my puppies wont eat?

Question

they are 7 weeks old,i wormed them at three weeks of age and again at 5 weeks of age ,2 days after worming them at five weeks old they went off their food i took them to the vet and she said starve them for 24 hours and gave me some prescription diet food for them to have for 2 days they ate that and started eating their food again for 1 day but now have gone off their food again they DONT HAVE DIOREAH AND THEY ARE NOT BEEN SICK,i have tried chicken and rice they eat it once then dont want it they were such good eaters i cannot understand whats happened as i didnt change their food,they are still full of energy wich i cant understand aswell with only getting a tiny amount of food,please if anyone has had this problem and could help i would be very gratefull,as i have hand reared these pups and dont want to lose them

they r in my front room with me all day so as they poo i clean it up so i know they r not eating it,thanks anyway

sorry i confused anyone i have 5 puppies 2 r eating and three just take a sniff and walk off sometimes they take a peice of food but its about a t spoon full and thats not enough as they are big pups (german sheperd)

Answer 1

Try putting them on a different diet. Go back to a weaning meal for them. Canned puppy food, like lamb and rice, mushed up or blended. Put it some goats milk and even some baby rice cereal, or put in some yogurt. Make this a blended mess for them. You can also blend up some dry food for them and add this to the mixture. Also, it might be a good idea to treat them for giardia and coccidia as well, with some Flagyl and Albon. I am treating a litter of 11 even though there is a negative stool sample. They are 6 weeks old right now, I have them on canned food and wet down dry. I pulled them about a week ago as they were not doing well with the *****, she was done nursing. They have done better since they are eating food now.

Answer 2

He has good taste. Try feeding another high quality food with a lower protein content than EVO. Try Innova, Wellness Puppy, Natural Balance, Fromm, Natures Variety Prarie, Solid Gold, Merrik, etc. Sometimes EVO, Orijen, etc can cause GI upset in dogs, especially if the transition is made too quickly. In many cases it is recommended not to go grain free until the dog is over a year, as the protien levels can cause rapid growth spurts.

Answer 3

Do you feed them treats in addition to their main meals? My pup is 11 weeks old and she lost her appetite after I wormed her a few days ago. I only left her food bowl there for ten minutes and then took it away until late afternoon. She soon wolfed it down when she realised I wasn't going to keep giving her treats (like chicken). Allow them 10/15 minutes to eat. If they dont eat, dont worry just remove their food bowls until later in the day and make sure that they have plenty of water. Saffy still drank loads when she wasn't eating. Again this morning she's not touched her food but no doubt she will later. She's due to get her first injections this afternoon!! Good luck

Answer 4

Hi Jody
Don't worry to much about the 3 that are not eating, you say that they take a small piece of food well that plenty and they only have small tummies. I think your just very concerned lover of dogs and your puppies will do great with you bringing them up good for you

Answer 5

What breed are they/how much do they weigh?
Did your DVM do a fecal test to rule out coccidia?
What type dewormer (active ingredient) did you use?
What dose did you give each time?
What brand puppy food are you feeding them?
Have you tried moistening the food with some warm water?
Are you giving them any milk? (Don't!)
Do they still have access to nurse on their mama? Or when you say hand-reared, does that mean you bottle-fed them? If so, when did you stop bottlefeeding?

*Edit* We normally start routine prophylactic dewormings at 2-3 weeks old. Anyone who waits until 7 weeks is likely to end up with dead pups!!!

Answer 6

So are they eating or not. One minute you say they aren't eating and the next that they are eating a little. Puppies need tiny amounts several times a day. These should be getting 5 meals a day. Their tummies are tiny so can only cope with about a table spoon full at most at a time.

Answer 7

Being consistant with the type of puppy food you are using is very important. I would recommend if they ate what the vet sold you. Then to buy that food and stick to it until they have developed more agressive eating pattern. Sometimes like kids they eat when they want.

Answer 8

The pups will come around to eating, giving them a dose of wormer so early can take affect on them, you should always wait until they are seven weeks old before worming them as there stomach is still getting use to natural food rather than the milk from the mum

Answer 9

having fostered pups, best advice, make sure to keep thier diet consistent, and if all else fails, feed them one at a time, and yes, it sounds wierd, try canned cat food. It has higher amounts of omega-3 fatty acids, and the smell is stronger. worked wonders for a pit puppy I was fostering who was 1.5 oz when I got her to 3 lbs before she went to her forever home, 6 weeks later!

Answer 10

My breeder fed the Giant Schnauzer pups on raw chicken mince and biscuit from about 6 weeks old - and the odd chicken neck... honestly...

you can get them frozen in pet food stores. Thaw it out first though...

Took us a while to get Borris onto dry food which was more out of convenience - and the stink of raw meat - plus too much proteins! Also we didn't want him to grow too quickly (like a show puppy does!)