Pet Insurance

One question that is occasionally asked by new puppy owners is “Why won’t my puppy eat?” Well, the good news is that MOST puppies will eat all the food they can get in their little mouths! The negative aspect to that is two-fold: first, because they can overeat and nobody likes to clean up puppy puke; the other negative to it is that they really can’t differentiate between food and a button or a piece of wood or anything else yet. So, be very careful about finding and picking up any “thing” that you might drop and by giving them a pre-measured amount of food.

One of the things that might keep a puppy from eating is probably the most obvious of all. That is, the transition period between leaving their Mommies and adjusting to their new home environment. Research has proven that within just a few months, if reintroduced, a puppy will not know his Mommy or litter mates. (As a responsible breeder of Golden Retrievers, that is a real insult to me! I’d like to think that all of my “granddogs” would remember each other at their little puppy family reunion. We love those puppies more than anything and it’s a little sad to me, but it is, very much, the truth!) Anyway, it takes a few days for the puppy to get used to a new environment, new smells, new people, and their Mommy and siblings are no longer around. And, the older the puppy, the harder it can be. Usually, within a week, they will have adapted nicely and all of your feeding worries will be gone!

By the time a puppy is weaned from his Mommy and is at your house, he should be taking a good puppy chow, transitioning to a dry dog food. Be sure to read the labels and look for adequate growth information when choosing the correct food for your dog. It’s a good idea to stick with whatever the breeder was feeding the puppy before you brought him home. If you decide to switch, do it gradually, mixing the two dog foods together. For instance, if the breeder was feeding Eukanuba and you want to switch to Iams, then, mix 75% Eukanuba to 25% Iams for a few days; then 50% of each for a few days; then 25% Eukanuba and 75% Iams for a few days until you are at 100% Iams (or whatever the brand is you are using). Follow the label recommendations, too, for serving size per pound. And, optimally puppies should be fed 3 times a day. Remember, not too heavy on the treats at this stage. They’ll quickly learn that the treats are YUMMY and won’t want plain ol’ dog food. (This applies to human food at this stage, too. Who wants dog food when they could be eating yummy table food?

If you present the food to the puppy and the puppy doesn’t seem interested, take the puppy to the bowl. Perhaps offer him a piece or two and if he doesn’t take it, then just lay it down. Maybe he’ll take it and maybe he won’t. If he does take it, he’ll probably find his way to the bowl and will eat. (Praise him for eating and then, immediately take him out to potty after he eats.) If he doesn’t take it, don’t leave the food down for longer than 10-15 minutes or so, and then pick it up. A little while later, reintroduce the bowl and continue this until the puppy understands he needs to eat when the bowl is down. He’ll get it soon enough.
If you are doing all of these things and the puppy still isn’t interested in eating, take him to the vet. It could be a number of things. Perhaps it is a virus, or some other physical difficulty; it could be that the puppy is having trouble adapting for one reason or another; it could be many things. This is the time to really utilize your vet’s expertise! Check back with the party that you got the puppy from; see if they had any feeding difficulties with your puppy or any of the other littermates. But most of all don’t ignore it; you must stay on top of it! It doesn’t take very long for a puppy to become dehydrated and/or malnourished. Just be patient and try, try again!