not interested in eating...

[Carole]

well here I am again posting because I need help from the doodlers... My 17 month old goldendoodle has lost interest in eating.  I am hoping it is because she is done growing and now she is not as hungry... but I have never had this experience before.  I have never known a dog not to be hungry at meal time.  I feed her three times a day --- approximately 1 and 1/2 cup each meal for a total of 4 and 1/2 dry kibble and about a tablespoon of canned with some water added to make a gravy mix.  She has little interest in eating.  She only ate once today and with a lot of coaxing.  Then this evening she started to throw up bile.  My vet previously diagnosed her with colitis, but I thought we were over that (back in November).   I am so sad about her health issues.  The sensitive stomach has been going on since she was 8 weeks old and I am at my witts end -- emotionally and financially.  I am also so upset because I found out the breeder I got her from has overbred her mother.  My doodle is from her mother's 3rd or 4th litter (9 pups per litter.  I have not been able to get a vet to confirm that my doodle's issues would be related to having been the result of an overbred mother.  Does anyone have any experience with these issues?  Please help? 

 

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I don't think that she still needs to be fed three times a day. My doodle, Ned, does not eat every meal. My Springer goes through phases when he is starving and phases when he is not.  My other doodle, Clancy, never met a meal he didn't like.

[Camilla and Darwin]

Same here. We started feeding Darwin 2 meals a day at 6 months old because he was letting his food sit in the bowl. (I can't imagine him turning down food now... weird)

[Amy & Bernie]

I don't want to venture into health advice, I have no experience with canine colitis, but I can say that Bernie also eats sporadically. He gets fed breakfast kibble and dinner. Most of the time he skips breakfast, and when he does, I just add his canned and water to make gravy - like you do - to turn breakfast kibble into dinner. Because he's pretty active and grew really fast, I'll add low sodium chicken broth to his breakfast a few days a week (which guarantees he'll eat it) just to make sure he's getting enough calories and is nutritionally sound for his activity level.

Is your boy very active? I've definitely noticed Bernie eats less and skips breakfast if he hasn't been getting enough activity, it's my EXTRA push to get out in the rain! Perhaps a good romp will help him get his blood flowing and work up a natural appetite?

[Carole]

Thank you all for responding.  I really appreciate what you have shared.  I am not that worried about her skipping meals and am less concerned now that I see you all have had that too.  I will cut back on the lunch meal.  Also -- maybe she's just not hungry at breakfast.  I started to get concerned because she has started some throwing up again.  I thought maybe because her stomach was empty.  I'll keep you posted.  Thanks for being there.  I really appreciate it.  And by the way -- she is active but could be more active.  We go to the dog park and she gets so excited that she has the runs ... so I don't know what to do.  I never imagined I'd be so preoccupied with her.  It seems like there is a new issue at every turn...

 

[Amy & Bernie]

Well she's very, very lucky to have you Carole. Please give yourself tons of credit for all you've done for her!

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

4 1/2 cups sounds like ALOT to me, though i guess it depends on what you feed and how big your dood is. If you feed a higher protein grain free food then maybe you are feeding too much and he just isnt hungry. If you are feeding him a high carb food (ie lots of grains in it) it could be that the fillers are doing just that, filling him up. As long as his weight seems ok i wouldnt worry. Cooper (60lbs) started to loose interest, skip meals and eat less around 16 months  - we cut her down from almost 4 cups to 2 cups a day. It seemed to happen overnight and coincided with the inlaws visiting AND us moving house. So I understand your concern. Cooper hasnt had 3 meals a day for a very long time

[Nancie & Gracie Doodle]

I agree that the amount of food you are feeding her is too much.  My Gracie Doodle loved her food for the first 6 or so months and then became rather indifferent to her meals.  She has never been a particularly food motivated Doodle.  She prefers to play and her tennis ball to food or treats.  We are very very minimal on treats and the only additive we put in her kibble is frozen green beans that we have warmed in the microwave.  We recently started this and now Gracie gobbles her food.  She is almost 4 years old, a standard GoldenDoodle F1 75lbs and very tall.  No fat on her at all.  We were giving her 3 cups of Acana Grain-Free kibble total for the day.  1 1/2c at breakfast and then again at dinner.  Now that we have added about 1 cup of green beans we have decreased her food by 1/2 c.  Treats to Gracie are a very rare thing.  There really is not much point in treats other than for training.  When Gracie does get a treat it is a very high quality one with not a bunch of additives and junk in it.  Gracie was never diagnosed with a sensitive stomach but being half Poodle it is to be expected.  This is why I am very picky about what I feed Gracie and don't allow people to give her junky treats.  We never give her human food either...other than her green beans.  I have never had any medical issues with Gracie but I feel it is because I used preventative measures in the beginning and found a dog food that works for her and so I just leave it alone.  Sorry I can't be more help.  I hope your baby gets good results and is back to normal.  Once you get there, then find the food that works for her minus all the treats and stuff you add to her meals.  Junk food or overfeed does not make them love us more!!

[Taylor & Huff]

Well Huff lost intrest in eating when he was a little older than a year old (I think). So I started feeding him 1/2 wet 1/2 dry food then adding frozed (thawed) veggies and then any dog safe left overs. Then I microwaved it all in a big microwave safe bowl then cooled slightly and mixed. But then he got picky about that so now all he gets is boiled chicken and rice withe veggies. 

[Renata Anderson]

The same thing happens with Lego, I have to force him to eat 3 times a day because if he doesn't he will start throwing up bile and it is awful!! Im giving him blue buffalo and started mixing it with another brand of kibble. I tried topping it with cheese and he got tired of it. So now what I do is sit next to him so he eats, and now he is spoiled. Soooo Im just trying to put him in the crate with the food and only when he finishes I take him out and praise him alot and that has seemed to work a little. I don't know what to do because I usually tried the 15 min rule and I took away his food but by doing that I went to the kitchen to find bile puddles. The vet said that the reason why he throws up bile might be because he is on an empty stomach but I don't understand why, I mean he skips one meal from the 3 I give him and he is already throwing up , he doesn't do it when he eats all 3 meals. It is very frustrating

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

You may have to get to the point where you're figuring out how many calories your Doodle requires in a day.  There are places online that will tell you that, or you can usually figure it out from the recommendations on the dog food bag, or your Vet will be able to tell you.  Once you know that, you can decide if you want to space it out into three meals or just two.  I do two meals, but I don't usually struggle with them vomiting bile.  That happens once in a while early in the morning after going all night without food, but never during the day.  In order to get her more interested in her meals you may want to try adding a little cooked chicken or veggies....they seem to love the green beans. Just be sure to consider the supplements when you are calculating the calories.  I understand your frustration.  Both of my guys have been diagnosed with chronic GI disease, and they are on a home cooked diet.   Even with that they will have "issues" from time to time.  Good luck and please keep us posted.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

An adult dog normally only needs to be fed twice a day, and 4.5 cups of kibble a day sounds like an awful lot of food. My doodle weighs 85 lbs, and he gets 2.5 cups per day. Of course, the calories in kibble can vary widely from one to another, but 4.5 sounds like an awful lot, and 3 feedings per day is usually only for puppies.

I would suggest you join the Food Group...we have lots of discussions there about picky eaters (someone brings that up about once a week, lol) as well as recommendations for foods that appeal to dogs and little tricks you can use to tempt them. We also have members whose dogs ahve IBS and other gastrointestinal issues and who home-cook for their dogs with great results.

[Jane, Rooney & Stuart]

I'm NO expert but I'm starting to think that many doodles just aren't big eaters.  Rooney has always been fed twice a day and sometimes he can take it or leave it.  Unlike the Labs that we have had in the past - he never acts like he is hungrey.  The breeder told me that Rooney's daddy isn't a big eater either.  Rooney only get 2/3 of a cup at a time - maybe I'm not giving him enough.  He likes his Orijen better if I sprinkle a tiny bit of ground up organic chicken jerky dust over it or sometimes I put a touch of warm water with it.  I'd be more concerned about the throwing up.  I don't know how many litters a dog should be allowed to have.  I think that they certainly need to be properly spaced out, not one right after the other but even with that I'm not sure how that might impact or not the puppies.  Perhaps some of the breeders on DK can educate us on this.  I hope your puppy does better soon!