Worried about my pup,please advise.........

Hi

i have a 10 month old cavalier king charles who will eat anything but her actual puppy food, i keep telling my girl friend we should not offer her anything else and she will eventually eat her food but she will go for two full days if she has to.

I know as a pup the puppy food we get her has all the vitals she needs to grow and be healthy but she doesnt eat it any more, we tried over time changing her food but that doesnt work.

Should i just hang in there and send the message to her that its this food or no food???

Eating

Make sure the pup doesn't have tape worms or any other worms. And try mixing some canned food in with what I assume is dry food. A little canned food, mixed with warm water will serve as a "Bribe" to get the pup to eat.

First a few questions. What is the pups weight in comparision to the breed standard? Is she so thin you can easily feel her ribs and backbone and see them "protruding" outwards? Has she been ill recently or has this not eating been going on since you got her? What type of food do you feed, could it be that she just isn't interested because it isn't right for her?

My opinion is to be careful about adding anything extra to the food at this age. Reason being is that the pup then comes to expect a "special" dinner everynight and may become picky. We have two dogs in our family like that, on is 9 and one is 6. It is such a pain in the butt! My family has allowed them to continue dictating what they get to eat so when it's dinner out comes a whole bunch of concoctions to make up there dinner.

This is your personal decision, I would say cut out all the nice yummy snacks she gets and see if she won't start to eat more of her own food!

I made that mistake with Princess! I'd worry she wasnt eatting right. My husband would crab at me for adding yummy stuff to it. She wouldnt eat unless I made it real yummy for her is what I thought. She had me wrapped around her finger. Now the yummy's are saved for treats. Princess eats better than I've ever seen her do.

Just another thing I tought of, how much does your pup eat ie. cups a day? Does it eat any of the food you offer it?

TO ANSWER THE QUESTION:

What is the pups weight in comparision to the breed standard?
Her weight is SPOT ON according to my book on cavaliers she is 0.01 pounds over weights.

Is she so thin you can easily feel her ribs and backbone and see them "protruding" outwards?
Not at all she looks chubby.

Has she been ill recently or has this not eating been going on since you got her?
No we do worm her and she was wormed 4 weeks ago, i have checked her "stuff" and no sign of any thing odd.

What type of food do you feed, could it be that she just isn't interested because it isn't right for her?
We feed her dry food.

I TOTALLY blame my girl friend because before she would always not eat unless she had some sause on her food or she had some gravey and little chunks of meat.

She recently has become board with the cheese and i assure you if i put a little sause on her food or give her a 20 pound steak she will eat it up.

Funny thing is most the time she will eat out my hand but recently she spits it out, i have tried changing her food but it seems the only way to get her to eat is too let her starve for a day or two.

Should i let her starve for a day or two and cut out EVERYTHING AND I MEAN EVERYTHING (Treats,sause and any little bits we give her a day) for a few weeks so she realizes she will get NOTHING other than her food???

What do you guys think??

"Just another thing I tought of, how much does your pup eat ie. cups a day? Does it eat any of the food you offer it?"

She eats according to the box for her weight and age (80grams in the morning and 80 grams at night)

She will eat %50 if i hold the food in my hand but i dont want her to get use to that.

I think because my girlfriend ALWAYS after 24 hours just gives in and cooks her something nice she is thinking she will wait.

ABOUT TEN MINUTES AGO i went to the kitchen and she ran in there and tried to get in the fridge and when i came to eat was watching me like a hawk but as soon as i put her food infront of her she walks off.

Should i just stay tough?

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR HELP.

Sounds to me like you just got a smart pup! She knows if she holds out she will get something better. Try to explain to your girlfriend that it is essential for her to eat her dog chow, it is balanced to have everything she needs to grow, to many snacks lead to an overly picky eater and a chunky dog, neither is a good thing! If you hold out I am sure she will start to eat her regular food in due time. If her weight is right on then I wouldn't worry about how much she is eating of her food. The suggestions on the back are just a guideline, the amount it suggests for her may be to much!

Your dog has you wrapped around her little paw lol

Don't leave the dog food down for her. Have scheduled feeding times. Remove whatever is left after 15 minutes. Another thing you can try is to make the dog food, mix in some water and make yummy noises like it's something you want to eat. Get her all interested and then set it down for her and then IMMEDIATELY pull it away and throw it away. Do the same thing for the next meal. By the third time she will be thrilled to eat it! Are you sure you are feeding a quality brand? Most dogs don't turn up their noses at something like Innova.

Be assured dogs WILL NOT STARVE THEMSELVES TO DEATH. Hunger gets the best of them eventually. She is in wt. so she is eating more than you think probably filling up on all those"tidbits" she gets. Nothing but her regular puppy food wet or dry offer it to her at her normally feeding times and say give her 30 min to eat(leave her alone don't hassle her) she turns her nose up take it away and DO NOT GIVE HER NOTHING ELSE BUT WATER till her next feeding. She has everyones number. She has learned I refuse I get something else. I agree straight puppy food no enticers. Feed her the same time everyday if possible. I have a 16 year old poodle that has eaten dry food all his life and he is in good shape with no health problems. Most vets will tell you the same thing and toys are notorious for what she is doing and she is winning this battle. I know she is cute and pitiful she is counting on this. Cats will starve themselves if they don't get the food they want dogs will not..........she is just not hungry enough. I hope you are not leaving food in front of her all the time as this makes picky eater in toys. They pick at their food all day and by picking they satisfy their hunger enough not to have hearty appetites. It be just like us or a kid that snacks all day and at meal time we are not really hungry.

THANK YOU ALL ITS VERY COMFORTING KNWOING I WAS DOING HE RIGHT THING.

Just now when my girl friend said food time she ran and sat next to the fridge, then when she sow what she was getting she walked off/

We give her Purina (or is it prima) its the food our vet recomended and she loved it but then my girlfriend started putting sause on it and now she wont eat unless there is something on it.

THANK YOU ALL FOR THE HELP.

I'd switch from Purina. It's not a very good food. Your puppy will get a lot more benefit from a quality brand. Well, you can read more about that in the dog food forum.

I used to know a lady who's dog would not eat unless she was sweeping the floor lol if she swept the floor the dog worried that she was going to pick the food up off the floor. So everytime she would set down food for her dog she would start sweeping and she would gobble it right up. Dogs are strange creatures and are smarter than most give them credit for. If you get steak everyday and love it and then someone gives you some ground beef you probably wouldn't be too happy with that lol. Thats probably what she is thinking. " I don't have to eat this crap give me the yummies that i used to get" lol eventually she will eat just stick to your guns

we give her pedigree now, it use to be pruna bakers complete, put she now keeps running to the kitchen,she will eat but only what we are eating, its been a day and a half now (we have been through this once before) but i am holding out,any minute now she will give in.

If you think about it, its probably not the taste of the food you are giving your dog that it dosnt like, because if a dog is left to roam, and gets hungry it will scavage any rotten bit of food it can out of garbage bins, so changing the food all the time is not really an option, I think your pup is just testing the boundaries with you, it will not allow itself to starve, if the vet says the pup is healthy then stick to your guns, allow the pup to rule you on this matter, then what next? it dosnt like to sleep in its own bed, so I gave it mine? it dosnt like someone sitting next to me on the sofa, so we dont have company? this has got to be sorted out now IMO

Mo

MOE YOU ARE SPOT ON.

Last night for the first time in month she actually tried to jump in our bed at night and several times through out the night she kept trying to come back so for the first time since she was a pup i had to shut the door to her kennle.

Time for some tough love.