# 9 week old puppy wont eat



## nunthorpequaker (Jul 4, 2011)

Hi everyone ineed your help , last week we bought a lovely standard poodle bitch pup from a litter of 12 ,all looked very healthy & livley the breader told us our pup was eating Beta puppy food , once home we fed her the food ( pre soaked ) & she ate a small amount , over the following week she has ate like a flea taking just one or two morsals of food , yet she is perky & lively giving our jack russel a run for his money around the garden ! , when we took her to the Vet last friday for her first needles she wouldnt give them until the pup put on more weight ( she is 4 1/2 lb ) , we have tried other puppy food ( Hills ) & have now resorted to lactol milk given with siringe just to try & get her to eat , its not the fact she cant eat its more the fact that she wont & is totaly un-intrested when you present her food , the vet suggested that tough love was the answer by putting her in her cage with the food for 20 mins to see if she will eat it ( take it or leave it thats all thats on offer ) if not the vet said there is a chance she might have a liver shunt ( after reading about that it doesnt bear thinking about ! ) 
Any ideas would be a massive help 

Thanks

Pete


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## hawksport (Dec 27, 2009)

What has the breeder said about it?


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## Devil-Dogz (Oct 4, 2009)

Its very odd for such a young pup to refuse food, I would be feeding 4 meals a day at this age - so the little amount she is eating is worrying. 
Is she interested in food at all, when you have dinner? approaching your other dogs dish? when your putting her food down is it in the same room, or have you tried feeding in other places? I would be trying anything, pups go down hill far to fast.


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## Lyceum (Sep 25, 2009)

Have you tried a decent wet food?


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## nunthorpequaker (Jul 4, 2011)

The breader is as suprised as we are , the dog is fine in herself infact just doing what a normal pup would except the eating bit , we have tried pretty much most things now , she will take a bit of best beef & quite likes one or two prawns !! ( i know before you all say it but i am desperate here !) but still in tichy amounts


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## hairydog (Feb 15, 2009)

Goats milk, scrambled egg & sausage, weetabix, farleys rusks, mince & veg these are all things you should be giving your pup, 1st meal should be milky, followed by 2 meaty amd a milky meal for supper.:thumbsup::thumbsup:
PM me if you want a diet sheet


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## Lyceum (Sep 25, 2009)

hairydog said:


> Goats milk, scrambled egg & sausage, weetabix, farleys rusks, mince & veg these are all things you should be giving your pup, 1st meal should be milky, followed by 2 meaty amd a milky meal for supper.:thumbsup::thumbsup:
> PM me if you want a diet sheet


Besides the eggs and mince there's nothing there that is of nutritional value. Never mind 'SHOULD' be part of a pups diet. It's a pup, not a baby.


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## Ducky (Nov 23, 2008)

hairydog said:


> Goats milk, scrambled egg & sausage, weetabix, farleys rusks, mince & veg these are all things you should be giving your pup, 1st meal should be milky, followed by 2 meaty amd a milky meal for supper.:thumbsup::thumbsup:
> PM me if you want a diet sheet


iv never given any of these things to any of my puppies. (other than some veg) 

i would get some decent wet food and see how that goes (nature diet, natures menu, wainwrights etc)

also have you tried different bowls? sounds odd i know, but some dogs seem to have a preference of bowl type.


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## paddyjulie (May 9, 2009)

How about trying some of the nature diet..and warming it up a little in the microwave this can sometimes entice them to eat....

as for the vet thinking she has a liver shunt...don't worry so much at the moment, the vet would need to do several tests first to confirm this

Juliex


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## Sampuppy (Oct 22, 2008)

We had a similar problem with our pup who is now 7 months old. The biggest change for us happened when someone suggested giving tripe (bought frozen and then defrosted before use) mixed with puppy biscuits. Our pup is now 7 months old and eats much better than he did. It was just simply that he was bored of biscuits I think??


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## nunthorpequaker (Jul 4, 2011)

Thanks for these idea's will try & give some a go , as said previously it the lack of intrest in eating that is the problem she seams to eat just enough to exsist rather than build herself up


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## Devil-Dogz (Oct 4, 2009)

I think it may be worth while trying to make eating 'fun'.


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## nunthorpequaker (Jul 4, 2011)

What do you mean by fun ?


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## Devil-Dogz (Oct 4, 2009)

Try anything, instead of just putting the bowl down and waiting for her to eat..chuck the food in the bowl for her to get, roll it across the floor, lots of praise ect.. Have you tried putting the food down and leaving her to it instead of watching? - Im just trying to give new suggestions, never heard of anything like this before.


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## Lyceum (Sep 25, 2009)

Have you tried putting her food in a kong? Make it a game for her?


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## Helbo (Sep 15, 2010)

When Charlie was young I was advised to feed him plain scrambled egg in the morning, for lunch some soaked dry food with a teaspoon of probiotic natural yogurt mixed in, and for dinner just soaked dry food (but I added a vitamin supplement called VIT2000 - just something the breeder asked me to do). And before I had him the breeder was also occasionally feeding sardines in tomato sauce in the 4th meal, but I don't have those details...


I'd also try to include fun food ideas like encouraging your pup to chew on some edible chews, a kong stuffed with something tasty, a small carrot that you can munch on a bit to show how fantastic it is, some small training treats like small chunks of cheese or hotdog, maybe a treat ball?...If you show an interest and try to make these bits of food fun - the pup gets to play with you and gets lots of positive attention...they should want the fun food more. In theory anyway 


This must be really worrying for you and I hope your pup gets an appetite and puts some weight on soon


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## nunthorpequaker (Jul 4, 2011)

Well a bit of an update for you , today we followed the tough love route , we held off, feeding nothing until till 5pm when she was jumping around & yelping to tell us she was hungry , so we fed her a pouch of wet food with a little small bite puppie mixer she lep on the bowl but ate only about 3 heaped table spoons of the food , so although not fab i supose its a starting point , we removed the uneaten food & will try again at 10pm tonight if this works then we might have a breakthrough if not back to square 1 !


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## Helbo (Sep 15, 2010)

A 9 week old puppy whose only really eating once a day. That must be so worrying for you. Wishing you luck xx


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## Sled dog hotel (Aug 11, 2010)

Now you have got wet food, you could try warning it slightly in the microwave, sometimes that brings out the smell and encourages them to eat. Also if you put what she hasnt eaten in the fridge, and you are trying to have another go later then warm it first, a lot of dogs pups dont like chilled food, it can also upset their tums from the fridge.

Just another thought, what type ot bowl are you using? Do you know how the breeder fed the litter, with a litter of 12, I have a suspicion it may have been a large flattish puppy pan rather than individual bowls. If it was and she has been like this from day one, Im wondering if a deepish bowl may be putting her off. Also some pups dont like bowls made of certain things, plastic, stainless steel etc. Might be worth a go trying her with a large flat ceramic plate, or experimenting with different types of bowls. Well worth ago, some pups/Dogs have some weird quirks.


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## Lyceum (Sep 25, 2009)

Have you tried raw food?


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## hairydog (Feb 15, 2009)

These foods i mentioned was just a sample of things to try to tempt your puppy to eat, so many people give there pups dry biscuits 4x a day and wonder why they dont eat, my breeder friends all give their dogs a sample of these plus yogourts, fish and lots of other stuff, when my pups were at the vets and she remarked on their coats and i told her what they were on, she said' a diet for champions' and i do not intend to enter in to a slagging match with you, as we all feed our dogs different.


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## Lyceum (Sep 25, 2009)

hairydog said:


> These foods i mentioned was just a sample of things to try to tempt your puppy to eat, so many people give there pups dry biscuits 4x a day and wonder why they dont eat, my breeder friends all give their dogs a sample of these plus yogourts, fish and lots of other stuff, when my pups were at the vets and she remarked on their coats and i told her what they were on, she said' a diet for champions' and i do not intend to enter in to a slagging match with you, as we all feed our dogs different.


Nobody is looking for a slanging match, if I'm perfectly honest, I don't care less what you feed your dogs. It was simply you saying these things SHOULD be in a pups diet, you didn't say 'maybe try these to temp', you even offered a diet sheet, a sheet I assume to include these as a regular and staple part of a pups diet. Thus telling people looking for advice to feed their pup things that offer no nutritional value, and weetabix, being wheat, can cause problems.

As for the vet, they have the basics of nutritional knowledge (feel free to ask them yourself should you not believe me). Just like GP's have the basics of nutritional knowledge. If we want diet advice, we ask a dietician, if people want diet advice for their dogs, they need a animal nutritionist.

My dogs have amazing coats too, yet they have none of the suggested foods in their diet. They are simply fed a high quality wet and dry food. My last pup also happily wolfed down x4 meals of dry food hen he was small.


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## nunthorpequaker (Jul 4, 2011)

Hi Everyone , just thought i would update you all with good news Florence the Standard poodle eats !!! :thumbup1: ,after your suggestions we changed from the puppie food the breader said she ate to a wet pouch with small bite mixer & also into a wide bowl with great results ,two meals yesterday & three today ! she also is starting to pad out a bit too 
Thanks for all your help & good wishes


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## Sled dog hotel (Aug 11, 2010)

nunthorpequaker said:


> Hi Everyone , just thought i would update you all with good news Florence the Standard poodle eats !!! :thumbup1: ,after your suggestions we changed from the puppie food the breader said she ate to a wet pouch with small bite mixer & also into a wide bowl with great results ,two meals yesterday & three today ! she also is starting to pad out a bit too
> Thanks for all your help & good wishes


Aww terrific news glad shes eating ok now, must be a weight off your mind,
she should soon put on any weight she has lost too.


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## Devil-Dogz (Oct 4, 2009)

so pleased to hear she is eating!


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