Dog food help please

[blankiesandunicorns]

We have a 7 month old cockapoo. He was weaned onto james welbeloved and has been on it ever since.

However, we're thinking of changing his food because -
He sometimes doesn't finish the bowl (fed twice a day)
Scrounges for other food constantly
Eats his own poo
Doesn't seem to be gaining much weight, although he is exercised well

I guess I'm wondering whether he likes it enough, is getting what he needs from it.
If we were to change we would obviously do it gradually.

Any ideas? Has anyone had experience with this food, and whether these are signs it needs changing?

TIA

[RoombaSavedMySanity]

• He sometimes doesn't finish the bowl (fed twice a day)

Not entirely unusual for his age. You may also be slightly over feeding, even though hie isn't gaining weight.

• Scrounges for other food constantly

Possibly hunger, possibly just learning that scrounging works. What do you do to dissuade him?

• Eats his own poo

Very rarely to do with food. More often linked to physiological causes, including habit and youth. Again, not giving him the chance to do it is likely to mean he grows out of it over the next year or so.

• Doesn't seem to be gaining much weight, although he is exercised well.

This is good in a young dog and again not unusual in young males. If your vet is happy with his weight then don't be hoping he gains any. Better lean at this age.

In short whilst none of those things mean for sure you should change food I also think it important that you are totally happy with the food you give. Allaboutdogfood.com is a great site for independent review of foods. Take a look and see whether or not you are happy with your current food and what you might want to switch to.

[blankiesandunicorns]

Thank you for your reply.

We dissuade him by saying 'down' when he tries to get up to the table and praising him when he sits etc.

Thank you for the website I will have a look. I'm pretty sure it's normal behaviour and know he's still really young just want him to be getting everything he needs

[StillMedusa]

Mine's fussy..has been from day 1 and will refuse food. I'm not in the camp of starving them til they give in (after all I don't eat the same food day after day) so I vary what she is given.
She's not keen on kibble (even the really expensive stuff) but top it with a bit of value mince and yes please.
Tea time she has raw but sometimes with a bit of cooked chicken, or a tiny bit of cheese on top. Now and again she has cooked chicken for tea , or whatever meat we have had for sunday dinner, and she also has raw chicken wing tips as treats (and for calcium ).
Some days she just doesn't want food until the evening and that's ok too.. I figure as long as she is a decent but slim weight, has bright eyes and fairly solid poos she's doing ok!

[FacesLookUgly]

We dissuade him by saying 'down' when he tries to get up to the table and praising him when he sits etc.

The risk with this approach is that jumping up to get food is always going to be far more attractive than just praise. Not so many dogs value praise that highly, tbh.

So you either need to devalue jumping up at the table or up the value of the reward for sitting.

Devalue by ensuring he never, ever comes close to any food on the table. This is hard, because presumably you want to eat there etc.

Up the value by having a small pot of treats and periodically tossing him a treat so long as he's in his bed or sat nicely (or whatever you want). He will learn that this behaviour works to get food and do it more. You can then slowly reduce the number of treeats back down again, perhaps ending up with just one treat after the meal has ended fr sitting nicely throughout dinner - just for example.

James Wellbeoved is ok but not brilliant and is more costly than some other, high qaulity options. For example, Millie's Wolfheart is cheaper but higher in quality and comes with a great range of flavours. Have a look and see what you think. There are also good brands out there.

I agree that you definately want him to remain lean throughout these growing months as this is much better for long term bone health. So long as he's not underweight then I wouldn't worry much about him not bulking up yet.

Whilst lack of nutrients is sometimes quoted as a cause of copraphagia (poo eating), I think this is very rare. However, 7 month old dogs eating poo is very common and most grow out of it.

[Elzbells]

My puppy is 7 months old, he was on raw when we got him but I didn't want to carry that on for various reasons.

I changed him to Butternut Box which was great for the first few months but he's now got bored and was barely eating it. I got a trial pack of Millies Wolfheart Countryside mix and he's wolfing down every meal and his poo has gone nice and solid, they were a bit sloppy before.

I usually top it with a bit of raw mince, roast chicken, sardines etc to add a bit of fresh taste to it.

[Funf]

Poo.
Shift it so they can't
Food put it down if not eaten remove it and replace at next meal time.
She came from the breeder on Burns a mix of dry and pouches, we did try adding other stuff ( Meat fish etc) but to be honest whilst she ate it it was no different than dog food and mostly made her loose.
Scrounging food, its a training thing after years of dog ownership we had several ground rules for us and the kids when we got this one.
She never eats anything apart from Dog food / treats so has no association with human food and has only eaten from her bowl and doesn't know what our food is like.
She can sit next to you on the couch whilst you eat and doesn't bother.
Do you cage him at night? If so cage him whilst you eat. Now some one who knows the breed well should be able to answer this better than me but some dogs are scavengers isn't it spaniels that have need known to eat stones!?
Have you spoken with the breeder?

[Thedeadwood]

Also have you wormed him?

[AvaSnowdrop]

Young dogs often eat poo then grow out of it. My dog has always been a scrounger even when well fed, some dogs just do that. If you want to switch I can recommend Butternut dog food. My dog is very picky but she absolutely scoffs it!

[wouldyouadamandeveit]

@StillMedusa I found out not so long ago that raw and cooked food or kibble and cooked food digest at different rates and can be dangerous for dogs.

@OP I'm not a preacher but ready made raw has made a fantastic difference to my boy. He was the fussiest of fussiest dogs and I swear I tried every food and combination of, on the market. Add to that squishy poos and always begging for something else. (Kibble has a LOT of fillers in it, that expand in the stomachs when they eat and makes them feel full).

It took me 6 years to make the switch to ready made raw (and it's not expensive) and after a 4 day stand off in the beginning, he loves his dinner. He also only gets 100% natural treats.

[FacesLookUgly]

I found out not so long ago that raw and cooked food or kibble and cooked food digest at different rates and can be dangerous for dogs.

Why? Genuine question.

Surely bone and meat and fat all digest at different rates?

Wouldn't wet food and kibble digest at different rates?

Wouldn't the meat and veg content in a complete wet food digest at different rates?

No one ever suggests seperating them out.

[StillMedusa]

Wouldyouadamandeveit I believe that idea has been debunked by quite a few actual scientists...(I did some reading ) dogs digest food in a pretty similar (but slightly quicker) way than we do.

I don't feed kibble and raw together because.. well it would smell disgusting but kibble with some cooked mince.. no difference than adding wet dog food for flavour, and the raw meat with a bit of cooked seems be be digested very nicely by my girl..never sick, her poos are good. Meat is meat.

One of my reasons for keeping some kibble in my dogs diet is simple.. if the freezer breaks, or we are away camping or somewhere we can't safely store raw meat (or don't wish to put in someone elses freezer!) my dog still has something she is used to eating that is easy to store and carry :) Don't like kibble much but it does have its place.

[wouldyouadamandeveit]

@StillMedusa as I said no preaching from me. Perhaps it's something the OP could try, if she ends up pulling her hair out like I did.

All I know is for 6 years I tore my hair out with the most stubborn dog, trying everything, with him probably conditioning me to what he liked and not the other way round

Each to their own and then some. I debunked it for years and luckily for me, the change of diets got rid of the squits and skin issues, and boy there were some shockers

I'm neither a vegan telling people not to eat meat......

[StillMedusa]

I wish mine would just LIKE food more. She's not very food motivated at all unless cheese is on offer. And even I draw the line there..she has a little bit as treats and thinks she's gone to heaven!

[blankiesandunicorns]

Thanks for all your replies. Can't remember who asked what so will give an overview.

He is crated at night times, I suppose I just wanted to train him without putting him in his crate during dinner time so have been rewarding with treats when he sits nicely, but he's so quick and only takes a second for him to pinch food off plates!

Will look at the other food suggestions thank you