Fussy puppy - what to do?

[graceandgratitude]

My 4 month old puppy used to love his food but has decided now he isn't interested at all! Will sniff the bowl and bugger off. He will sometimes come back and eat a bit but not enough and I'm worried about his nutrition and growth if he isn't eating enough. We've tried taking the bowl away and putting out again later, also tried leaving it for him so he has choice.

He's a cavapoo - so I imagine the poodle side has meant he has picked up the fussy trait.

He's so fussy that he rejects most treats! Or he will like a treat for a day or so and then reject that too. Luckily we have found one he likes (Lily's kitchen puppy training treats) but I wouldn't say it is a huge motivator. So still looking for that high reward treat to get him super motivated!

The only thing that has helped him eat is by playing games - he loves nose work so we have been playing 'find it' and used puzzles, snuffle mats etc which means he does at least something. Or we have literally sat next to him and been 'excited' by his food which gets him interested we have tried a different food but he gets bored of that too.

Has anyone else had this? Any other stories to share? Any tips? I feel we are destined to continuous games at the moment! Or should I not worry and let him just eat as much as he decides?

Feeding dogs out of puzzle feeders instead of bowls is an excellent thing to do! It's not a bad thing at all that your puppy prefers this.

Ditch the bowl and feed him all his meals through games - use it for training, use snuffle mats, lick-mats or kongs. It's a great thing to get him working for his meals and it'll fire him out more too

If he's on dried food try scatter feeding. We just chuck it all over the garden and he has to find it.

We have a fussy puppy. We change her food regularly, she gets bored with the same stuff. Introduce canned food if you haven't already. We also make up some food for her with some meat, veg, pasta etc which she loves.

She won't train for food, but will do anything for a tennis ball.

My dog is like this, She will ignore treats kindly people give her in the park or spit them out.

We got her as a rescue at eleven months and she’s six now. The vet said she was distrustful of food and had been taken from her mother as a puppy too early and was probably puppy farmed.

We have to coax her to eat every meal. Usually we have to hand feed her. I make her wet food myself and after much trial and error found one dry food she will eat.

@RootDeToot rejecting treats from other people has definitely happened - they always seem so disappointed! 

Great ideas, I am using kibble at the moment but will see if mixing some home cooked food could help. Wondering if I need to try rotating different foods too.

The tennis ball / toy idea is interesting @Frenchfancy - so no treats just tennis ball? That's amazing! Might have to try that. Maybe I should try a sock. He likes socks

Loving all the ideas! I'm pretty sure it is a food boredom thing so this is so helpful. It is the opposite problem to my parent's dog (also cavapoo) who is food obsessed - the other day he went mad eating loads of bread on a field someone had left for the birds! But my dog couldn't care less lol

My dog was like this, we changed her food to raw , Bella and Duke . She now licks the bowl clean .

I’ve had poodles all my life and I wouldn’t say they are fussy eaters.
Puppies often go off foods at this age. Try putting hot water in the kibble , mash it a bit and let it cool. Or try putting some wet food in with the dry kibble.
It’s not unusual for any dog to want to swap foods at this age.

My Ddog is a fussy eater (poodle cross) , but generally eats better in the evening.
Does she prefer wet food?
Try not to worry and do what works for her (puzzle feeder etc).
It's sometimes a bit embarrassing when Ddog turns her nose up at biscuits from Kind people, but the upside of this is she doesn't pick up things she finds, would never eat the Xmas tree chocs etc.

What food are you feeding her?

I've always thought a diet of dry biscuits must be very very dull for a dog. Add some wet food to get some different flavours and textures, or even try her on raw if you have the stomach/storage space for it.

Ours has a tendency to be a bit fussy too, but I can usually get her interested once I’ve hand fed her a bit.

She’s a lot better when we use Butternut Box. She really likes the switch in flavours and eats best the first meal of a new pouch/flavour. Loves beef, lamb and pork. Not so keen on chicken or the fish one.
I warm it up so it’s not fridge cold and sprinkle a bit of her kibble on it. She’s small so doesn’t cost too much.

If you want to try it you get 50% off the first box if you use a referral code… here is mine if you do try it. (Being open here, I also get money off a box)
butternutbox.com/Emma2333

We’re pleased with the and suits her well so I wouldn’t recommend if I wasn’t! Makes her poo firmer too (easy to pick up!!).
She also liked the duck treats from there but they were expensive and very crumbly, so won’t buy again!

The other food they love (butternut is almost universally loved) is pets love fresh. Arrives frozen, you put a chub into the fridge in the glass jar and then cut off the right amount each day. Thru do a few flavours. It's complete, cooked fresh food.

My puppy came eating 50/50 wet and dry food. He’s never been keen on the dry food alone. He also got a half bowl of goats milk with each meal, he really loved that. You could also try rolling up a small towel and putting dry food in that. My boy is now 3 years old and I change the dry food quite often.

4 month old puppy likely to be teething and may have a sore mouth so this is a common behaviour

Poodles are not fussy eaters!

Contra loading is when animals prefer to work for food than just be given it and dogs in particular prefer this way of feeding. So treat balls etc is a good way forward.

Personally if you are feeding kibble I would not be adding stuff to it as it messes with the balance of the food. But soaking it is a good idea.

Not taking treats from strangers is also extremely common and is often due to a bit of stress or overwhelm of the situation.

Mine loves to work for food so we use a Kong gyro, snuffle mat, reward toy where dog drops ball in and gets food out, scatter feeding and putting it into brown paper and then in box for him to rip up and eat. Loads of fun and keeps his brain busy.

I can't believe I didn't think about the fact he is probably teething and might find eating painful. That could well be it. He's managed one meal today so far, I've given him a puppy chew bone now to help relieve any pain with the teeth which he has really taken to! So maybe it is a pain problem that has put him off eating.

I think regardless I'm going to keep up the games as so many of you have suggested and fingers crossed he will improve in time.

Thank you so much for all the tips and advice. I'm going to introduce some home cooked food too over the next few days to help mixup - I agree it must be really boring for them otherwise!

We have a fussy dog, he prefers soft food so I give him a tin of butcher's tripe and leave the kibble down for him to snack on. If they go too long without food I think it really knocks their appetite so you have to find something tempting to get them eating again. With my dog it's normally fish or chicken.

@Girliefriendlikespuppies that's a good idea - I will definitely give that a go..!