Dood’s sudden food strike

[Haley, Yeti, and Phin]

Phin just turned 8 months old yesterday! He has pretty much alway been pretty food driven. All of the sudden a couple of days ago he’s not been wanting to eat. He will eat some meals and not others. Is it normal for a dog to cut himself down on feedings?

he is 8 mo old, about 50 lbs, and is eating wellness puppy core.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Well, a sudden loss of appetite can be a sign of illness. Is he behaving normally otherwise?

Sometimes, puppies will signal that their growth is slowing down with a decrease in appetite. That often happens around 4 months of age and can happen again when their skeletal growth is just about done. The latter may be the case with Phin, especially if he is at or nearly at his estimated adult size. You can probably switch him to adult food at this point if he doesn;t have a lot more gorwing to do.

If he is drinking water and acting normal otherwise, and his energy levels are good, I wouldn;t worry. 

[Haley, Yeti, and Phin]

Thank you Karen! He is drinking water like a crazy man (always has lol ... is there such thing as “water motivated” because he would fall into that category) and playing as usual. The only weird thing he does is pant like crazy. He has always done this even as a young puppy. I’m hoping he isn’t sick but I’m sticking to my guns and making sure he only gets 10 minutes to eat and the. Take his bowl away until next feeding.

[Laura and Angus]

Our buddy Angus’ appetite decreased as he got older. We had to get him a slo bowl when we changed his food at one point, but as he got closer to a year old he wasn’t as interested in his food. Now he’ll skip meals some days and other days not. We can tell when he’s sick if he skips both meals more than once and is too lethargic/ not pottying normally. Keep an eye out for behavioral changes that are way outta the norm for your pup - otherwise some amount of appetite change as they grow can certainly happen (as Karen mentioned)