Trying to put weight on my pup - Page 2

Sorry I meant: 9-12 months

A few things for consideration....my dogs love the canned Wellness that is 95% meat (either beef, salmon, chicken, lamb..) It's great as a topper to mix in, and just about every dog I've known, even picky, will eat with this on there.  Also, most dogs love canned fish like tuna or mackeral mixed in with kibble.  If you want to specifically add weight, you can add a teaspoon of oil to food once a day.  Also, if your dog likes peanut butter, give her a peanut butter stuffed Kong everyday.  My current puppies eat Solid Gold Hundenflocken, and at 4 months of age are 46 and 47 pounds (good weight, not fat).  I also really like the Acana brand of food...my older picky dog does really well with this food.   

One thing, my puppies, when I first got them, went through a two week period of not eating great.  I don't think they would have eaten well at all in the crate.  I just sit with them while they eat.  Maybe yours would do better out of crate with you?    
 

My male was 17 lbs at 12 weeks when I got him. He now tops the scales at around 70-75lbs lean at 4 yrs old.

Melissa

It is not uncommon for GSD puppies to have an, uhh, unenthusiastic approach to food at times!!!  As long as the puppy has had a recent fecal to rule out parasites, you have nothing to really worry about.  In my oppinion your puppy is at a normal weight for her age.  First and foremost I would drop the NutriCal.  Its mostly corn sugar and not anything benefical.  Try to use a better sugar to encourage her to eat; for example, 30mins before a real meal feed her sweet potatoes/yams, apples, watermelon, carrots, cantelope....a natural whole fruit/veggie with a high sugar content, then offer her food, just like people...carbs increase hunger!   Try different foods until you find the right one, my super picky dogs LOVE Canidae Grain free Bison/Lamb and Natural Balance LID(Limited Ingredient Diet) Chicken and Sweet potatoe.  I would NOT supplement with canned fish, far too much protein for a young pup!  Instead, if you can find it on sale or at a reasonable price, a nice piece of fresh or farmed Salmon from you grocer's fish area, a 2-4oz portion, skin on and served with or without food, depending on how your pup responds to it, steak or chicken works as well.  Rice really does very little for a dog. Just suggestions!  My GSD was super picky until she reached 2yrs, my Cardigan Welsh Corgi was super picky until we got CWC num 2....now heaven forbid she can secretly find a way into his crate and steal his food while he slept!!!  He must eat the food before she knows its there!!  Getting my 2nd Cardi solved that problem! Best of luck, but my guess is that she will soon grow out of unenthusiastic eating!

Thanks guys, I hope she grows out of it. I've tried out of the crate just with her, but she gets so excited and distracted by everything else that she just wants to play. I'll try it again. I'll try the Wellness canned, and drop the NutriCal and try the fruits. Glad to see she may be in range, I just get worried, she's so much smaller than her littermates now. I've heard that leaving the food down for 10 minutes at a time, and then pulling it after that encourages eating, but I don't know about doing it with a young pup.

I've tried out of the crate just with her, but she gets so excited and distracted by everything else that she just wants to play.

Once more, a perfect description of my girl and the way she acts.  Her food has to be given in her crate, else it simply will not get eaten (by her), since she gets distracted by everything else around.....her "food drive" is NIL.  

I really feel for folks who have a non-eating GSD. I'm not normally a crier but I have shed more than a few tears since my two year old female GSD (Senta) has regularly refused to eat for many days at a time (often more than four days in a row). She has gotten so thin that strangers have left notes on our door "to feed our dog"; I don't blame them- you could count every rib. Numerous appointments to several vets haven't revealed anything physically wrong with her- not EPI, not a thyroid issue, etc. She has endless energy to run....she just doesn't eat. During her last long stretch of not eating, we seriously considered euthanizing her - a dog that we have invested countless hours in training and is a good dog in every other respect. She is really super with small children, doesn't hassle the mailwoman but absolutely did her job when we had an attempted late night break-in.

What I have learned over the past year is that this is a common problem with female GSDs from her breeding. I recently ran into a man who cried in my local pet store and was so relieved to learn that I owned a dog just like his girl (he owns Senta's full sister). I didn't even think to ask about eating when we bought her. However, when I was looking to add a second GSD to our family earlier this year, I probed breeders pretty vigorously about their dogs' eating habits. I'm sure the breeders thought I was an idiot. However, I'm so relieved that Bosco eats every morsel like it's his last second on this earth.

Senta is currently eating a very limited raw diet (she doesn't cope with diet change) that seems to be working for her at this time but this could change at any moment without any obvious reason. I find this incredibly frustrating. She is given absolutely no treats and is kept rigorously exercised with running and swimming. I have heard from a few folks who own female GSDs related to Senta that adding raw beef pancreas to the diet seems to help encourage eating. I guess I'll try this next. I would like to note that the addage "a healthy dog doesn't starve itself" doesn't apply to dogs like Senta- you cannot starve her out. I think that perhaps there is something wrong with whatever process signals hunger. Add this to the list of dogs that shouldn't ever be bred.

I'm very sorry that I don't have a magic solution to provide but I do understand the frustration of owning a non-eater for what it's worth. :)

I truly believe dogs will eat if they are hungry......... 

Feed the dogs seperately - since she cant focus on her food - not in the crate - in your kitchen - one at a time -  if she turn her nose up - pick it up........offer another feeding later that day.......Since Tala is a pup - I would offer it once in the morning - then once at night - if she doesn't eat it within 5 minutes then meal times is over........  Just my opinion but dogs getting bored with their food is a human concept - as well as a dog not eating could possible be from the owner tip-toeing-around to make the dog spoiled.

Leaving food down - offering multiple foods - not having a set schedule for feeding could be just a few issues your dog might have.......  

Dogs will eat when they get hungry.  If she won't eat today - then she will eat tomorrow.  If she won't eat tomorrow - she will eat the next day....it is called survival and all dogs have it.....


Yogie

Yogie - I'm going to have to very respectfully disagree with you. By the ninth day, starving the dog out isn't going to work. It is difficult to understand if you haven't experienced it.

I´m going with Yogie, if my healthy dog doesn´t eat, food is gone for a couple of hours, no matter if puppy or adult.
You talked about "a lot of exercise", does your pup get treats between the regular meals, is it waiting for "something better"?
To Laura: I don´t know any healthy dog, that wouldn´t eat for nine days. At this point I would think about any health issues.
Kind regards,
Susie