General Questions & Answers- A Place To Start

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

A few questions about specific feeding issues have come up, and don't seem to fit into any certain category among our discussions. Here's a place to post your questions, and maybe someone here can help, or least guide you to the right place.

[Adrianne Matzkin]

Hi Lizette -
It is their own brand. Whole Foods has stores in Illinois. I checked their website.
Adrianne

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

First, let me say you sound just like myself when I first adopted, Roo. You have had dogs, know about dogs, but this little doodle has you running circles. I have been there, done that. I was so anxious to do everything perfectly, I was half silly with all the doodle "rules" running through my head. I am sure you have had your darling Molly to the vet and she is healthy. She sounds healthy and happy. Healthy puppies will not starve themself or even deprive themselves of proper nutrition if it is available. You are confusing Molly about how to eat, what to eat, and when to eat. Just pick a top quality dog food like Solid Gold and stick with it. If you are feeding her three times a day cut down to two times a day. Puppies SHOULD be hungry. Really they should. I don't know how big she is going to get but it doesn't matter. Give her a 1/2 cup of kibble (and the seameal) and in the morning - you can put a little water on it if you want to. Make her sit and wait for the bowl to be placed on the floor. Then say okay. Food is something you dispense, just like her mom. Give her ten to fifteen minutes to eat it. NO COMMENT. Then pick up and dispose of anything she did not eat. NO COMMENT. In the evening same thing - 1/2 cup kibble (and seameal), sit, wait, okay. No watching, no comment. Pick up the leftover. NO TREATS. This is just for three days. It will be way harder for you than her. By three days she will understand, eat when she is ALLOWED to - hence the sit, wait, okay then pick up. Make sure she has plenty of water available. If the other dog is an issue feed them in separate rooms or feed Molly in or near her crate. By three days you will know whether or not to increase both meals very gradually or decrease them. There are no rules about how much a puppy should eat or not eat. Once she understands, you put food on the floor in a bowl and allow her to have access to it for a limited time, she will eat what is comfortable for her. Honestly, truly, this will work. I won't say don't worry, I would. Just don't hand feed her or even notice her while she is eating. Be very casual about the whole thing. Resist changing food, hand feeding or treating. Once she has it you can guess at the amount of treats she will get that day and back that out of her morning meal. Two or three 10 - 15 minute play times with you using her head and her muscles will help too. This isn't tough love ( it is tough on you), I guarantee you that the breeder was not hand feeding her. She is just a little confused is all. She may have days, even two at time, all her life when she doesn't eat. She's not picky, she is just not hungry. Some dogs would eat dry off brand kibble until they threw up and some would not eat steak on floor if they weren't hungry. Good luck, Molly is going to be just fine.

[Adrianne Matzkin]

How much should I be feeding Samantha? I thought I was doing okay but tonight I starting pondering if I was.
Samantha is a F1 LD. She is 23" tall and 61 lbs. She has the Lab body and not the thin poodle physique. I have been givng her 1.5 cups of Whole Foods Holistic Puppy kibble (the package says she sould be getting 6 cups per day) in the morning and for dinner she gets a chicken leg, rice, and veggies which is app 2 cups. She seems to come looking for more when she cleans out her bowl. Since I started cooking her dinner, she has ribs again. I don't want to get her fat but I don't want her to hungry either.
Any input as to whether I am giving her enough food? I will be starting her on the Nupro but have not started yet.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I'm not the one to ask on this, because Jack gets primarily kibble, with a few home-cooked goodies thrown in here & there several times a week. I follow the instructions on the bag, adjusting up or down according to how much food is left in his bowl, etc. The vets are pretty good at this aspect of feeding...they may not know much about the foods themselves, but they are usually pretty reliable regarding how much at what age, healthy weight, etc. So you could ask your vet. When I was fostering a 9 mo. old doodle puppy, he was being fed a cheap kibble, and they were giving him 2 cups 3x a day. He weighed 54 lbs. My vet said to give him 1.5 cups 2x a day, and that really did seem to be better for him, although he did look for more for a couple of days.For your method of feeding, I'd ask Lynne NJ for advice....there's nobody wiser about this stuff.

[Adrianne Matzkin]

Thanks and I will. Happy Saturday

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Adrianne: Because of my having reposted this discussion, the questions above re: Whole Foods holistic puppy food are directed to you- my avatar is next to all the comments that I reposted, even though they were originally posted by others. Maybe you can answer the questions.

[Adrianne Matzkin]

done

[Missi]

Hey Karen,

I did make it to the food group and will be joining you and Lizette in the "whine" section too, her stories of her puppy sound exactly like Lizzie. She'll be 14 weeks tomorrow and only weighs 11.2 pounds. But I wanted to tell you that I do think it might be the royal canin making her sick! I started mixing it into her food yesterday breakfast (less than 1/4 cup) because the vet said I should start mixing in kibble. I have been mixing in the breeder's food for a couple of days now. And lo-and behold she wakes up at 4 am vomiting again! She's also had about 6 stools already this morning, most loose. She's a bit sleepy too, but still interested in food and water and playing. And on a bright note, she asked very overtly to go outside, so potty training might be catching on!

So back to square 1 and I'm done with the new bag of Royal Canin. We're back to every 2-3 hour feeds of caned I/D mixed with water. So, the question in all of this, best dry kibble and canned food for sensitive stomachs? I have my grocery list for human foods to get (plain yogurt, pumpkin, chicken and rice) but I cannot cook every day for her. If I eat one meal in a day I'm doing well! Thanks for the input!

[Missi]

And I forgot to add that she eats poop! Any kind of poop, her poop, cat poop, mumified poop in the yard found from the previous tenants (I've lived here since last June!) She scavenges for it! I have to watch her every second that she is out in the yard and poop scoop every day.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

It's not such a bad thing to have to watch her every time she goes out; in 32 years of being the primary caretaker for dogs, I have never had a dog who just goes out & does their business without my being there.
It really helps keep you on top of any kind of illness or digestive disturbance to see their "output", lol. And if you clean up every day, you will have a nice clean yard without the dreaded weekend task of scooping up piles of semi-disintegrated poop. (Breakfast, anyone?)
Eating the poop of other animals is really common. Every dog I've known eats cat poop, and most eat rabbit poop, etc. The cat poop is very high in protein and fat, I'm not sure what they're getting from the others, but it's normal. Eating her own poop is a bit more upsetting. I know there are things you can add to their food that makes the poop undesirable to them, but I'm not sure we want to be adding any unusual things to Lizzie's diet for awhile. Let's get her on a steady diet first, and deal with the poop-eating down the road. I wonder if she could have picked up something from some kind of animal droppings, though...that could explain the illness. I would keep on being super-vigilant in the yard...wild animals carry all kinds of germs & bacteria.

[Missi]

Super-vigilant is an understatement for my behavior lately! Haha! I swear I know every time she moves. I thought it could be something she picked up, I know I have rabbits that live at the back of my yard. But I've fed her twice today with no kibble, just soft food and she's doing great. Even more energetic and gobbled it up! (Even licked the bowl clean). So I don't know!!!!!
Breakfast sounds great. hehe

[Zoe, Benny and Tyler]

Hi Missi, my favourite topic again haha. Benny has his issue too. I will look up the links for you where we discussed this topic earlier. Let me search for them and I will post them here for you