Hello everyone,
I'm new to the site and firstly just wanted to say Hi! Hope everyones had a good christmas.
After looking through some of the posts I hoping you may have some advice for me. I have a Boxer puppy called Ruby, shes just the sweetest little girl but I a bit worried as shes started getting fussy with her food, its only hapened in the couple of weeks.
She is 5.5 mths old and has always had Hills dry food soaked in water (vets advice as she was a bit ill with worms when I got her) but now she wont eat that so I swaped her to Pedigree tin puppy food and she loved it,.. for two days and now shes getting fussy with that too. I've read on some other sites that tripe is good to mix with their other food but it says they should be 1 y old to have it and shes not. I have started to try leaving her with her food and if she doesnt eat it in 15 minutess I take it away, then fed her again at teatime, most of the time she still wont eat it. She isn't bothered if the cat starts eating it, she has at leats a one hour run off the lead a day and various little walks.
She had started eating ok the last two days but has turned her nose up at her food today. Am I just worrying over nothing? I'm new to the dog owner game and might just be making a mountain out of a mole hill, as from what I've read Boxers are well known for being fussy, but I just wondered if anyone has any ideas please?
She is fully wormed and fleed and at her last puppy party she was gaining weight ok and is like a normal dog, maybe its because I'm used to dogs that are like hoovers (friends dogs), but I just wondered if anyone has any ideas.
Thank you and I'm sorry if this questions has been asked a million times before.
zeldazebs xx :confused:

Any piccies - I love boxers, my neighbours have one - called Ruby! But she's an old lass now, though she still acts like a puppy at times.

I can only suggest you stop pandering to her. By changing her food when she won't eat it, you're basically teaching her that if she doesn't eat what you give her, she'll get something she likes better - for a while at any rate.

I'd go back to what you were feeding her in the first place. Put the food down, give her 15 minutes, then take it up again. Then do the same next feeding time. Eventually, she'll get hungry enough and eat it - and she'll learn that she can't get her own way. It might sound harsh, but a healthy, well-fed dog is not going to starve to death in a couple of days.

Hi Zeldazebs,

Welcome to SF :)

Firstly, at 5 and a half months your puppy's exercise should be restricted to 25 -30 minutes at a time, controlled exericse. This is due to growing bones and developping joints and as boxers are large, heavy dogs their bones and joints need protecting when they're little to prevent damage as they get older.

Changing foods for a fussy dog will make her more fussy unfortunately. You need to be very strict with yourself and not give into whims. If you offer her something different each time you could not only upset her tummy but also she'll become more fussy expecting a change of food whenever she shows a lack of interest in the current one.

I would recommend going back to the Hills dry, you needn't soak it in hot water but can if you like. It's far better for her than Pedigree tins which have minimal nutrition in and because more of it has to be fed than dry food you will get a lot more waste from the other end!!

You can use appetisers although I'd recommend trying not to pander to fussy eaters. Appetisers can include meat stock (not gravy - high levels of salt), sardines/pilchards/tuna (in oil, not brine).

Also do check how much of it you're feeding. If you're feeding twice a day each meal should be half the daily allowance but remember that if you're training with food rewards then she'll not need as much and it could just be that you're giving her too much.

Alternatively, try going down to three smaller meals as opposed to two so that there's less for her to get through in each sitting.

Good luck! Pictures please :D

Hi all, thank you so much for the advice. I think your right and I need to keep some will power, its just so awful when she wont eat. Makes me feel like a bad Mam. :( I've had so much conflicting advice my heads spinning, but most ppl have suggested the 15 minute rule, make sure she knows I'm incharge of food! I certainly will post photos as soon as I work out how to do it LOL!
Thank you again x :thumbsup:

Yes sorry I didn't mention the 15 minute rule but I agree with that!

It's very difficult with a dog that won't eat - I've had it with Eddy (but he was actually losing a lot of weight too!) but you have to stick with it as much as you can. Start as you mean to go on! :D

Molly's the most uninterested dog when it comes to food usually, and we've tried everything from fresh chicken to cheese and tinned fish to liven up her interest in her biscuits.

Unfortunately she has shown that she will go for a whole week without eating, even if she's got the food she likes, just because her chosen human (i.e. me) isn't there at meal times and this shows one of the reasons that GSDs do so badly in kennels.

I hadn't heart that they should be a year old to have tripe- is there any stated reason for that? Molly's eating far better than she ever has done before with her James Wellbeloved biscuits mixed with some tripe (we get the frozen minced stuff) so we're planning on keeping going with that full time.

I know a lot of people that feed tripe from a very young age but I suspect it's something to do with high levels of something that is too much for pups... may have to investigate!

Here's a link to feeding raw tripe to puppies... seems it's done regularly!

http://www.champdogsforum.co.uk/board/topic/14783.html

I was under the impression it was high in protein and pretty good for pups...

Thank you everyone for your posts.
To be honest I didn't think tripe was a bad idea, but like I say I've been given that much conflicting advice my head was spinning. I just reckon if their eating than thank god!
Good news (touching wood) Ruby did eat quite a bit of her breakfast this morning, I was really good and made no fuss of her, just put it down and left her to it. I took it up after 20 minutes (felt so bad) but hopefully she'll get the idea soon. I know that shes hungrey as she will eat other things, eg human food and turns her nose up at her dog food, but she will eat it.. eventuallly if nothing else is offered, so I'm hoping shes just trying to see what she can get away with.. little madame tee hee! I wouldn't be without her though, I even think that one of the cats is quite fond of her now! The other ones not too impressed but as long as the tuna keeps coming she'll be ok.
Thank you again everyone, :thumbsup: :D