Why so picky boy?

Hi everyone,

So Thor is picky and the tough love approach seems to be affecting his weight   
I feed him Lusahn [see pics for more detail] as per my breeders recommendation.
It's just the two of us, I have never fed him from my plate or given table scraps in his bowl at all.
I did add some sauce/broth [from the chicken stew I make for example] to his bowl when he initially didn't want to eat plain dry kibble. I always eat first, in front of him, then mid way through my meal I allow him at his bowl. I even faked eating/stealing his food when he wasn't showing interest in it but he didn't seem bothered...   
I haven't added that sauce/broth for over two weeks though, only sprinkle some Diatomaceous earth, spirulina and 1tsp of cold pressed olive oil.
He gets two 10 min walks almost everyday and plenty of play time with fetch, tug, chase, hide & seek etc.
He is 5months old and weighs under 9kg    I keep getting asked if he is some or other Staf-cross or APBT even in puppy training/socialization class there is another Staf boy who is younger and much bigger in width and slightly in height   
My boys ribs and spine are NOT showing, vet says he is 100% and he is perky and happy etc.. Just so small   
Should I give him what he wants [table scraps & Hills] just to make sure that he eats every meal time? Currently he eats less than half the recommended daily suggestion on the food pack...
I have tried him on various eating plans like 4-5 small meals more frequently, 1-2 larger less frequently... Only thing that seems to work is 1-2 small meals less frequently, which ends up not nearly any where close to fulfilling the recommended daily intake. However he will gladly pig out on fruit, "human food" or treats till the cows come home.
Breeder seems somewhat neutral on BARF diet and I too am not sure if I have the time to feed it correctly...





Any recommendations/advice/suggestions will be greatly appreciated   

The recommended amounts are just a guide, if he is fit and healthy and not underweight I wouldn't worry too much. At 5 months you can up his walks to 25 mins, perhaps that would increase his appetite? Also you could add a little tinned sardines in oil or tomatoes or a raw egg to make the kibble more interesting   

Sazzle wrote:The recommended amounts are just a guide, if he is fit and healthy and not underweight I wouldn't worry too much. At 5 months you can up his walks to 25 mins, perhaps that would increase his appetite? Also you could add a little tinned sardines in oil or tomatoes or a raw egg to make the kibble more interesting   

Thanks for the advice Sazzle, I guess I was expecting him to be more brutish & "bully", he is rather feminine looking [metro sexual staf??    ] 25min per walk? or 25min per day? He currently gets two 10min walks per day before meals [morning & night], so 20min per day total.
I've seen your other posts on additives like sardines, raw egg etc. Problem is that he licks the egg up and spits the kibble out or pecks through the kibble and eats the sardine meat   

The ingredients in that food aren't good. Ground up carcasses and binding / bulking agents. For dry food look for a high percentage of identifiable meat (e.g. Applaws has 75%) as a starting point. For example, it needs to say 'chicken', not 'poultry' and certainly not 'poultry meal' or 'derivative' or 'by-product'.

They don't really fill out until they're older anyway, the exercise rule is 5 mins per month of age, 2 or 3 times a day   good advise about the meat content in food above  

Dogface wrote:The ingredients in that food aren't good. Ground up carcasses and binding / bulking agents. For dry food look for a high percentage of identifiable meat (e.g. Applaws has 75%) as a starting point. For example, it needs to say 'chicken', not 'poultry' and certainly not 'poultry meal' or 'derivative' or 'by-product'.

Thanks Dogface, I don't have access to Applaws here.
What are your thoughts on Earthborn Holistic Puppy Vantage, Royal Canin, Orijen & Acana? I can get those locally... All worth a try? I can also get this locally. K9 Petfoods or Complete Pet Food
He gobbles Hill Science Plan up but I am concerned that the grains will cause allergies in already itchy skinned prone Staffies...

Thor200314 wrote:
Thanks Dogface, I don't have access to Applaws here.
What are your thoughts on Earthborn Holistic Puppy Vantage, Royal Canin, Orijen & Acana? I can get those locally... All worth a try? I can also get this locally. K9 Petfoods
He gobbles Hill Science Plan up but I am concerned that the grains will cause allergies in already itchy skinned prone Staffies...

I'd definitely go for Orijen on that list. Not Royal Canin or Vantage.

Not sure about the one you linked to (K9) because I couldn't find any ingredients.

Sazzle wrote:They don't really fill out until they're older anyway, the exercise rule is 5 mins per month of age, 2 or 3 times a day   good advise about the meat content in food above  

  
Is that Daisy in your profile pic, she looks like she could be related to Thor, cutie pie

Dogface wrote:

Thor200314 wrote:
Thanks Dogface, I don't have access to Applaws here.
What are your thoughts on Earthborn Holistic Puppy Vantage, Royal Canin, Orijen & Acana? I can get those locally... All worth a try? I can also get this locally. K9 Petfoods
He gobbles Hill Science Plan up but I am concerned that the grains will cause allergies in already itchy skinned prone Staffies...

I'd definitely go for Orijen on that list. Not Royal Canin or Vantage.

Not sure about the one you linked to (K9) because I couldn't find any ingredients.

I'll give it a whirl and feedback, thank you sir   

Loki is fed raw as we had a similar problem with him, he just wouldn't eat any kibble tried everything, and raw suits him well and he's 6 months next week and 12.8kilo

Orijen is a good food just be sure to do the change gradually to avoid an upset stomach. Increasing the exercise will help to. They look odd the first year and grow in height. They don't start filling out really until the next two years.

Orijen is an excellent food,as dried food goes. I raised Bacchus on it until he was about 15 mths and he thrived, then I saw the light and changed to BARF.

you have a crossbreed so he could end up looking like a whippet there no guideline how an crossbreed will look like that could how he or she will be.. all crossbreed look different you