A little concerned about puppies eating

We are coming concerned over our puppies eating, she is probably only eating one in every 4 meals, She is 9 weeks old, we started her on dry food mixed with water, and have since tried dry by itself and also dry mixed with wet food.

Any advice would be appreciated.

What food is it? Have you tried the wet on its own? The dry might be painful on her little bitty teeth.

Have you tried other food such as chicken or salmon?

The dry is JWB puppy food, we took her to the vets yesterday for her jabs, and he said try her on some wet mixed with some dry, we just bought a tin of pal, to try her with.

Tbh I wouldn't give the pal. I would get some good quality puppy wet food. Adult food can be too rich for pups and cause bad bum runs.

I have just been to my local pet shop and bought her some frozen raw food, we will try that next

We have now tried her on the frozen raw and she ate it without problems, after doing some reading it would seem she is roughly half the weight of a puppy of the same age. She is 9 weeks and weighs 2.39KG

If it works keep at it some dogs just don't like kibble.

How many meals does she get each day? Which brand of food are you giving her?

She was on JWB puppy food, we are now trying natures menu frozen, we are trying to get her to eat 4 times a day, from what I have read she is about half the weight of an average 9 week old SBT pup but she looks in proportion.

How many meals a day do you give her?

four

If she's happy with the Nature's Menu then by all means stick with it.

If she's that small then she might need a bit of help with her food. Try giving her smaller portions, but 5 times a day instead of 4. It could be that the portions she's getting at the moment are just too big for her.

Thanks as i say she looks in proportion, just at 9 weeks the average weight is about 4.4kg "apparently". Maybe she was just the runt of the litter.

She does look quite small.

I don't like the term 'runt' - every litter has different size pups and one of them has to be the smallest! That doesn't mean they're not every bit as good as the rest. Runt makes it sound deformed, somehow & she certainly isn't that!

Maybe runt was the wrong word, We are just concerned for her like any parent.

Of course you are! As I said, it's possible that her stomach is still too small for the normal portions of food, so if you can increase her meals to 5, with a little less in her bowl each time she might be able to eat more.

Once she's eating regularly she'll probably start growing at a rate of knots!

The natures menu is chicken mince, will that be enough for her alone?

I'd try mixing it with the JWB, half & half.

I can't add to the information Caryll has given, however I can say that Chiquito took some time to take to his food and didn't put on much (if any) weight in the first few weeks .. as Caryll said above we changes to feeding him smaller meals more regularly (5 to 6 times a day there for a while). Once I got the meal size and timing right he seemed to just 'get it' and started stacking on weight quite quickly. He hasn't looked back since

I would say she is slightly under weight..but she doesnt look skinny she just looks small. I would also say you feed smaller meals more frequently. She was recently taken away from her mother and siblings and is probably still getting used to her new home and may just take some time to settle in. Gwen was about 8 or 9 pounds at 9 weeks..but all puppies are different and all grow at different rates. Gwen goes through spurts..she will gain a lot of weight and then for a couple weeks she will gain only 1 or 2 pounds. Hopefully your pup does better with the smaller portions and starts to gain some weight Goodluck

Roxy has now taken to the chicken mince mixed with nuggets really well now, my only issue is my supplier of the chicken mince can be a bit hit and miss to when and if they have stock.

Is there something similar I can buy from pets at home who carry a larger stock

What did her breeder feed her?

MrToast wrote:Roxy has now taken to the chicken mince mixed with nuggets really well now, my only issue is my supplier of the chicken mince can be a bit hit and miss to when and if they have stock.

Is there something similar I can buy from pets at home who carry a larger stock

That's great news

Yes really good news, My next question is...

...She is now eating the mince we are feeding her is that ok for a pup and is she getting all she needs? We have been giving her the chicken mince, and have now got her some turkey and fish, (Sticking to white meat) we are mixing it with jwb nuggets.

Hi my eddie is 10 weeks now i was concerned he isnt eating much just nibbles was at vets on sat ans said he looks fine everything well just gotta crack what food brand he likes now roll on sat time for walkies glad shes eating now

Cannot add anymore than whats been said really, but it took me months to find something that Vinnie was happy with. He has Nature Diet food now they are not frozen but packs that don't have to be kept in the fridge til opened. They also have rice and veg in it aswell. I am sure they do a puppie one. Just a thought as another option.

Aw gorgeous, colin weighed 3.8kg st 10 weeks, in 2 weeks he's suddenly grown and at the vets on Saturday he was 5.1 and I'd been complaining he wasn't eating lol! Good luck with everything,

How is Roxy doing? Is she eating better?

Thanks for asking, yes she seems to have found her appetite, she is now eating the JWB puppy dry, smallish quantities but she is eating, looking at pics from the first day we got her to present she seems a lot bigger and still looks well in proportion.

She is back at the vets on sunday so I will update you all then.

Thats great! Im glad she is doing better and has gained some weight!!!

Roxy has now put on 1 and a half KG in 2 weeks, She was back at the vets today and was weighed at 3.75 KG so her weight gain seems good.