Finnicky , full, or what???
How much should Jake (16 weeks) be eating. He is on Taste of the Wild and I can't tell if he just doesn't have an appetite or doesn't like it. Jim and Carol (the breeders) suggested me scrambling up an egg which always gets him to finish most of the bowl (now at 2 1/2 cups per serving twice a day) but without the enticement it usually doesn't go past a cup worth of eating. On one hand I'm worried that I'm OVER feeding him even though the bag says he should be at 4 3/4 cups per day by now and on the other hand I'm thinking he just hates it and only will eat enough that he doesn't starve. Or is he just finnicky and trying to prove a point?!
Comments
Jesse
I suggest trying to feed Jake three times per day with a cup each serving, if that's the amount he normally eats out of his current meals, and see how he does on that kind of schedule. Five cups of food seems like a lot for a 16 week old puppy, especially of a good quality food like TOTW.
I suspect he's just not that hungry, and as long he seems healthy, he's probably fine.
I also do the "Here it is, you've got 10 minutes. Eat it now or wait until the next mealtime." thing. Works fine for my dogs.
Since Jake is a puppy, he will probably need a little more than that... so I would do as Crispy suggested and feed a cup two or three times a day and see how he does with that.
Side note Kaede does not like the TOTW chicken. She loves the other stuff.
The only time I've ever added "bribes" on top of food is when my dogs are very ill*. Other than that, I rarely "bribe" my dogs to eat. It goes up my butt when my boyfriend or my grandmother put "people food" on top when the dogs are acting finicky. I feel like it just tells them that they should wait because the kibble is boring and a person will come along soon and sweeten it up.
*Russell sometimes slips into episodes of extreme lethargy/poor appetite and tends to lose weight quickly so I'll sprinkle freeze-dried raw on top or give him something tasty
As for the food guidelines, I have heard pet food companies suggest you feed much more than necessary so you have to buy more of their food. I don't know how true this is, but I would say if your pup is in good condition and has plenty of energy (not lethargic) you are feeding enough. If he starts to look skinny, up the food amount, and if he is getting fat, decrease it.
Any table scraps, licks of my yogurt container (I totally do this!) and etcetera are treated as bonuses. I don't usually feed them at meal time. I think this helps to distinguish between "you must eat this" and "have some of this, it's yummy". Maybe I'm wrong, though.
I really do not see an issue with giving Kaeda some wet food with her kibble. That said I have been know to make up some cooked chicken and rice too for tummy issues. Now if K knew how to bring me a beer from the fridge then I thats a reason to bribe.