Amber Butler wrote 08/22/2006 09:48 PM Puppy barely eating #111822 - 08/22/2006 09:48 PM
Amber Butler Webboard User Reg: 02-15-2006 Posts: 27 Loc: Texas, USA Offline	My 9 week old Golden barely eats. The vet says he's underweight, and I can see ribs, not just feel them. He looks thinner than he should be. He's 9 weeks tomorrow, checked in at 14.3 pounds on Monday (his daddy was BIG!) I feed him 4 times a day, Eukanuba (until the replacement comes in the mail). I feed him 3/4 cup, 5 hours apart, starting around 7 am. So, 7, 11, 4, and 9. He usually doesn't touch his morning feeding, will scoff at the 11. By 4 he's willing to sniff it. The only thing I can do to make him eat is throw the food on the floor so he has to hunt for them, or give them to him individually as treats. Any ideas? I'm switching to a better food but it's not here yet. Will he start eating then? Is it palatibility or could there be something wrong? He is otherwise in great health, firm stools, very energetic, drinks plenty of water. Thank you! A magician pulls rabits out of hats. An experimental psychologist pulls habits out of rats.
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alice oliver wrote 08/23/2006 01:23 AM Re: Puppy barely eating [Re: Amber Butler ] #111823 - 08/23/2006 01:23 AM
alice oliver Webboard User Reg: 09-14-2005 Posts: 843 Loc: Offline	has he been seen by a vet? that would be the first step. second step, is when the new food arrives, see if he likes it better. what will the new food be? some pups are skinny and picky eaters. mine was. he was perfectly healthy. he continues to be picky but has filled out nicely anyway. have you tried giving the pup some real food? how about a little cottage cheese with a whole raw egg in it? does he turn his nose up at that? how about a little raw hamburger? will he eat that? you don't have to wait for more dog food to find out if he'll eat something else. working Mastiff
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Chris_Harvey wrote 08/23/2006 07:29 AM Re: Puppy barely eating [Re: Amber Butler ] #111824 - 08/23/2006 07:29 AM
Chris_Harvey Webboard User Reg: 08-16-2006 Posts: 55 Loc: Central Texas Offline	Hey Amber, if you aren't too far from Austin there are some great pet stores that sell lots of different quality dog foods. Might be cheaper to make the drive and buy 100 lbs. than to mail order (if you are only an hour or two away). I searched for golden retriever growth chart and found that at 9 weeks the dog should weigh between 10-14lbs. I feed my 43lb. high energy Heeler mix about 1.5 to 2 cups of Innova a day (1.5 cups this week, 2 cups on jogging weeks, ribs are barely visible). So if we convert that to say it is twice as caloric as Eukanuba I would say that you are trying to feed your puppy almost the same amount of food that I feed my adult dog. (3/4 x 4 = 3 cups of eukanuba which is roughly equal to 1.5 cups of Innova). Maybe you are expecting him to eat more than he needs to? My 2 cents - which online is worth even less than that...
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Amber Butler wrote 08/23/2006 08:57 AM Re: Puppy barely eating [Re: Chris_Harvey ] #111825 - 08/23/2006 08:57 AM
Amber Butler Webboard User Reg: 02-15-2006 Posts: 27 Loc: Texas, USA Offline	The actual box of Eukanuba (which is the best food you can buy where I live without mail order) says to feed a 15 pound puppy 3 1/3 cups a day. That's one reason I want to switch; I just don't think his little puppy stomach can handle that much food! So I want something that's denser so he doesn't have to eat as much of it. Also, I didn't mention before, but he eats EVERYTHING else. Cardboard, dirt, leaves, grass, bark. I get most of it out of his mouth before it's swallowed, but he tries to eat it. I just don't know what to do; he's been given a clean bill of health by the vet. I'm going to start feeding him Life's Abundance. I didn't want to mix in other foods just yet, because his GI tract is really sensitive, he gets his tummy upset easily. A magician pulls rabits out of hats. An experimental psychologist pulls habits out of rats.
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Chris_Harvey wrote 08/23/2006 09:14 AM Re: Puppy barely eating [Re: Amber Butler ] #111826 - 08/23/2006 09:14 AM
Chris_Harvey Webboard User Reg: 08-16-2006 Posts: 55 Loc: Central Texas Offline	I checked both the eukanuba and innova sites and they said that a 15 lb. puppy should be getting about the same calories as my 43 lb. dog. I forgot to mention that he gets hot dogs and other treats (many times more innova) through the day for training - otherwise we would be feeding him more. He probably is getting 2 cups on a "down" week and 2.5 cups a day on a "more" active week (still 60 minutes + of structured exercise a day on a down week). Are you treating him a lot during the day? maybe he is filling up on that. It sounds like you are pretty far from any big cities. If your email is correct in your profile there are two dealers of Natura products in College Station. I hate mail order if I can avoid it.
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Patricia Powers wrote 08/23/2006 09:16 AM Re: Puppy barely eating [Re: Amber Butler ] #111827 - 08/23/2006 09:16 AM
Patricia Powers Webboard User Reg: 07-08-2003 Posts: 342 Loc: Offline	also make sure he's not worm infested. otherwise do some experimenting and see what he likes to eat. (as the others suggested) i've had dogs turn up their noses at eukanuba so that doesn't surprise me. they are one of those companies that spends millions on advertising, but that is no guarantee that it is infact a good product. good luck. if there are no dogs in heaven, then when i die i want to go where they went. ---will rogers
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Amber Butler wrote 08/23/2006 09:29 AM Re: Puppy barely eating [Re: Chris_Harvey ] #111828 - 08/23/2006 09:29 AM
Amber Butler Webboard User Reg: 02-15-2006 Posts: 27 Loc: Texas, USA Offline	I didn't know of a Natura dealer in B/CS. The only food better than Eukanuba here is Nutro Ultra, which is holistic, but contains corn. Life's Abundance is listed along with Flint River as premium, holistic, human grade food. I'll look up that Natura dealer thing. He was picky about Iams (which is what the breeder fed him) too. He might just being saying, "HEY! Stop feeding me pizza. I need some real food." Thanks! A magician pulls rabits out of hats. An experimental psychologist pulls habits out of rats.
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Amber Butler wrote 08/23/2006 09:30 AM Re: Puppy barely eating [Re: Patricia Powers ] #111829 - 08/23/2006 09:30 AM
Amber Butler Webboard User Reg: 02-15-2006 Posts: 27 Loc: Texas, USA Offline	He's worm free, cleared by the vet and his stools are normal and he's on Heartgard. A magician pulls rabits out of hats. An experimental psychologist pulls habits out of rats.
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Amber Butler wrote 08/23/2006 05:20 PM Re: Puppy barely eating [Re: Amber Butler ] #111830 - 08/23/2006 05:20 PM
Amber Butler Webboard User Reg: 02-15-2006 Posts: 27 Loc: Texas, USA Offline	WOOHOO!!! I decided just to see what would happen...I made him a small meal of apples, chicken, frozen blueberriess, yogurt with a tiny bit of wheat germ, bananas, cottage cheese, an egg...I called him for his dinner and he just looked at me and set his head back down. I let him sniff it and he followed me to his spot! He's eating right now...out of his bowl...not overly vigorously, but he's eating!! Thanks for the advice. <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> A magician pulls rabits out of hats. An experimental psychologist pulls habits out of rats.
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alice oliver wrote 08/23/2006 05:24 PM Re: Puppy barely eating [Re: Amber Butler ] #111831 - 08/23/2006 05:24 PM
alice oliver Webboard User Reg: 09-14-2005 Posts: 843 Loc: Offline	aw, the poor guy just wanted some real food! <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> cottage cheese and a raw egg are a perfect puppy food. just don't overdo it. twice a week for that item is plenty. consider switching him to a raw diet? lots of good info and discussions on it here on this board. working Mastiff
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