Texas Hunting Forum

Dog eating less

Posted By: kpaw

Dog eating less - 08/24/15 05:59 PM

I have a female drahtharr, she has been on Purina Pro Plan Puppy large breed since she was 6 weeks old. She ate fine up until she came in to her heat cycle at 1 yr 3 months old. Since then she has backed way off on eating, some days she does not eat any. I cant have food down all day because we have a beagle that will eat anything, and I don't want her to get the idea that she has all day to eat. Her cycle was back in the first week of June. Is this something I should be concerned about? She has lost about 5 pounds, but seems to be healthy, no ribs showing. Anyone ever see this?
Posted By: Mud Shark

Re: Dog eating less - 08/24/15 07:11 PM

First thing I would do, if you're concerned, is take her to the vet and have her checked.

My puppy came into her first heat back in May/June and nothing really changed with her. I know that sometimes they'll act a little funny. However, since the weather has gotten significantly hotter over the last 6 weeks or so, she's been eating less and has lost some weight. It may be me, but I think it probably has more to do with the temperature outside more so than anything else, for my dog anyway.

I'd put her food down twice a day for a half hour or so. Once in the morning and once in the evening. When she gets hungry, she'll eat.
Posted By: Sniper John

Re: Dog eating less - 08/24/15 07:30 PM

Both my dogs were on Pro Plan until recently. We had changed from Blue Buffalo over a year ago when Blue got outed for lying about their food's ingredients. Funny thing related to what follows is that the first lawsuit on Blue was from Purina.

Both my dogs loved the change to Pro Plan and did great on it. But both started getting sick on it and could not keep it down. Very unusual that both dogs had the same problems at the same time, but we stayed with it for a few more bags. The dogs started refusing to eat the food, so we added beef broth to it to get them to eat. Eventually both refused to eat that too. I am pretty sure my dog Dash would eat a bowl of Styrofoam peanuts if I poured beef broth on it, so to not eat his dog food that way is highly unusual. I don't know if there was a formula change or if Purina changed sourcing of some ingredients. China? Or maybe a quality control issue with warehousing, shipping, climate control, or time before the food reaches the buyer. I don't know, but both my dogs were telling me something was not right with it. We changed to a different brand and the problems went away. I will give a disclaimer that this was a growing pup and and older dog so perhaps it was a coincidence with both dogs getting too much protein in their diet as their metabolism changed. But look at this consumer complaints site, the nature of the complaints, the number of them, and the dates.
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/pets/ralston.html

Might be worth trying a food change.
Posted By: stinkbelly

Re: Dog eating less - 08/24/15 08:03 PM

I fed my Drahthaars Innova for years. I switched to Proplan about 2 years ago when I got tired of Innova reducing their size and increasing their price, then finally they had the recall issue. Over the past two years my smarter drahthaar eats it good 95% of the time. The rest of the time she just nibbles on it or doesn't eat. I figured it was just because she was a female dog and was trying to tell me how and when she would eat. I would just leave the food out there for the normal amount of time and if she didn't eat, it was removed. My dumber dog will eat rocks if they are put in his food bowl. The most recent bag of proplan I got smells "meaty". It smells different than normal.

Maybe there is something to this.
Posted By: redchevy

Re: Dog eating less - 08/24/15 08:35 PM

Mine looses weight every summer.
Posted By: Baylor_Bears

Re: Dog eating less - 08/24/15 09:36 PM

I have an 8 month old GSP pup, and we just made the switch from Diamond to Pro Plan. He seems to really like the Pro Plan and hasn't refused to eat it at all. Is what it is.
Posted By: tigger

Re: Dog eating less - 08/24/15 10:22 PM

It is summer time they don't need near as many calories. I have 4 dogs on self feeders. None are fat and they eat 40 to 50% less than they do december, january, february. They have been on self feeders since I weaned them.
Posted By: zbot11

Re: Dog eating less - 08/25/15 04:31 PM

Mine slows eating way down in the summer as well. Not only does work less in the summer, he just seems to not want to eat when it's hot.
Posted By: passthru

Re: Dog eating less - 08/25/15 10:13 PM

Mines appetite has slowed a little in this hot weather.
Posted By: kpaw

Re: Dog eating less - 08/26/15 02:41 PM

Thanks, I guess just having the Beagle who eats whatever you put down had me worried about nothing.
Posted By: passthru

Re: Dog eating less - 08/26/15 04:38 PM

I have a beagle along with my lab. She is still a pig. But that 4 month old lab is keeping it run off of her.
Posted By: blackcoal

Re: Dog eating less - 08/26/15 07:16 PM

Heat plus having the same old food 24/7 gets boring.
Posted By: Birdhunter61

Re: Dog eating less - 08/27/15 01:40 AM

She has lost about 5 pounds, but seems to be healthy, no ribs showing

If she's lost 5 pounds and no ribs showing, she was overweight to begin with. Look at the pics of Bill's pointers in his signature line, this is a good example of a dogs weight.

Robby
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