My dog has lost interest in his food.?

Question

I have a 9 month old puddle - havanese mix. He weighs 15 pounds and eats a little over a cup of food a day. He was changed to a stabalization food. I changed by mixing his puppy food with the stabalization food. He always seemed to run to his bowl as soon as we filled it. I did this for about 3 weeks. Now he has changed his eating habits. He doesn't always come running, and in fact, he picks at his food. He does end up eating all of it but he comes and goes when eating. He is just not as hungry anymore or should I be thinking of new food? As a young puppy we changed he food as to not bore him with the same food. Any ideas?

Answer 1

You should never just start feeding a dog new food outright. Slow introduction is the way to go. If you can, go back to the puppy food in a smaller amount to the adult food and slowly reduce the amount. It's also a good idea to use a premium dog food like Iams or Eukanewba (check the spelling on that one!) Freshness is also another factor. I never by the huge bags of food because by the time you get near the bottom, it may have staled somewhat. One other thing that may be wrong is that he may have a cold and can not smell the food. If a dog can't smell it, he won't eat it!

Answer 2

I think this is just a stage your dog is going through. After a while, most dogs get bored with their food. When he was a puppy, you did the right thing to keep changing his food. If this keeps on going for about 2 more weeks, you might want to consider changing foods. And you probably shouldn't add anything other "human" food in his food. I have done this before, and I have noticed my dog getting very heavy after a few weeks. But be very careful, changing diets can give dogs serious diarreha (however you spell that ;-)

Answer 3

Most people don't agree with me, but I've always fed my dogs different brands of food. The variety seems to make them happy and definitely provides a wider range of nutrients. I believe that dogs get sick when their food is changed only because they never eat anything else. If you ate chicken, rice and greenbeans everyday for 5 years and suddenly ate a big bowl of spaghetti, you'd probably feel sick too. The stick-to-one-brand thing is also perpetuated by the dogfood companies for obvious reasons. My dogs are at ideal weights, have soft glossy coats, and are in perfect health.

If your puppy is used to eating different brands of foods, he's probably bored of what you're giving him. So keep changing out the food like you were doing before. His stomach can handle it if it's used to it.

Also, since your dog is so little, don't buy large bags of food even though it's cheaper that way. Dogfood gets stale in an opened bag, but storing it in plastic containers leeches vitamins out of it. Try to only buy enough to last a couple of weeks at most.

And lastly, if you're going to continue free freeding your pup, be sure to measure out only enough for a single day's ration when you fill the bowl. Even if it seems he isn't eating that much, it could really be adding up throughout the day and you might end up with an overweight dog!

Answer 4

It's NORMAL at this age. He's not growing as fast as he was, so he's not as hungry. Don't worry, when he's hungry, he'll eat. The WORST thing you can do is fuss over him, or start changing food or dressing up his food to make him eat. Then he'll get even more picky as he learns that all he has to do is refuse to eat and you'll give him something better. And if you encourage him to eat more than he naturally wants, it is bad for his health and will lead to obesity.

Answer 5

If he's on a good brand now, don't change his food - you'll only give him the runs. He's likely eating a bit less because he's not growing like he was. If he's a healthy weight - don't worry about him. He'll eat what he needs - be glad he's not over-eating and gaining weight - that would be much worse for him.

Answer 6

If you stop making other food available, then they will eat their own food more frequently. Also, try gradually switching to another type of dog food and see if that changes their appetite. Or get some canned dog food and mix it with the dry food to intice them to eat it :)

Answer 7

i heard that once you pick a type of food or brand, stick with it, i don't really know why, but it helps them more, so i think you should stop changing his type of food and let him get use to it.

Answer 8

don't change his food around anymore. dogs aren't like people, they don't crave a variety. they are more than content, and so are their stomachs to stay with one type of food. find a premuim adult food and stick with it.

Answer 9

try mixing an egg in his food or cottage cheese.