I think I made a mistake

[Hooks_Yorkie]

got my puppy Friday night and his breeder was wonderful and told me that he was so pudgy because he liked getting into the wet food that she gave the recently weaned puppies and he may be picky at first.

I had previously bought wet and dry Wellness puppy food to just mix together for him and now he refuses to eat dry food. He actually eats around the wet food to get to the dry...

I know he is big for his age, but I don't want to risk him going hungry just to make him eat dry food.

Any suggestions?

FYI he is 9 weeks and 2 lbs.

[Moses]

We'll I do believe if you keep giving him wet food he will never want the dry. My yorkie is the same way. So I don't really give him wet to much anymore. Wet food can be really bad for their teeth. and if you look into the history of the yorkie they can have a problem with tooth decay.
I would try laying out some dry food and taking the wet food away all together for a while. Your baby will eat when he is hungry. He will not starve to death. My baby is a pickyeater. So until he eats during the day I will not give him any snacks or chewables.

Hope this helps.

[Gingergirlsmom]

This may or may not be a great idea, but it's what I would probably do.

Try feeding him the dry food one piece at a time from your hand...if you've started training, you can always make him work for it a little.

Mine will ALWAYS eat out of my hand, even when they are turning their nose up to food.

[Moses]

Hi,
Sorry I also just noticed your post just said he was nine weeks old. My baby is now three. Even though I do believe most puppys wean around 8 weeks old. If I remember you could also moisten the dry food just a little for a few weeks, this may help him a little.

[RKN]

Originally Posted by Moses

Hi,
If I remember you could also moisten the dry food just a little for a few weeks, this may help him a little.

This is what I did for Bruiser and it worked perfectly! After a couple of weeks he actually wanted the dry food as opposed to the food being wet!

[Ellie May]

You could do the tough love approach, put dry down and he will eat when he is hungry (I personally wouldn't want to do it that way but lots of people do) BUT he is only 9 weeks and probably very small, so I think in this case you'll have todo what you have to do to get him to eat often. I'd either hand feed or give him the wet. Wet is fine to give but whatever you give, his teeth need to be brushed.

[greyacresmom]

According to my mentor vet, a dog will not let itself starve...(if s/he is healthy) but a cat will!

[MrsPeanut]

Originally Posted by Gingergirlsmom

This may or may not be a great idea, but it's what I would probably do.

Try feeding him the dry food one piece at a time from your hand...if you've started training, you can always make him work for it a little.

Mine will ALWAYS eat out of my hand, even when they are turning their nose up to food.

OMG... I have to do the same thing but now I just mix in a little bit of wet food and water and warm it a little and they eat it right up.

[tammy8833]

he could just have a belly of worms...

might not be the food

[LDandPasquale]

When i first got Pasquale at 10 weeks...he would not eat his dry food at all...and i had been mixing it with wet food. Then all of the sudden one day he wanted the dry food and not the wet food. I think if you moisten it with wet..and then reduce the wet little by little...he'll eventually want the dry.

[Hooks_Yorkie]

The moist dry food worked and I also fed it to him from my hand which he seemed to love too. Thanks

[Deegan's mom]

I would be sure to watch him carefully and to give him a couple squirts of Nutrical if he's not eating enough or often enough too just to be on the safe side.