A few days ago (10/1) Keiko started refusing her food. It started with me feeding her a chicken leg and one chicken liver. She refused the liver). In the evening I gave her a smaller piece of liver and then her normal meal and she ate fine.

The next morning (10/2) she refused a chicken back. I presented the same chicken back at dinner time and she refused again so she ate nothing that day. Due to the empty stomach, she vomited a small amount of bile around lunch time.

Yesterday (10/3) she ate fine; a chicken back without the skin in the morning and some ground beef with her supplements and a spoonful of yogurt in the evening.

This morning (10/4) she refused a chicken leg but ate the chicken heart I'd given her.

Keiko is 8 months old now and has been on raw for two months without a problem. Also, she's an Australian Shepherd. The females from her lines average 18" and 35 lbs - just so you have a reference for her mature size. Her energy and overall demeanor hasn't changed at all. I took a fecal sample in to the Vet last week which came back negative for any parasites.

She hasn't gone into heat yet. She isn't showing any signs of it (no swelling or anything) but could she be entering the early stages of heat? After doing a search of the old threads, I've supposed that she may just be getting older and her metabolism may be slowing down. Would 8 months be too early to start cutting back to feeding 2% of her body weight?

According to her weight, 25 lbs, I calculated that she should be eating about 20 oz (5% of her current weight) per day. I broke this up into 12-16 oz of RMBs, about 4 oz additional muscle meat, and 2 oz of organs OR 1/4 cup of veggies. She's also getting 2400 mg salmon oil and 200 IU vitamin E plus the occasional egg or yogurt.

Shortly before this I'd started taking the skin/fat off of the chicken at one of the feedings because I felt like she was getting too much fat. I thought this might have been the problem but she has refused pieces with and without skin on them so I've ruled this possibility out.

Any suggestions on what the deal may be? Notice something I'm doing/feed wrong? Think it's time to cut her total feeding amount back?

"Think it's time to cut her total feeding amount back? "

I hope that the growing-puppy experts will see this (remembering that weekends are slow on the board, with people out training, which is where I'm heading in a minute ) and mention approximate ages that the growth slows for the Shepherds.

It will help if you can estimate the weight of the day's food that she does eat. That is, if you offer 5%, what percent is she actually eating? Half of that? More?

Also, do her body condition and weight continue to look good?

"I've supposed that she may just be getting older and her metabolism may be slowing down." It's more that the food energy used to fuel growth starts to decrease when the puppy gets closer to full growth.

I have a raw fed 11 month old small standard poodle that is 18.5 inches tall and weighs 24 lbs. His litter was estimated to get between 18-20 inches and 25-30lbs. He is likely finished growing based on his genetics and his siblings (I keep in touch with some of their "parents).

He is HIGH energy and eats about half of what your girl does. He does get training treats throughout the day as well.

Rudy is in excellent body condition, based on the good ole fasioned "rib feel". I check his condition about 2X a week and adjust his food accordingly.

If your girl is refusing food, is not ill, and is in good condition she probably has pretty much finished her big growing stage. Rudy pretty much needed less food by that age as well.

You've got a good girl to refuse her food and say "enough" instead of pigging out and eating it all.

Yes, her body condition and weight look good. She may have slightly more cover on her ribs than I would like (this is why I started removing the skin/fat), but it's taking some adjustment in judging on my part as her coat starts to come in.

 Quote: melissa blazak

If your girl is refusing food, is not ill, and is in good condition she probably has pretty much finished her big growing stage. Rudy pretty much needed less food by that age as well.

I'm starting to think this is the case. Last time I measured her (a little over a month ago), she was about 17.5" and when I brought her by the Vet's office to say hello earlier last week, she weighed in at 27 lbs. So...she should be getting pretty close to her mature size now. She also just went through a growth spurt.

 Quote: melissa blazak

You've got a good girl to refuse her food and say "enough" instead of pigging out and eating it all.

She even eats her veggies first. She's never really been a big chow hound, though.

She ate tonight. I gave her a 4 oz chicken leg and her supplements. Connie, I went back and reviewed the past week or so of feedings. The day before she first refused anything (9/30), I'd overfed her by a lot. On (10/1) she refused the liver in the morning but that night I fed 2% of her current body weight (8 oz) and she ate it all. The next day, (10/3) she fasted all day. We'll see what happens in the morning.

I'm leaning towards overfeeding as well. Still, wait for more puppy experts to chime in.

One thing I would like to add, though. It would be much better to reduce the amount fed when a dog is overweight vs. removing fat. Dogs use fat for energy the way humans use carbs.

 Quote: Michael_Wise

One thing I would like to add, though. It would be much better to reduce the amount fed when a dog is overweight vs. removing fat. Dogs use fat for energy the way humans use carbs.

Thanks for the heads up! She isn't overweight but I did feel that she was getting more fat then she needed. Because of the growth spurt, I was hesitant to cut back on the RMBs but I suppose I could have just cut back on the muscle meat...I didn't even think of it. She ended up self-fasting before I got to the point of seeing the results from removing the skin.

I'm thinking I'm going to go ahead and cut back to feeding 2-3% of her daily body weight but I will also wait for more puppy experts to chime in.

at 8 months her growth is probably slowing down, but what kind of dog is she, I think I missed that somewhere.

If I remember correctly that was about the age Yote really cut back on his food intake. As long as she is getting enough to stay in optimum condition I wouldn't worry too much.

Jennifer, she's an Australian Shepherd and the females from her lines average about 18" and 35 lbs.

This morning I fed 4 oz of muscle meat with a few chicken hearts (~ 1 oz) and she ate well. I'll move down to targeting about 8-10 oz per day (~ 2% of her current body weight) and adjust from there if her body condition is less than optimal.

Thanks for all of your suggestions, and I especially appreciate your comparison Melissa since you've got a dog that seems to be comparable in current and mature size to mine. My mind was wandering all kinds of places when she fasted multiple times in a row but I'm happy to say that you have all calmed my nerves.

You are very welcome! Remember lean body condition is always better. And some of us forget to include the training treats we use during the day as part of the daily caloric intake.

Yeah, her body condition was good, then she seemed to be bulking up a little bit, then she hit the growth spurt and now she seems to be in adequate condition. After further review of my feed logs, I think a big part of the reason she went off in the first place is that I overfed (24 oz as opposed to the 16-20 she was getting) the night before she skipped out on the liver. I do also think that her growth is slowing after this last growth spurt, though, and will cut back accordingly on the amount I'm feeding per day.

Here is a current picture of her:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2456/3988616046_3d661e29ba.jpg

Edited by Jasmine Dillon (10/07/2009 10:45 AM)
Edit reason: Changed pic to url