VERY fussy eater

whitemochi · 11-23-2011, 01:23 PM

Hi guys.

My 13wk old WGSD pup is getting more and more fussy when it comes to eating.

Just gone Monday we took her in to vets for weight check, we have weighed her every week since we got her and she puts on avg. 1 to 2 lbs per week.

Her most recent weigh in she didnt even put on 1/4 of a lb! I have noticed she is being super fussy with her food. I was very concerned about it but the woman who worked at reception said 'shes going in the right direction, as long as shes not losing weight she should be fine but if you are concerned you can make an appointment with the vet'

i told her i would give it another week and see if she shows improvement.... i was worried but at the same time thinking 'isnt slow growth best for larger breeds?' ...

She has always been fed royal canin, and I went from the GSD junior to MAxi junior. I realised she kind of went off the GSD junior, because when I gave her the new stuff... she went crazy! (obviously it was slowly mixed) and the maxi junior is giving her really good healthy poop too.

HOWEVER!!! When she was completely on the maxi junior, she got bored of it after a week... and i added back in some of the GSD junior food, and then she went crazy again. Now recently, she is bored of BOTH foods.

Its not like shes not eating cause shes ill, because when she sees wainwrights puppy biscuits, she goes crazy for them.

I figured since she likes wainwrights treats so much (hypo allergenic etc... seems pretty much same as it's kibble that they sell) i decided to buy a 2kg bag of Wainwrights turkey and rice (same flavour as the dog biscuit treats i give her) and she started eating like she hadnt eaten for a few days!! (past 3-4 days she has only been eating ONE meal a day)

is it because its the same as the treats?? :S dont get me wrong, I was planning to slowly change her onto wainwright diet from royal canin maxi... but now i'm thinking because the maxi junior is good for her (healthy poop, before on GSD it was more sloppy... she only eats dry) im wondering if its ok to continue feeding her the RC maxi junior and wainwrights mixed or change her foods every 1 and 1/2 weeks... between only wainwrights and maxi junior

im going to see how this week goes with the new food mixed with old. i can see her sometimes just picking out kibbles and eating them if its only wainwrights! (she did this before with the RC maxi and gsd junior... only picking out the new food)

fuzzybunny · 11-23-2011, 02:03 PM

Jazz use to be fussy and seemed to get bored with his food as well. Since he had digestive issues, changing his kibble was out of the question since it was working for him. What I ended up doing was getting a variety of flavours of wet food and mixing a couple of tablespoons into his kibble. This did the trick and I did this for months.

Then I had to put him on meds for something and one of the side effects was increased appetite. Coincidentally I ran out of cans of wet food at the same time. I think because his appetite was ravenous from the meds, he didn't care that there was no wet mixed in. Lucky for me, when he finished the meds he didn't go back to being fussy and he still eats just his kibble now without anything else.

You could try holding out and just wait until your dog gets hungry enough to eat. I did this and Jazz actually started losing weight which is why I started mixing. Good luck! It can be very frustrating.

nitemares · 11-23-2011, 02:04 PM

This is my own personal opinion so plz don't take it as advice, but i really believe dogs and cats get bored from having the same thing every day. that's the reason why I stopped feeding kibble to my previous dog and switched to home cooked. this time however i'm planning on going raw.
My cat also got bored and I had to switch flavors and brands every two weeks, now he eats raw and home cooked.

sable123 · 11-23-2011, 02:15 PM

pick one and wait the pup out before you create a monster

southernfiction · 11-23-2011, 02:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sable123

pick one and wait the pup out before you create a monster

Agree!

BlackGSD · 11-23-2011, 10:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sable123

pick one and wait the pup out before you create a monster

Yep!

Time for some "tough love".

Konotashi · 11-24-2011, 12:22 AM

When Ozzy was a pup, tough love didn't do crap. I think the people who say, "Wait until he gets hungry enough - he'll eat," have never actually dealt with a true picky eater.

I tried switching Ozzy to WellnessCORE when he was younger. He didn't TOUCH it. I even tried mixing in canned food, some chicken, even canned cat food. He would lick all of the 'good' stuff off, and leave the kibble. I tried tough love for about a week. When he didn't eat so much as ONE kibble for a single week, I changed his food. Now that I look back, I feel kind of bad for trying to make him eat something he obviously didn't like.

I put him on Taste of the Wild and he's loved it ever since. To keep in some variety, every few days I'll mix canned in with his kibble, always a different flavor from the last.

If you can return or exchange your food (I get his at PetClub, and as long as you keep the receipt, you can return it within a certain number of days), then just try and see what food he likes.

stolibaby · 11-24-2011, 12:55 AM

I also have an extremely picky eater and unfortunately I made it worse by switching him a ton as a puppy and today we really struggle. Just a few things in my opinion if you can now get it to stop and tough love it out I would since your pup is so young you can stop it from progressing hopefully. This also means only leave the food down a few minutes to help teach that when the food is down you eat and not when you feel lik it. If tough lvoe doesn't work I mix in tripe with my boys kibble just a few teaspoons and mix it really well, or fish oil since it's a great supplement plus adds the smell factor and a bit of fat. Either way I hope it helps and you get this figured out believe me it's a PITA dealing with pickiness

11-23-2011, 01:23 PM	#1 (permalink)
whitemochi New Member Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: UK Posts: 24	VERY fussy eater Hi guys. My 13wk old WGSD pup is getting more and more fussy when it comes to eating. Just gone Monday we took her in to vets for weight check, we have weighed her every week since we got her and she puts on avg. 1 to 2 lbs per week. Her most recent weigh in she didnt even put on 1/4 of a lb! I have noticed she is being super fussy with her food. I was very concerned about it but the woman who worked at reception said 'shes going in the right direction, as long as shes not losing weight she should be fine but if you are concerned you can make an appointment with the vet' i told her i would give it another week and see if she shows improvement.... i was worried but at the same time thinking 'isnt slow growth best for larger breeds?' ... She has always been fed royal canin, and I went from the GSD junior to MAxi junior. I realised she kind of went off the GSD junior, because when I gave her the new stuff... she went crazy! (obviously it was slowly mixed) and the maxi junior is giving her really good healthy poop too. HOWEVER!!! When she was completely on the maxi junior, she got bored of it after a week... and i added back in some of the GSD junior food, and then she went crazy again. Now recently, she is bored of BOTH foods. Its not like shes not eating cause shes ill, because when she sees wainwrights puppy biscuits, she goes crazy for them. I figured since she likes wainwrights treats so much (hypo allergenic etc... seems pretty much same as it's kibble that they sell) i decided to buy a 2kg bag of Wainwrights turkey and rice (same flavour as the dog biscuit treats i give her) and she started eating like she hadnt eaten for a few days!! (past 3-4 days she has only been eating ONE meal a day) is it because its the same as the treats?? :S dont get me wrong, I was planning to slowly change her onto wainwright diet from royal canin maxi... but now i'm thinking because the maxi junior is good for her (healthy poop, before on GSD it was more sloppy... she only eats dry) im wondering if its ok to continue feeding her the RC maxi junior and wainwrights mixed or change her foods every 1 and 1/2 weeks... between only wainwrights and maxi junior im going to see how this week goes with the new food mixed with old. i can see her sometimes just picking out kibbles and eating them if its only wainwrights! (she did this before with the RC maxi and gsd junior... only picking out the new food) Last edited by whitemochi; 11-23-2011 at 01:25 PM.

11-23-2011, 02:03 PM	#2 (permalink)
fuzzybunny Elite Member Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Ottawa Posts: 1,822	Jazz use to be fussy and seemed to get bored with his food as well. Since he had digestive issues, changing his kibble was out of the question since it was working for him. What I ended up doing was getting a variety of flavours of wet food and mixing a couple of tablespoons into his kibble. This did the trick and I did this for months. Then I had to put him on meds for something and one of the side effects was increased appetite. Coincidentally I ran out of cans of wet food at the same time. I think because his appetite was ravenous from the meds, he didn't care that there was no wet mixed in. Lucky for me, when he finished the meds he didn't go back to being fussy and he still eats just his kibble now without anything else. You could try holding out and just wait until your dog gets hungry enough to eat. I did this and Jazz actually started losing weight which is why I started mixing. Good luck! It can be very frustrating. __________________ Carolyn Jazz, Shiloh Shepherd, 2.5 years old, CGC HIC Bunny, GSD X, 5.5 years old

11-23-2011, 02:04 PM	#3 (permalink)
nitemares Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Egypt Posts: 412	This is my own personal opinion so plz don't take it as advice, but i really believe dogs and cats get bored from having the same thing every day. that's the reason why I stopped feeding kibble to my previous dog and switched to home cooked. this time however i'm planning on going raw. My cat also got bored and I had to switch flavors and brands every two weeks, now he eats raw and home cooked. __________________ Nadine Tamtam - Egyptian Mau Dante (Dumpty) ze Stribrneho kamene (9-9-2011) Juventus - GSD (RIP) Animal Aid Egypt

11-24-2011, 12:22 AM	#7 (permalink)
Konotashi Knighted Member Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Arizona Posts: 3,380	When Ozzy was a pup, tough love didn't do crap. I think the people who say, "Wait until he gets hungry enough - he'll eat," have never actually dealt with a true picky eater. I tried switching Ozzy to WellnessCORE when he was younger. He didn't TOUCH it. I even tried mixing in canned food, some chicken, even canned cat food. He would lick all of the 'good' stuff off, and leave the kibble. I tried tough love for about a week. When he didn't eat so much as ONE kibble for a single week, I changed his food. Now that I look back, I feel kind of bad for trying to make him eat something he obviously didn't like. I put him on Taste of the Wild and he's loved it ever since. To keep in some variety, every few days I'll mix canned in with his kibble, always a different flavor from the last. If you can return or exchange your food (I get his at PetClub, and as long as you keep the receipt, you can return it within a certain number of days), then just try and see what food he likes. __________________ Ozzy - Chocolate Pom "In a perfect world, every dog would have a home and every home would have a dog." My Photography

11-23-2011, 02:15 PM	#4 (permalink)
sable123 Banned Join Date: Jul 2010 Posts: 1,233	pick one and wait the pup out before you create a monster

11-24-2011, 12:55 AM	#8 (permalink)
stolibaby Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Boise, ID Posts: 382	I also have an extremely picky eater and unfortunately I made it worse by switching him a ton as a puppy and today we really struggle. Just a few things in my opinion if you can now get it to stop and tough love it out I would since your pup is so young you can stop it from progressing hopefully. This also means only leave the food down a few minutes to help teach that when the food is down you eat and not when you feel lik it. If tough lvoe doesn't work I mix in tripe with my boys kibble just a few teaspoons and mix it really well, or fish oil since it's a great supplement plus adds the smell factor and a bit of fat. Either way I hope it helps and you get this figured out believe me it's a PITA dealing with pickiness

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