Puppy HELP!?

Question

I have an 11 week shih tzu and he doesnt like to eat 4 meals aday....He really is more like twice maybe 3 times a day...Is this normal...Im tried of forcing him to eat....it consumes my whole day! I try to feed him for an hour and then I try to get him to poo for an hour and this happens 4 times a day....this is 8 hours out my day....and I cant get any work done! Please give me some insight

Answer 1

I would continue to offer food at least 3 times a day, leaving his bowl down for at least 20mins. If he doesn't eat, he doesn't eat. As long as he otherwise healthy and not losing weight I don't think you have anything to worry about.

I've got a 12 weeks old belgian malinois puppy, and I'm lucky if I can get her to finish one meal a day. I still offer her 3 meals a day, but its a very rare day that shes eat more than her morning meal. Sometimes she doesn't even finish that. She's healthy in every other way, and looks a healthy weight as well.

To tell if your dog is at a good weight do a rib check. If you can see the ribs, you need to get him to eat more. If you can't feel the ribs easily under a thin layer of fat, feed less. Your dog should also have a visible "waist" when looked at from above.

Of course if he's losing weight, not feeling well in other ways, its time for a check up.

I'd also make sure you are feeding a high quality food. I'm currently feeding my pup Nature's Variety, next week she switches to Innova Evo.

Here's how to spot other high quality foods.
Nothing you find at a grocery store is going to be a good food. High quality foods can be found at large pet store chains, or online. A couple of foods I like are Nutro Natural, Innova, and Cannidae.

There are other high quality dog foods. Here's how to spot them:

A high quality food will have little or no fillers such as corn, wheat or soy. These aren't very digestable for dogs, and are common food related allergens. Since you were seeing corn meal in the first few ingredients, those are not high quality foods. Foods list ingredients by content, with the ingredient it contains most of at the top.

A high quality food will not contain BHT, BHA or Ethoxyquin, these are all chemical preservatives that have been linked to cancer.

A high quality food will not contain by-products of any kind. Meat meals are ok as long as the source of the meat is listed, such as Chicken Meal.

A high quality diet should have meat as at least the first ingredient., and be made from human grade ingredients. Foods that don't use human grade ingredients often get their ingredients from less than desirable sources, such as meat from animals that were diseased, or euthanized.

There is another diet option other than dog food. Some people choose to feed a raw diet. This involves feeding the dog raw meaty bones and organ meat. However it is not as simple as throwing a couple chicken bones in a bowl everyday. If you wish to feed this type of diet, do lots and lots of research first. Switching to this diet without knowing what your doing can lead to nutritional problems for your dog. I'll give you some links as a starting point in research if you are interested in this type of diet.

http://www.willowglen.com/barf.htm

http://www.bestfrisbeedogs.com/diets.html

http://www.rawlearning.com/rawfaq.html

http://www.rawfed.com/myths/index.html

http://www.rawdogranch.com

What's Really In Pet Food
http://www.api4animals.org/facts?p=359&more=1cat=286

Answer 2

Congratulations on your new puppy! To teach the puppy to obey commands you must be consistent. Always use the same phrase or word and always speak in the same tone of voice. Speak in your normal voice. Do not yell. Yelling frightens the puppy and will not teach him/her a thing. You may think that it does, because just as an example say the puppy has done something that he/she isn't supposed to do and you become frustrated with Puppy and you yell "No". The puppy will move away from you and you may think that you have taught him/her something and this won't happen again. Well, you would be half right. You have taught the puppy something by yelling at her/him and that is to be afraid of you because the puppy won't understand why you're yelling. Please speak in a normal voice or a soft voice when you speak to the puppy. In order to teach the puppy the command "No" first decided what the puppy can do and what the puppy isn't supposed to do. Some of this is obvious to you and your family. Some may not be if you have children such as you don't want the puppy on the furniture because it (the furniture) will get dirty and it will get dog hair. After you establish with your family what is O.K. for the puppy to do and what is not O.K., then everyone should use the same word or words to teach the puppy. Puppys learn by repetition. Just keep at it and pretty soon you will have a nice well behaved puppy. Also, please do not hit the puppy--even with a rolled up newspaper. People say that if you do this the puppy or the dog will not associate it with you but this is not true. The puppy can see who is holding that newspaper. If you want to discipline the puppy you should not hit or yell. I had a puppy that I crate trained and when she would not obey me after many times, then I would put her in her crate for what is called a "time out." I would not put her in the crate and then put her in a room by herself--she would have felt abandoned. Instead I put the crate in the room with me and I sat and talked to her until she calmed down and then I immediately let her out. You may try this. As to teaching the puppy not to bite, and not to bark-- puppys bark--this is normal but to teach her to stop barking, just speak in your normal voice and tell her "No" or "Be quite" or "Hush" or something like that. As far as teacher her not to bite, first be sure that the person is not teasing the dog. Biting is one of the ways that dogs and puppys have of defending themselves. If the person had not teased the puppy, just speak in your normal voice to the puppy and tell him/her "No" or "The postman is our friend" or something along these lines. This will take awhile, but dogs are smart. Keep at it as I said earlier and pretty soon you will have a well-mannered puppy. I almost missed the last part of your question. Since the puppy is white some names might be Snowball Frosty (male) Also you should make a list of names that you like and names that suit the puppy. Take a few days and watch the puppy and you will notice the puppy's personality and you may want to make a name from a characteristic that he/she has. For instance, I had a mixed breed terrier. The name she had when I first got her was totally inappropriate. I made a list of names that I liked and I watched the puppy and I noticed that she walked like a lady and held her head just like a lady and so my new puppy became Lady.

Answer 3

2 meals a day is perfectly fine. Just put the food in his bowl and leave him to eat undisturbed for a certain length of time, 30 min should be more than sufficient. After that time, remove the food he hasn't eaten and save it for his next meal time. Dogs will eat when they're hungry, and it's not going to kill him to skip a meal or two.

If he won't go potty right away, put him in his crate (or other confined, quiet place) for an hour and then take him outside again. If he still won't poo, just repeat this process. Soon he'll get the routine down.

Good luck.

Answer 4

Change the food. Make sure you're feeding a QUALITY dog food like Artemis, Wellness or Innova.

Pedigree, Purina, Iams, Eukanuba and any other crap you can buy at the grocery store is not only unappetising, but also unhealthy for your pup.

http://www.artemiscompany.com

Put the food down twice a day for 15 minutes, whatever the pup eats in 15 minutes is what he gets. He'll learn pretty quickly that the window for food closes quickly so he better eat when it's available. Also, this is a great way to regulate when he'll need to do big business.

Good luck!

Answer 5

4 times a day is actually a little much. 2-3 times is the normal feeding schedule. Make sure you aren't giving him more than the recommended amount within' a day, and give him a while after he eats, before you take him outside to go potty.

Answer 6

I wouldnt force him to eat,,, i would only feed him 2 to 3 times a day and only give him about 15 mins. to eat it if he dont eat it then pick it up and try the next feeding,,, I would wait at least a half hour to take him out to go potty,,, that is what we do for our puppies, and they grow just fine and arent over wieght,,, I hope this helps and good luck with your new puppy,,,

Answer 7

How much per feeding are you giving him? Shi-Tzus are small dogs, so they're naturally not going to eat as much as larger breed puppies. 2-3 feedings a day is probably plenty for him. If you've taken him to the vet and everything has checked out ok, then I wouldn't worry.

Answer 8

Just like a baby, he has a small stomach, so he will eat only when he feels he needs to. In puppies it may be better to leave a small amount of food in a dish for him, this will help him strengthen his appetite. Eventually he will learn to let you know when he needs to go to the bathroom. An important thing to remember is not to feed them too much, dogs don't know when to stop eating, which can cause obesity and bowel problems.

Answer 9

I would make it more like 2-3 times a day. 4 times is a lot.

Answer 10

I feed twice a day, morning/evening. If they don't eat in 20 minutes I take it away. If they don't eat all their morning food, they get that at night, and thats all. They start out each morning with 1/2 cup a piece. (They are supposed to have a cup a day)...