pup not eating!!!

[smoky]

My newest addition has been home for just about 2 weeks now and all of a sudden she went off food for two days. She has just been to the vet and checked out okay except she has a cold, and a hernia, but otherwise healthy. The day we came home from the vet she quit eating. I finally mixed her food with some turkey soup broth that I had made for my family and she ate some. I have no more soup to keep her going and today she has not eaten anything again! any suggestions? Thanks

[Karlin]

She won't starve herself. Don't start changing around her food -- it is very common for puppies to start doing this because they quickly figure out you will give them lots of extra attention if they do something as simple as not eat. Other variations of this problem are the pup will only eat when fed by hand, or on the floor, or from a spoon... DON'T DO IT.

Just give her her food, no fussing over her, give her 10 minutes, if she doesn't eat anything, fine. Lift the bowl with whatever remains and feed again at the next *scheduled* feeding time; do NOT give treats or try to get her to eat in between!! This is crucial to stopping this fast.

If you want to start putting a slight amount of chicken broth or whatever on the food, fine, but if you don't have it, don't worry about it.

She could go 2 days without eating and it would not be a problem for her -- but the likelihood is that after two or three skipped meals she will wolf down the food and your problem will be solved before it get s a chance to escalate. If you search the site for 'problems eating' or similar you will find this is very common and the advice is always the same -- do not give in and stick to a schedule.

Good advice here:

http://roycroftcavaliers.com/manualfeeding.htm

[smoky]

Thanks, this morning she finally ate her dry food again! I was glad to see that as I usually don't switch foods out once I start them on one. She is the first that ever did this this long after I got her! But I think she will keep eating now!

[Caraline]

If she is otherwise bright & happy looking, don't fret. And a big ditto on what Karlin is saying. From my brief exposure to Cavaliers and my time here on the forum, I have come to the conclusion that Cavaliers are the masters of manipulation when it comes to their food.

When we first adopted Sonny he went for a couple of stretches of 4 entire days without eating. I just stuck to my rule of "you don't eat, you go hungry until the next scheduled meal" and within a very short time he was eating like a little trooper.

I have the best cure here for fussy eaters. I let Sam the Boxer (aka the vacumm cleaner) in to polish off any food that is not eaten within 15 minutes. You ought to see my little guys snarf down their food when I go for the door.

[WoodHaven]

I fully agree with the panel of respondents with one reservation-- how old is the pup? Many pups don't have a reserve that the older cavaliers have. I would never let a young pup go 24 hours without eating. I saw a pup in our vets office having seizures-- it was hypoglycemic and the cure was getting glucose (sugar) in the pup asap. I would get some nutrical or nutristat. It comes in a tube, place it in the fridge-- then smear a generous amount on the roof of the pups mouth. Sometimes a bit of something sweet can jump start their eating. Nutrical is sugar with vitamins etc...

[Matte]

Instead of buying something, you can just mix up a liter of water, a tablespoon of honey and a teaspoon of salt--it's sugar and electrolyte replacement.

[WoodHaven]

Nutri-cal is more than electrolites-- that is pedialite.

Here is nutri-cal

http://www.kvvet.com/KVVet/productr....4CB9FECE385ED2

[smoky]

thanks for all the info!! She is 16 weeks, but has been eating her food since! I was worried as I had not had any go off their food this long after.

[Cathy Moon]

I'm glad to hear your puppy is eating again! We had problems with India when she was a puppy, too.

I fully agree with the panel of respondents with one reservation-- how old is the pup? Many pups don't have a reserve that the older cavaliers have. I would never let a young pup go 24 hours without eating. I saw a pup in our vets office having seizures-- it was hypoglycemic and the cure was getting glucose (sugar) in the pup asap. I would get some nutrical or nutristat. It comes in a tube, place it in the fridge-- then smear a generous amount on the roof of the pups mouth. Sometimes a bit of something sweet can jump start their eating. Nutrical is sugar with vitamins etc...

Do you buy Nutrical from the vet? Or is it available in the common pet supply stores like PetSmart, Petco, etc.? It sounds like something good to have on hand, and I wish I had known about when India was a puppy!

[WoodHaven]

NutriCal or NutriStat (which are very similar) I have seen at PetCo type stores-- they are much more expensive there. I got mine at KV Vet for 3.99 per tube.