[Sophie]

Hi everyone,

Sophie is now almost 5 months old. She eats Beta Puppy Junior dry food. When I put her food in her bowl she looks away and doesn't eat it right away. She will eat it later when I am not there. Is this normal? I feed her after we eat and she gets approx. 1 cup at about 8 am another about 1 pm and another at 6 pm. If I add some hot water she seems more interested and she will eat it sooner. I am tempted to add some tin food to her meal. Her weight seems fine. Also when she is in her basket and I give her a biscuit she doesn't look at me and won't take the biscuit in her mouth so I put it on the floor and then she will eat it when I have gone. I feel like it is some sort of test of wills. Should I ignore this or is there something I should do. What do you think?

Tom

 

[JohnW]

Don't worry Tom, it's no test of wills, dogs don’t think like that. It could be that she is not too keen on Beta, although I doubt it. You say her weight is fine, could it just be that she is not hungry? Please don’t take notice or the feeding recommendations printed on the food. I find these to be grossly over the top!!

If her weight is fine then my recommendation is to leave well alone. As a little aside. When my Anna is around time for her season she can get very fussy about taking from fingers! Anything placed on the ground she will take but anything held and she will sniff it and step away!

Regards, John

 

[Tracey]

I am just wondering if her new teeth are hurting her as they probably haven't all come through yet.

My Scooby was a bit like that at that age.

 

[clairiscrazy]

hi tom

yes i agree with tracey..when you add the hot water it softens the food..so maybe her teeth or gums are a bit tender at the moment..does she seem to be chewing more on things?? then again forget that shes a lab they chew anyway..LOL..

 

[Milo]

Tom - we had a similar prob with Milo and Scott started adding a little hot water to her food and she immediately woolfed it all down ! Definitley a teething thing but feel its also nicer when its a bit nippy outside.

 

[anna]

Vouge always gets warm water in her royal canin.
Anna

 

[mommy]

I had the same problem and was told to sprinkle some warm water on too as it released yummy smells which enticed them to eat.......

 

[JohnW]

I must admit I always feed dried food wet to puppies but dry to adults, but not for reasons of palatability.

When dried food first came into the country, because it was something completely new to us all I suppose we never understood the dangers. You have to understand that up to this time the only dog foods were in tins. now if you check on a tin you will find a water content of around 80%. Something which we never gave a thought to was the amount of fluids our dogs were getting from the food, therefore EXTRA fluids we had to supply to replace those lost by feeding the dry! This caused so much trouble in these early days that dried food got a bad name! I'm very aware of making sure that there is plenty of fluids in the stomach so that any food does not absorb everything in there!

By the same token, when the dog gets older, I always feed dry. the dog by this time has developed ways of communicating and has no difficulties in telling me it's thirsty. (Anna throws her water bowl at me!!!!) and feeding dry gives them something to crunch on which helps to clean their teeth.

Regards, John

 

[Sophie]

Thanks John and others,

I think you are right about her teeth being sensitive. That does explain her reluctance to eat her food straight away. I was told to to get her eating dry Beta as this is good for her teeth but I realize she is not ready for that yet. So I am putting some warm water with her food now.
I was reassured to hear that it is wasn't a test of wills thing too. I know that it is important to be the leader of the pack by doing things like feeding her after us and walking through the door before her ect. so I thought that her not eating her food in front of me was a sort of battle of wills.
Best wishes,
Tom

 

[my4labs]

Hi tom


If she is teething try using ice cubes to numb the gums just before feeding , worked a treat for me and certainly helped ellie to eat, she was the first pup that ive had that neede this ice routine and i have 3 labs

Hope this helps lol