Puppy with a poor appetite - Page 1

I have never had this problem with my dogs (except when recovering from an illness) but this guy keeps calling me for advice, he has a daughter of one of my dogs , now aged nearly 7 months (she is not from my kennel though so I am not sure how she was when little). Since he first took her home this puppy has always been a picky eater, sometimes more or less refusing food for 2-3 days at a time. When she was about 4 months we were really concerned that she was underweight and missing out on an important growing period. I gave him a lot of suggestions at the time and eventually she seemed to improve, and in fact was VP1 at her first show, aged 5 months. But recently she has started not eating again, not even chicken, chicken liver etc. The owner has tried various different foods, vitamin B complex, feeding together with other (hungry) dogs, she has had the normal worming schedule. Apart from not eating she seems well, active and happy but there must be a problem - in my experience it is not normal for a dog to not be hungry! I am plannng to talk to my vet about this tomorrow, and have already told the owner he should get her thoroughly checked out, but I just wonder if anyone has any suggestions in the meantime?

 Hi Oso,

How are you doing? How is Ecuador treating you? We are in the middle of a blizzard here and I have not been able to see more than about 200 feet all day. It is an experience I could do without.

How are the stools of this dog? And how much exercise does she really get?  I am talking about serious exercise! What does this person feed the dog? And was the pup a picky eater when you had her? How does he feed her? And how much? And how long has he made special accommodations in feeding? That sometimes can turn into a problem by itself.

In my experience, if a dog does not eat, there are only a two possibilities. One is that the dog truly is not hungry and often these dogs are dogs who are generally couch potatoes and overweight. Some dogs learn early on that if they are picky, especially when they don't need more calories because they are not getting enough exercise, they will get something better sooner or later. In other words, I think there are some dogs who really just don't have the need to eat regularly, but I think they are rare. In all the dogs I have here, believe me, if I put a bowl of food down and they don't eat it, something is going on. One thing to suggest he should have checked is thyroid, for sure.

That leads to the second possibility and that is that, in fact, the dog does not feel good internally. People often don't show signs or symptoms when they have a gut or digestive tract upset. Dogs can also hide frank signs of illness or discomfort. The quantity, color and firmness/form of the stool may give a hint that something is not quite right, without other obvious signs like periodic vomiting, diarrhea etc.

Assuming the stools are perfectly normal, and the dog is being treated like a dog in that nothing that has been done has taught the dog to be picky, and assuming the dog is otherwise heathy and active, it may be that this dog is just one of those rare dogs who does not love to eat. However, in my experience, such dogs are very, very rare.

Nice to hear from you.

There is only 1 fast shot for picky under weight dogs and that is.......... (will have to get the name later once i talk to the breeder who gave me the solution), give it for 10days and the appetite will gradually improve. Appetite increases within a day of starting the solution.

Vitamin B-12 and Dexamethasone (a steroid) can increase appetite. One would not want to use the dex if other options have not been tried and/or the dog is not in dire straights. Based on what Oso says, this dog is not in need of pharmaceutical intervention.

Interesting, thanks for all your replies. Good to hear from you Hodie, weather sounds terrible there!! To clarify I did not breed this puppy so I do not know what she was like before going to her new owner, but she was of normal weight when tatooed. At first I thought the owner was being over worried and that he was actually causing the problem by giving her her own way too much with food and trying every possible delicacy to persuade her to eat, feeding her by hand etc.. I also thought that at the previous kennel maybe the breeder left food available all the time for the puppies, so she knew she could eat whenever she wanted. Occasionally when puppies are frist separated from their littermates they are not so keen on eating without the competition, but this stage does not normally last long at all. So we tried to correct all these issues first. She also did have B12 injections and supplements and for while we thought the problem was solved. But now it has started again and this makes me think there may be some medical issue, although she seems fine (stools normal). If any of my dogs do not want to eat then I know something is wrong, it just does not happen! Anyway, I will see what the vet thinks today and maybe try the B12 again, I would prefer not use the steroids if poss....

I forgot to mention that this puppy is quite active, the owner trains her and prepares her for show regularly. Also that he has another new puppy aged 3 months that eats like a wolf (or a GSD!).

 Oso,
As always, this pup should also be checked for parasites, repeatedly. Often they are missed, and are there, and they can and do make a dog not interested in eating because they don't feel well. Stools are not always abnormal either.

Good luck. Weather here is still terrible. I have 4 foot drifts everywhere. Makes life miserable.