# My puppy wont eat, please help!



## loulou6 (Sep 23, 2008)

Hi,

We have had our 12 weeks old Pekingese puppy for 9 days now, and he is completely adorable and we love him to bits, but we cant get him to eat.

The breeder gave us some eukunuba to feed him, and we tried to feed him but he didnt eat any, so when we went to the vets to have his check up, they gave me some soft food in a can to feed him to encourage him to eat. He seemed to eat this eventually, but he still wouldnt eat the dry food, so we bought some pedigree pouches to mix with the dry food, but he would just eat the wet food and leave the dry bits.

We spoke to the vet again and she said to only give him the dry food and after three days he would start eating it and we wouldnt have any problems.

So we started that on Friday, but by Monday lunchtime he still hadnt eaten anything and he is really miserable and has no energy and all he does is sleeps, obviously not happy.

I called the vet yesterday to ask for advice, but she said to keep doing it, but Im really worried he is going to get ill, I think he has lost weight and he just has no energy to do anything, and how unhappy he is is breaking my heart. The vet says we should only feed him dry food otherwise he will get ill in the future, but at the moment im worried about him being ill now.

Any advice?

Thanks

Louise


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## jackson (May 22, 2008)

The vet telling you he'll get ill if he only eat dry food is not very helpful, and neither is it true. 

If he sin't eating after three days, he won't eat it and as he is a young puppy, I wouldn't attempt to leave it any longer. My eldest was weaned onto Iams (made by Eukanuba) by her breeder, and she was never really keen on it. I think a lot of dogs aren't really. You coul dtry putting a tiny bit of tinned sardines in tomato sauce with some warm wateront he food. Mine go MAD for sardines. 

If you want to try sticking to a dry food, then try James Wellbeloved Puppy. It is not the best food, but it is easily available and the best of what you'd get in Pets At Home or pet shops, IMO. They also do puches of complete puppy food that may encourage him to eat. I have weaned pups onto James Wellbeloved and just put a desert spoonful of the pouch and some warm water to make a change for the pups. 

If that fails, then Natures Menu do a wet complete food, also in Pets At Home which is fairly decent and certainly won't make your pup ill. 

Brands like pedigree, bakers, Wagg are best avoided IMO, as they have a low meat content and contain additives. 

Do try not to chop and change too much though, as it will upset your pups tummy.


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## staflove (Sep 4, 2008)

Just as a one of i would give him some chicken or some fish, if he eats that then there is nothing wrong hes just been fussy, you should put is food in his bowl and leave it 20 mins if he dose not eat it take it away then give at tea time if he still dose not eat then he gets nothing till the next morning its hard to do this but he may not eat for a few days but he will when he is hungry and all trainers will tell you this as they carnt mess around in the wild.


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## JANICE199 (Feb 1, 2008)

have you tried adding gravy or warm water with his dry biscuits? just a thought because when i got mia she preferd moist food.


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## jackson (May 22, 2008)

staflove said:


> Just as a one of i would give him some chicken or some fish, if he eats that then there is nothing wrong hes just been fussy, you should put is food in his bowl and leave it 20 mins if he dose not eat it take it away then give at tea time if he still dose not eat then he gets nothing till the next morning its hard to do this but he may not eat for a few days but he will when he is hungry and all trainers will tell you this as they carnt mess around in the wild.


That is what she has been doing, on the vets advice, and the puppy stil hasn't eaten after 3 days. Any longer is too long for a pup of that age.


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## Guest (Sep 23, 2008)

jackson said:


> The vet telling you he'll get ill if he only eat dry food is not very helpful, and neither is it true.
> 
> If he sin't eating after three days, he won't eat it and as he is a young puppy, I wouldn't attempt to leave it any longer.


I agree. There are some _reasonable_ quality wet foods available at Pets At Home that you can give him, he doesn't need dry food if he's eating a complete wet food. Find one that he likes and stick to it, swapping and changing, giving foods as a one off etc. will cause an upset tummy.

The most important thing at the moment is to get him eating, I wouldn't worry about the quality for now. Once he's eating regularly come back and we'll tell you all about feeding RAW.


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## whispers (Sep 2, 2008)

I agree with the chicken or fish theory if he won't eat that check his mouth its possible he may have started teething early. Although I expected your vet has checked this. I give my dogs some tripe through their biscuit, just a small amount when they were going through a stage of not eating i.e my bitch when she is in season and my dog when my bitch is in season. Usually they cant resist this. When my two were really small I gave them Hills Science they seemed to like this one and it comes in a good range of sizes.


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## Sophiex (Jul 27, 2008)

JANICE199 said:


> have you tried adding gravy or warm water with his dry biscuits? just a thought because when i got mia she preferd moist food.


Good advice.  Oscar loves gravy!


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## colliemerles (Nov 2, 2007)

aww poor litttle thing,i hope you find him something that he likes soon,


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## Guest (Sep 23, 2008)

Good advice has been given,can't add anything else,fingers crossed he'll eat soon.

If you give gravy watch the salt content


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## Guest (Sep 23, 2008)

I would give him a good quality wet food - specifically for puppies or small breed dogs - Naturediet and Natures menu are both good - JamesWellbeloved also do one now - which I would think is of good quality. Or as someone else has suggested you can try him on some chicken.
regards
sue


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## loulou6 (Sep 23, 2008)

Thanks everyone for your advice.

At lunch time I couldnt cope with him being upset anymore, so I gave him one of those meaty treats and he gobbled it up. I know the vet had said not to give in, but he had not eaten for 4 days and I seriously doubted that he was going to start eating the dried stuff I was giving him.

He is more then happy to eat meat, bits of chicken etc, and will eat wet food to, so I think for now I will get him some complete wet food from the pet shop so that he is getting all his nutrients and try to encourage him to eat dry food another time.

Thanks again for the help, hopefully I will find him something this evening he will be happy to eat.


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## Nina (Nov 2, 2007)

jackson said:


> The vet telling you he'll get ill if he only eat dry food is not very helpful, and neither is it true.  Brands like pedigree, bakers, Wagg are best avoided IMO, as they have a low meat content and contain additives.
> 
> Do try not to chop and change too much though, as it will upset your pups tummy.


Totally agree with the above. Your vet sounds extremely unhelpful and if your puppy continues to refuse food, can dehydrate very quickly.

I would seek another opinion, before your dog gets really sick. Best of luck.


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## marlynaveve (Aug 13, 2008)

loulou6 said:


> He is more then happy to eat meat, bits of chicken etc, and will eat wet food to, so I think for now I will get him some complete wet food from the pet shop so that he is getting all his nutrients and try to encourage him to eat dry food another time.
> 
> Thanks again for the help, hopefully I will find him something this evening he will be happy to eat.


I think you have made the right decision, I really don't understand your vet, a puppy that age cannot go for very long without eating something. If it was a 'fussy' adult dog that would be a different matter.
I would do as others have advised, feed him a good quality wet puppy food. If you want him to eat the dry just gradually introduce it as he gets older.
Good luck.
Mary
x


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