Help please, Blue's gone off his food!

[Blueberry]

Yes, no issue with toilet, peeing fine and two normal poos this morning at 3am and 7am.  No vomiting.  He's his usual self behaviour wise.  He's drinking normally.  Just won't eat.  It's a mystery.
I will offer him his Nutriment again later on and see if he'll eat it then.
If not, I suppose I'll have to think of something else.

[Londongirl]

This is exactly how Henry behaves when he decides he doesn't like a particular food any more. It's very frustrating.

As a side note, you really need to get that 3am poop sorted out! If you can eliminate that he'll be sleeping through. If those are the only two times a day (or night) he's pooping, it seems like he's settled into doing it at the wrong time. If you wait a little while before going to him will he do it in his crate? Just wondering if you can wait a little longer each night before letting him out for that poop so it gets closer to being his morning poop, and the 7am poop should move to the afternoon.

[Archie bean]

You could try flash frying it briefly to release some of the juices and see if that gets him going? Could he be teething? Just randomly thinking of things off the top of my head....Is this a new batch of food at all. Could there be an issue with it? Try some ordinary human mince if you have any and see if he is interested in that. Then possibly give nutrient a call.

[Blueberry]

I'm not concerned about his poo.  The usual poo 'routine' is on rising (5.30 - 6) and then about half an hour - 90 mins after his breakfast, lunch and evening meals.  He's raw fed, so his poos are small and firm, but not hard.
If I don't go to him when he starts howling, he does it in his crate.  I'd rather he didn't, so I take him out when he says he wants to go and, to be fair, he doesn't create unless he really does want to go.. 
Usually I take him out to wee at 3.30, but last night OH took him out because he was up working late, and I know there was a poo because it was left on the lawn for me to pick up!
He hadn't eaten since lunchtime yesterday, so didn't do the usual evening poo last night, which I suppose is why he needed one at 3.
Not really sure how I can alter his poo times, surely that's dictated by his digestive tract and will settle down when he goes on to two meals a day?
Anyway, I took him out for a walk and tried him again with the same bowl of Nutriment he turned his nose up at earlier, and he ate the lot.  Contrary little beggar!

[Londongirl]

Glad to hear it's not always a 3am poo! Apart from when he had an upset stomach, Henry never pooed at night even on four meals a day. Maybe I was just very lucky.

I was reading an interesting article on fussy eaters on the Burns food website today. Most of the advice is for older dogs (such as feeding just one meal and under feeding to find how much they really want to eat). But some of it rang true for me, including not chopping and changing food when they get fussy. Sometimes they are just not hungry. I don't feed Henry now until 11am after his long walk and he cleans the bowl.

They suggest that over feeding can put them off altogether as it upsets their stomachs. So they stop eating to let everything settle. If he's back on his food, maybe try smaller meals?

[Blueberry]

Thanks, yes, I was wondering if I should feed him later in the morning, but then it's a matter of spacing three meals out into a shorter amount of time.  Do you think he could go to 2 meals a day yet?  (He's 16 weeks)
Trouble is, they would be a bit larger, I suppose.

[Londongirl]

I don't know about switching to two meals yet - we switched Henry at 6 months when you can also start feeding a little less as their growth slows. But that's for kibble feeding. I don't know if it's different for raw.

[bizzylizzy]

I don't think the fact he's on raw as opposed  to kibble should make any  difference in that respect but the strange thing is, we're going through exactly the same thing and Humphrey's getting his untouched breakfast mixed in with his evening meal at about 6pm. I'd have preferred he had two meals because it just seems such a lot to eat all at once. I've decided I shall keep offering him breakfast, at least until the weather gets cooler and then if he's still refusing breakfast, revert to once a day but I still think the heat/humidity has something to do with it - at least in our case.
I don't think it would do any harm to try Blue on 2 meals and/or a later breakfast might help, he maybe just needs to work up a bit of an appetite. How much do you feed him and how have you worked out what he needs? You could also try varying the portions, so he gets a little less in the day and it bit more in the evening. It really does boil down to trial and error but if it goes on too long and/or if he starts to lose weight, or rather his weight gain comes to a standstill, then Its maybe worth having a word with the vet, just to put your mind at rest.
Keep us posted!

[bizzylizzy]

Just consulted my little black book ( ) - Humphrey was about 18 weeks when we put him onto 2 meals a day.

[Blueberry]

Thanks, that's helpful.  I'll try 2 meals a day, and a bit later then. To be honest, twice daily is much more convenient as we're often out and about at lunchtime and raw food is not easily transported.  Also, we feed the cat twice daily, so it would fit nicely into our routine.
I give him about 350g - 400g daily, I worked it out using the guidelines on the Nutriment website.  He weighs around 8kg now, and up to this warm spell was wolfing it down and steadily gaining 0.5 kg/week.  Initially, he seemed to want more than the suggested amount, I suppose he's making up for that now, as I've thrown quite a bit of uneaten food away in the past week.  I have a couple more packs of the puppy food left in the freezer, but I wonder if I should start him on the adult stuff instead? (Nutriment advised me to switch him at 4 months).

[bizzylizzy]

Don't know what the difference is between puppy and adult but can't imagine it would be much - maybe a bit more calcium or minerals maybe? If they've said you can change at 4 months and he's 15 weeks then I'd think you'd be ok to use up the puppy and then buy adult next time.
I just looked at their website out of curiosity (I really wish I could get it here in Germany, it looks really good, I always have to DIY it!) - there's a blog on there called "help, my dog won't eat", which I found quite helpful.
It does sound a bit like a "phase" and I'm sure you'll find a new routine for him soon.

[Blueberry]

Well, he's eaten his evening meal ok today, so I will try giving his breakfast later tomorrow, and see how it goes.  He's 16 weeks now bizzylizzy, it's a week since I started the thread!  I do really want to stick with Nutriment if I can, it's good stuff and I like their service.  I already have 10kgs of Adult version in the freezer, but still have 3kgs of Puppy to use up.  Blue has his own section of the freezer lol!

[bizzylizzy]

Well, he's eaten his evening meal ok today, so I will try giving his breakfast later tomorrow, and see how it goes.  He's 16 weeks now bizzylizzy, it's a week since I started the thread!  I do really want to stick with Nutriment if I can, it's good stuff and I like their service.  I already have 10kgs of Adult version in the freezer, but still have 3kgs of Puppy to use up.  Blue has his own section of the freezer lol!

Tell me about it! Only human food left in my freezer is a couple of bread rolls and and half a box of frozen peas squeezed in between the tripe and offal!!