Winston is being a snobby eater. Help!

Winston turned 8 months old yesterday and for some time now he has been turning into a VERY snobby eater. I feed him in the morning and sometimes he will leave the majority of the food untouched for most of the night!

I had been giving him fresh food in the evening but just tried leaving the original morning food down to see what he did. When I woke up, he had eaten the whole bowl. So- it's not that he's not eating at all, he's just eating a lot less than he used to.

We are feeding him a mix of Nutro wet and dry puppy food. I haven't noticed any changes in his behavior at all. He is active, energetic, and playful as normal. Is it time to switch him to adult food?

I think that most recommend that food only gets put down for 15 minutes and then picked up. It could be that Winston has stopped growing and needs less food. I know that Mindy eats half of what Max eats (and still tends to be a bit on the heavy side). I'm not sure when the "correct" time to start reducing their food is but maybe Winston is telling you that it's time?

Echoing above. The problem is mainly that you are giving him too many options for what he eats and how he eats it. Stop leaving food down all day (never a good idea anyway) and see the post on 'finicky eaters' in the Library under Caring for your Cavalier. That should stop this very common problem. Dogs most of the time get like this because we, without realising it, reward exactly the unwanted behaviour. So follow the directions in the finicky thread and bet you will have him eating in a week.

Also: if he is 8 months old he doesn;t need puppy food. Also most dogs at this age need less food anyway. How much are you feeding? Many dogs go to at max two and sometimes just one feed a day by this age and eat LESS than they did as puppies. My cavaliers ate about a cup a day as puppies, divided into three then two meals. Now they eat from 1/3rd cup to 2/3rds cup TOTAL for four different dogs. Probably you are giving him far more than he needs and giving him too much time to eat it. Cut back a bit on the ampunt, give him only 10-15 min, lift the bowl with any leftover food til the next SCHEDULED meal; no treats in between. That generally solves eating problems inside a week.

Yea Echoing Karlin. Even though some dogs, very rare, can have their food down all day and can eat only what they must those dogs are few and even further between. Having only an allotted amount to time to eat forces him to eat more like humans, at a set time. Give him 15 min and then take it away. And at 8 months they should be completely off puppy food. I understand however if you are just finishing up what you had left over.

Our dogs are over a year old however I still feel them twice a say. I just find that with one of them if his bowl is too full he simply wont eat any of it, he will growl at the bowl and want you to spead it out on the floor or hand feed him. Because of this we feed both dogs twice a day so one doesnt get annoyed!! We cut out treats too, they get a small one after a big walk but we found that Sam wouldnt eat his dinner and would just wait for his bonio in the evening so we stopped this. No issues now.

I still feed Mindy twice a day but I might try going to once. She only gets 1/4 cup at each feed but still needs to take a bit of weight off. I can't see giving her any less at a time.

Max gets 1/2 cup of puppy food twice a day. He is 5 months old.

I can't see leaving food down for either of them as they are both Hoovers.

Lady goes through random bouts of picky eating too. We don't keep her food down for more than 15 minutes, but I always feel bad when she skips a meal and I have to throw it away. We feed her 2 x a day - she gets some kibble and 2 T of a mixture of cooked meat, veggies, and rice (it's what she's eaten her whole life). Rather than cajoling and trying to get her excited after we've put her food down, I've been trying to get her excited to eat before she gets her food. And at the risk of sounding totally crazy, I do think I found something that works. I've started microwaving her meat (for about 5 sec. - it's warm but not hot), and before I put it in her dish with the kibble, I let her smell it. Then, when I mix it in her kibble with her vitamins, she digs right in. I don't know if it's because she's drooling by time she gets her meal or that she's amused by the routine (or at the fact that she has me so well-trained!), but it seems to work.

This thread was very helpful as I was just discussing with coworkers when to take Rudy off puppy food. He's approaching 7 months so guess now's the time. Altho not slow to the trough, he's been leaving a bit more after each feed. AM feed has been 1/4-1/2 cup kibble, PM feed was the same so I'm thinking he's approaching the end of the growth spurt and I may need to cut back. Thanks for sharing the knowledge!