Seems Uninterested in Food

[s2sap]

Our 7 month old pup has never been interested in food. When she was younger we tried different textures in case that was the problem - dried, soft and a mixture but she was still not overly fussed. Eventually vet said stick with dried food and persevere-  If she's hungry she'll eat.

The problem is that we have a lab as well and they are both in the one large outside run, and we have to keep them separated in it as the cocker pup has always got food left in her bowl and if the lab could get at her food it would naturally be gone.

With labs you feed them and 30 seconds later the bowl is empty and can be removed until the next feed. With this wee cocker she grazes on the food throughout the day and night and rarely finishes the meal. If we were just to set it in front of her twice  a day she would probably never eat. There is no way of knowing when she will eat and she is just getting to the stage now that her ribs are covered and she doesn't look underfed so we don't want to take her food away but we need to get the two of them living "together" in their outside run.

Any ideas on how to make a pup hungry? And don't say exercise!! I'm knackered with her!

[ScruffersMamabear]

We have an 8 mth old Roan & he has always been very food orientated but recently has started turning his nose up at his food. We don't let him graze but put his food down & if it is not eaten with half an hour we take it up. He then gets it at lunchtime & the vet is right, they will eat when they are hungry but I am by no means an expert 

[bizzylizzy]

I have to agree with the last comment and wouldn't leave the food down as it will just encourage him to be fussy. There have been quite a lot of similar posts on this subject recently, a lot of them about dogs around that age, so I do think it could actually be an age thing. It is very hard but I would doubt very much that a dog would willingly starve himself, if he's hungry he will eat it, (especially if he knows there's no more, if he doesn't hurry up! ) Humphrey went through a similar phase, I gave him 15 minutes and what wasn't eaten was put down at the next meal or thrown away.
I made that mistake with my first dog, we had food standing around all day, I lost track of how much he'd eaten and how long the food had been there and he was a fussy eater all his life. I'd never do it again.
I would say persevere, I'm sure he'll get there!

[Patp]

I think the main difficulty is managing the food intake of your lab.  I have a grazer but with one dog it doesnt really matter.  With 2, you dont want to encourage any food guarding or issues that may get out of hand.

I would also just pick it up out of reach of both of them, or is there anyway you could put your put behind a stair gate to give him a little longer?  He might be teething at the moment and struggling to eat it rather than inhaling it like a lab does.

Seems a shame to make it into a race.  I understand you dont want the food left down, but just managing feed times by separation might be a better option.

[s2sap]

thanks guys - its funny I know what I should be doing but I'm not doing it as the wee dog is so young. Listening to others reinforces what I already know to be the right way. 

[bizzylizzy]

thanks guys - its funny I know what I should be doing but I'm not doing it as the wee dog is so young. Listening to others reinforces what I already know to be the right way.

We've all been there  !!! Follow your own instincts and you won't go far wrong!! 😊