Pretty frustrated with Sophie

1688 Views 17 Replies 16 Participants Last post by Tom F, Jul 18, 2005

Tom F

Discussion Starter · Jul 15, 2005

So Sophie is 11 weeks now and settled in at home. Problem is she still won't eat. I think I'm doing something wrong.
They way we feed her now is to put her food in a bowl outside her crate. When I bring her back in from potty I put her in front of it and she has no interest. She wants to take off and search the floor for crumbs and will eat anything she finds. She will graze from time to time if left out but I heard that's not good. She likes Nutri-stat and she readily takes beef liver treats when training so I know she has an appetite. When I sit there with her and bounce a kibble at a time to her she will eat them. You can imagine the frustration of feeding one tiny kibble at a time. Tried chicken broth and mixing warm water but she just laps that up and leaves the kibble.
She doesn't like wet food either. We tried 10 different brands. Science Diet AD is supposed to be irresistible but guess what, it's not.
The food we're giving her is Hill's small puppy kibble because it was the only one she showed any interest in. I will change to an organic when she starts eating.
So how is everyone feeding their puppies? Her crate is too small to fit her food in there with her but I need to find a way to get her to eat without the opportunity to go back to bed or search for crumbs.
Her activity level has been pretty good (mostly in the evenings) and she was going crazy last night so I'm not super concerned but I don't want her to stunt her growth by not eating.
Do I need a larger crate so I can keep her in their until she eats? What is a sensible feeding procedure when your puppy doesn't really care if you bring out or take away their food?

Please help. I'm so frustrated that this little pup seems to have no sense of self preservation or any survival skills.

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Jayne

· #2 · Jul 15, 2005

Tyson has his royal canin biccies and eats a small amount of those, the breeder was givin him a small amount of pedigree chum at tea time but he turns his nose up at that! so i have brought some denes puppy food and he really likes that also at first i cut up very small amounts of chicken to temp him to eat it and now after a week he is eating really well.

Hope ur baby picks up soon
:wave:

Gadget's Mom

· #3 · Jul 15, 2005

does she like cheese... Melt a little over her food... Gadget chows his food at night with it.. he doesn't eat that much during the day.. I try to get him to eat during the day but he just likes his chicken jerky in the morning and his dinner withmelted cheese at night... he doesn't really eat that many other treats any more.. it is like he is going through a stage that he doesn't like anything to eat... he loves chicken and little weinnies(vienna sausage) and his yougort drops.

good luck and God bless

Tinker

· #4 · Jul 15, 2005

Marcus is a grazer when he eats at all, some dogs just are and if that's the only way she's comfortable eating then let her eat her way. We don't all eat alike after all. It's impossible to force a living being into our preconcieved molds all the time.

colleen13

· #5 · Jul 15, 2005

zoey occasionally does the same thing... she will only eat sometimes if i roll a piece of kibble toward her. i think it comforts her. when she was a baby she'd only eat if we were sitting there with her.

i know you are worried about her but all i can say is to keep trying. you can use some of the suggestions you've gotten here... or you could: put some LOW SODIUM chicken broth on the food and see if she likes that, put the food in a food processor with a couple of small pieces of baby carrot (but don't do this long term because carrots have a good amount of sugar in them), wet the food and stick it in the microwave for about 7-8 seconds (just enough to warm it) and then either drain the water out or give it to her with the water still in the bowl, put her kibble in a kong and make a game of it.

you have to experiment to see what she likes. if she is acting normal, i'm sure she's fine -- she is just being super picky. keep up with the nutrical/nutristat to ward off any hypoglycemia if she isnt eating much. :wave:

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8batch

· #6 · Jul 15, 2005

Non eating

My Zoey is just like that. She would not eat AD unless you hand feed and did not eat kibble. How old is she?
Zoey now eats a little kibble (Hills Sciench Small bite) just a piece here and there. I did boil chicken and rice and added to kibble and she would eat some. But would not eat tube stuff (nutrical). She started sleeping alot so I added Mountain Dew (Little) to her sippy bowl and she got alot better, still not a big eater @ 4/12 months.

chimom

· #7 · Jul 15, 2005

A LOT of chis are picky eaters - I know - I have one ... LOL ...

I wouldn't worry so much about when or how she eats - as long as she is getting some nourishment, plenty of liquid, and nutrical, she should be fine. I agree with Marcus' mom, we can't force them to eat on our schedule. I know some do try to have scheduled feeding times, and if they don't eat in an alloted time, they take the food up. If this works for you and your chi, fine. Unfortunately, it didn't work for me and is not working for you. What does it matter if she eats all of her food at once, or if she nibbles at it all day? If she prefers to nibble all day, then let her nibble. The only thing I would suggest is that you moniter her food intake by measuring the amount of kibble you put into her bowl in the a.m., and then check if any is left at the end of the day, and if so, how much? This way you can get an accurate guess at to how much she is consuming.

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janiebabes

· #8 · Jul 15, 2005

I would definately get a larger crate if he spends alot of time in it. I ahd problems also untill i took them too my moms she had kibbles ne bits onn the floor they went nuts! thats the only food they will eat now. its not the best but if they eat it im happy. My pickiest eater is Daytona I think now Sturgis will eat anything u give him. Lady well... We all now how woman can be. mine are free fed. sometimes Daddy gets up in the morning and makes them each a scrambled egg lol. :? I dont get breakfast in bed

luv4mygirls

· #9 · Jul 16, 2005

for awhile i couldn't get chiwi to eat no matter how hard i tried. i ended up having to syringe feed her. but then i knocked her food bowl over and she started eating off the floor. so for the longest time i would leave the food on the floor and she would eat little by little all day. when they are that young it's best to free feed and let them graze through out the day. the nutri stat and treats may be whats keeping her from eating her dog food. so maybe cut back on the treats and only give nutri stat if she hasn't eaten and you fear a hypoglycemic attack is approaching.

janiebabes

· #10 · Jul 16, 2005

Re: Non eating

8batch said:
My Zoey is just like that. She would not eat AD unless you hand feed and did not eat kibble. How old is she?
Zoey now eats a little kibble (Hills Sciench Small bite) just a piece here and there. I did boil chicken and rice and added to kibble and she would eat some. But would not eat tube stuff (nutrical). She started sleeping alot so I added Mountain Dew (Little) to her sippy bowl and she got alot better, still not a big eater @ 4/12 months.

They arent supposed to eat the nutrical as a meal lol for small chis new ones i was told just put a drop on my finger get it in the mouth if they dont lick it. On my larger i give shy of a tsp

PeanutButter

· #11 · Jul 16, 2005

I used to have a similar problem with Peanut until I realized that Peanut prefers to eat at night. Maybe you could leave some food inside of her crate or sprinkile some on the floor of the crate.

Peanut never really liked the "expensive brands" of dog food, and I tried Science Diet, Nutro, Pedigree, and Iams. The food that I currently give him and he loves is Purina Dog Chow.

Yael

goldie

· #12 · Jul 16, 2005

Does your puppy have an ID tag?
The first few days I had Tico, he would eat and drink out of his bowls (stainless steel) as I would expect. Then about a week into having him, I got him a collar and one of the small id tags. Since about the same time, he's been totally turned off from his food/water bowls - but loves the cats large plastic water bowl (or at least try to drag it across the room!) and only wants to eat kibble out of your hand. I think the tag hitting the bowl has either scared him or something... One suggestion a friend had for me was to try saucers instead of the bowls.
I wasn't too worried about the food with Tico, as much as making sure he drinks enough.
Since he likes to play so much, I added some ice to his water, and he has no problem dunking his nose in to get them!

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Auggies Mom

· #13 · Jul 16, 2005

The only other suggestion I can make is to mix a very small amount of wet food with the kibble. Auggie was a real picky eater when he was a baby but he eats just fine now. I know it is worrisome because at that age she should be eating 3 meals a day :roll:

Yoshismom

· #14 · Jul 16, 2005

sophie

I agree with Peanutbutter. I would keep her on the same food and leave it in the crate with her. I know alot of people that feed in the crates. If you give her access to wander a large room then that is what she will want to do. You might even try getting a small wire kennel that sits on your floor where you can confine her with a puppy pad and her food so she will eat. I am sure if she gets hungry enough she will eat. I would not give here the access to eat anything she finds wandering around.

angela_markovic

· #15 · Jul 16, 2005

chihuahuas are very fussy. our last two ate chicken only all their lives-i know now that its not supposed to be good for them but back then we didnt know. anyway our pipi lived till he was 17 without any health problems until the end when he died of a bad heart. lillo will eat neutro dried food very reluctantly-and only one ball at a time by hand. i give him chicken now in the morning and dried food in the evening to give him fibre. at thebreeders they eat anything because theres competition, then when they go to their new home the foods always there and they wont go hungry and they know it-i know how difficult it is believe me!!!

Shelly

· #16 · Jul 16, 2005

This may not be good but my breeder sent some Gerber Turkey baby food with my puppy to mix with her dry food. It really helps, another thing is find out what the breeder used get some of it and slowly ween her to what you want her to eat by mixing the two together and eventually going fully to the one you want him/her on.

fizzy n kirbys mum

· #17 · Jul 16, 2005

Tinker said:
Marcus is a grazer

So is my Fizzy , he also will not eat if anyone is watching :roll:
he likes to eat in the corner of our bedroom , under a table , strange
boy :roll: :wink:

Tom F

Discussion Starter · #18 · Jul 18, 2005

angela_markovic said:
chihuahuas are very fussy. our last two ate chicken only all their lives-i know now that its not supposed to be good for them but back then we didnt know. anyway our pipi lived till he was 17 without any health problems until the end when he died of a bad heart. lillo will eat neutro dried food very reluctantly-and only one ball at a time by hand. i give him chicken now in the morning and dried food in the evening to give him fibre. at thebreeders they eat anything because theres competition, then when they go to their new home the foods always there and they wont go hungry and they know it-i know how difficult it is believe me!!!

Thanks for all your suggestions. My wife talked me into a tough love approach. She decided we were going to feed a few tablespoons (or more if she wants) at 8, 12, 4, and 8. No more treats for training sessions temporarily and I sweep the hardwood floor constantly to make sure there are no crumbs. She still searches.
During this time we were giving the recommended doseage of Nutri-Stat so she wouldn't go hypoglycemic.
So after almost a full day she started eating out of the bowl. Still not as much as she should. App. 1.5 Tbps each feeding. I still have to start rolling them to her after she eats about 12 kibbles out of the bowl. After 15 minutes we pick up the bowl and wait 4 more hours to feed again.
I'm still supplimenting with Nutri-Stat until she starts eating enough. Her stools are still alternating between too thin and normal. I wonder if this is Science Diet? I want to change to Royal Canin when she straightens out her schedule.
Anyway, my will power is now stronger than hers and I'm not frustrated anymore. I used to get annoyed because I would whip up this tastey dinner with warm water, etc. and she would walk right by. She is definitly getting the schedule thing and I think in a few more days she'll be sorted out.
Last question, she was dewormed for roundworms a week ago but we don't recall ever seeing any pass. Could she still require another worming and could this be causing the diarrhea still? Could the worms have been too small to easily see?

Thanks

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