When does not eating alot become an issue?

Hi all again,

I'm looking for advice regarding my puppies eating habits, so I figured I'd start a new topic.

She's a healthy 7 weeks 6 day old pup. Goes to the loo well. Has tons of energy.

But in the two days I've had her she's not been eating much, which I know is quite normal for pups in their new home as everything is new and exciting! However, I am having to 'hand feed' her, her biscuits at the moment. Which of course i am aware isn't very good!! But otherwise she just gets distracted and runs off at meal times or may eat a little bit and just turn her nose up. And being little she has to eat something.

Anyway, I was just wondering at what point I should stop hand feeding her and leave her to it? Shall i give her another couple of days to settle? And how long realistically can she wait before eating?

She is currently on and was weaned on, Wainwrights trays and puppy biscuits. Wet food for 1 meal and X3 biscuit meals. She only eats a bit of the wet food before tearing off to play also.

I will be changing her food soon. I'm thinking Fish4Dogs as it's been mentioned on here alot. And sardines seem good as well. I love saRdines so we will share them, me thinks lol

Oh and just to add, she has no problems with eating the cats biscuits when she can get them!

Thanks in advance

Tommy's a good little eater (11 weeks now and has been since he came to us @ just shy of 8 weeks so little difficult for me to say. But I know one of our experts (and a breeder) told a member the other week that to hand feed is fine for a short while just to get them settled and get them eating as that is the most important thing. Does she have a crate ?? you could try feeding her in there so she is with it all the time and not distracted ?? We also give Tommy porrage with goats milk on a morning and you could try some scrambled egg too (again with goats milk) just for a bit of variety. Apart from that we don't use wet , just the wainwrights puppy dry food and he gets on great with it

Been such a long time since I had a pup I can't really help.

Fish4Dogs is a fab food though I reccomend it, I add sardines sometimes but I certainly don't share them, there gross lol, she's welcome to it!

I'd hand feed to tempt a pup back to eating after an illness, but otherwise I wouldn't. They learn far too quickly & get used to being fed!

Even a puppy won't starve itself. Put her food down, leave it for 10 minutes & if she doesn't eat it, take it up & give her nothing else until next feed time. I would only get concerned if, after a day or so she still wan't eating, or if she wasn't drinking properly.

Thanks everyone for the advice. I think starting from tommorrow I'll just put it down for 10-15 mins and then her be till next meal time. I really don't want me hand feeding her to cause her to become a picky eater.

Also we visited Saffys mother and litter mates today (which was chaos) and noticed that they all do the same and they are quite podgy lol. So she must be getting what she needs.

And ive just spent a good few hours reading the nutritional section plus the links, on this forum and I'm considering feeding my pup a raw diet. Seems not only healthier but more economical. My OH thinks it's a good idea too. I'm going to do some more research and I may have a couple of questions later, if that's ok. But at the mo, it seems straight forward to me. If Saffy gets on ok then I shall also feed my cats on it too. Otherwise they will get jealous lol

Thanks again

Theses might be useful to you...

http://www.rawmeatybones.com/petowners/whatisrmb.php
http://rawfed.com/myths/preymodel.html
http://www.freewebs.com/krisannriorawfeeding/

The last one, although relating to GSDs is an interesting read.

Caryll wrote:I'd hand feed to tempt a pup back to eating after an illness, but otherwise I wouldn't. They learn far too quickly & get used to being fed!

Even a puppy won't starve itself. Put her food down, leave it for 10 minutes & if she doesn't eat it, take it up & give her nothing else until next feed time. I would only get concerned if, after a day or so she still wan't eating, or if she wasn't drinking properly.

I agree, it might also be the heat. Mine is a little less hungry in the summer

Yeah that's a good point also. Thanks. It's muggy here in Kent and keeps spitting. Good practice for getting her to wee in the rain, but really could do with a thunder storm!

Also forgot to say cheers to DaveMck gonna try her on some scramble egg in the morning. Just to tempt her a little.

And Janey: grilled sardines on toast with a slip of butter is loovelyy! Its good for you too...gives me a shiny coat and sparkly eyes

Zeus did the exact same when we got him at 8 weeks.. he simply wasn't interested in his food, he wouldn't eat much and we had to hand feed him for a while. I think it was all down to being in a new home, not knowing his surroundings etc.. The only problem with that was that he got used to it, as Caryll stated.

The way we got around it was to be a little harsh.. we put his food down for 15 minutes.. if he didn't eat it, it went. Simple. I did feel bad the first couple of days but he soon got the hang of it and realised if he doesnt eat it, it'll go. I think a bit of it was down to his food too.. He was on Royal Canin when we got him and he hated the stuff. We then switched him onto Wainwrights dry food and added a little Wainwrights tray food as a topper and he loved it.

Thank you Goldie, thats what I am trying today and also keeping the cats biscuits well out of her reach!

CARYLL or anyone whos is RAW savvy :

I just spotted this that JackieB posted up a while ago (Thanks Jackie! very helpful) as I have got the grasp of it for an adult dog but was Umming Arring over feeding Saffy.


Raw Food Menu for a Puppy

Post by Jackieb on Wed Dec 28, 2011 6:05 pm
Hope this will help you - copied from My Diesels puppy pack from her breeder Smile


From 8-12 weeks old feed puppy 4 meals per day evenly spaced throughout the day at 7am, 12pm, 4pm, 8pm, plus a snack time. Fresh water should always be available.
From 12 weeks – 6 months old feed puppy 3 meals per day
From 6 months – 1 year feed puppy 2 meals per day
From 1 year+ feed dog 1 meal per day. Or 2 depending on what your dog requires. I prefer to feed my dog 2 meals per day.
Foods your puppy is used to:-
Chicken Wings
Mince chicken
Mince Beef
Mince Lamb
Tuna
Sardines
Mackerel
Salmon
Hard-boiled egg
Raw egg
Cottage cheese
Chops
Beef bones
Chicken carcasses & backs
Chicken feet
Pigs feet
Various organ meats i.e. heart, liver, kidney

EXAMPLE: Typical meals for puppy in one day. Morning 7am meal 2 chicken wings/carcass, afternoon 12pm meal tin of sardines in tomato sauce topped with a raw egg and grinded shell and small piece of liver cut up, Mid-evening meal 4pm Mince chicken/carcass & Evening meal 8pm 2 small Beef chops. Chicken feet, pig’s feet, beef bones are given as snacks and treats.


Anyway it's obviously quite straight forward and the sample food plan for a day is very helpful, but just to confirm if I may :

1) You feed Sardines and raw eggs no more than 2-3x a week and on non sardines/eggs days, you would substitute with any of the other food apart from offal.

2) Muscle meat apart from heart is ok everyday. I read that heart can be a bit too rich.

3) As she is a pup, I read that she needs more food. So instead of the recommended 2-3% of bodyweight for adults, she would have 5-10% of her bodyweight??? This bit confuses me a little. OR should I just use my common sense and offer her the amounts, as outlined in Jackies plan and let her eat what she wants and build it up from there?

4) Green tripe is ok to feed everyday- but watch her weight as it's fattening?

5) Can I buy all of her food fresh from the supermarket and store it in the fridge? Or do I have to freeze it? I'm talking about being stored for no more 48hrs. I generally don't do a weekly shop as such, I just buy the basic store cupboard stuff and buy meat and stuff as I go, usually when its on sale and such like. I've read mixed opinions on this. Some say its ok, others say its better to freeze.

Thanks in advance!! I REALLY appreciate it

1. Yes, that's right
2. Heart is a very rich meat. Some dogs do well on it every day, but many (especially pups) can get soft poo if they have it too often. Most dogs absolutely love it, though!
3. The % amounts are just guidelines. A lot depends on your pup's energy levels & metabolism. If you start off giving about 7% of her bodyweight, split between the individual meals & watch her weight. If she starts to look podgy then cut back a little, if she looks like she's getting a bit thinner then just increase a bit.
4. Green tripe's a good food, and yes, you can feed it every day but again, it can make the poo quite soft. It will add a bit of weight to a dog but it does have a lot of minerals as long as it isn't the bleached tripe you can buy from the supermarket.
5. I usually freeze Dempsey's food just to get rid of parasites. It won't kill bacteria (a dog's stomach can deal with slightly 'ripe' meat), but it obviously keeps longer so you can buy larger amounts which lowers the cost.

P.S. This book is really worth getting...
http://dogsdinner2.webs.com/index.htm

Thanks Caryll!!

Well just to let you know. went to the butchers to get some bits.

I bought some minced lamb/beef
Some lamb neck chops
A lambs heart - I've sliced it up into little bits to add a couple times a week as a snack
A small bit of liver
Some beef chunks

And I got a massive bag of chicken necks, backs, feet for FREE!

Butcher said come back anytime and he'll sort me out some bits for free, so what a bit of good luck ay!

Anyway they have quite a bit of meat left on those bits so Saffy will be pleased

And when I got home, as it was lunchtime, I thought I'd try her on a little bit of mince and a slither of liver and well she GOBBLED it down and looked at me for more! I'm very pleased! She also, was sniffing the air while I was seperating the chicken and freezing it, so thats a good sign

Thanks again! I really do appreciate it! Oh and will deffo be looking at that book very soon. Looks great.