My 4 mo. old puppy doesn't eat much of her food. What is a good way to get her to eat more?

My 4 month old Maltese/Pomeranian mix doesn't eat very much. She is 3.6 lbs. She will take a couple pieces of kibble and that's it. Maybe once every 2 or 3 days she'll actually eat as much as I put in her bowl. I feed her a 1/4 cup of kibble twice a day (amount recommended on bag and by vet). I've been told countless times that ';she'll eat when she's hungry, she won't starve herself'; but i still am worried. Then when she does start eating she gets distracted easily and won't finish. A friend of mine who is a trainer told me to add a little bit of parmesan cheese to the kibble and see if that helps. She'll eat more with the cheese, but I've also been told that cheese isn't the best thing for dogs. Does anyone have any tips, tricks or ideas on how to get her to take eating more seriously and on how to get her to eat more in general?My 4 mo. old puppy doesn't eat much of her food. What is a good way to get her to eat more?
leave the dog to eat what she wants...you've been told this over and over...if she's healthy, it's not a problem...My 4 mo. old puppy doesn't eat much of her food. What is a good way to get her to eat more?
try using a small amount of baby food mixed with warm water. I mix it in with my dogs food when she doesn't eat. Baby food is generally harmless unless you feed her just that and nothing else! I take 1 teaspoon of baby food and 2 tablespoons of warm water, put it in a cup and mix it so its more like a gravy, then I pour it on the dry food and stir it up so that every piece of food is coated. My dog can never refuse it! :) Baby food is relatively cheap in general and 1 jar will last a little while as long as you put it in the fridge! My dog prefers the beef but will eat any of them! Hope this helps!
Couple things you can try. Switch the brand of food she is on to something better. What brand is she eating now? Make sure you get a ';small bites'; so the kibble is the right size for her.





Mix canned food and kibble together. Canned food is very good for dogs especially small breed puppies because it gives them a extra boost of nutrients and moisture.





I would be very concerned that a small breed puppy wasn't eating well especially because they can become hypoglycemic (not enough blood sugar) very easily which is very deadly for a little puppy.





Try switching kibble brand (to something BETTER) and adding some canned food. If her appetite doesn't pick up in a day or two she needs a vet check up.





Do some research on this website http://www.dogfoodproject.com this is a great place to understand the differences between low quality and high quality dog food, including explaining the importance of certain ingredients, protein, fat, and calorie levels, dog food terms and what they mean.





There are 4 key points to look at when deciding on a high quality dog food.





1.Meat should always be the first ingredient, and it should be a whole meat like Chicken, Beef, or Turkey. The first ingredient should NOT be a meat meal, like 鈥榗hicken meal鈥?br>




2.鈥榤eal鈥?is okay in a dog food as long as it is a meat meal, like 鈥榗hicken meal鈥?and not 鈥榗orn meal鈥?Meat meal in a food is all the good leftover parts of a animal, like bone marrow, liver, heart, and some fats. Meat meal should never be the first ingredient in a food, but it is acceptable as a 2nd and 3rd ingredient.





3.Grain should be as far down the ingredients list as possible, and it should be a whole grain like barley, brown rice, or oatmeal.





4.You should NEVER see the words 鈥榞luten鈥?or 鈥榖y-product鈥?in the food. Corn and wheat gluten is garbage filler. It has no nutritional value to it, and is in cheap dog food as a substitute for high quality protein. Chicken or meat by-products is all the rotten decaying left over animal parts such as beaks, feet, feathers, and unusable organs like intestines and stomachs.





If the dog food you are feeding does not meet ALL 4 of these points, then you are feeding a low quality food and need to think about switching.





Some big chain pet stores like Petco and Petsmart are starting to carry some higher quality dog foods. Pet Supplies Plus has several super premium dog food brands, and many of the small family owned pet stores do as well.





Some of my favorite name brand super premium foods are:


Innova


EVO


Californial Natural


Orijen


Wellness


Taste of the Wild





If you can鈥檛 afford the high quality foods, some good mid-grade, affordable foods are:


Canidae


Blue Buffalo


Nutro Ultra


Dick Van Patten鈥檚 Natural Balance


Merrick





It is important to stay away from all the grocery store brands and popular names brands you are used to hearing. Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, Purina, Pedigree, Proplan, Beneful are all very low quality foods that have multiple fillers and by-products in their formulas. These foods actually have very little usable nutritional value for a dog, which causes dogs to eat more on these foods so they can meet their body鈥檚 nutritional needs. Veterinarians will tell you these are good foods because the dog food companies pay the vets to say so, and vets only go through a short, very biased nutrition class while in school.
I have seen that on cesar milan program.


try to heat the food a bit so it nice and smells nice and puppy will be tempted


also put the radio on higher volume so puppy will lear nthat noises are around her even when she is eating.





you should have a look online what diet is good for your dog.:)) good luck
More exercise/walks/playing! The hungrier a dog gets.... the more it eats! :)
I had a pup like this and I was told to put nutrical on her food and it worked. I bought it at petsmart
She may just not like that kind of food - switch her to something different. Mine went through 4 types before she found one she liked and was willing to eat. I just donated the left over food to the animal shelter.





My pup is almost 5lbs at 7 months now. She just started eating 1/4 cup total in a day! I was told the same - 1/4 cup 2x a day but it was too much, she wouldn't eat it. I leave her food out and she grazes off and on all day, meaning she'll eat 5 or 6 pieces, leave, come back a few hours later and eat a few more pieces. Eventually, by the end of the day she's polished off 1/4 cup. I was worried she wasn't getting enough for, but since her energy level has always been high, she poops once a day, and she takes in plenty of water, I figure all is well and I'm just being an over-protected mommy :-)
Well, then, ';She'll eat when she's hungry, she won't starve herself';.





That's the facts.





Stop the cheese. Honestly, almost no one with a puppy feels that the puppy eats enough (both by estimating what the dog eats, and conveniently forgetting the volumes of treats given in a day, and because puppies are naturally skinny as they grow). Eventually, you'll discover that they eat what they need to.





EDIT: About MEALS in dog food: They are REAL meat, just dehydrated...seeing Chicken MEAL as a first ingredient means that there is MORE meat in a product than if you saw just ';chicken'; as a first ingredient. Ingredients are weighed BEFORE processing when making dog food. A pound of Chicken after dehyration is MUCH less chicken than a pound of chicken meal (which, obviously, is actually a true pound of chicken).





Seeing Chicken Meal listed as an ingredient is PREFERABLE to seeing just Chicken.