Puppy will only eat cat food!
 

:pawprint:
I have a 10-11 week old sheltie puppy:dog:. She got a taste of cat food and now wont eat her food like she was when we first got her. We have put out her food its avabile all day, mixed it with a bit of water. And the food that we bought was what she was beening fed before she left home. We bought a big bag of it and now she will just take one kible or 2 and thats it. Yet when we put the cat food down she eats it.

HELP?:shrug:

A few thoughts:

1. mixing kibble with water and leaving it out all day is creating a breeding ground for mould/bacteria. :yuck: Have one bowl for water and one for food.

2. leaving food out all day (i.e. "free feeding") is not a good idea for several reasons, but mainly because you have no control over how much the pup is eating during the day (which can lead to over or under-eating), plus it sound like your cat would have access to the dog food and vice-versa. I would strongly recommend feeding the pup 3 times/day, and measure out the amount of food for each meal. Put the food down on the floor for 15 minutes. If the pup doesn't eat, remove the food. He should learn that you control the food resources very quickly, and will eat the food you're providing at the time you provide it. If you use this method there would also be no issue mixing water into the food if you still wanted, as it would not be sitting out all day.

3. what kind of food is your little one eating now? why not have a look in the food forum for some excellent suggestions of healthy, quality foods for your new family member?

she is eating purina puppy chow. The cats wont dare touch the dog food. The only reason we leave the food out for "free feeding" it because we have done it with our cats. And have had no problem. The breeder had it the same way. Wet food in the morning and dry food out all day so they can nibble. Plus even with just dry food she wont touch it period. She will go once mabe twice take a bite or 2 and thats it for the day. She is always running around wanting to play ect.

Could it have something to do with the fact that we stop feeding her wet food in the mornings?

It may well be that your pup has a preference for the wet food, and there's no reason why you can't continue to feed canned products if it works for him and you.

It may also be that there are ingredients in that food that don't agree with him, and he's signalling that something else might be better.

Although Purina has a lot of products out there, it's really not a very nutritionally good food and there are many ingredients in it (corn is a biggie) that many dogs don't digest very well..I'd still check out the food forum for some tips and suggestions.

On the free feeding, there a few things you might want to consider: Monitoring your pets' daily food intake is really important for a few reasons. First, you can adjust the daily amount you feed as needed if your pet is gaining/losing weight - you should routinely monitor your pup's body condition and adjust the food as needed. Free feeding, where they can "nibble" all day, is often a huge contributor to obesity, which is of course not healthy. Measuring your pets' food can also be a helpful indicator of illness...if you know your pet always eats half a cup of food in the morning, and one day only eats half that or turns his nose up at it completely, or conversely starts begging for more food, you might be getting an early warning signal of an illness.

I put my cat food on top of my dryer so the dogs cannot get at it, they really shouldn't eat it...

I would buy a better food than purina puppy chow, it really is not a good food, don't buy dog food from a grocery store, there is nothing there that is worth your money. Go to a specialy store and find something with no grain, brewers years, rice, wheat, corn, beet pulp ect.. Orijen and BG before grain are my faves, the BG brand sells canned food for dogs that is just the meat and water, tripe and water ect.. you could mix that into the pups kibble to make it more appealing for awhile, but put the kitties food where the dog cannot get it, I would also be feeding that cat only canned food a couple times a day, GOOD LUCK! Dogs will eat cat food, and if you have it where they can get it it is not reasonable to think that they are not going to get at it..

[QUOTE=horselver;793100]Could it have something to do with the fact that we stop feeding her wet food in the mornings?[/QUOTE]

This could be the reason.

Can I ask why you stopped?

My dog is 13 and he still gets his canned food..I have never fed dry exclusively to any of my dogs..It's always been canned and dry...To me dry only is like us having only dry cereal everyday..That would be pretty boring.

As for free feeding, you can with some dogs and not with others..Mine, I have never had a problem with it..:)

I also agree with the food...I would switch to a better brand.

[QUOTE=mona_b;793215]This could be the reason.

Can I ask why you stopped?

My dog is 13 and he still gets his canned food..I have never fed dry exclusively to any of my dogs..It's always been canned and dry...To me dry only is like us having only dry cereal everyday..That would be pretty boring.

As for free feeding, you can with some dogs and not with others..Mine, I have never had a problem with it..:)

I also agree with the food...I would switch to a better brand.[/QUOTE]

I really have no clue. We bought what the breeder was feeding her. Then swtiched to Iams. But we gave her one can and she ended up getting the runs. So we said no more.

Plus she was only getting it in the mornings. For the first little while we did the routne what the breeder had done. Wet food in the morning and dry food out all day to nibble on.

One full can? If it's the large cans then that's way to much. What brand of canned?

It could be the Iams that has given her the runs..Especially if you switched her right over without making a slow change. Some pups/dogs can't handle a quick switch over. When switching to a new food, you need to mix it in with the old then slowly take out more of the old and add more of the new.

My nephew has a 15 week old GSD puppy..Before they got her at 9 weeks they called me and asked what she should be fed...I suggested Chicken Soup For the Puppies Soul dry and canned..She is doing great on it. They did the slow switch over.

I use a good quality kibble from the pet food store, (not grocery).
Good quality canned is added a few tbsp in the kibble twice a day with a bit of water. My dogs gobble their food in minutes and are very satisfied and a great weight. I fear competition when leaving the bowl down. Do you have other dogs? They could get territorial over their bowl.

Iams is no good either.... Find a specialty store and start gradually adding some better food a little more each day, and top it with a couple tablespoons of some canned dog food that is just meat and water, no additives, warm it up first. You want to get her off that puppy chow and Iams as fast as you can, it is crap. You can also give her some of what you make each night for dinner, that is what I do, If I am making a stew I give them some stew meat and potaoes and veggies, or ground beef, or a hunk of raw chicken, that would be great for the pup to gnaw on for a bit.