spoiled puppy?

[lissalou06]

hi everyone.. i don't know if this has already been discussed on another thread and if it has i apologize.. but lately my six month old yorkie hasn't been eating the way he should. i think it all started when he was younger, he was sick and the vet put him on baby food and said an occasional scrambled egg was okay..well once we put him back on canned food he loved it and he has been doing just fine eating it until now. i've noticed that it seems like he is getting tired of eating the same thing. he just lets the food sit in his bowl until it goes bad. just sniffs it a little and walks away. we never feed him human food. and i know he is hungry because when we do eat he always begs for some of our food. just because i was so worried about him not eating we cooked a scrambled egg and have been feeding him a little of this mixed with a little of his dog food and he seems to be eating that for now.

does anyone think this is a sign of a spolied puppy? or could something else be wrong? he is still very energetic, always wants to play and drinks plenty of water..

thanks in advance for any advice.

[Britster]

Are you just giving him wet food?

I would recommend giving him kibble maybe mixed in with a wet food. Kibble helps their teeth out a lot and gives them a more balanced diet. What kind of wet food is he on?

[lissalou06]

he is on purina, we used to mix it with dry food until he started being so picky that he would just eat around all of the dry food. i think he is a little spoiled

[Britster]

lol, Yorkies are known to be picky! Jackson was the same way! It took him a while to find a food he liked. But honestly, and I mean this in the nicest way possible (I'm usually not one of those you should feed your dog this-kind of person) but Purina isn't a very good food at ALL. And maybe it's upsetting his tummy in some way even if he doesn't show you. Maybe not. But personally, I wouldn't feed it. The first four ingredients are Whole grain corn, corn gluten meal, whole grain wheat and chicken by-product meal. All awful for dogs who are naturally carnivores. However, I'm not sure which food you're feeding and there is no wet foods listed on the site below, so I dunno if yours has different ingredients.

You can see this website
Dog Food Reviews - All Products - Powered by ReviewPost
with all the different Purina foods, rated one star. That's just one websites opinion but I think Purina has been recalled quite a bit.

Jackson tried a bunch of different foods, lower rated ones as well as higher rated ones and he finally loves Merrick's Before Grain line of food - they have dry food and wet food and I mix in a bit of wet in the morning. They have three flavors - Buffalo, Chicken and Salmon so I switch it up for him every once in a while so he doesn't get too bored.

[lissalou06]

thanks for the info. i have heard that purina isn't the best, i had no idea what to feed him and the vet suggested purina so i just stuck with his advice. i want to try different foods with him but i'm too scared he will get an upset tummy i dont know what to do!

[chestermama]

chester has his kibble out all the time, he gets solid gold and he gets his wet food every nite. Some good dry kibble would be solid gold, wellness, merrick, innova and natural balance are a few, they all also have good wet food, chester loves the merrick wet food, and they have several flavors

[chestermama]

If you try some diffferent foods most places have samples and interduce the food over a period of 7-10 days, it can upset their tummy

[bellita07]

im having the same problem with bella.. im really confused.. i have her on eukanuba because thats what her breeder always gave her so i kept her on it. shes 6 months and 3.5lbs ... she does look kind of skinny and i hate coming home to her plate the same way i left it.. i tried mixing it with wet food but she would only eat the wet food and then we would have problems with her poopie so i stopped the wet food. i dont know if shes bored of the same thing or maybe just "spoiled" as u said.. she drinks alot of water and always wants to play but still i want to see her gain a little more weight. (i never gave her human food)

[Britster]

Originally Posted by lissalou06

thanks for the info. i have heard that purina isn't the best, i had no idea what to feed him and the vet suggested purina so i just stuck with his advice. i want to try different foods with him but i'm too scared he will get an upset tummy i dont know what to do!

He should be OK if you just switch it slowly. I forget the exact rules/measurements but start with just a tiny bit of the new food mixed in with the old (Purina) and then put a little more and more each day.

Also, I hate to say it, but sometimes vets don't even know much about nutrition. They just sell to you the products who pay them to sell their food. If that makes sense. Not all the time. But I've seen a lot of vets suggest Nutro, Science Diet, etc. I think Science Diet is better than Purina but still not the best.

It took Jackson a while but eventually, I just gave up trying to "force" him to eat and now he gladly walks over to his bowl by himself and starts eating. If you keep giving them something new everytime they're bored, they will always expect something new and never settle for one kibble.

[Marilize]

I have the same problem with Cash and have gotten used to it. He used to be really skinny, so I added a supplement to his food in order for him to get more nutrients for less bites. I also use his training as a way to feed him.

My advice would be: Put the bowl down for fifteen minutes at every meal time. After fifteen minutes, take the food away and give the same food again at the next meal. This way they realize that you control the food and not them. This is very important when it comes to establishing who the leader is and it makes training and everything a lot easier. Oh, and don't worry, they will only go hungry for a day and never again.

Hope that helps. Good luck!