# worried



## mrsb (Jul 6, 2011)

I am worried about Pixie, She's not eating enough. I am hard pressed to get her to eat 1 bowl of james wellbeloved 35grams of food a day and shes meant to be having 3 bowls. How do I get her to eat???? She has food availibale all the time. (She has always been fed this food)   I'd be so grateful for any advice would it be worth getting some Nutrical? Thanks x


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## susan davis (Mar 25, 2011)

Do you have a scale for tinies? Weigh her daily, and see if she is gaining weight. If she is, then she's getting enough. Some of the 'recommedations' on how much to feed on the cans/kibble are way too much! Can you free feed her (leave kibble down)? Feel her tummy----- is it full and firm? You can always ask your vet too. I know they will eat when hungry, but it is hard. I have a 5.9# longcoat that as a puppy would not eat. She would vomit bile she'd get so nauseated. We fed her on the table and fed her anything she'd eat. Finally the vet put her on 1/4th of a Pepsid. That has helped. This was after alot of testing etc. She still is not happy about eating; but she does when she 'has to'!! Sometimes I feed her at 9am, and she won't eat until 9 at night!! Sue


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## mrsb (Jul 6, 2011)

thank you Yes we free feed her now, hoping she'll eat when shes hungry. we dont have scales as shes going to the vet friday for her next injection and she'll get weighed then. She had diarreah earlier with some mucus, so now I am paranoid about coccidiosis, worms, and we have guinea pigs upstairs which used to have the occasional run round downstairs befor pixie got here... basically Im imagining she has alsorts


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## CarrieAndCalista (Jul 22, 2011)

Awww, i feel for you. We went through this with Calista. I spent so much time on the floor pretending to eat her food in the hopes she would start to eat that I hurt my back. We hand fed her for the first month (can you say Puppy whipped??) and also made sure she was getting freshly cooked chicken or minced beef/lamb with her food. With dry food, we added warm water to bring out the gravy and soften it for her tiny mouth.

Try this food... it may help... and it will be 100 times better than James Wellbeloved. Natural Dog Food, convenient puppy nutrition


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## TLI (Sep 3, 2008)

If you schedule feed her she'll eat better for you.


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## mrsb (Jul 6, 2011)

Thank you, I will try all of this! Thankfully we'll see the vet friday so i will ask him what he thinks. You must all be so sick of my questions by now, im really sorry guys!


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## svdreamer (Feb 20, 2010)

Does she have ribs sticking out? Is her tummy sunk in? If not, I'd say she was eating enough. Being so little, a couple of bites fills her stomach. Getting worried and hand feeding and offering treats just makes a finicky eater or an overweight dog. I would ignore her if she is not showing signs of malnutrition. She may grab a bite or two all day long, just not when you are staring at her. I had a few that are shy about eating in front of me, it's a wild puppy survival thing.


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## mrsb (Jul 6, 2011)

I think she may have lost a little weight this week  she is pooping so she must be eating! when we hand feed her, she runs off to eat it on her own, so maybe she is a shy eater??!
I am worried about hypoglycemia, as she was shaking a bit earlier, but she had had diarreah (which she has only had once today and has eaten a bit of food afterwards!)


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## svdreamer (Feb 20, 2010)

I would get a scale. I have a food scale I used with the pupies, not very expensive and it let me know they were gaining appropriately. I weighed them once a week, not daily. It's hard to eyeball gains and losses as their body goes through changes and they get a little pudgy before they have a little growth spurt, then are a bit lean again until they eat up for the next growth spurt. If that makes sense.


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## CarrieAndCalista (Jul 22, 2011)

svdreamer said:


> Getting worried and hand feeding and offering treats just makes a finicky eater or an overweight dog. I would ignore her if she is not showing signs of malnutrition.


totally!! We realised this with Calista, fortunately we learned it before it became an issue. For us, she was our first ever dog...
Our vet said she would not let herself starve and just to leave the food down and ignore her. lol.


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## mrsb (Jul 6, 2011)

Yes it makes sense, i will definetly get one as I think i need one if she is a fussy eater so i can keep an eye on her! xxx


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## CarrieAndCalista (Jul 22, 2011)

this is how we would weigh Calista


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## mrsb (Jul 6, 2011)

Thats brilliant, where did you get that from? was it expensive? Thats what we need lol :hello1: thanks for sharing! xxx


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## CarrieAndCalista (Jul 22, 2011)

giggle... I love that pic of her, so undignified.
That is just a plain old kitchen scale, £10 on ebay (brand new) and a mixing bowl.  Weigh the bowl, set the scale back to zero and insert one puppy!


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## mrsb (Jul 6, 2011)

she looks cute lol. you can tell my kitchen scales are like something from the ice age! lol. we'll get some next week! thanksxxx


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## svdreamer (Feb 20, 2010)

CarrieAndCalista said:


> totally!! We realised this with Calista, fortunately we learned it before it became an issue. For us, she was our first ever dog...
> Our vet said she would not let herself starve and just to leave the food down and ignore her. lol.


That is the best way to do it. Period. You don't want them to get into bad habits or make youself crazy. lol Believe me. they will not starve. If you try to force more food than they need or want, you will get a fat dog or an insecure dog. Deep breath, get a scale and let her dictate how much she needs.


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## svdreamer (Feb 20, 2010)

CarrieAndCalista said:


> this is how we would weigh Calista


This is an awesome picture! haha


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## mrsb (Jul 6, 2011)

We will get a scale when my husband gets paid friday then  Thanks everyone, sorry for being neurotic! xxxx


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## LostLakeLua (Sep 6, 2009)

Although I agree that you don't want a stubborn dog and that a lil tough love will have her eating her food eventually; it's also important to recognize that picky eaters can also be more prone to getting hypoglycemia simply because they aren't eating. So be diligent, but also try to make sure she at least has a LITTLE something in her tummy; plus keep the karo syrup on hand for emergencies too!


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## CarrieAndCalista (Jul 22, 2011)

svdreamer said:


> This is an awesome picture! haha


haha, thank you!! This was my screen saver on the mobile phone for a long time. 
We used to do this every week, until she got too big for the bowl. lol! Now she gets weighed on the Cat scale at the vet.


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## svdreamer (Feb 20, 2010)

This is what we used for the puppies. As you can see, it's a little too small, even for Twiggy. I love how she is hanging on to the side of the bowl for dear life. lol


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## CarrieAndCalista (Jul 22, 2011)

lmao, that is cute!!


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## mrsb (Jul 6, 2011)

She has eaten nearly a whole bowl today!!! :hello1:

That is such a cute piccie, I love her little foot up the side of the bowl!!
xxx


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