New pup not eating much looking for advice we got a yorkie puppy (3 months old) last friday so we have had her almost a week. They gave a good amount of purina puppy chow and said that she only eats about 1/4-1/2 cup a day at most (basically grabbing as much as you can in one hand). Well since she is here she dont even eat that much. My mom who also has a yorkie suggested it may still be too hard for her to add some warm water and make it softer. that dont work. I read online you can add a little piece of bouion cube to the warm water before adding it to the food to add a better smell and taste. That dont work either. Tonight we had plain white rice with dinner and I gabe her a small scoop of it and it was the most i have seen her eat so I know she is hungry... NOW this is the situation with her. The breader had sold her to an older lady who fell and broke her hip a few weeks after getting her and the breader bought back the dog and then I bought the dog from the breader. So in her short life she has had a lot of changes but she is doing GREAT. So I dont know if the older lady was feeding her other foods that she is used to that or if this food is just to tough or she dont like it etc.... My mom uses Eukaneva (not sure that its spelled right). She said her vet told her its one of the best store bought foods. My question is should I try another food? Should I give her wet food? What kinds of food do you give your Yorkie? Does anyone here MAKE their own dog food if so how and what do you put in it and how do you keep it fresh etc. (I make almost all of our food from scratch and even do canning and preserving so I am all up for making her food I just dont even know HOW to begin) Our friend makes his own do food but its for Big dogs.... Any thoughts or advice would be great!!!! |
I just saw the homemade dog foods I may try some of these for her see if she starts to eat more! Any other thoughts would be great too! Thanks |
Congratulations on your new puppy. There are many good dog foods on the market, Purina isn't the best but if you switch her you need to do it slowly. You can do a search on here to find a lot of info on good dog foods. You may want to try adding a little canned food to her kibble to see if that helps. |
The joys of a picky Yorkie. I agree with Patti, there are alot of high quality, holistic, and organic foods out there. Just ere on the side of caution when you're testing out new foods. Remember, that a new food can be a shock to the system, so make sure you're mixing it in with your older food, and try to keep a can of pumpkin handy. Not pumpkin pie filling, but pure pumpkin. You can give your baby that, if his belly gets upset. Plus, I know, for a treat, I mix some pumpkin in with Gizmo's food. :thumbup: good luck! Keep us posted! |
I agree if you do change the food do it slowly. |
I've read it's best to wait at least 4 days to start changing a puppy's food, so it may be an all right time. When we first brought Nilla home, she didn't eat very much. Now after some time, she's eating much better. We feed her Canidae; it was recommended to us to use until she gets older, then we can change her over to Taste of the Wild. I was concerned when she came and didn't eat much, but she checked out well at the vet's office. I think the new home transition is probably the issue. Feed her Nutri-cal or Forti-cal until she starts eating better! <3 |
She likely needs more time to settle into her new home. You can encourage her to eat her kibble by playing games/trick training. I hand-fed most of Max's kibble his first year that way. He performed sits and other obedience things for me and I would reward him with a kibble from his dish. I also used his kibble for potty rewards. Forget the bouion cubes -- not good for your pup. I would also not recommend adding enticements, people food or whatnot, because you will only train her to hold out for everything but what she should be eating. Additions to her regular kibble should not exceed 10% of her diet, otherwise you run the risk of un-balancing her diet and making her sick. Give her time. She will eat, especially if you act excited about the kibble. If you fret about the kibble, she will pick up on that. |
I also played "kibble in the kong" with Max. He has the extreme kongs, baby size, and I put kibble in it and he chases me to the carpet as I sing, "kibble in the kong, kibble in the kong." He loves it. |
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I agree with Maximo. So your pup is eating about 1/4 cup a day? Split between how many meals? There is absolutely no reason why you can't keep her on dog food. However, if you really want to cook for her, that is an option. You'd need to talk to a board certified veterinary nutritionist about creating a balanced diet for her. Even generic balanced recipes online are not usually suitable for puppies. With homecooking comes more assurance that you know what you are giving your pup. At the same time, you are then responsible for quality control, paying $$$ to a nutritionist, making sure the vitamin supplement(s) are used, using each ingredient exactly as directly (weighed out on a gram scale), etc. Most people find it easier to stick with dog food. And once you start with people food, she may be less likely to want kibble. I'd skip the Recipes thread here. |
There are some good recipes for homemade dog food on this site. I found my dog did not like rice or other grains so I would cook her some sweet potato and mix it with her chicken and some cooked veggies that had been put in the blender. She seemed to like it so much better than when I would put rice or oatmeal or other grains in her food. |
When I first started cooking for Chester, I was scared as well. It takes some practice and learning how to calculate amounts, but it's really not that difficult. Good luck! |
To get Mina to eat when I first brought her home this is what she ate morning and evening. Mixed together 1/8cp kibble,1T wet food,tiny bit of water to soften. When she wouldnt eat I would VERY litely sprinkle parmesian cheese on food and mix. My DH calls parmesian "puppy crack". She was 13weeks when I brought her home,she is now almost 8 months. She still gets wet food in the morning with a bit of kibble and just kibble at night with a few dog type treats during the day. I am working on weaning her off of the wet food,it makes her breath smell REALLY bad. Adding new food to a puppys diet must be done very slowly. I didn't try to switch Mina to a different type of kibble until she had been with us a couple of weeks and had time to settle in with us. |
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