Hello everyone.
First of all what a wonderful community it is here. I've been a LONG time lurker, but finally decided to make an account and share some of my stories, issues, etc.
I have a 1.5 year old German Shepherd male named Maverick. We picked up him at 13weeks old, and were feeding him iams dog food until we got on the grain free train and switched him up to Costco's Natures Domain - salmon/potato.
He did quite well on that initially. He transitioned fine without any GI issues and we fed him that for a good 3-4 months or so. We were feeding him 3-4cups/day. Usually once in the morning and once at night. He seemed to eventually get bored with this food. Most mornings, he would go out and do his business, run in and ATTACK his food. We thought maybe he was getting tired of the salmon, so we switched him to the beef flavored version.
But recently, he has lost interest in eating his food. Sometimes my wife and I will literally have to beg/encourage and sometimes try and stick a piece of kibble in his mouth to encourage him. The weird thing is, he will eat his morning food, when me and my wife are both home from work. My wife gets home around 3pm, I can get home around 7pm or so - and THEN he'll eat his food. But he's not getting the usual amount of intake that he should be getting.
First obvious thought is: did you take him to the Vet? No... not yet, but he does have a scheduled appointment next week which I'm for sure going to be bringing this up. But he doesn't appear ill or sick. His stools are solid, he is voiding fine. No heaving / nausea / emesis. He runs and plays, has a great time at the dog park. His teeth appear fine to me.
His eating is just... different. My wife USED to work from home, but has returned to the office. Maybe he's angry or depressed that she's not home and this is throwing off his daily ritual? Or maybe he's sick of the Costco food? I have no idea.
Any insight will be appreciated.
First of all what a wonderful community it is here. I've been a LONG time lurker, but finally decided to make an account and share some of my stories, issues, etc.
I have a 1.5 year old German Shepherd male named Maverick. We picked up him at 13weeks old, and were feeding him iams dog food until we got on the grain free train and switched him up to Costco's Natures Domain - salmon/potato.
He did quite well on that initially. He transitioned fine without any GI issues and we fed him that for a good 3-4 months or so. We were feeding him 3-4cups/day. Usually once in the morning and once at night. He seemed to eventually get bored with this food. Most mornings, he would go out and do his business, run in and ATTACK his food. We thought maybe he was getting tired of the salmon, so we switched him to the beef flavored version.
But recently, he has lost interest in eating his food. Sometimes my wife and I will literally have to beg/encourage and sometimes try and stick a piece of kibble in his mouth to encourage him. The weird thing is, he will eat his morning food, when me and my wife are both home from work. My wife gets home around 3pm, I can get home around 7pm or so - and THEN he'll eat his food. But he's not getting the usual amount of intake that he should be getting.
First obvious thought is: did you take him to the Vet? No... not yet, but he does have a scheduled appointment next week which I'm for sure going to be bringing this up. But he doesn't appear ill or sick. His stools are solid, he is voiding fine. No heaving / nausea / emesis. He runs and plays, has a great time at the dog park. His teeth appear fine to me.
His eating is just... different. My wife USED to work from home, but has returned to the office. Maybe he's angry or depressed that she's not home and this is throwing off his daily ritual? Or maybe he's sick of the Costco food? I have no idea.
Any insight will be appreciated.