8 month old not eating

[JeepGirlSurf]

I have a male GSD who just turned 8 months old this week. I'm getting very concerned about his eating habits. He's never been food driven and it has always taken him a while to eat his food. If he was our only dog I would just free feed him, but we have 2 other dogs one of which is a beagle. Food can't be left out for him to eat whenever he wants. Recently he hasn't been interested in eating at all. He just looks at it and walks away. We've been doing everything we can think of to make him eat. Hand feeding him worked for about 2 days, adding yummy stuff to it worked for about a week. Now I can't find anything to make him eat. The vet said not to worry but since he stopped gaining weight and in fact has lost a few pounds I'm getting concerned.

We feed him Blue Buffalo large breed formula. He gets 5 C a day. He is a VERY active dog so he needs to be eating. He goes with us when my husband and I run (I know the arguments about running puppies) he isn't forced to do anything, he just trots along with us and usually we can't keep up with him. Mind you this never tires him out either.

Any suggestions on what to do? I don't feed human food! I've tried other puppy formulas but it doesn't seem to matter what it tastes like.

[MaggieRoseLee]

Have you had a chance to look at this site?

Picky Eater - Help!

You are SO not alone with this and your GSD...

[JeepGirlSurf]

Thanks I read that and I'm with everyone else on trying everything mixed in the food with little to no success. I did find something very interesting but no one answered the question. The fact that intact males seem to have a consistency with this. He is currently intact (dual cryptorchid) just waiting to do the surgery until we can be home with him and have our other dogs staying somewhere else for a while.

Any ideas why intact males seem to refuse their food around this age?

[BlackGSD]

Originally Posted by JeepGirlSurf

I did find something very interesting but no one answered the question. The fact that intact males seem to have a consistency with this.

Any ideas why intact males seem to refuse their food around this age?

I've had multiple intact males over the past 30 YEARS, and had this issue with exactly NONE of them. Matter of fact, I've never even heard this before now.

[Clyde]

Agree this is not an intact male dog issue.

Either it is a human created issue (certainly some dogs will never be picky eaters no matter who they live with and then there are dogs who perhaps are a bit predisposed to this? I say this with some reserve because I still think in the end it is up to the person who feeds the dogs)

or

There could be something medical going on? Less likely and it sounds like you have approached your vet with this already.

[BlackGSD]

I agree with Clyde re: the "picky eater" thing too.

A HEALTHY dog will NOT starve itself if food is available. I've NEVER had a "picky eater". My dogs have all gladly eaten whatever kind of kibble I have fed then. And that is plain old DRY kibble. I do not jump thru hoops, not will I doctor up kibble to get them to eat it.

IMO healthy "picky eaters" are man made.

[JeepGirlSurf]

well thanks for all the info guys. Trust me I was very against adding anything to his kibble but when he started losing weight is when I became concerned and tried it.

Yes I've talked to my vet about it and he's not worried about it, but this was before he lost a few pounds. At that point he had just stopped gaining weight.

So in your opinion, I want honest answers please, should I just leave his food plain and simple if he chooses not to eat it then he will just have to wait til the next meal? Hopefully at that point he will eat. I don't want a "picky eater" and and definitely don't want to be the cause of one. I've never had one before so I'd like to keep it that way.

[BlackGSD]

That is what I would do. Feed him his dry kibble, give him 15 minutes to eat it, if he doesn't, pick it up and give him NOTHING to eat until the next meal. (Meaning no treats, snacks, ect....) At the next meal time, repeat. Don't make a big deal out of it, just do it.

One thing though, do you feed all of the dogs together? If so, if there any chance one of the others is giving him the "stink eye" causing him to be afraid to eat?

[BlackGSD]

Also wanted to add, if you WANT to doctor up his kibble, that is one thing. Many folks add some canned food or people food BECAUSE THEY WANT TO. IMO, that isn't the same as doing it to try to bribe the dog to eat. And, if you doctor it up, and they don't eat it, you end up throwing away perfectly good food. (This doesn't happen with dry kibble.)

Just know that if you choose to doctor it up, and then run out of canned, he probably won't eat it plain.

[mysweetkaos]

In my opinion, I wouldn't start adding canned. We did that with our senior, he went on a 2 day hunger strike. I started adding a bit of canned....that was 5 months ago, now he won't eat if I don't. I don't mind because he is old and deserves it...but I wouldn't wanted to start that any earlier than we did.