# Advice please - my puppy is a fussy eater!



## sue_ellen (19 December 2008)

Hi, she is a 9 month old Lhasa Apso, I have had her since the end of August and she is the first dog I have had since we had dogs at home when I was a kid.  She is a lovely little thing, lively, healthy (had regular checks with vet and all her vacs), and doesn't seem to be underweight.  But - I keep thinking I have found something she likes and then she goes off it again.  She wont touch puppy food at all, and she doesnt seem keen on dry dog food, except for Go Cat which she steals when the cats aren't looking!  I am wasting a fortune buying stuff which I think she likes and throwing it away when she changes her mind.  I simply haven't got the time to cook stuff for her, its just not pratical in the long term, but I am worried because it surely can't be right that she just isnt eating very much.  I am just worried because she wont even eat first thing in the morning, and she must be hungry.  Any advice will be appreciated.


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## BigRed (19 December 2008)

Dogs don't choose to starve themselves.  If you left the food down she will eventually eat it, except by then you will have lost your nerve and bought her something else.

Single dogs can often get fussy because they have no competition when it comes to eating, they also watch what you are eating and as soon as you start to feed her the odd little tit bit, soon her tiny stomach is full and she thinks why should she eat dog food when she can have lovely human food, or food that you hand feed her ?

I have whippets and they can be fussy, my sisters single whippet would stuff itself when it came to stay at my house and yet turned its nose up at what my sister gave it when it went home.

Stop worrying.  Offer her breakfast, if she doesn't eat it, take the food away and don't give her anything else until later in the day.  When the dog is hungry, it will eat. But if you keep worrying and giving in to her, she will just get fussier.


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## severnmiles (19 December 2008)

Have you tried Royal Canin or RAW/Barf?


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## deja224 (19 December 2008)

i look after a Lhasa Apso she is also a fussy eater, her owners (i do the same will all my dogs) she gets her food put down for 15 mins if its not touched then it gets picked up, means they cant pick and chose what and when they eat, also make sure u give her set meal times dont give in to her!


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## SunshineTallulah (19 December 2008)

An owner can make / enforce a fussy eater, so you do need to be careful.

Personally, if the dog wont eat her food is removed after 15mins and represented at the next meal later that day.  If she doesnt eat it then, again she gets it again at her next meal.

As I have heard from other people a dog will not starve itself.

By swapping and changing her food (which I can understand cos you dont want her to starve and feel for her) you are reinforcing that if she holds out, she'll be offered something else.

Good Luck!

PS - I feed RAW which offers the dog a nice varied diet (RMB, minces, pilchards, egg &amp; bio yog - in fact the list is endless) , so they can never get bored!


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## Llanali (20 December 2008)

[ QUOTE ]
Dogs don't choose to starve themselves.  
Stop worrying.  Offer her breakfast, if she doesn't eat it, take the food away and don't give her anything else until later in the day.  When the dog is hungry, it will eat. But if you keep worrying and giving in to her, she will just get fussier. 

[/ QUOTE ]

Whilst I agree with the last statement, about not panicing, I will have to disagree with the first. Some dogs will starve themselves. I'm sat opposite one right now.

However, I think it unlikely your puppy is one of these. You don't want to go down the route of trying anything she wants, because as tracey01 has said and several others have also agreed, the vast majority of fussy eaters, are fussy because they know if they hold out a bit they'll get something yummier! I would persevere, and like the others, would just take it away and re present at next meal. If she's not eating anything for days, and begins to lose considerable weight, then by all means certainly get her looked at.

Good Luck- I know just how hard this is, I do have very difficult dogs, known to be hard work by breed.


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## Dizzykizzy (21 December 2008)

My 3 year old GWP is like this and has been since she was a puppy. We went down the route of changing her food to tempt her but it always ended up the same, she would sniff and walk away. I have come to the conclusion she just isn't hungry in the morning. If she comes when I feed the puppy I will feed her if not she gets fed at teatime and suppertime, she usually wants it then especially if there are any table scraps going in it.
Her daughter is the opposite of her, a complete dustbin and always hungry for anything you put in front  of her.
I have just changed them both onto Challenge dog food which is salmon based and quite smelly. She seems to be enjoying it at the moment.
I know you shouldn't keep changing as it makes them fussy but it is heartbreaking when they start to look thin. I am keeping them on the Challenge now, well for now anyway!


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