[LeStatKelly]

Well I got the shock of my life today when I weighed LeStat as I've not weighed him in more than a month.

In July when he came to us, from my daughter, as a very picky eater he was only 1.5lbs. He was 13 months at the time.
It took us some time to find something he would willingly eat on a daily basis but eventually found that he loves royal canin mini junior and he will eat 50-75grms a day now. He also eats 'bits and bats' of treats throughout the day.

Well I weighed him just now and the little gissy is 2lbs 15ozs........:tongue9:

He's looking so much better now, the roach back is almost gone, the skinny ribs are now not visible and he acts so much like a happy little dog it's inbelievable. He's even playing properly with the Peppa Pig and Saxon.

 

[susan davis]

Way to go!!! Great news. LeStats knows what he likes, and Royal Canin is a good food. Sue

 

[LeStatKelly]

I've been criticised for using RC because of their testing methods but I'm afraid if it's all he'll eat that does him good then he's staying on it.

We do try him with other things every now and again but he eats nothing like he eats RC. He's never going to be a hog when he's eating but he will protect his dish, only from cats and dogs, if there's RC in it!

I've been looking at other foods but to be honest the thing slike ziwipeak etc are so expensive over here and I have so many other dogs, cats etc I can't warrant spending that much on LeStat alone.

I'm just pleased he's putting weight on at all!

 

[Jerry'sMom]

Yay for LeStat! My dogs have been successfully fed RC all of their lives (age 3 in
December). They eat RC Mini Indoor Adult 21. I chose it because it doesn't have corn.
I think corn is an unnecessary ingredient and I'm allergice to it. I've tried a few other
foods, but they do so very well on this one. I'm so happy LeStat is getting "big" and strong

 

[Angel1210]

Yeah for LeStat!! When you have a dog like LeStat - anything he will eat is OKAY!!

 

[Penelope]

I agree with Angel...glad you found a food that he enjoys eating!

 

[LeStatKelly]

Yeah for LeStat!! When you have a dog like LeStat - anything he will eat is OKAY!!

You're not kidding...at one time all he would eat was 'people' pate

Yay for LeStat! My dogs have been successfully fed RC all of their lives (age 3 in
December). They eat RC Mini Indoor Adult 21. I chose it because it doesn't have corn.
I think corn is an unnecessary ingredient and I'm allergice to it. I've tried a few other
foods, but they do so very well on this one. I'm so happy LeStat is getting "big" and strong

He's still on the junior although he's 17 months old now but he would't eat the adult when we tried him...we are planning on trying him again in a month or so!

Although LeStat isn't technically a 'rescue', we got him from my daughter, he's been a lot more difficult than a lot of rescue dogs I've had. In fact he's still difficult in other ways like his constant barking, almost none existant housetraining and being nervous of people he does not know very well.

One step at a time with him I think and each step is a very big one for him at the moment!

I got some super pics of him playing with my jrt puppy Peppa Pig I must put them on tomorrow.....he only learned to play recently so that's another 'big step' in his becoming a DOG.

 

[aucifiel]

I'm not too sure about the RC. My puppy came from a what seemed to be a RC slave advertiser and he was on RC. The food smelled really good and looked to be on the high end but I was advised by many vets that the food is 'good' but not the best. The puppy also had bald spots on his face which grew in slowly after he went off the RC--I suspect allergies from the grains and gluten. I had a LOT of trouble getting Fluffers to go on another food since he was picky as hell at the time. I did find one that he would eat and that's Oven Baked Tradition. I found that the food does have to at least equal the quality of RC but if it's better than RC, your dog will probably eat it . Try the oven baked sometime, the kibble is baked like a dog cookie so apparently its like a meal of dog biscuits!

 

[Gurman]

I'm so happy LeStat found something that suited his fancy Do you have any pictures? My Chi is huge compared to yours, I can't imagine two pounds never mind 1.5! I definatly have a thing for tiny animals <3

 

[LeStatKelly]

Well thankfully LeStat is now between 2lb 8ozs and 2lb 14ozs, depedigo the day I weigh him, as he's puttig weight on now. My sisiter pure chihuahua is over 12lbs and she thought he was small until she saw LeStat the other day for the first time.......we tried a tiny t shirt on him, it said xxxs, he just walked straight through the neck of it!...lol
She seemed to think because LeStat was not a pedigree chi he had to be bigger than her CoCo.

I have a thread in the pics section of him at only 1.5lbs in August this year!

As for the RC he is eating it's the only food we can get him to eat and here in the uK there aren't as many choices as there seem to be in the USA. Hardly any of the suggestions are available here that I can find.
LeStat hasn't any allergies or bald spots from eating the RC although he is rather hyperactive, which some have said can be caused by feeding RC, I think it's just him being chi x though and maybe because of his 'puppyhood'!

 

[aucifiel]

Glad to hear he's doing well on RC . If he likes it then it should be fine. RC smells really good and the chis apparently really like it. If it tasted as good as it smelled, I would eat it too!!

Out of curiosity, how old is Lestat and how much does he eat?

My little guy barely finishes 1/4 cups a day....he seems to be doing fine but I always try to hand feed him a bit more than what he likes to graze on since I don't free feed.

 

[LeStatKelly]

Hi,

LeStat is almost 18 months now as he was born 09/06/2010.

He's eating between 35-75grms a day we have a little dish that holds exactly 75grms and we try to get him to eat the whole dish each day. He doesn't always eat it all but then on other days he'll ask for a little more! We don't hand feed him as he won't eat from anyones hand at all. He does have little treats, probably not healthy ones at all, usually a small piece of pizza or some of my granddaughters pasta shapes.....lol

We found lately that he'll eat Pro plan mini as well some days!

He's currently fluctauting between 2lb 8ozs and 2lb 15ozs over a few days!

 

[Jerry'sMom]

....He's currently fluctauting between 2lb 8ozs and 2lb 15ozs over a few days!

wow, that's a huge change in weight for his size. does he get dehydrated?

 

[LeStatKelly]

He's not a huge drinker but he's always fluctuated by about 6-7oz since he came in July.

He drinks when he wants to but have tried new drinks to try and get him to drink more but nothing works. We've even tried meat stock. He doesn't seem to be dehydrated at any time either.
We can't wet his complete meal or he won't eat any of it!

We've basically come to the conclusion that this is the way he is.......he's healthy......he's picky......he sometimes looks a little thin when he goes off his food but to be honest we've tried everything other than force feeding which we're not prepared to do whilst he seems happy.

He a lot better than he was in July though!

 

[jesuschick]

Hi,

LeStat is almost 18 months now as he was born 09/06/2010.

I thought he was older than Hope who is 9/29/2010. His birthday is September? That only makes them 14 months. 15 months, in December.

 

[Jerry'sMom]

He's not a huge drinker but he's always fluctuated by about 6-7oz since he came in July.

He drinks when he wants to but have tried new drinks to try and get him to drink more but nothing works. We've even tried meat stock. He doesn't seem to be dehydrated at any time either.
We can't wet his complete meal or he won't eat any of it!

We've basically come to the conclusion that this is the way he is.......he's healthy......he's picky......he sometimes looks a little thin when he goes off his food but to be honest we've tried everything other than force feeding which we're not prepared to do whilst he seems happy.

He a lot better than he was in July though!

drinking is related to eating, it drives their thirst. if he is not eating, he's probably
not going to drink much either. glad to hear you are seeing improvement in him. that's great news!

 

[LeStatKelly]

I thought he was older than Hope who is 9/29/2010. His birthday is September? That only makes them 14 months. 15 months, in December.

No I'm in the UK we write our dates differently to you...

He was born on 9th June 2010.....lol
He's definitely almost 18 months old. I bought him at only 6 weeks in July 2010 for my daughter who gave him back to us in July 2011 as he is so 'needy' and she couldn't cope with him.

 

[LeStatKelly]

drinking is related to eating, it drives their thirst. if he is not eating, he's probably
not going to drink much either. glad to hear you are seeing improvement in him. that's great news!

We have worried so much about him, even when he was with my daughter, due to his picky eating habits that now we have decided that he is just a 'needy' dog who will probably never change his haibits.
The vets has said that now he's stable with his eating and he has slowly gained weight that it's time we just let him get on with it.
At least he is acting more like a dog now and becoming a lot more sociable every day brings something new for him and he seems to be dealing with these changes really well now instead of stressing his head off and screaming at everything!
We considered trying pro biotics, we did for a few days, they gave him the trots so we stopped them.
He's a happy little soul now as long as he's allowed to bark and tell everyone what to do.........lol

 

[jesuschick]

I thought he was older than my girls! Of course, he is also a tinier little one than them as well.

So glad to hear he is eating and gaining. When mine were not it made me anxious. Sounds like he has settled in beautifully while with you.

I'd love to see more pics of him!!

 

[LeStatKelly]

I'll see if I can get any decent ones of him over the next few days.
I thought I had a few of him playing with my jrt puppy the other day but when I looked at them he's so small, between her legs, you can hardly see him..
She was pinning him to wash his ears he was not amused to be honest.

He does't like the camera very much if he sees it in my hands he runs for cover!

He is a different dog now but sometimes go back a step or two and we have to start over again.

I'm busy trying to build a car seat for him as we can't get decent ones over here so he can see out of the window.
I have a big piece of foam rubber to make the 'shape' from and then it's just a cover and fixing straps to make.