I know that this qn has been asked countless of times but I hope you guys can help me. I feed my dog Royal Canin for puppies (dry) and I feed him twice a day. Morning and night. He never had any problems with eating and will literally gulp his food in minutes. But abt a mth ago, he suddenly decided that he doesn’t want to eat. I do not free feed him. At first I tried removing his food after 15 min if he refuses to touch it. I did that for his breakfast. Come dinner time he still refused to eat. I was told that it’s ok if dogs suddenly decide to fast. So I removed his dinner too. Same thing happened the following day. After that he will reluctantly pick his food but still practically leave a full bowl behind. I tried softening the food. He ate enthusiastically for 1 day then decided to quit eating again. Current status is that he will only eat 1 meal, at dinner time. Even then he sometimes will not finish. I’m at my wits end cos this has been going on for a mth. I don’t really want to free feed him. And have bought a new brand of food, Wellness to try on him. I’m mixing it with the Royal Canin food but still no avail. He is basically still energetic but he has noticeably lost weight. Any suggestions from anyone??
First – get him to a vet and make sure he’s ok. After a month it’s possible he’s ill or has parasites.
Second – if he’s gone off his feed, it’s a good thing you bought a different one. Now while it’s normally best to slowly make the change, since he’s refusing the RC, you might want to just give him the straight Wellness and see what happens. Mixing food he’s refusing with a new food could cause him to reject the new food as well.
Definitely make sure he has access to fresh water daily – if he’s not feeling well, he might drink more water than eat, which is good so he won’t be dehydrated.
Not all animals are the same. Some need to be free fed as they are grazers and not inclined to eat 2 “big” meals a day when they can just grab a bite here and there throughout the day. I have 2 like this – they simply will not eat “in bulk”. They are still only fed a certain amount per day, but it’s left out for them to eat at their leisure.
As for a potty schedule, if you’re gone part of the day, keeping a potty pad under a newspaper in an area that it’s ok for him to potty on is a good idea. I have relatives that are gone for up to 12 hours a day – they feed their dogs canned food once a day when they get home, but during the day while they are gone, they have the dogs in a safe enclosed area of the house with a bowl of kibble, a bowl of water and a potty area with piddle pads and newspaper.
Hope this helps
Blessings
I thing you must ask a vet for info on whats wrong with your puppy.
You can try feeding him chicken and rice in the meen wile.
Hope it helps. (- :
References :
First – get him to a vet and make sure he’s ok. After a month it’s possible he’s ill or has parasites.
Second – if he’s gone off his feed, it’s a good thing you bought a different one. Now while it’s normally best to slowly make the change, since he’s refusing the RC, you might want to just give him the straight Wellness and see what happens. Mixing food he’s refusing with a new food could cause him to reject the new food as well.
Definitely make sure he has access to fresh water daily – if he’s not feeling well, he might drink more water than eat, which is good so he won’t be dehydrated.
Not all animals are the same. Some need to be free fed as they are grazers and not inclined to eat 2 “big” meals a day when they can just grab a bite here and there throughout the day. I have 2 like this – they simply will not eat “in bulk”. They are still only fed a certain amount per day, but it’s left out for them to eat at their leisure.
As for a potty schedule, if you’re gone part of the day, keeping a potty pad under a newspaper in an area that it’s ok for him to potty on is a good idea. I have relatives that are gone for up to 12 hours a day – they feed their dogs canned food once a day when they get home, but during the day while they are gone, they have the dogs in a safe enclosed area of the house with a bowl of kibble, a bowl of water and a potty area with piddle pads and newspaper.
Hope this helps
Blessings
References :
Some animals are rather picky about what they eat like my cat for instance, She only eats Felix brand cat food and will simply not touch Whiskers brand. Try your dog out with a different brand. You never know, he might like that one.
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This is entirely normal and you don’t need to worry. Your dog has become a teenager – he’s now entered the final stage of his puberty and his height growth has ended. This also means that he needs less food, because it’s the height growth that requires the relatively large amounts of food that puppies eat.
A puppy grows enormously fast from infancy to puberty. I had a boerboel (South-African mastiff) male who weighed 12 kilos at 8 weeks old and 60 kilos at 8 months old, when he finished his height growth. Then, from 8 months old to 3 years old he only gained another 10 kilos (that is, he built his adult muscles).
This happens to every dog (and also to humans and other mammals). They reach puberty and have a sudden burst of growth. Then they stop growing height-wise, and they often look quite skinny and gangly, like teenagers so often do. Then they start “filling out” their adult bodies, but this happens much more slowly – and it requires far less food per pound of body weight.
Your dog has eaten lots of food in order to build his bones and body tissue from his baby size to his present size in just 8 months. Now he’s starting on his adult life stage, and he’ll need considerably less food as he no longer need to increase his body mass so drastically.
In other words: relax, this is normal, and you should be glad that he is one of those dogs that regulate their food intake according to their actual needs. If he continued to eat like a growing pup, he’d look like a balloon by the time he reached 1 year old!
References :
[...] My shih tzu is coming 8 mths old and is being very picky with his … I feed my dog Royal Canin for puppies (dry) and I feed him twice a day. Morning and night. He never had any problems with eating and will literally gulp his food in minutes. But abt a mth ago, he suddenly decided that he doesn't want to … [...]
BUY FRESH PET SELECT MY SHIT-SZU AND MY MOMS WERE THE SAME WAY UNTIL THEY TRIED FRESH PET SELECT AND NO TABLE FOOD FEED 1 TIME IN THE MORNING AND 1 TIME AT NIGHT (6:00)
You feeding him table food, they can hold out for days for the food you gave him that he liked. I have 9 mo old all black shih tzu Sweetpea jr. I have to act as if I am eating his dog food which is Bil jack puppy formula. Because I am guilty of feeding him also stuff like, beef bones , pork neck bones, large turkey necks. So he will hold out. But that is your baby and what ever you want to be bothered with that is you, don’t let anyone tell you they don’t spoil their babies some sort of way. LOL I love my baby to death. I will never give him up for any thing , we could be homeless and he would still be with me. Have a bless set of holidays with your baby. I bought Sweetpea a tux shirt with a red bow tie for christmas pictures. See spoiling again.
they are funny, I have tried 8 different types before I bought the bil jack, I Even tried the Royal Canin , and that did not work. so you just have to keep trying. Sweetpea only eats small meals, but when we do our walk he eliminates at least 2-3 times before we finish our walk. They are just finicky.