So, Pepper and I just got back from the vet. Today, she is 18 weeks old and 31 pounds. The vet told me she is slightly underweight, and wants me to get her to eat as much as possible to catch up. Unfortunately, that’s easier said than done.
Pepper rarely cleans a bowl, usually eating only half or a little more than half. Some meals, she won’t eat at all.
I think the problem may be that she doesn’t like eating the same thing every day. We have her on Taste of the Wild for dry food (we plan to switch to Acana at the end of the bag) and we usually mix in Merrick’s wet food with it. She seemed to love Merricks, dove into it with gusto for quite awhile. Then, last week, when I served her breakfast, and later lunch, she wouldn’t touch a bite.
I was panicking, so I thought mixing it up might help things. I gave her a new bowl with normal amount of dry, and blue buffalo beef stew instead (I happened to have a can). She inhaled the whole bowl, so I know she was hungry.
So, for the rest of the week, I gave her the beef stew, and she ate normally (still only half a bowl most meals, but hey). Then, today, the same thing happened. She wouldn’t eat any breakfast or lunch. Curious, I tried fixing her another new bowl of lunch, this time using a leftover can of Merricks. Again, she ate the whole thing.
I’ve never had a dog do this before, and I’ve grown up around dogs. They’ve all been more than happy to eat the same thing every day. Has anyone had this experience?
Also, any suggestions on how to get some more weight on her when she doesn’t like to finish meals? The vets only advice was “do what you can”.
Pepper rarely cleans a bowl, usually eating only half or a little more than half. Some meals, she won’t eat at all.
I think the problem may be that she doesn’t like eating the same thing every day. We have her on Taste of the Wild for dry food (we plan to switch to Acana at the end of the bag) and we usually mix in Merrick’s wet food with it. She seemed to love Merricks, dove into it with gusto for quite awhile. Then, last week, when I served her breakfast, and later lunch, she wouldn’t touch a bite.
I was panicking, so I thought mixing it up might help things. I gave her a new bowl with normal amount of dry, and blue buffalo beef stew instead (I happened to have a can). She inhaled the whole bowl, so I know she was hungry.
So, for the rest of the week, I gave her the beef stew, and she ate normally (still only half a bowl most meals, but hey). Then, today, the same thing happened. She wouldn’t eat any breakfast or lunch. Curious, I tried fixing her another new bowl of lunch, this time using a leftover can of Merricks. Again, she ate the whole thing.
I’ve never had a dog do this before, and I’ve grown up around dogs. They’ve all been more than happy to eat the same thing every day. Has anyone had this experience?
Also, any suggestions on how to get some more weight on her when she doesn’t like to finish meals? The vets only advice was “do what you can”.