My 17 wk old pup is not eating at feeding times

[TeddyBear]

My 17 week old Rottweiler Ruger is giving me a hard time eating his food for the last 2 weeks. I hope someone can give me some advice. From 8 weeks to 15 weeks he ate all his dry food. I would put it in the dish and he would eat it. I was weaning him off the Science Diet the breeder had him on and was going to put him on Canade. I had a long discussion with my vet who said for 1 year he needs to be on a large breed formula food like SD, Iams or Eukunuba. So I went and got Nutro Natural and mixed it with the Canade. That seems to be when my problems started. I have even mixed Merricks and Canade canned food and at first he ate it now he only will eat with coaxing or every so often he will go to his dish and eat some kernals. He eats most treats but is not crazy about healthy treats. After just reading what I typed I think I have created a finicky puppy. I feel like I am becoming obsessed with his eating habits. Also, he eats 3 times a day, 1 cup each meal. Can someone please give me some advice???

[Jaggerfur1]

I am not familiar with that other food is it a wet food or dry the Canade?

[AngelBunny]

Yes, TeddyBear, I have a couple of suggestions for you.

The first is that you should be aware that most vets are not good sources of information on what constitutes a good dog food, a less than good one, and a really terrible one. This article, Why Vets Recommend 'Designer' Chow, might help you understand why.

The second is that you don't give yourself enough credit. You know what your problem is--you said so yourself, "So I went and got Nutro Natural and mixed it with the Canade. That seems to be when my problems started...After just reading what I typed I think I have created a finicky puppy."

Third suggestion, ditch the Nutro and put him on Canidae, cold turkey.

Four suggestion, feed him how much you think he should be eating (you'll probably have to weigh him periodically to find out) for each of this three meals. Leave his bowl down for 10 minutes or so. If he eats 1 piece of kibble and walks away, fine; pick up his bowl and don't give him anything to eat til the next meal. If he doesn't eat anything after taking a few sniffs before walking away, pick up the bowl at the end of 10 minutes, and again, no treats. Feed him his next meal.

And so on.

Til the brat who's jerking you around gets hungry enough to straighten up and fly right by happily joining the clean plate club. Give him access to fresh water, but don't give in, feel sorry for him, or otherwise subcumb to his boycott. No healthy puppy will starve him or herself to death, as I found.

Read here what I posted about our older girl who refused to eat when we adopted her because she didn't like what the house served.

[AB1101]

I second that, two different kinds of foods might be a little tough on his tummy. My pup does not clean her plate every day, and she likes to eat at a slow pace. IMHO Science diet is for the birds. Plus you have thrown 3 different types of food at him, that is a big change for a pup.

[Trace]

Our pup was doing the same thing so I started doing what AngelBunny suggested and it helped tremendously. I also realized she doesn't care for eating from a bowl (maybe the noise?) so I started feeding her on a plate. Good luck!

[brunie's mom]

I would get your pup back on the Canidae. Many of us here on the forums have raised our Rottweiler pups on this food and we have been very happy with it. There is NO WAY I would ever feed a Large Breed Food to anydog. They are just grain laden foods , that have found their way into popularity by a marketing ploy. No animals in the wild eat "baby", "adult" or "senior" food...even humans.

Most vet's know very little about nutrition, and if the food is not on their list of commercial foods...they shun it.

Since your pup is 17 weeks old, he is teething. Many pups go off their food at this time. Do as the others have suggested...put the one cup of food down...give 5-10 minutes to eat...and then take it away till next mealtime. Many pups also start losing interest in the mid-day meal at this time also. You could try feeding twice a day with a cookie or something as a snack for lunch.

Try pouring a little warm water over the Canidae and letting it soak for a few seconds...the smell of the rosemary comes out...and the pup may be more interested in the food.

Gina

[TeddyBear]

Thank you all for the responses. I just picked up his bowl and will give him his next meal at noon. I am going back to the Canidae dry. The Merricks is a Premium canned food that I am giving him with his dry Canidae. I think I am going back to just Canidae dry. I guess I knew what I needed to do but just needed reinforcement. I have never had a dog that did not eat when I put it down.

[spidey]

AngelBunny, you DO realize that that article you linked is written from the point of view that Science Diet is "premium food" (ick), and that grocery store brands are just fine (bigger ick), right? I'd take ANYTHING written from that point of view as highly suspect, since it clearly indicates that the author hasn't actually done much research at all. The points it makes about why vets recommend crap like that are reasonable, but the article is written from a standpoint of even greater ignorance about what actually constitutes high quality pet food than that of a vet who thinks Science Diet is something pets should eat, you know?

I don't see why you need to stop feeding the Merrick's, it's a great food. I would also go back to the Canidae (since your dog ate it), but there's no reason not to keep feeding high quality canned at all (it has more meat, no grain and no preservatives when compared to kibble, so it's a great addition to a dog's diet). What you DO need to do is put the food down for 15-20 minutes (set a timer), and then take it up until the next meal time, no matter whether your dog has eaten or not. And what a very dog-knowedgeable friend of mine does makes a lot of sense too, she cuts the amount of food she puts into the dish way down for a few meals (as well as only leaving it down for 20 minutes), which not only mean you might waste less food, but also that the dog doesn't think there's so much food always available, and gets used to cleaning his dish. I don't do this, but it's a good idea. I do not agree with trying to force a dog to eat a food it doesn't like, and that seems to be what you're doing now, when your dog liked the Canidae just fine. Just remember to keep your dog VERY lean and growing slowly (this is what "large breed" foods are supposed to help with, but there's no reason you can't just feed less of the Canidae to achieve the same result).

[TeddyBear]

I just wanted to let everyone who answered my question know that I took your advice starting with breakfast yesterday and by lunchtime Ruger was back on schedule with his feedings. Thanks sooo much.

[AngelBunny]

Originally Posted by spidey

AngelBunny, you DO realize that that article you linked is written from the point of view that Science Diet is "premium food" (ick), and that grocery store brands are just fine (bigger ick), right? I'd take ANYTHING written from that point of view as highly suspect, since it clearly indicates that the author hasn't actually done much research at all. The points it makes about why vets recommend crap like that are reasonable, but the article is written from a standpoint of even greater ignorance about what actually constitutes high quality pet food than that of a vet who thinks Science Diet is something pets should eat, you know?

Vet suggestions ringing in their ears, many pet owners have switched brands - and the life-stage category has amassed a Doberman-sized $2 billion chunk of the market.

But few pet owners know just how far premium-market-leader Hill's has gone to sew up the vet endorsements.

'Vets Trust Them'

Borrowing a page from the pharmaceuticals companies, which routinely woo doctors to prescribe their drugs, Hill's has spent a generation cultivating its professional following. It spends hundreds of thousands of dollars a year funding university research and nutrition courses at every one of the 27 U.S. veterinary colleges. Once in practice, vets who sell Science Diet and other premium foods directly from their offices pocket profits of as much as 40%.

"Vets trust them," says Janil Norris, a fresh graduate of the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California, Davis. While she was in school, a Hill's program allowed the struggling student to pay just $3 a bag for a special prescription brand for her cat, Buffalo Sean. A bag normally runs about $25. She also received a small stipend, courtesy of the Hill's program, to study orthopedic surgery with a Los Angeles vet. "Hill's was just always around," she adds.
...
"I was struck by the similarity of our world-wide toothpaste business, with the endorsement of the dentists being so important," Mr. Mark says. "I knew if we did the same thing with Hill's, it could be an enormous global brand."

So, similar to Colgate's spadework in dental schools, Hill's now funds a nutrition professorship in nearly half of the nation's vet schools. Hill's employees wrote a widely-used textbook on small-animal nutrition that is distributed for free to students. Hill's also sends practicing veterinarians to seminars on wringing more profit from clinics and offers the only formal nutrition-certification program for clinic technicians. In a savvy marketing coup now being copied by other pet-food companies, Hill's each year donates tons of free food for the pets of cash-strapped veterinary students.

The article does an excellent job of pointing out why vets aren't a good, trustworthy source of info about dog food. That's why I posted it.

[spidey]

Yes, but it likely shouldn't be posted without a disclaimer, is all I'm saying. I am deeply suspicious about how much the author actually knows about animal nutrition, and while I may agree with the points about why vets recommend what they recommend, it's very hard to separate that from the massive amount of ignorance the article ALSO displays.

[AngelBunny]

Originally Posted by spidey

Yes, but it likely shouldn't be posted without a disclaimer...

As I originally posted:

The first is that you should be aware that most vets are not good sources of information on what constitutes a good dog food, a less than good one, and a really terrible one. This article, Why Vets Recommend 'Designer' Chow, might help you understand why.