Picky Puppy Eater)

[MoxyRoxy]

Wow! I've never known a boxer to be so picky about food. But Roxy is! Her brother, he'll eat anything, but not Roxy. We've tried Science Diet Large Breed Puppy, Nutro Large Breed Puppy, Sole Large Breed, Pro Plan Large Breed, Eukanuba Large Breed, Royal Canin Large Breed (all Puppy). She likes each for about 2 bowls then that is it. Then I try to mix with water, heat and sometimes mix in chicken broth. Today she tried to pick her bowl up out of the dish holder to dump her food. I boiled a chicken breast mixed it in and she ate.
She will eat her snacks from PetsMart, their brand Authority, so I tried their puppy for large breed (no biproducts etc) NOPE! That is what she tried to dump this morning. Yesterday she only ate once, her breakfast at 2:00pm. She's not losing weight and she has an appetite. Its just finding what satisfies her appetite.
Any suggestions would be great. Since I'm home cooking today, I've scrambled and egg, boiled another chicken breast to mix in with her dinner tonight. But I don't cook that often...
Thanks
Laura and Roxy

 

[RVsBoxer]

Sounds a lot like my Wilson. The problem is that you're catering to her too much, just like I was (still am a little) with Wilson :p I know it's very tempting , but you have to try not to do that.

What people told me to do here is just give it to them like it is, or with a little bit of water added in (not too much) and leave it out for them for around 15 mins. If they don't eat it then take it up and no food for them till the next meal. If they don't eat the next meal then you take it up again till the next one. Puppies won't starve themselves and eventually she should realise that she has to start eating up when you put the food down. Maybe I should take some of my own advice, cause I often forget to put the bowl up .

Also, I know it may sound a little contradictory to the whole catering-is-bad thing, but lately I have been adding a little bit of 100% freeze dried liver for dogs to his meals. Wilson loves it so I grate just a little bit over his kibble to add some extra flavor and nutrition. It's got a strong smell/flavor so a little is enough to get him going. And it's not very expensive - I got a small tub for $5. You need like half a piece to grate in the food and that's enough. You can even use it for training if she is as picky as my Wilson when it comes to treats. He has been responding to the liver even when he is distracted by another dog!

Wilson IS getting better with his eating, since I've stopped adding a bunch of stuff in there to make him like it more. The liver will be a permanent addition to his meals unless he starts getting picky with that, too - then he'll have just nothing at all and he'll have to learn to like it!

Good luck, I know how you're feeling!

 

[Chopper'sDad]

Try canidae good food you feed them less cause they digest more less poo (good thing) Also the company gaurantees they will love or money back. My dogs loved it. Lots of good natural ingrediants.

 

[courtney323]

My suggestion: Take her off of the large breed and puppy foods. Why are you feeing large breed food to your Boxer? Boxers are medium-sized breeds.

Also, you might consider switching her to a better quality food.

Try Canidae, they make a GREAT all life-stages dog food. Here are a few other great quality kibbles:

Wellness
Solid Gold
Flint River Ranch
Eagle Pack Holistic

Please do a search on quality kibbles and you will find a wealth of information

Good luck

 

[MoxyRoxy]

Thank You

I will look into the Canidae. Found their website, will find out where they sell it in Northern VA. That link is not working right now on their site.

 

[kit02]

Also, I know it may sound a little contradictory to the whole catering-is-bad thing, but lately I have been adding a little bit of 100% freeze dried liver for dogs to his meals. Wilson loves it so I grate just a little bit over his kibble to add some extra flavor and nutrition. It's got a strong smell/flavor so a little is enough to get him going. And it's not very expensive - I got a small tub for $5. You need like half a piece to grate in the food and that's enough. You can even use it for training if she is as picky as my Wilson when it comes to treats. He has been responding to the liver even when he is distracted by another dog!

Don't overdue the liver - everything in moderation. Liver is high in Vit. A and too much of that is not good. The kibble has more than enough vit. A they need. I would rotate add-ins you give - yogurt, ricotta cheese, cottage cheese, eggs, fresh meat.

I would also change to a higher quality kibble. Maybe try some canned mixed in…

 

[RVsBoxer]

Don't overdue the liver - everything in moderation. Liver is high in Vit. A and too much of that is not good. The kibble has more than enough vit. A they need. I would rotate add-ins you give - yogurt, ricotta cheese, cottage cheese, eggs, fresh meat.

I would also change to a higher quality kibble. Maybe try some canned mixed in…

Oh thanks for the advice, I didn't know about the vitamin A and too much not being good. I do only give him a little though, like 2 or 3 small pieces worth per day. I bought a 2 oz tub and still have more than half left. I will be careful with it now, though!

About the kibble - I feed chicken soup for the puppy lover's soul, and it's a great human grade food. Wilson has been on wellness and solid gold also and he definitely likes the chicken soup better!

 

[Anna Begins]

Sounds a lot like my Wilson. The problem is that you're catering to her too much, just like I was (still am a little) with Wilson :p I know it's very tempting , but you have to try not to do that.

I wouldn't stress too much about it- she'll eat when she gets hungry. When Luka first came to live with me, he didn't eat much- about 2 cups of food in maybe 4 days... he was too excited to eat :D Now he eats alot more.

As I just said in another post, I feed Chicken Soup and once in awhile, mix in some of their canned food.

 

[dsgordon]

Try Old Mother Hubbard Wellness worked for Monty.

My Monty (a 5 month old male brindle ) was also very picky.
I never saw a puppy so indifferent to food.

The breeder had started with Pedigree I belive but when we picked him up the pups were on Iams puppy. We started with that. He was fussy with that plus we wanted to move him onto a more premium food.

Tried all the petco and petsmart brands. After researching her on BW Started with Nutro. He was not interested. Tried several others with no luck.
We then went to eukanuba (This is what we had for our last dog and he loved it) no luck either. We would add yogurt and some times wet food and mix it in. This helped a lot.

This worked for a while but he eventually got board with that.
His vet cheeck ups where fine so my wife and I didn't worry to much.
We assumed he was eating enough, But I still did not like to see a 3 month olds food bowl go mostly uneatean in the morning and only some at night.
To us and my mother in law who has had boxers he looked thin.

I never was able to find any of the WDJ foods I read about here on BW locally.But one day I ran across a liitle pet shop hidden away that I never new was there. They had wellness so I tried some free samples. Monty wolfs it down. He really likes it. He has been on wellness puppy for a month and still likes it dry. He is geting tall and starting to fill out (Not fat but his ribs don't show anymore when he is just standing.)

I should also add that Monty is realy not food motivated. I used everything from cheese too hotdogs at obedeanse class and half the time he could care less and would rather get attention from the trainer or play with others than work for food.

If you can find wellness or one of the other WDJ brands mentioned on BW I would try them.
Dave

 

[MoxyRoxy]

dsgordon, your Monty sounds just like Roxy. When we were in class she could care less about treats. Not food motivated at all.... Thanks for your input. We have a local store here that sells Old Mother Hubbard and Roxy does like the treats by them.
Happy Holidays