My puppy hardly eats!

[Cynthia Whitfield]

My 7-month-old puppy does not like kibble. We"ve tried Natural Balance, Taste of the Wild, Avoderm? and another high-quality food I can't think of the name of, and various flavors of the different formulas made by these brands. Sometimes he will eat some of it if we mix in cottage cheese, Feta cheese or yogurt.

We were really excited to find a pet store that carried Origen and arcana. He does't seem to like fish much, so we got the Arcana chicken and Burbank potato. He ate a few bites and that was it. We added plain yogurt and still nothing. He will outlast you even if you take the food away and don't offer him anything else to the next feeding time. He also doesn't like the wellness brand canned dog food.

I've gotten creative occasionally and this does work. He'll eat cut-up baked potato with cubed apple, or eggs and vegetables or a hot dog sliced up with pieces of aged cheddar cheese. He likes training treats like freeze dried liver or fresh pork.

Any advice?

[Julie and Max]

How long did you let him go without eating?

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

My Ned was a reluctant/light eater and would sometimes miss a couple of meals or only eat a little of his kibble.  We never let him become picky - just not my style, so he didn't learn to 'hold out' for something better.  Those few times I had to have him eat right then, I would put a little something into the kibble.  (But there is a difference between have to and want to.)

[Cynthia Whitfield]

I lets him go two meals without eating and he still wasn't interested.

[Adina P]

Two meals as in breakfast and dinner...so just one day?

[Cynthia Whitfield]

Well, one day and then he just nibbled the next day,

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

You have created a picky eater!  Does the vet say that he is a healthy weight?  If so, then choose a quality food and be done with it.  Is your dog a standard or a mini?   The daily portion is only a recommendation that you adjust to suit the dog's appetite or weight. Divide the daily portion into however many meals you serve.  Put the food down for 15 minutes and if the dog shows no interest, pick it up and serve it the next time.  The more you switch food, add things, the pickier your dog will get to forever pushing you to find "more and more and better and better."   Hope this helps.  PS if he is a mini, he is pretty much done growing and his interest in food often decreases a bit.

[Cynthia Whitfield]

The last time I took him in was over a month ago and his weight was okay then. Sometimes he eats so little I worry that he's not growing well anymore. I saw a picture of one of his litter-mates and Simba looked a lot smaller than the other guy. In obedience training class he gets lots of nice treats and does fine there. Even there though, he loses interest in the treats before the other dogs do,

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Don't worry about Simba being different from litter mates.  Just because he is smaller really doesn't mean anything.  Remember doodles are a mixed breed and there is not really consistency in sizes, even within the same litter.  Even pure breed dogs have size variation.

[Debb, Lucy & Oscar]

Some dogs just aren't food motivated. Some are. Lucy is one of the prior, Oscar the latter. I have to say Lucy eats far better now that Oscar has been with us. Something about him eating with gusto incentivizes her into eating. But others are right, you need to pick one food and stick with it and only offer it for a limited amount of time before picking it up until the next mealtime. I realize how disheartening it is for your doodle not to eat. One thing you may want to try (and stick with) is to add low sodium chicken broth to the kibble. That's what we do with Lucy's kibble and its made a big difference (in addition to Oscar's good influence).

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

Enzo is not food motivated in the least.  But she does love her Orijen and I feed her Fresh Pet in the mornings.  She appears to like that as well.

[Judy, Meg & Polly Wolly Doodle]

My Polly is coming on 8 months and for the last week she is not overly interested in her food either.  We feed morning and evening.  Of a morning if she doesn't eat I pick it up after a decent time and set it back, of an evening she does better, if not I set it up again.  With two I just can't leave it down or Meg will go for it.  I just consider it a phase she is going through, she certainly is happy to have a treat when it is offered.  Meg went through the same thing before, I wouldn't worry too much and I would not continue giving all the specialty table foods, the little buggers figure out how to manipulate that really fast.