Eating:- doesn't seem to eat much?

Hi,

I am a newbie so if you haven't seen my post in the introductions, hello to you all!

I have a 11 week old Jack Russell call Ernie. At the moment he is on a dry complete food. He doesn't seem awfully fond of this and much preferes the tip bit which I have decided I must more or less cut out, it is not good for him I am sure! He doesn't tend to eat it from his bowl very often, so I tend to leave it there and feed bits of it as rewards (He seem to like it a lot more if I feed it to him?!).

I am wondering if I should have half the alllocation of dried food and then half of the allocation of a wet food? i.e. wet food that he might like from his bowl in the morning and evening and then dried for lunch (or for when he fancies it) and as rewards. What are your thoughts?

BTW, he seems and the vets says he is healthy and he is definately putting on the weight, but that is the tip bits, I am sure! (He will eat anything!)

i would appresaite some advice!

Thank you

Hi Nadine,

Just wondered if you had tried Nature diet. I think they do a puppy one (it is a wet complete food and smells delicious) Its 63p a carton from Pets at home and comes in quite a few flavours. My dog loves the lamb and rice variety and you can warm it for 60 seconds in the microwave (don't forget to let it cool afterwards though) so that it goes all juicy and smells appetising. It is a very good complete food and better than the tinned varietys and he would probably only need half a pack a day so it wouldn't really cost any more than the food you are using now.

he may do better on a wet feed . if you want to feed dry cpomplete though try lifting iot between meals .. leave it down for say 20 mins and lift it again . try adding a little gravy to it to soften it up a little . how many times a day are you feeding him . he may like small and offten feeds rather than few and large i had similar problems with my tyuson es a picky eater . i cut out snacks added some gravy and a little grated cheese and he eats it fine now i gradually cut out the cheese and gravy and hes eating what i put down now

Hello Nade Firstly pick a good quality complete food for your puppy wet or dry, calculate the quantity according to the manufacturers instructions and devide the amount between the number of meals you puppy has for his age.
Put the food down and leave it for about 15 minutes then remove any that has not been eaten.
Feed nothing else ..no tipbits until the next meal is due.
You have been 'training' your puppy not to eat what he has been given, he knows if he doesn't eat it he may get 'something better'
Do not hand feed him, you are 'training' him to eat this way and teaching bad habbits
You need to be firm in this or 'bad habbits' may form that could last a lifetime
This is the number of meals I feed to puppies, others differ on when to cut meal out, I prefer to feed little food and often to grow strong puppies and of course you can vary the times but I start with weaning 4X6 hours in 24

Age 4-12weeks = 4meals 7am / noon / 5pm/ 10pm
Age 3-6 months = 3 meals 7am/ noon / 5pm
Age 6-12months =2 meals 7am/5pm
1 year onwards = one main meal plus biscuits

This is an article by Dogwebber Shadowboxer, you may find it useful to help train your puppy

Hi,

Thanks for all of your great suggestions!

I have been to pets at home and brought some Nature diet. They seem to suggest quite alot from my calulations? i.e. Ernie is 2.45kg and they say he should have 0.7 to 1 pack a day? I can't imagine him eating all of that?

Could anyone advice me if that seems right to you?

Thanks!

What did the breeder feed him on, it is best to keep a pup on that and change over if you have reason at about 12 weeks taking at least a couple of weeks to do the changeover. If he is still on the food fed by the breeder then try adding a little tuna or scrambled egg or scraped beef to his complete food and see if that increases his appetite. Don't hand feed you will finish up with a fussy eater, best to put the food down for a half hour, pick it up and return it a bit later, also try serving it a little bit warmed.