

How much does it say per kilo/lb ?