puppy 10 wks old - no interest in kibble

[stokebluenose]

Hi all, I'm a worried new puppy mummy and my 10 wks old blue roan, Skye is just not eating her royal canin.  we have had Skye now for 2 wks, and are following breeders diet sheet of kibble and egg in morning, meat and meal for dinner, and kibble for tea.  whilst she was with breeder she had not much interest in milky feeds and has dropped them quite quickly.  she is just not interested in the kibble and much more interested in the meat meal (leaving most of the meal tho and just eating the meat).  i'm trying lots of ways to make it more interesting, microwaving it, soaking it, cold, warm, everything - as my aim was to slowly change her over to royal canin alone, but i am open minded and because she enjoys the meat, i dont know if i should slowly transfer her to a meat (raw and cooked) diet with carbs and veg cooked by myself - and do the research for this diet.  or do i try wet food??

the reason for the post is that last night and tonight she has been sick after her tea time meal.  she has had a busy week, she has had her 2nd vaccination and a worming tablet (we then found one roundworm in her poo - sorry tmi!!) so we are not sure if this is the reason that she off her food.  even more worry, but i will take her the vet tomorrow if happens again.  btw vet said she was a lovely, healthy pup. she is playing and sleeping which all seems right for her age.

it worries me that she's not devouring her food like i thought she would, even with the meat meal she leaves a little bit - but maybe some pups are different to others??? 

as you probably tell this is my first experience with a pup and i suppose i am looking for a bit of reassurance  any advice gratefully received x

[emma_and_tilly]

I'm sure someone will come along with more advice , but in the mean time try not to worry. They are clever little things, and naturally will prefer some things over others, so if she knows the routine then she may well be holding out for what she likes best. Personally I'd be tempted to only offer her kibble, 4 times a day. She will soon eat when hungry and don't change the consistency of it at all, otherwise she'll just wait to see what you'll offer next. Hopefully after a day or so she'll be back to eating normally ( I wouldn't give her treats other than kibble either) and make sure she has plenty of water.

As I said that's what I'd do, but she's not pulling at my heart strings so will be much harder for you! Someone else may have other ideas though....

Emma

[KellyT]

Worming and vaccinations can all make a pup feel unwell. If you've seen worms in poop then that could be a reason too.
My youngest was very very unwell on drontal worming tablets, though my older two have always been fine on them.  Also she may be a little unsettled still in her new surroundings so be off her food a bit, and also the heat, sometimes when it's hot they just don't feel like eating, like some people.

On the diet side, personally I feed raw, a mix of ready bought foods and home made stuff. My 3 thrive on it and are yet to turn down a meal, where as in the kibble days my eldest girl would sometimes just not eat for days.

If you do a search for BARF or RAW diets on the forum there's loads of posts with questions and queries from folks.
If you want to stay with kibble there are much better (IMHO) kibbles out there (barking heads, James well beloved, autarky) which are natural, organic and have a proper meat content and no wheat or beet pulp to bulk them out.  I'm sure some of the folks who feed some of these kibbles will come along and give you their opinion on the.  

Welcome to COL  

[Jonnydog]

I'd agree, try not to worry. Penny was the same and I had quite a job to feed her from the time she arrived. I tried all the tricks you're doing. Now she's over a year and we've settled down with a mixture of meat and kibble, but she eats it slowly and still rarely finishes what I give her. However, she does love to lick plates in the dishwasher!

[jmanagh]

I had problems with my Papillon not eating kibble and felt that my latest Cocker puppy, Alfie, didn't seem best impressed with his kibble (also RC).

I have changed over to Natural Instinct which is a high quality commercially prepared raw feed and cannot believe how all three of the dogs are tucking into their food   They have been scratching less and produce less poos, which are also firmer.

Here is a link if you want to take a look

http://www.naturalinstinct.com/

[stokebluenose]

Thanks everyone, i will hang fire for now with changing diet, and carry on with the kibble - i decided to give the kibble on its own then feed the egg (this morning shes eaten half of it)

The information is so varied its hard to make a decision on feeding, but i think it will become clearer over the next month or so, so i'll try not to panic too much 

Thanks again - i'm glad i came across this forum, i've got loads of good info already, and i even might post a few pics of the gorg skye  (if i find out how to do it!!)

[black taz]

Some dogs just don't eat much.  My collie cross (Kelly) hardly every ate more than about 1/2 of the recommended daily allowance, irrelevant of what i did with it.

Depending on what you want to do longer term, the best way i found with Kelly to eat a good quality kibble was to soak it in home made gravy.  once a fortnight i would cook up chicken and vegatables then pour it into 14 portions then would soak her kibble in it everyday - does take a little more work than just dry kibble but it was the only way I could get Kelly to eat any kibble other than Bakers

[ElvieMogs]

Remember a complete food is just that so no need to add egg or meat or anything else. Decide whether you want feed dry or wet or a mixture, do your research on the different feeds and if you want to change, do so gradually.

[maddy74]

Adding a little salmon oil or natural yoghurt might spark her interest in the kibble.  ;)We use fish4dogs salmon oil.

As Kelly T had mentioned there are better foods/kibble out there. We feed Willow on Barking Heads and she loves it. If you are thinking of changing it might be worth emailing some of these places for samples. Both JWB and Barking heads will send samples.
Remember if you are going to change the food do it gradually, over about a 2 week period.


http://www.barkingheads.co.uk/product/puppy-days