Not Eating

[BlueBear]

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Hi,

Blue is off his food. He hasn't really eaten much all weekend and today he hasn't eaten at all except a couple of bits of cheese and a pigs ear. He normally demolishes his food in no time at all but in the past few days he sniffs at it and walks away. We have changed it around as much as possible but nothing seems to work.

He is fine in himself, bouncy playful and eager to go for a walk, he goes to the toilet normally too, nothing wrong there.

Is this just a thing puppies do or should I be a bit worried and take him to the vets ? He is just under 8 months and weighs about 45Kg. His diet is raw food (beef complete, duck complete, lamb and chicken) but doesn't seem to want to eat any of it all of a sudden.

Thank you !

P.S. he has no problem eating treats when out walking

 

[excuseme]

How many times a day are you feeding him. At his age 2 feeds a day should be fine, maybe also try to reduce his daily amount just a little to keep him hungry. He will be fine if you do try this. The quality of the raw product is full of good nutrition, your puppy may not require quiet as much as you are trying to offer him. He does not have to be plump to be healthy so just take care that you are not trying to over feed him as this could be the reason for him refusing meals!

 

[BlueBear]

How many times a day are you feeding him. At his age 2 feeds a day should be fine, maybe also try to reduce his daily amount just a little to keep him hungry. He will be fine if you do try this. The quality of the raw product is full of good nutrition, your puppy may not require quiet as much as you are trying to offer him. He does not have to be plump to be healthy so just take care that you are not trying to over feed him as this could be the reason for him refusing meals!

We reduced his feeding to just twice a day. Around 600g of raw per serving.

I'm not sure if we are over feeding him but I'll keep an eye on what he has during the day

Thank you !

 

[Hemlock]

He might be at a painful stage with his teething. If so, nothing you can do except wait.

 

[BlueBear]

He might be at a painful stage with his teething. If so, nothing you can do except wait.

OK I never thought of that. He will eat cheese no problem and treats but not his raw meat. I've just put a bowl of kibble out for him but he's not interested in that either

 

[excuseme]

Does he get kibble and his 2 x 600grams of meat daily ?

 

[BlueBear]

Does he get kibble and his 2 x 600grams of meat daily ?

No he only has the 600g x2 of raw. We have a load of kibble left over so I put 600g of kibble in his bowl as he hasn't eaten all day today

I hope that helps

 

[excuseme]

Have you tried anything nice and stinky, like raw green tripe. Some love it but others hate it!

 

[BlueBear]

Have you tried anything nice and stinky, like raw green tripe. Some love it but others hate it!

Well, he just ate a few sprouts and a carrot and then ate half a kilo of raw lamb (Just Natural) and seems to be happy enough again.

Strange he was off his food and now he has eaten again.

 

[excuseme]

That's good news. Phew !
Don't try to stuff food into him too quickly and fill him up too much, keep him on lower rations and always looking for his next meal.
Some dogs around this age are ready to start cutting their meals down themselves, some do it automatically, maybe this is what your chap is doing.
Great news though.

 

[BlueBear]

That's good news. Phew !
Don't try to stuff food into him too quickly and fill him up too much, keep him on lower rations and always looking for his next meal.
Some dogs around this age are ready to start cutting their meals down themselves, some do it automatically, maybe this is what your chap is doing.
Great news though.

Thank you

 

[BlueBear]

Blue is eating 500g of Beef Complete raw in the evening and has a few treats on walks but that is it. He refuses to eat his breakfast (raw or kibble) and so I'm giving him a chicken wing and a few other bits to keep him from getting too hungry. The vet the other day says he is fine and isn't worried about him and our friend who has cocker spaniels said that he isn't worried either because he said sometimes dogs do this when then go from puppy to adult and their hormones and growing rate changes. His cocker spaniels still do this sometimes even though they are adults.

I do want to make sure he isn't going hungry though, so (although I always offer him his raw for breakfast - duck/chicken+lamb/lamb etc) I was wondering if anyone could help me with some other ideas I could try and tempt him with. I don't want to give him too many chicken wings as he will get constipated so is there something else you could recommend ?

I bin his raw after about 2 hours of it being left out for him so he doesn't really eat much until dinner at about 5:30pm.

Thank you

 

[excuseme]

Don't offer him a meal that he just does not want. A chicken wing will be just fine. Our dogs are sometimes more sensible than we are, just take notice of what your chap is saying!

 

[JudyN]

I think as your vet is happy and he seems healthy, I would err on the side of letting him go hungry. I would also take up any food left after 10 minutes at the most - it's better for dogs to eat straight away than to graze. And if he is kept a little on the hungry side, he'll learn to look forward to his meals and eat them straight away.

A friend has a lurcher dog not that much smaller than Jasper was, but would gain weight on a lot less food than Jasper needed to maintain his. Dogs can vary a lot in how much they actually need, so I'd definitely go more by Bear's appetite than the weight of raw normally recommended. You can always have a rethink if he seems to be losing (or not gaining) weight and still has little interest in food.

 

[BlueBear]

I think as your vet is happy and he seems healthy, I would err on the side of letting him go hungry. I would also take up any food left after 10 minutes at the most - it's better for dogs to eat straight away than to graze. And if he is kept a little on the hungry side, he'll learn to look forward to his meals and eat them straight away.

A friend has a lurcher dog not that much smaller than Jasper was, but would gain weight on a lot less food than Jasper needed to maintain his. Dogs can vary a lot in how much they actually need, so I'd definitely go more by Bear's appetite than the weight of raw normally recommended. You can always have a rethink if he seems to be losing (or not gaining) weight and still has little interest in food.

Thank you. He seems to still be chunky

 

[BlueBear]

I think I've figured out whats going on.

I bought a new freezer about a month ago and filled it with frozen raw food for Blue so it would last about 5 weeks. I just opened the freezer door and the food has all defrosted - not fully, but enough to be able to squeeze the dog food while still being covered in frost. I was wondering why there was so much ice build up on the inside of the freezer but I just put it down to be opening and closing it while stocking it up with the boxes of raw food we bought in bulk.

I checked the freezer plug and lo-and-behold there is a fault where the freezer will stop working and work again and the stop and then work again, so while the food may appear frozen, its been frozen and defrosted several times during the week. I can't hear the motor on this freezer. it's quite silent so I had no idea this was going on.

I just tried Blue on some veal from the other freezer (from the pile that wouldn't fit in the broken freezer) and he scoffed the lot. He has been refusing raw for about a week now, all of it from the faulty freezer, but eating chicken thighs, wings, pig ears etc no problem at all. I just defrosted a bag of lamb and chicken (which he loves) and he refused it - all of it coming from the faulty freezer.

Huh... now I need to throw about £150 worth of dog food away but at least I know what the problem is.

 

[JudyN]

Oh no!! But at least you know what the problem was now. And it could have been worse - he might have eaten food on the turn and been violently ill Be glad that he was more discerning than a lot of dogs!

 

[JoanneF]

Actually, Blue has possibly saved your family from a nasty case of food poisoning, if you had any of your own food in there too.

If the freezer is new, see if the guarantee will cover the cost of the spoiled food?

 

[BlueBear]

Actually, Blue has possibly saved your family from a nasty case of food poisoning, if you had any of your own food in there too.

If the freezer is new, see if the guarantee will cover the cost of the spoiled food?

Yes I believe you are right. The freezer is new but its the old extension reel its plugged into thats the problem (we are renovating the house) and so my fault really.

Oh no!! But at least you know what the problem was now. And it could have been worse - he might have eaten food on the turn and been violently ill Be glad that he was more discerning than a lot of dogs!

Yes he seems to be very smart and intelligent. But also very stubborn, but we got there in the end. I just gave him 500g of beef complete from the other fridge freezer and he scoffed it down in seconds.

Thanks for the help again everyone !