Puppy wont eat puppy food

Bookkeeper09

Got a new puppy last friday(golden retriever).
Is settling in well except she will not eat puppy food.
She had been fed James well beloved puppy and was being corn flakes in the morning.
I didnt think the cornflakes would be a great idea for the dog so had wanted to stop these but she completely refuses to eat the JWB.
Have tried to disguise it mashed up in the cornflakes but she tries to eat around it and only eats the puppy food by accident.
Should i try a different food or persist with the JWB??

jungleboy

The best think to do is ask the person you bought the dog from what they were feeding it. It take time for a dog to adjust to different feeds.

Bookkeeper09

He was feeding her James Well Beloved and Cornflakes in the morning.

tk123

Congrats on the puppy!

I would switch back to the same as she had with the breeder then gradually phase out the cornflakes over a week or two. If you switch her diet too quickly she'll get an upset tummy and the runs - not fun! Our golden retriever didn't do too well on JWB - he had runny poos and horrible farts all the time from it. He's on royal canin maxi junior now and doing well. Also another tip would be to put some warm water in to soften the food to make it more appealing to her- this is what we did with our guy when we were switching his food initially - now he won't stop eating!

jungleboy

ok, never seen that before. Did you try mixing puppy nuts and warm milk and then reduce the milk over a few weeks!

Paul91

was he putting milk in the James Wellbeloved with the cornflakes?

I got two bags of James Wellbeloved as where on offer on zooplus.co.uk, but mine all dislike it, so to get them to eat it i put either a raw egg, milk, grated cheese quality wet food into it - i think the egg's the best though

Bookkeeper09

Thanks!
She actually wont touch the food at all!
Had bought 2 bags of it in 2 flavours before we got the puppy(had contacted the breeder to find out what she was eating) so we would have it when we got her.
She wouldnt touch either of these so on the sunday we tried to contact the breeder again to see if there was a specific flavour she was used to. Was a couple of hours before he got back to us and in the meantime we had bought the other 2 flavours in the dog food to try her with.
The breeder came back and said that he hadnt been feeding her any specific flavour. So we now have 4 bags of the dog food in 4 different flavours and she wont touch any of them. :rolleyes:
Was at the Vets with her on saturday morning and she said not to worry if she didnt eat much that day as she would only be getting used to being away from the rest of the litter and probably a bit out of sorts!
She also loves chicken...is it a good/bad idea to give her this??

Bookkeeper09

Have been soaking the JWB in water...which was what the breeder was doing.

Also put water in the cornflakes.

Havent tried the egg/cheese...might give them a go!

Paul91

chicken is fine - just gets expensive, try mixing the chicken with the nuts

Bookkeeper09

Paul91 wrote: »

chicken is fine - just gets expensive, try mixing the chicken with the nuts

Have been doing this. Putting the nuts, cornflakes and chicken in the bowl...but she just eats around them!!

Paul91

not too much cheese or milk (try goats milk if you can get it also) just one egg- maybe try to seperate the yolk and just use the white - or two white's with one yolk (yolk contains all the fats - that's why it tastes the best)

Paul91

Bookkeeper09 wrote: »

Have been doing this. Putting the nuts, cornflakes and chicken in the bowl...but she just eats around them!!

ye they can be beggers for that, ours will spit the nuts out on the floor - to be honest i'm not keen on the James Wellbeloved, thought i'd try it as was good deal and heard good things about it - but if you sniff it yourslef it's not that appealing, don't blame the dogs for not eating it - back to the Acana for me

andreac

I would give her a chance to eat the puppy food first, i wouldnt start feeding her chicken as you will have an even bigger problem then trying to get her to eat the puppy food then.

Are you giving her other food apart from her main meals? if so i would stop that now and only offer her meals with nothing else. It could be that shes out of sorts from the whole new routine but she should settle ina couple of days.

Only offer her the puppy food and take it up then after about 15 mins,even if shes eaten it or not. Dont offer anything until next mealtime, no treats, scraps etc, she needs to realise that shes has to eat her food or she gets nothing else until next mealtime.

I would say in a day or so she will start to eat for you.
But if you start adding chicken etc now, she will get even fussier and not eat any dry food for you.
You could try soaking half her meal in some warm water and mix the rest of the meal in with it, when its soaked it can be a bit tastier for her.

Paul91

another additive to try in the food - sardines in olive oil! hmmmmm

funkyjebus

Congrats on the puppy.

First off be careful of anything you do now as you are setting a precedent (he may always expect chicken - that could cost a lot in the long room). Don't let the pup do anything you don't want him doing when he's big.

In your situation I would take up the food and only put it down at particular points in the day (3 times in one day). Always use the same times, routines are very important for new puppies as it helps them settle in much faster. leave it out for 5 mins while he is beside it in a small enough space (no point it being out in another room!), if he doesn't eat it then take it up and wait till the next routine time and keep continuing. He will eventually eat, he will not starve himself.

A cheap way to encourage the dog to eat the food is gravy. get some cheap instant bisto make a small amount, leave it to cool, then just add a drissle (enough so each bit of food has a taste of it - use a fork to stir the food up). Be sure to use tiny amounts (a few mouthfuls) incase he doesn't eat it. Don't let it get soggy before you give it to him. He needs to get used to hard dry kibble - this will just taste better.

Another possibility is the bowls you are using (our guy was kind of scared of his at first - his collar kept hitting off the bowl making a sound that kept scaring him!) If you feel he needs to eat, use his kibble as treats during training and do several sessions a day (never more than 5 mins at once). Ps - get a clicker - best thing ever for training

Also, it is bad dental hygeine to give the dog moist kibble. Always try to give dry kibble (and work towards this once he starts eating properly)

Remember to give plenty of praise when he does eat - but no too much to distract him from eating

Let us know how it goes - A picture would also be nice;)

jungleboy

funkyjebus wrote: »

Congrats on the puppy.




Another possibility is the bowls you are using (our guy was kind of scared of his at first - his collar kept hitting off the bowl making a sound that kept scaring him!) If you feel he needs to eat, use his kibble as treats during training and do several sessions a day (never more than 5 mins at once). Ps - get a clicker - best thing ever for training

Also, it is bad dental hygeine to give the dog moist kibble. Always try to give dry kibble (and work towards this once he starts eating properly)

Remember to give plenty of praise when he does eat - but no too much to distract him from eating

Let us know how it goes - A picture would also be nice;)

Sorry now, but whats a clicker?

star-pants

Have to agree with andrea - don't start putting things in to make the puppy eat now - then they get uber fussy and *won't* eat anything else.
The pup will eat when it's hungry, even if it misses one meal.

Soak the puppy nuts in warm water so they're soft for the pup to eat, put them down for 20mins, if the puppy doesn't eat them, take it up. And try it again later. Don't leave food down for ages, only contributes to them being fussy. And I really don't think adding cornflakes/milk/etc would do the pup any good as it's a very hard habit to break.

There's no harm in giving bits of chicken as a treat, but we don't mix anything with our dogs food (bar cod liver oil / evening primrose oil for their coats, and it's only a drop) because then they won't eat the dog food.

edit - funkyjebus - it's not bad dental hygiene to give a pup moistened dry food - they can't eat the dry food when they're very young it's too hard for their teeth, they tell you on the packets even to wet it, as will the vet. You reduce the soaking time as the weeks go on to phase them onto hard dry food.

Jungle boy see here

funkyjebus

jungleboy wrote: »

Sorry now, but whats a clicker?

This is a clicker.

http://www.made-in-china.com/image/2f0j00uvmtHsfdrPqZM/Dog-Training-Clicker-TC-1153-.jpg

They cost about 2-3 euro and make a click. Basically to start you get you dog in a quite room (just the two of you, no disctractions). Have treats on the ready, and start clicking. Everytime you click you give a treat. eventually when you click your dog should look at you for a treat. When he consistantly does this, your ready! This should take 2 training sessions (2 x 5mins). Always make sure you treat after a click. This all tells the dog that when he hears the click, he's done good and is getting a treat.

So when training, lets say sit, you click at the exact moment that he does the command you've asked, in this case just as his bum hits the ground - this is very important, if you click when he half way there you may het a dog hovering his ass just off the ground wondering ther f his teat is:D

Using a clicker takes some getting used to but it really speeds up training. They only need to do a trick once for it to stick. (quite good when they do it by accident) Our guy was high fiving on day two. now he closes doors, sings, speaks, walks, dances) and when i first bough the clicker (5 month ago), i'd never trained a dog, or used a clicker - so it easy

Check out this website for tips : http://www.clickerlessons.com/

Also i have a pdf i can email if you pm me you address - I really cant recommend the clicker enough, My dog would be a shadow of himself witout it and our relationship would suffer as a result.

Bookkeeper09

andreac wrote: »

I would give her a chance to eat the puppy food first, i wouldnt start feeding her chicken as you will have an even bigger problem then trying to get her to eat the puppy food then.

Are you giving her other food apart from her main meals? if so i would stop that now and only offer her meals with nothing else. It could be that shes out of sorts from the whole new routine but she should settle ina couple of days.

Only offer her the puppy food and take it up then after about 15 mins,even if shes eaten it or not. Dont offer anything until next mealtime, no treats, scraps etc, she needs to realise that shes has to eat her food or she gets nothing else until next mealtime.

I would say in a day or so she will start to eat for you.
But if you start adding chicken etc now, she will get even fussier and not eat any dry food for you.
You could try soaking half her meal in some warm water and mix the rest of the meal in with it, when its soaked it can be a bit tastier for her.

We hadnt been giving her anything else...treats, scraps etc.
It was only after nearly 2 days that we gave in and gave her the corn flakes and chicken. We had gotten her on friday night and had been giving her just the puppy food soaked in water until sunday afternnon.
We thought she would eat the puppy food if she was hungry enough but she's a bit more stubborn than we thought. By the way she wolfed into the cornflakes she was abviously very hungry but still not willin gto eat the puppy nuts!

andreac

I was only saying to make sure she wasnt getting anything else so she would be hungry enough for the food.

Just try what we've suggested for a day or 2 and see how you go. Id stop with the cornflakes too, it has no nutritional value for a puppy so just stick with her food. If she was eating the JWB food at the breeders theres no reason she shouldnt eat it with you so just be patient and dont give in and she should be eating for you in a day or so.

star-pants

Bookkeeper09 wrote: »

We hadnt been giving her anything else...treats, scraps etc.
It was only after nearly 2 days that we gave in and gave her the corn flakes and chicken. We had gotten her on friday night and had been giving her just the puppy food soaked in water until sunday afternnon.
We thought she would eat the puppy food if she was hungry enough but she's a bit more stubborn than we thought. By the way she wolfed into the cornflakes she was abviously very hungry but still not willin gto eat the puppy nuts!

Don't take this the wrong way - but you won't make it any easier on her or yourselves if you feed her cornflakes. It'll take longer for her to eat the puppy nuts. As has been said by myself and others - put the food down for 20mins at a time, 3 times a day and she'll eat when she gets hungry enough. Is she drinking?

Bookkeeper09

star-pants wrote: »

Don't take this the wrong way - but you won't make it any easier on her or yourselves if you feed her cornflakes. It'll take longer for her to eat the puppy nuts. As has been said by myself and others - put the food down for 20mins at a time, 3 times a day and she'll eat when she gets hungry enough. Is she drinking?

Yes she's drinking no problem.
Hadnt planned on giving her Cornflakes....the breeder had been doing this(which I thought was strange), but we had decided that we would just stick to the JWB. Was only when she wouldnt touch the JWB that we gave her some cornflakes with the idea of mixing them with the puppy nuts and gradually reducing the amount of corn flakes.

Am baffled as to why she wont touch the puppy nuts after eating them in the breeders. She seems to have settled in well besides this...very little whimpering even at night and is pretty much trained aside from the very odd accident!

star-pants

No I can understand you giving it, you feel bad that they're not eating and of course you want them to eat. It's just it doesn't make it easier for you or her giving in with cornflakes.
My dad started doing that with my older dog, giving her the last of his warm cornflakes, after a few weeks it was impossible to break it, she'd sit and wait at his feet for them, or anyone who had a cereal bowl after that.

Routine is very important, especially for pups who are adjusting/growing up, so I'd try the soaked puppy nuts and see if she doesn't try them. Hopefully she will.

Paul91

i think it's the food you have that's the problem - not what you are doing, now four bags of dog food is pretty expensive so the tips i have given you are to get the pup to eat what you have currently - your next mission would be to find out a good quality food the dog will eat - do you have a pet shop you can get samples from? maxizoo in cork have sample bags for various types like royal canin and JW, i'm sure you could get others, but although maybe expensive i'm going back to Acana cos i don't think the JW is very tasty

Bookkeeper09

Will put a stop to the cornflakes this afternoon and hopefully she'll back down and eat the JWB.
I know my vet had samples of food so might get some when I'm there tomorrow and try that if I still cant get her to take the other puppy nuts!
Thanks for your help everyone!
Will try post a pic up in the next day or so!!!

Bookkeeper09

Paul91 wrote: »

i think it's the food you have that's the problem - not what you are doing, now four bags of dog food is pretty expensive so the tips i have given you are to get the pup to eat what you have currently - your next mission would be to find out a good quality food the dog will eat - do you have a pet shop you can get samples from? maxizoo in cork have sample bags for various types like royal canin and JW, i'm sure you could get others, but although maybe expensive i'm going back to Acana cos i don't think the JW is very tasty

Brought the puppy to the vet and mentioned about her not eating. She told us to try her on a wet food. We bought the pedigree puppy pouches....she absolultely loved it! As we had heard that pedigree was not a particularly great brand...we bought some pouches of JMB wet food...which again she will not touch!! Defo think she doesnt like this brand!!! Have in the last few days been adding in bits of pedigree dry food and again she will eat this. She doing well on it

Paul91

Bookkeeper09 wrote: »

Brought the puppy to the vet and mentioned about her not eating. She told us to try her on a wet food. We bought the pedigree puppy pouches....she absolultely loved it! As we had heard that pedigree was not a particularly great brand...we bought some pouches of JMB wet food...which again she will not touch!! Defo think she doesnt like this brand!!! Have in the last few days been adding in bits of pedigree dry food and again she will eat this. She doing well on it

good news - i'm trying to get through 36kg of JWB - luckily i have Orijen on the way (no Acana at zooplus - ahhhh)

Bookkeeper09

Paul91 wrote: »

good news - i'm trying to get through 36kg of JWB - luckily i have Orijen on the way (no Acana at zooplus - ahhhh)

Good luck with that!
We had tried mixing the JWB dry in with the pedigree wet and she just eats around it.

Paul91

Bookkeeper09 wrote: »

Good luck with that!
We had tried mixing the JWB dry in with the pedigree wet and she just eats around it.

ye they are cunning little beggers - my two do the same, eat all the meat and leave the nuts, so i'm mixing egg in to it - sticks the nuts to the meat he-he also got some salmon oil on order hopefully adding this will disguise the smell/taste of the JWB

tk123

OP don't worry - our golden retriever was the same when he was a baby but he soon got his appetite so it was easier to switch foods! We're always saying we should have named him Oliver because he always wants more!! He was 19.2 kgs when he was weighed in the vets last month at 5 months old!

Bookkeeper09

tk123 wrote: »

OP don't worry - our golden retriever was the same when he was a baby but he soon got his appetite so it was easier to switch foods! We're always saying we should have named him Oliver because he always wants more!! He was 19.2 kgs when he was weighed in the vets last month at 5 months old!

She has a big apetite now that we changed her from JWB to Pedigree!
Starts charging around the kitchen and gets sooo excited when she sees you picking up her food bowl! She's also quite partial to a bit of xmas tree and door mat!!!
We can see her filling out each day now!!