New here, Tigger, and a question!
 

Hi YT! This is my first post. First, I wanted to say THANK YOU! I have been reading and exploring this site for the past week and it has been awesome. So much great information and it has been very helpful for us.

Second, I wanted to introduce TIGGER! I just got him for my birthday and he is amazing! He is 11 weeks old and weighs 2.5 lbs. We have had him for 6 days.

*I'll try to attach a picture, but I tried that once already and my entire post was deleted.

Third, I do have one question... about his eating... or lack thereof. He does not seem to want to eat his hard food. We are feeding him 3 times a day, about 1/4 cup at a time, and he doesn't chow down or even seem to be interested in it. After a few days we started to add in the food we wanted to feed him, Nature's Balance, but he just ate around that... when he would eat. So, we are currently sticking with the food from the breeder... Iams... he seems to like that a little more.

He will eat 1 tsp. of NutraCal every morning and night; we are trying to get something in him. We also added Greek yogurt to his food. He loved it. However, he licked every nugget until the yogurt was gone... and the food was not. We don't really give him too many treats, and he is eating a little, but he never just eats like he is hungry! And yes, he does drink his water when he is thirsty.

Just didn't know if this was okay or if we should try something else. Again, THANK YOU! All of your posts have been wonderful. Sorry for the long post, just wanted to make sure I explained properly!

Welcome to YT! You sure have a little cutie there.

It's not unusual for yorkie pups to nibble on their food all day long instead of getting serious & eating a meal. It's actually a good thing as they are keeping a little food in their tummies on all day which helps to maintain their sugar levels. At this age, it would also be good to soak the kibble to make it easier for them to eat. His gums are going to be pretty sensitive for the next few months from teething. Everything is new to him in his new home, so be patient with the changes you want to make. Be sure to check out the Health & Diet section of YT! You'll get many helpful ideas there also. I use to keep Roxy's kibble down for her all the time, so she could eat whenever she wanted. She was definitely a nibbler. She would get 2-3 pieces in her mouth, carry them to another part of the room & eat them there. It's quite common. It's also common that it may take awhile to find a good diet for him to find the brand he does like, so don't buy large bags until you find the right one.

Good luck with you little one. He's got lots to learn about life, and will give you many laughs & smiles along the way. Lots of help here, so don't hesitate to ask questions.

Welcome Tigger is so cute, love his name.

You can try to give him some wet food. My puppy used to eat her wet food and not the dry food. I gave her 3 to 4 times a day a little bit of wet food, and leave dry food available at all time.

Aww welcome to YT, you will love it here :D TRIGGER is a little cutie hehe!! <3 xxx

Welcome to YT. You got advice from Roxylove that is almost exactly what I would have said, so won't repeat.

Hi there and welcome to YT. Baby Tigger is adorable. I would try and mix his kibble in with canned food. And I would leave the kibble out all the time with his water too. Even if he licks off the kibble he will still be getting the canned food in his belly.

tigger is adorable so cute

Thank you all very much for your responses!! I will try both wetting the food and canned food if he continues to not eat a lot. However, last night, because I still had Greek yogurt and I knew he liked it, I tried that again. He ate all of the yogurt off the spoon and then continued to eat his food... off the spoon. He wouldn't eat it straight from his bowl, but if it was on the spoon he was good to go!

Thanks again, I really enjoy this site and all of the helpful information/members!

Another thought is that some of these guys don't like bowls, but will eat off plates. You might want to try that too. Glad you are making progress. :)

Welcome to yt! Tigger is a cutie:)

Welcome Tigger! I think it's best to leave food and water available most of the time, at least while they are puppies. As long as he is eating some, I wouldn't worry too much. When we got Maggie, she would not eat the puppy food. She would go to the big dogs' bowl and eat what they had though. She would ONLY eat what they ate. We ended up switching to an all life stages food for all our dogs and they all ate the same food from then on. We feed Nature's Variety and have had good luck with it, and the kibble is still small. We have 2 dogs that have eaten it since they were puppies, Maggie (our 2nd yorkie) and Lilly (our maltese). They had no trouble eating it at all.

We have been leaving his food out around the clock after reading all of your posts. Wetting (with water or chicken broth) doesn't seem to help him. Without his yogurt it is a no go! I will catch him grabbing a couple pieces throughout the day though, so at least he knows/wants to eat something...

After reading a lot in the health & diet section, I got a bag of Natural Balance because it seemed to be popular. However, I think that might be the problem. We are going to either stick to Iams for a while or have him try something besides the Natural Balance.

Also, we did try the plate/saucer thing. Didn't make a difference. But like I said, he is eating a little... we are just being patient! Thanks again, I really do appreciate all of the feedback.

One last thing in response to mscat's post... we have read a lot that if you start them on canned food it is very hard to get them to go back to hard food. We have just been trying to avoid that I guess. Anyone have any thoughts about the truthfulness in that?

I gave canned food (as well as some dry food) for months to my puppy and then stop the canned completely and she is still eating her dry food very well, even more than before:)

:welcome4: He is such a cutie pie!!!

I would ask your vet about the amount of Nutri Cal. Mine once told me with a tiny pom that if I gave him too much he might drop off the amount of food he ate. Not really sure . But might want to ask Good luck.He is adorable...Wanda

Although Dori does not eat canned food, both her vet and trainer said it is perfectly ok to feed a high quality wet food AND dogs much prefer it! For your pooch's size, I think you are expecting him to eat too much. Dori is a 5 lb. Adult and only eats 1/4c. twice daily.

Welcome and have fun with YT!

Mina was so little when I first brought her home. Her food twice a day was a little kibble,a tiny bit of water and 1T of wet,mixed together so the kibble would soften a little. She is now almost 7months old. She eats kibble,wet sometimes,several types of fruit and veges. I dont feed all of my dogs wet food just she (the youngest) and the old man (almost 15). Everyone else eats kibble,fruits and veges.

Iams
 

We feed Toby Iams and he LOVES it, he likes it waaay better than the food he was used to eating from his previous owner. In fact, the first day we had him we tried giving him his "old" food and he didn't really eat much of it, then the next day we gave him a mix of that and the Iams, and he seemed more interested in his food then.

I guess I'm sort of an "Iams dork" I have given all of my dogs I've ever had Iams (I don't really know why I started that) and both of them lived long healthy lives one to age 16 and the other to age 18. The 18 yr old just passed away in the spring, but up till the winter he was running around like a little puppy. People were always amazed he was so old lol. I just always blamed it on the food lol.

As far as Toby eating, we do leave the bowl down for him all the time and he goes in and eats when he wants, mostly when we are in the kitchen eating breakfast or dinner or whatever. It's like a whole "family meal time" lol.

Abby wouldn't eat either when she first came to me.
I have her on wet food in the morning and evening.
I leave dry food down all day which she rarely eats.
She also has a little ball you put food into as a challenge to
get it out of the ball. When she does she is really excited
about it and will eat the food she gets out

Wet food won! Thank you all, again, or your posts. I really cannot get over the responses and helpfulness of this site!

We bought some wet food and mixed it with his dry food and he loves it. I think it was just what we needed. I don't know why I didn't want him to "get hooked" on wet food? But after seeing him eat and how much he likes it I am so glad we did.

We have been leaving his food down all day, and that had also seems to help. With him being so young I really can't expect a schedule so soon. But he is eating and happy and that is all that matters!

He is eating out of his bowl and doesn't seem to find it (vs. a plate). And we have also been able to cut back on the amount of NutraCal we have been giving him! Thanks again!

Congratulations and welcome to YT.

I did the Nutrical a few times a day the first week I got Max and Abby. They loved it and it gave me peace of mind that they were okay.

I switched my pups to Wellness Small Breed Just For Puppies after I got them home. They went right for it and had no issues with it.

Other than being made of good stuff, the pieces are really small. They are about 1/3 the thickness of the Iams puppy my friend feeds her Beagle. Abby is about 2.6 pounds at 16 weeks and Max is about 4 pounds at 18 weeks (same daddy, different mom). Abby has gained about 3 ounces since she came home - Max about 6 ounces.

Abby and Max both love Iams puppy biscuits for a treat.

There are a lot of really good dog foods out there. I think the small bites (like the Wellness small breed) are a good choice for their little mouths.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

Just to give you the weekend update, because you all have been so great with helping, things are looking up! We kept his food down and he was eating more of it with the wet food in it. So, we were able to back of the NutriCal a little and feel better about his eating.

Yesterday, we were at the pet store and decided to pick up a bag of the Wellness Small Breed Just for Puppies, just to see if it was actually the food he didn't like (thanks AbbyMax). IT WAS. We put a fresh bowl of the new food down (about 1/4 cup) without any wet food and he ate it all-- and loved it.

After everything we have read, we were hesitant to keep switching food, as trying to not upset his stomach, but we gave it one last chance. We are going to stick with this for a while as he seems to love it. We are still leaving his food down during the day and he is eating much better. Thanks again for all of your help!! Tig appreciates it!

he is such a cutie pie, that coloring is so beautiful!