Off her food today.

[Jacjaiarch]

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We've had Daisy (9+5wks Shihapso) nearly 2wks, she has been doing really well, although we are still only making slow progress with the toilet training!

Today she has been off her food, she has 4 small meals a day 7am, 11am, 2pm and 6pm. When she first came to us she was on Pedigree dry puppy food (soaked) but wasn't overly interested, the vet told us to add some pedigree puppy meat which we did and she absolutely loves it, will clear her bowl every feed! She didn't touch her 1st or 2nd feed today, 3rd left a little bit and last she has eaten about 1/4 of it, I take her bowl away at 7-7:30pm. She has her treats throughout the day when going toilet, been weeing as normal and so far had 3poohs (look normal) today. Should I be worried she's been off her food today or is it normal for puppies to have off and on days, should I leave her bowl out longer tonight in case she decides she wants more?

Also how much sleep should I let her have before bed? From 7pm she just wants to chill out and sleep, we will wake her around 8:45pm take her out to toilet then play for an hour, during this time she will quite happily take herself back off to her crate and ignore us lol At 10pm she goes in her crate for bed time then wakes at 4:30am for toilet, back in crate till 6:30am. Should she be having that 2hr sleep an hour before bedtime or is this normal?

Any advice much appreciated.

Beckie

 

[dogmatize]

Hello. I would suggest you try changing the timing of the feeds. I have puppies of a similar age and they are being fed at 7, 12, 5,9.

At this age puppies will be reducing to being fed 3 times a day instead of 4. Most pups do this naturally themselves by simply not eating the meals you offer. You should have been given an advice sheet from the person who bred her - not to have provided one is irresponsible.

Puppies need a lot of sleep and i would let her sleep as much as she wants. You should be happy that she seems such a contented dog. There is a lot of reasoning behind the saying ' let sleeping dogs lie'.

 

[Kate75]

Hi Beckie

Congrats on your new arrival! I have Holly (GSD) just five months old. Personally I would drop Daisy down to 3 meals a day and see how you get on. Our breeder had just done that with Holly when we picked her up at 8 weeks old. Is she having just wet food now or a mixture? Holly has always had a mixture and has had her off days normally when there is something more exciting going on!. We feed her James well beloved, she is on the junior now but we started her on the puppy and did find that although she is a GSD (so a big pup) she was fussy about the size of the dry food and in the end would only eat the Turkey and rice as they were smallest pieces! We have always added half a pouch of the James wellbeloved meat to moisten it which seems to do the trick. We're in the process of dropping her down to two meals a day now as she is not rushing to eat her breakfast so then doesn't want her lunch until mid afternoon and then inevitably tea gets pushed back lol! Probably exactly what Daisy is doing lol!

The sleeping thing sounds about right! Holly was pretty similar in terms of napping and toileting in the night. She didn't go all night until she was about 13 weeks which is about right. I think at that age they can sleep between 18 and 22 hours a day! I remember thinking in the evening when Holly was sleeping that it would mean she wouldn't want to sleep at night but it didn't seem to make a difference, she used to nap from about 6.30pm til 8.30 and sometimes I remember struggling to keep her awake until 10!. I think in the end i used to let her crash at our feet from about 9pm until we put her in her crate at about 10pm. These days she lazies around in the lounge with us watching tv from the time we finish dinner until we go to bed.

 

[Jacjaiarch]

Hi Beckie

Congrats on your new arrival! I have Holly (GSD) just five months old. Personally I would drop Daisy down to 3 meals a day and see how you get on. Our breeder had just done that with Holly when we picked her up at 8 weeks old. Is she having just wet food now or a mixture? Holly has always had a mixture and has had her off days normally when there is something more exciting going on!. We feed her James well beloved, she is on the junior now but we started her on the puppy and did find that although she is a GSD (so a big pup) she was fussy about the size of the dry food and in the end would only eat the Turkey and rice as they were smallest pieces! We have always added half a pouch of the James wellbeloved meat to moisten it which seems to do the trick. We're in the process of dropping her down to two meals a day now as she is not rushing to eat her breakfast so then doesn't want her lunch until mid afternoon and then inevitably tea gets pushed back lol! Probably exactly what Daisy is doing lol!

The sleeping thing sounds about right! Holly was pretty similar in terms of napping and toileting in the night. She didn't go all night until she was about 13 weeks which is about right. I think at that age they can sleep between 18 and 22 hours a day! I remember thinking in the evening when Holly was sleeping that it would mean she wouldn't want to sleep at night but it didn't seem to make a difference, she used to nap from about 6.30pm til 8.30 and sometimes I remember struggling to keep her awake until 10!. I think in the end i used to let her crash at our feet from about 9pm until we put her in her crate at about 10pm. These days she lazies around in the lounge with us watching tv from the time we finish dinner until we go to bed.

Hi Beckie

Congrats on your new arrival! I have Holly (GSD) just five months old. Personally I would drop Daisy down to 3 meals a day and see how you get on. Our breeder had just done that with Holly when we picked her up at 8 weeks old. Is she having just wet food now or a mixture? Holly has always had a mixture and has had her off days normally when there is something more exciting going on!. We feed her James well beloved, she is on the junior now but we started her on the puppy and did find that although she is a GSD (so a big pup) she was fussy about the size of the dry food and in the end would only eat the Turkey and rice as they were smallest pieces! We have always added half a pouch of the James wellbeloved meat to moisten it which seems to do the trick. We're in the process of dropping her down to two meals a day now as she is not rushing to eat her breakfast so then doesn't want her lunch until mid afternoon and then inevitably tea gets pushed back lol! Probably exactly what Daisy is doing lol!

The sleeping thing sounds about right! Holly was pretty similar in terms of napping and toileting in the night. She didn't go all night until she was about 13 weeks which is about right. I think at that age they can sleep between 18 and 22 hours a day! I remember thinking in the evening when Holly was sleeping that it would mean she wouldn't want to sleep at night but it didn't seem to make a difference, she used to nap from about 6.30pm til 8.30 and sometimes I remember struggling to keep her awake until 10!. I think in the end i used to let her crash at our feet from about 9pm until we put her in her crate at about 10pm. These days she lazies around in the lounge with us watching tv from the time we finish dinner until we go to bed.

 

[gypsysmum2]

Some puppies will go off their food when they are teething. This is especially so with crunchy food. This can sometimes result in them going off a particular brand of dog food as they associate it with the discomfort in their mouth. Take a look at "All About Dog Food" in case you need to change the brand.

I wouldn't leave it down any longer as it is like seeing your dinner sitting on the table all day - you wouldn't fancy it would you? Dogs also need competition for their food and if you pick it up they will get on with eating it before it disappears!