# 1 year old puppy not eating...



## LexiRileyLove (Apr 20, 2013)

Hi, so I have a one year old german shepherd mix puppy around 45 pounds. We feed her Blue Buffalo Wilderness duck flavor food and she is being really picky! We feed her a cup in the morning and a cup in the evening but for some reason she is hardly eating... She finally ate a cup this time yesterday around 9pm. Didn't eat this morning or tonight. It's going on now for about 2 week's. She will eat a cup about every OTHER day or so. When she does eat I have to coax her and she picks out the little black pieces from the kibble and just drops it on the floor. I ended up pulling out all the black pieces the other day and she did eat. My husband did the same thing and well she didn't eat. I'm getting worried about it. We just saw the vet and he says she is fine and she won't let herself starve. But it's still worrisome. We did just adopt another puppy same german shepherd mix 3 months younger than Lexi. Riley will eat no problem. Could Lexi just be weary of eating around Riley? Is Lexi just not hungry? Should I continue to do what I'm doing put her food down then puck it up if she doesn't eat and repeat the next feeding time? I'm confused here and don't know what her deal is... This isn't the first time she has done this. It happens every couple of months for a while then she is back to normal eating 2 cups a day. Also her poo is very soft. 

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## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

It is for sure worth a try to feed them in separate rooms or crates. I don't even attempt to feed dogs in the same room but if a dog is stressed by another dog being there, it could be an issue.

Could the bag be going stale? If you can't get through a large bag in say, 3 weeks or so, try freezing half of it or buying smaller bags.

Have you considered another food? I had a foster puppy that refused Blue Buffalo in a similar manner. I switched her to Acana and she liked it okay and then to Earthborn Coastal Catch which she devoured. I don't like to cater to picky eaters in the form of constantly changing food or adding toppers but I do think it is worth trying a few good foods to see if one really appeals more.


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## luv mi pets (Feb 5, 2012)

I would try switching foods like Shell suggested. Do not buy the big bags until you find one that she likes. You could also see about contacting dog food makers thru their website and see about getting free samples. Sometimes pet stores have samples to try or buy for a low cost. 

If no improvements are seen, I would ask the vet to do a blood test. You mentioned soft poos. Have you checked her for internal parasites. It is best to have 3 fecal tests done before ruling parasites out of the question. 

What was her appetite like prior to the addition of the new dog? 
Lastly, if you were not happy with this vet, you do have the choice to go to another vet for their opinion.


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## LexiRileyLove (Apr 20, 2013)

Thank you so much for replying  ok so here it goes it's a long one... 

So Lexi is still being picky. We just bought a food container to store the food to keep it fresh as we did buy a big bag. I brushed and checked Lexi's teeth to rule out cavity or other problems. And I did have success with her eating a cup and a half tonight. I made it more of a game by having her do her tricks and rewarded with kibble. It seemed to get her motivated to eat. Riley was in a different room. I'm thinking that two cups in one sitting is just to much for Lexi to eat. So it's strictly one cup in the morning and one at night. Hopefully this will work if not then off to the vet we go. I'll wait one more week. As in the past Lexi has done this before. No appetite to eat when something changes like when we go for a drive to cali (we live in Arizona) we don't do this very often but when we do she doesn't eat when fed, or when my husband goes on a work trip. I'm seriously convinced she just gets tired of her food. Since we have had her about a year now we have changed her food now 6 times!!! 4 of those times we have stuck to the same brand just different flavors. She does great then turns her nose and doesn't like it. We have even tried mixing pure canned pumpkin to help her tummy as well as white rice, boiled beef and chicken. And I once made the mistake of adding wet food to her dry. She just picked out the wet stuff. Anyway as for parasites go it could be possible we do go to the dog park about every other day. She has had geiardia (if that's how you spell it) I cleaned our backyard extensively with bleach / water solution as we have all rocks. Her stool was tested and it came back fine. This was 9 months ago. I'm thinking it would be a good idea to get it tested again anyway. If tests come back normal (stool & blood) and she is still being picky I don't know if I should change her food yet again or not. I really don't want to spoil her to where she knows if she does this she will get something new. It cant be good on her to keep changing it... 

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## luv mi pets (Feb 5, 2012)

The other thing you might want to test for is TLI. You mentioned your dog as a shepherd mix and this is something to consider if the giardia test comes back negative. I know that not all her symptoms point to this but just had a shep test positive for this. The dog's symptoms were about 3 times a week would have soft pudding like diarrhea. No weight loss was noted in this dog. We usually do the TLI/cobalamin/Folate test. Most dogs that test positive for this is shepherd/shepherd mixes. Something to research and think about.


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