Puppy won't eat! Advice needed please

[beargryllshasabigrope]

Hi,

I have a 13 week old collie and he came to us on royal canin food. He used to eat like a trooper, really enjoyed it but it's £££ and doesn't rate too highly on the dog food comparison site that is always recommended on here. Because of this, I switched him over to Autarky just over a week ago. It fell at a bad time as the RC was just running out so I didn't get to mix as many meals as I would have liked, but he initially took to the new food.

Anyway, now he's not so keen. He doesn't wolf it down like he used to with his RC and generally bumbles around the bowl for an hour or so before finally eating it. Today he held out from breakfast until 4pm. He is sleeping so I've not tried him on meal 3 yet but I imagine it'll be much of the same. What do I do? Do I fork out an extra £30 on a bag of RC to mix them in properly (which I'd rather not do as I have 12kg of autarky on it's way), or just keep offering it and hope he comes around? He does eat it, just not with the love and enthusiasm that he did the RC.

[sausageinmypocket]

Just a little bump in case anyone can help today..

[BiteyShark]

I found my dog just wasn't fussed about kibble (and later we found he couldn't digest it very well).

We found switching to a good quality wet food (raw wasn't practical) solved most of the fussiness. For the unwanted food I just added a tiny bit into the new food so I didn't waste it.

Dogs are driven very much by their nose and if you think about it kibble is very boring compared to other food types.

[Jenny70]

I used to add things to dry food to get my puppy interested... I did greek yoghurt, grated cheese.

Can you cancel/return the new food delivery and try a different brand/flavour?

[Lynne1Cat]

Did he love the Royal Canin? He doesn't like the other stuff?

Then for God's sake give him Royal Canin. Yes, perhaps it's expensive, but he likes it, he eats it, and you want a happy and healthy puppy.

[Wolfiefan]

We had the opposite problem. Mine hated Royal Canin. Ended up on raw.
If he initially took to the new food could it be teeth related rather than food? Try soaking it in warm (I used to boil and cook a bit) water?
I also sprinkled on grated cheese, tinned sardine in water or cooked chicken. Spoilt? My dog?

[Vallahalagonebutnotforgotten]

13 week old collie very very common to not eat. They are busy and often just can't be bothered to eat as they get there motivation from other things.

I would not fed a collie RC but up to you. I do raw feed but if you want to feed kibble stick to a high quality.

It seems counter intuitive but give your dogs smaller meals (very hard to do when they are not eating!) you need to get the into the habit of eating when the food is put down.

The other way is to get them working for the food. Collies find food much more interesting if they are doing training or tricks to get the food.

[DogInATent]

Get a tin of wet dog food, mix a couple of spoonfuls around the kibble. If the only shop that's open is the corner shop then (shhhh!) it may even be a tin of Pedigree Chum - you're only making the kibble a bit moister and adding a bit of flavour.

Ours came on RC and I've kept her on it with Lily's Kitchen mixed through. She hasn't complained about the RC and does well on it.

[bluecrown]

Collie cross here. Really not fussed on food and can hold out most of the day sometimes. I think she's waiting for a better offer of human food. We've tried different brands with varying success.

I am going to ask the vet for advice though next week and get her weighed. We usually take her a few times a year for a weigh in anyway.

[twinnywinny14]

We had exactly the same with our pup. She was fine then suddenly stopped eating, we put it down at same time, left it for 10-15mins then removed until the next mealtime. It didn’t work instantly but she did eat more each meal until she was eating the full amount each time x

[beargryllshasabigrope]

Thanks everyone! I agree he just seems too busy to care about food. He's a bit better now, if I leave the food for around 20 minutes he'll eventually come back to it and scoff the lot, he just likes to blank me when I put it down for him

[tabulahrasa]

Have you tried soaking it? he’d be bang on the right age for his teeth to be starting to get a bit uncomfortable and it makes it smell more so more appealing anyway.