Eating habits

[Ayres]

Justus looks a little thin as compared to some standards I've found on the web. Granted, he's a pup and he's a sporting breed. One thing concerns me, though. He doesn't like to take time to eat his dog food. He'll gobble up any treat you give him (even a simple ice cube), but is finicky about when he'll eat his dogfood. I feed him Canidae now.

We got a small 2 lb. bag of Purina Pro Plan Performance from a fun day a week ago, and so, as an experiment, I dropped about six pellets into his dish. He IMMEDIATELY started eating the food (Canidae included).

This could be a coincidence, and just because the Pro Plan was something new (like the cat food at my parents' or the other dogfood at my sister's), but then again, it makes me wonder if the Canidae just isn't as tasty to him as something else.

The health benefits of Canidae and finding it for a cheap price is what sold me on it in the first place... but if he doesn't like eating it, is it really that good?

Feel free to tell me that this is just normal puppy behavior if it is. I'm inexperienced and all this stuff is happening for the first time around this house.


BTW: We feed him 1 cup in the morning. He eats just over half of it usually, and he eats the rest around noontime. We feed him 1 cup in the evening, and he eats good sometimes, and sometimes he just brushes it off. We don't give him a lot of treats or anything, usually an average of a milkbone a day or so.

[llewgor]

Ayres


What kind of food did your pup get before you got it. That is the kind you sure feed until you wean it off of it to Canidae. It can be hard on the pup's stomach to switch foods at this young age just like a baby. You need to slowly blend the to foods until you are only feeding the one you what. I also feed Canidae and feel it is a good brand.

[Ayres]

He got Euk puppy food, and the breeder gave me a bag to take home. [7 weeks] I did blend the foods together to wean him off the puppy food onto the Canidae. [8 weeks] He's been on straight Canidae for about three weeks now. [11 weeks old]

[reevesg]

My Springer ate Chicken Soup brand dog food from the breeder until I got her at 8 months. I had to switch becuase I couldn't find it locally anywhere. I switched to Eukanuba maintenance but she has never gone for it the way that she went for the Chicken Soup stuff. She would eat about 1/2 to 3/4 of the 3 cups a day that I give her.

I am now in the process of switching her over to Fromm's which she seems to like a bit more but only time will tell.

Candiae was my second choice. Anyone had any experience with Fromm's?

Gareth

[Country-Side Breeders]

How much does Justus weigh...I'm assuming in the 25# range? He should only be eating 1 to 1/2 cups/day if that's his weight area. I think he's looking at all the other things you give him as a "treat". Food, snacks, desserts etc. are always better when eating them at different times/places for us, right? I think Justus is thinking the same thing..."it's just dog food, but HEY, here's something different and it's fun!" As long as he continues to grow and has energy, I wouldn't worry about it too much. When we head up to the cabin with the extended family dogs, they all go for the "smorgasbord" style...eating everyone else's food like there is no tomorrow and leaving their own sit.

[Ayres]

Patty -

That's exactly what Justus seems to be acting like. When we took him to my sister's place, he couldn't get enough of the Purina Beneful that she feeds her weim. His food was just old hat though.

At 10 weeks, he weighed 15.3 pounds and the vet said he was healthy. He'll be 12 weeks old on Thursday, and I'm guessing he's nearing 20 lbs. The reason I was a little concerned is because I hear stories about dogs gulping down their food immediately, and then never asking for any more. Sometimes when we've got places to go in the morning we need Justus to eat his food without fuss, so that we can take him out to go and get him back in his kennel before we leave.

I guess Justus is eating fine then. We feed him a cup in the morning and a cup in the evening, and he usually eats about 1/2 to 3/4 of the total feed per day.

Thanks for the assurances!

[Colleen]

My dog just doesn't care about his food and if other dogs are around, he usually ends up losing it to one of them (I also feed Canidae and after researching the food issue a lot I wouldn't change it. It's expensive in my area but a friend of mine with a Golden who's having skin problems is gonna order bulk with me on her vet's recommendation that she switch to organic food--yay, now it'll be cheap ) But anyway, I am taking care of the folks' Yorkie for a few weeks, and he gets a little bit of Purina canned food and I just put a small handful of Canidae on top. He usually eats around the dry food (when you're 10 years old ,weigh 4 pounds and have had several important teeth pulled, I guess dry food isn't so pleasant) Anyway, the Canidae he leaves on the plate, Fletcher will go over and scarf right up, meanwhile he hasn't shown any interest in that same food in his own bowl all day.

Remember, these dogs are skinny. Sometimes I feel like I have an anorexic dog because he has no body fat, no interest in food, and an almost sadistic joy in running as hard as he can for as long as he can. A little tip--if you need Justus to just go ahead and eat so you can get on with things, add a can of tuna or salmon to his food. That's what we do with Fletch a couple times a week and whenever we need him to eat right then. Works like a charm, they can't resist that stinky fish!!! And the Omegas are good for them!

[Rusti's Mom]

Colleen,
When my momma dog was pregnant, she was off her feed. I fed her tuna and salmon over the dry food. She couldn't get enough of it. Most of the tim we just poured the tuna water over her dry food. Worked like a charm.

For a week or so, I fed her cat food salmon chunks and she loved it. Thank goodness the puppies didn't meow when they were born or my son would have killed me. They did have outstanding coats.

Pat

[Ayres]

Ok, so when we've been needing Justus to eat quickly, I've been doing the cheap thing of adding about a half a tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil to his dry food and mixing it up. It doesn't have the substantial effect of making him eat ALL the food, but he does start eating right away usually and just quits when he's full.

I've heard recommendations to put safflour oil on the food to give a shiny coat, but the safflour oil in the store was outrageously priced. I did some label checking between the safflour oil and extra-virgin olive oil, and the nutritional facts are the same. The only difference is, of course, the ingredients: one's safflour oil, the other's olive oil.

Any thoughts as to the healthiness of this? Will the olive oil do fine?

[ginia]

Ayres,

First of all, I found this forum through your website when I was browsing the Vizsla web-ring. Thanks!

Anyway, our Weim was very similar when she was young (and not too different now). Some mornings/evenings, she wouldn't eat anything, other times she'd eat her whole days allotment at once. She's always been at the lower end of the amount for her weight. She seemed kind of finicky and we were worried. The best advice we got (and followed) in my opinion: put her food down at the same times each day, for a limited amount of time, she'll eat if she's hungry. We fed her in her kennel (the whole won't potty where they eat idea.) Also, we were told not to add anything to the food, change the food or hand feed the food, as those things can/may make the dog MORE finicky. As this was our first puppy, I think it worked but have limited experience. We'll probably go the same route with our next puppy (Vizsla in December.)

It's interesting, but our Weim is still a little like that. I have to keep her on that schedule because my cat is on a limited diet and tries to eat the dog food. Cassi still eats if she's hungry and waits until later if she's not. We do keep a cube toy that has some food in it, if she is ever really that hungry! Hope that helps a little bit.