Eating?
 

I would like to know any tricks you use to get your puppy to eat. Galen missed his siblings so he was not eating as much. Then he started liking the adult food. So he was eating adult and puppy food. I am making sure he eats 3 times a day with food out all day. I have food in a bowl and on the floor. Then I put food in bionic and he tries to eat the food out of it. I just do not want to make him finicky. So any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Teri. You'll get great advice here on your thread but I also want to point out for you (or readers that come along) that YT has a search engine that'll really help as well. I've found though it's best to use the advanced search & change the drop down to "search for threads".

Hope this helps. My Bella has a queasy tummy about once a month & throws up bile so I know what you're going through. Hang in there!

I have used the search but I also would like to hear especially with puppies what do they do.

I have never fed puppy formula foods. I free feed an all stages kibble. Free feed meaning food is available at all times. No one is overweight.

He's pretty small...it won't take much to fill him up. My pups didn't seem to eat much but they all gained and grew.

Thanks Deb. He is eating California Natural Lamb. I leave a measured amount, so I can make sure he is eating, out for him all day. I don't see him eat that often so I sit with him and get him to eat some. I just worry he is not getting enough. But he does look like he is bigger lol

Oops, I realized I'd messed this up & fixed it. (ergh, some day I'll learn to re read my posts before hitting submit!)

hi
 

Hi, first of all I wanted to say congratulations on your little Galen, he's absolutely adorable!

I don't know if I can help much as I'm a new puppy mom too but I'll try! My puppy Pebbles is 21 weeks now.

When she first came home I was very worried about ensuring she ate enough each day and eating at regular intervals. I gave her kibble softened with water but some meals she didn't seem too interested and would only eat from my hand or a Kong toy. I started to mix a little wet puppy food with the kibble and she seemed to like that and I also noticed that she preferred the kibble hard, not moistened with water (the puppy kibble I give her is very small and shaped like small cheerios.)

I also started to make her "work" for her food by making her sit and stay until I gave her the ok to eat, this somehow made her see her food as a treat and she was way more interested in eating it! I also walked away once I gave her the ok to eat and didn't hover over her as Pebbles is a stubborn little yorkie and she would often refuse her food if I tried too hard to get her to eat lol:)

For a while I worried about her growing up to be a very picky eater but she loves her food now, she's a little piggy and has her bowl licked clean in a minute ot two and then looks for more!
So hopefully this is only a stage Galen is going through and he'll eventually gobble down his food like Pebbles does nowadays.

I don't know how you are serving it but when Tibbe seems a little off his food, I wet it with water, microwave it until the small fills the utility room and even you can smell it in the den, cool it and he will eat that. Also, I make his treats that way, soak the kibble a long time, microwave it like 15 minutes on both sides and cool, dry it until all moisture is gone. He LOVES it that way.

Are the kibble sizes small, if he's on kibble? In any event, you might put some in a plastic bag and break them up into smaller sizes with a mallet and see if he goes for smaller pieces.

I tried moistening the food he hates it. The funny thing is he loves the adult food and not even the small bites. He likes the large pieces lol. And the silly dog eats them whole. Wow those little needle teeth go through anything. It bothers me that they are so big so I break them up. I just got a bag of it ( pet food store was out) so I am going to mix it with the puppy food and hope he will be a better eater.

The only thing I can get him to sit for is liver treats lol. I even rubbed a little on his food the first day to get him to eat more. The crazy things we do for our pups lol he does like wet food. I bought a can. I put about a dime size just to cover the food and he loves it. But I do not want to get him used to eating with just wet food. I hope with the adult food he will eat better. I called California Natural and they told me that the adult food is an all stage food. They make a smaller size adult food but for some reason he likes the big size lol So if he likes that that is what he will get, mixed with puppy food until the bag is gone