Help! Dog not eating

[lainiekazan]

My 6-month old retriever is the greediest dog ever. He will eat anything and usually when I say "din dins" he's there like a shot.

However, he has ignored his last three meals. He is still hungry for bits of sausage and other treats, and loses no opportunity to surf a counter, but as for his bowl of dinner - nada.

A trainer came yesterday and felt his stomach etc, and said he felt fine, and he is still full of beans.

Has he just gone off his food (Royal Canin)? I hope not, as I have just purchased two giants sacks at a cost of £100.

Do I need to worry?

Sounds like he doesn't like the food! I would normally worry about a dog not eating for three meals, especially a retriever, but my inclination would be to give him something else. Eating is a highlight of their day! I'd try him on something else, then maybe re-introduce the RC. If you bought the food from a vet or pet shop I'm sure they would exchange it for something else.

He has eaten the same food for 6 months, so it's a sudden dislike. Sadly I bought it online so I can't return it (unless I hire a freight truck).

If he's having the same flavour food for long periods it's probably boredom. We feed a mix of wet and dry, we buy huge sacks (and alternate flavours when we get a new one) and get different flavour wet food to mix in with it.

Now you have the food you could try smaller portions and top up with meat to make it more interesting. Most dogs usually love tinned sardines etc too, anything that makes the food smell different might tempt him, adding warm water can help too.

If he is bored of his food try mixing in something else, my dog will eat hers with gravy or natural yoghurt mixed in, sometimes we buy wet food and just mix a third of a tin.

Oh blimey. Mine don't get the opportunity to be bored with food and I'm not sure dogs naturally do, to be honest.

They very quickly learn that if they ignore food, more comes to them - and that it gets more and more sophisticated though.

OP do you moisten the food with water? Often a splash of boiling water will make it smell much more enticing.

Another thing to check is how much you're feeding and how often. How much does he weigh and how much is he fed?

Well, I have followed the guidelines on the back of the packet but, imo, it was too much for dog. He has just gone on to twice a day and two huge bowls of food rather than three slightly less huge bowls seemed to overwhelm him a bit. I put out 200g this morning (instead of the recommended 300g) and eventually he ate it, in several instalments. When I started feeding him twice a day he started producing the most terrible farts, as well. Truly terrible ones that necessitated us wearing gas masks; so bad you could smell them upon entering the house.

We sometimes put cod liver oil or sardines on our dogs food. They love anything fishy. I agree if you keep doing it they expect it. One of mine is a picky eater. If dh feeds them he won't eat without some oil, whereas if I feed them they know I'm not as soft so eat up anyway.

Really, I don't know who's proving harder to train; dogs or dh. Perhaps if I used the clicker and bits of cheese on dh...

Sounds like he just isn't that hungry - cutting down the portion size is a good start.

To be honest, I'd cut out all titbits and treat only from his royal Canin for now. Have you gone straight from 3 meals to 2? Or did you taper off by reducing the size of the meal you were going to drop and increasing the other two?

300g of food twice a day is a tremendous amount - and far too much for a 6 month old pup. They're in it to sell volume, I suppose, so I always disregard the back of packets. Try him on 175g twice a day, moistened with boiling water and see what happens. As he's happy eating sausage etc, I'd think there is nothing actually wrong with him - he's just not that hungry. I avoid a fussy dog like the plague, so I don't offer alternatives at his age.

Oh - the farts are a good indicator of over feeding - those and a runny bum.

Are you sure you are not feeding him the daily amount at each meal, my 31kg staffie only has 250g of barking heads over the course of the day, 100g in the morning and 150g at tea time, 250g -350g is the recommended feeding amount daily for her, we keep it at the smallest amount as she is a tad on the rounded side and she gets quite a few treats during the day to help with her behaviour/training.

Have just looked online at the lab/retriever royal canin junior and it says 317g per day for a 6 month old lab/retriever

www.royalcanin.co.uk/products/products/dog-products/breed-health-nutrition/labrador-retriever-junior

That is a lot less than I've been feeding him.

He is on Maxi Junior which states 567-608g a day.

I am reluctant to change his feed (not just because of the wasted food I've already bought!) but because I'm afraid I'm not a "home cooking" sort of owner and I can't be doing with cooking up vats of meat. I don't want to scrimp, but I'm firmly in the "ready meals" camp rather than preparing from scratch.

You don't need to cook up vast pots of meat. Just give it to him raw.

I've just looked at the recommended portions for your dog.
The amount for a 6 month old pup is listed as approx 480g per day online! Nowhere near what you are feeding, plus they always seem to over allow in the hope of selling more packets. What is his condition like? Does he look fat (remembering they are supposed to look lanky at that age), can you easily feel his ribs and waist?
Even though I now feed 2 'meals' a day, I still give mine a third of the ration morning and night. Wetted with hot water to make a gravy, which is more interesting for her.
The last third is used dry to stuff kongs, chuck on the grass for 'finding' games, put in puzzles, used for training etc throughout the day

Don't change his food - at least not yet. It would be such a waste and I don't believe that dogs 'go off' food. They are not human and they don't work the same was as we do.

Maxi Junior feeding guidelines work on the basis of expected adult weight, don't they? What weight have you been given as a guide for him?

Cutting down portion size won't do him any harm at all in the short term - and might be just what he needs. Of course, it'll only help if you cut out all treats/sausage/counter food too. And don't forget that the feeding guide on the back of packets/tins is generic and designed to sell as much product as possible. It is usually far more generous than any dog can manage.

Also your dog is coming to an age where growth radically slows down. It is very common for them to lose interest in their food at this time

Ah, thanks. He is still very greedy for everything else, but reluctantly ate his food this morning when he saw that nothing more exciting was forthcoming.