[nanniesrock]

I wonder if you guys can give me some advice. Harley has almost entirely stopped eating her kibble. I feed Nutro lamb and rice. She was eating 3-4 c. a day, lately (last week or so) she's taking less - only about 1 c. No change in activity level, no noticeable weight loss. Should I be concerned, maybe change her food? The only scraps she gets are meat scraps after dinner (not a significant amount at all.) Often I even save them for training treats. What's going on?

 

[Lisa]

Do you free feed?

 

[nanniesrock]

Do you free feed?

Um, what's free feed? Grazing?

 

[Bremner53]

Do you free feed?

Um, what's free feed? Grazing?

Free Feed = Food dish always has food in it, and avaliable for the dog to eat.

 

[deuce's mommy]

It is leaving their food out all day for them to eat instead of picking it up if they don't eat it.

 

[nanniesrock]

Well,, yeah, her food dish mostly has food in it, b/c she's not eating it. Should I be taking it away?
I was feeding 2x a day, but lately come evening meal, breakfast is still there.

 

[Miakoda]

Keep feeding on the twice a day schedule, but instead of just pouring the food in her dish & leaving it, give her 20 min. to eat & if she doesn't eat, then pick it up & do not give her anything (no treats) until the next feeding time where you repeat the same thing: put food in bowl, put bowl down in front of dog, give dog 20 min, pick up dish after that time. If she doesn't eat a lot or doesn't eat at all, she'll be ok. She might protest this new arrangement & not eat for 5 days (1 of my hard-headed dogs tried this, lost 4 lbs, but I won :wink: ), but eventually she will learn that YOU control when & what she eats & that you are not just her server. She will soon look forward to those scheduled meal times & will be licking her bowl clean. And for right now, I'd cut out the scraps & any treats alltogether until she learns that her kibble is her main source of food, not the yummy scraps.

EDIT: Just wanted to add that water should be kept available at all times.

 

[peeblerelf]

Keep feeding on the twice a day schedule, but instead of just pouring the food in her dish & leaving it, give her 20 min. to eat & if she doesn't eat, then pick it up & do not give her anything (no treats) until the next feeding time where you repeat the same thing: put food in bowl, put bowl down in front of dog, give dog 20 min, pick up dish after that time. If she doesn't eat a lot or doesn't eat at all, she'll be ok. She might protest this new arrangement & not eat for 5 days (1 of my hard-headed dogs tried this, lost 4 lbs, but I won :wink: ), but eventually she will learn that YOU control when & what she eats & that you are not just her server. She will soon look forward to those scheduled meal times & will be licking her bowl clean. And for right now, I'd cut out the scraps & any treats alltogether until she learns that her kibble is her main source of food, not the yummy scraps.

EDIT: Just wanted to add that water should be kept available at all times.

I agree. Also just wanted to say that she will not starve herself! If there is food available and they are starving, they will eat anything. How big is your dog? 3-4 cups seems like a lot of food. My dogs are both about 45-50 pounds each, and get 2 cups a day. 1 in the morning and 1 at night. try putting the food out for 20 minutes at a time and taking it away...she'll get the idea! If you see rapid weight loss i would just double check with your vet to make sure there isn't any medical problems going on either.

 

[nanniesrock]

OK I'll try this suggestion and see what happens. BTW, I did pick up the bowl at around 1 today, and didn't give it back until after a long walk @ 7pm. She ate.

Harley weighed 55lbs. at last check-up, but she's only 1, still has some filling out to do. I thought about trying "silky balls"?
The recipe lists ingredients, but that's it. You feed this raw, as opposed to say, cooking like a meatball? I'll hold off until she's on track W/ her kibble.

 

[nanniesrock]

I agree. Also just wanted to say that she will not starve herself! If there is food available and they are starving, they will eat anything. How big is your dog? 3-4 cups seems like a lot of food. My dogs are both about 45-50 pounds each, and get 2 cups a day. 1 in the morning and 1 at night. try putting the food out for 20 minutes at a time and taking it away...she'll get the idea! If you see rapid weight loss i would just double check with your vet to make sure there isn't any medical problems going on either.

Quotes haven't been working right, so I just copy and pasted :wink:
I really didn't think that was enough. I was reading some older posts re: feeding, and it seems some of these dogs eat a lot more. Harley is my first Pup, so I'm new to this. I make a lot of analogies between how I treat and raise her and any other "child", (I'm a Nanny by trade). I don't know if I'm wrong in my thinking on this, but it does help me understand her a bit better, I think. My point was (got a little sidetracked) does a growing dog need more food than an adult? I was also thinking about trying the raw diet, as it doesn't seem much more expensive than high quality kibble. Do you add vitamin supplements, or just pureed vegies? (Harley won't touch them whole)

 

[Lisa]

Nanniesrock: can you post a picture of your dog? Maybe if we can see a good pic of him standing and form the side we can tell you if we think he looks to be in good shape or not.

I have a 16 month old AB that wieghs about 65#. I have never fed her more than 3 cups of food per day. I personally never go by what the bad says to feed. I go by the way my dog looks.

 

[Kate]

I think it all depends on the type of food you are feeding for how much.... I measured out 1 cup for Kate and there was barely any food in the dish! But Kate's food is also odd sized so half of what made the 1 cup was air. So I feed her about 1 1/2 "cups" of food in the am and again in the pm... so about 3 cups a day..... but she is also just about 2 and completely done growing and needs to lose a few lbs and get back in shape

 

[nanniesrock]

I'm trying to send in some new pics, but I misplaced my cord to hook up the camera (dang it). Thanks for all your help though. I'll send in the pics when I find the cord. (No-one's holding their breath I hope :wink: ) ~Andrea