My puppy is driving me crazy

AngelLight

She is a female AA 6 months now, 40 lb. She doesn't like the food I give her. I tried 4 types
Blue buffalo wilderness - Acana wild prairie- Nature variety instinct- Fromm for large breed puppies
I tried to add canned food and she liked it but after I bought a case she decided she wont eat. Two days ago I tried Stella and chewy dried frozen food and I crumbled a patti over her food and she liked it. This morning she decided she doesnt want to eat. What should I do?

PoetikDragon

First of all, I do not recommend feeding puppy food to Akitas over 3 months of age. I highly recommend changing to the adult variety of whatever brand of food you end up using.

Secondly, don't keep switching the brands of food on her. Akitas get finicky - especially the girls I have noticed. However, constantly changing brands is not good for the dog. Its hard on their digestion.

Third, she does sound underweight. An American Akita should be roughly 10lbs per month of age until about 8 or 9 months old. If she is small (short) for her breed, her weight is okay, but otherwise you may want to see a vet. Perhaps she is ill or has some parasites, and she is not eating because she doesn't feel well.

AngelLight

I took her to the vet and he said nothing wrong with her. Doesn't the adult food affect the bone growth with the high calcium content? She is now on Acana and it is all live stages food. And yeah she is underweight.Is something wrong with my way of feeding? I put the food and water and take her out of the crate (If she is in) and tell her to go eat,after 15-20 min if she doesn't eat I take the food.Should I leave the food their as she might eat agan?

shibamistress

Some Akita breeders, including the one I got my AA from, don't ever food puppy food at all. It can make the dogs grow too fast. It's puppy food that is the thing to worry about, not adult food. Honestly, I've never been sure how much to worry about that, but I only fed puppy food to one of my dogs (my little Kai Ken) and only when we first got him.

The way you're feeding is pretty much the way it is usually done, so I don't see any problem with that, but as PoeticDragon noted, female Akitas in particular can get finicky. There's a thread around here about trying to get dogs to eat--you might do a search for that and check it out. I think what you do depends on how underweight your dog is and how much she refuses to eat. If it's a serious problem, then getting her to eat anything is better than nothing (in which case I wouldn't worry about switching around the food), but if it's not a serious problem, then yes, it might be better to try to get her to eat what you have decided works best for her. (However, she's young, so some switching around of food is normal as you and the dog find out what works best for you).

I'm not an expert on kibble by any means, though. I feed raw. I bet she'd eat that! (though some dogs won't even do that!)

Zinja

My Akita is very picky. I have noticed she will be more likely to eat if I put water in the bowl to make it kibble cereal. I think it's because she's getting old.

When she was younger, we always had to mix food. She would only eat if I put some doggy gravy or use a very small portion of canned food. She loved mixes with turkey dogs too!

Kuma123

Have you tried sardines mixed in? When Kuma turns her nose up at her food- I add some sardines and the juice in and mix it up really well so that all of the food is covered and she will gobble it up. Also, she loves her plain yogurt! Sometimes I mix it in her food but usually she eats it by itself right before her breakfast.

* The sardines I buy are packed in water and contain NO salt. They are $0.82 per pack and she loves them!

T_Dog

If u are still having problems, here are a few thing worth mentioning, don't leave the food out all day, she will pick at it here and there. Put it out twice a day for 20 minutes if she don't eat she has to wait till next time. Also it won't hurt her to miss a day of eating. But what u wanna stay away from is feeding her cooked foods(human food) some dogs it can upset their stomach and digestive system and they will stop eating to recover. Also you could try to pretend your eating it, then give it to her if she watches u eat. I know it is humanizing her a little but my J-Akita and my Shiba will eat anything they see me eat. I have pretended to eat their kibble before it does work. I do use water sometimes but if they don't eat it is clumps up. I have used bacon grease to spice it up but that should only be used every few months.
Also u could try changing the environment let her eat alone, or next to you. You could also try creating her for feeding time so she has no distractions, and she may feel safer in there.