Fussy whippet

[bluetongue]

I have a lovely 18 month old neutered male whippet. Since day one when I got him at 8 weeks he’s been fussy. While a Young puppy his weight was fine but since about 8 months he’s definitely been on the lean side. He put on some weight recently and was looking better but I weighed him yesterday and he’s lost weight

He’s never loved his kibble but used to eat a reasonable amount of it. These days he picks at it. His main meals are good quality tinned and a chicken and pasta loaf for breakfast because he won’t eat the tinned for breakfast. I was cooking his breakfasts for a while with beef mince, rice and eggs and he seemed to put some weight on with that so I’m considering trying that again. I’ve tried putting him back on puppy food (vet suggestion) but it doesn’t help.

To complicate things further he’s a highly strung dog and is currently on medication for separation anxiety.

He doesn’t appear lethargic and loves his walks. He often trots the whole walk rather than walk. When I take him to the beach he happily goes for zoomies. His coat looks good and his eyes are bright.

I find myself constantly worrying about him and feel it’s detracting from my enjoyment of dog ownership.

Have you considered a raw diet OP? My dog was also very fussy and switched over - haven't looked back since. He looks better, eats better, poos better. And it's only been a month or 2! Looking forward to seeing the long term effects

Www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk is a great website for searching for different brands available, by nutritional quality.

Have you considered a cold pressed food such as Markus Muhle or Guru? It's very nutrient dense, so they need fewer grams per day than traditional kibble, which might make it easier to get enough calories into your dog.

I should have mentioned I’m in Australia so most recommendations of specific food aren’t much use.

Avacados nutrient dense is what I need really. Have considered raw too. Some of the local pet supply shops have raw diets in the fridge so maybe will pick some up to try. He also seems to have a delicate tummy and gets runny poss easily so I have been a bit worried that raw might be an issue for that.

Hi blue as you know I have had issues with BiteyDogs weight due to health issue when he was very underweight.

I ended up going through a few things with him to get him to eat. Essentially I found which proteins he likes and dislikes (anything with tripe even just a bit he hates). I then rotate those so he doesn't get easily bored. However, I find that he still goes off the food after a while so constantly look for other brands that are suitable.

You might find you get some people saying don't put up with the fussiness as they will eat eventually but if bluepuppy is like mine he won't and will continue to lose weight which in an underweight dog isn't a good thing so I just accept his fussiness and offer him different complete foods. We also used to cook cod fillets etc on top of his food to get him to put on weight. I found if I sprinkled things like that on his dog food in the morning he would often eat more of it as morning were the hardest time to get him to eat.

Do you offer three meals a day rather than two. I found it much easier to get more calories in him when I went back to three a day and also I don't worry as much if he leaves his breakfast as he will get his lunch later (he gets lunch even at daycare as I send him off with a lunch bag with cooling blocks to keep his wet food fresh).

Hi Bitey if I’m home early enough from work I try and give him three meals. You’re right in that the ‘tough love’ approach doesn’t really work with Bluepuppy. He’d just get too skinny.

Think I’ll try a raw food for him.Fingers crossed he likes it.

@bluetongue we love cold pressed food here too it’s great. Raw didn’t work for us as his tummy just was to delicate. I found this there are a couple of Au cold pressed foods. Good luck leappetcare.com.au/collections/expert-nutrition

No calcium in a mince, rice and egg diet!

Villainous the mince, rice and egg was just for breakfast. He gets the majority of his food in the evening. Otherwise he would have had no breakfast some mornings as he refused to eat anything else!

I think trying to find something very yummy for mornings is key as it's often the time which they are a bit meh about eating. We have tried alternating cooked chicken breasts, scrambled eggs and microwaved cod fillets.