Puppy Won't Eat Breakfast

I'm thinking she is getting enough at her supper mealto not be hungrey in the morning.And possibly her metabolism has slowed a bit,thus not needing as much as she was getting with two meals.

What time does she eat supper? Is it about the same time every night? also forgot how old she was..sorry~

As she gets older and going to one meal a day,she may be ready for the change now.I don't know. They will not go hungry thats for sure.

When we switched Earnhardt to one meal a day,we opted for a morning meal.Mainly because we had his little lab nose in our faces every morning,while we were eating.and he adjusted well. Now there are bits of snacks thru the day,veggies etc. And it's enough to carry him over.

I do know one thing,he has changed for the better going to one meal a day.Much more trim looking,at least to us anyhow.

Don't really know what measurement you are feeding,but I would'nt up her nightly meal,because she is not eating breakfast.Try that for a day or two,if you have'nt already.Cause if you are upping the night meal,she probably is not going to be hungry in the am.
 
When Bacca was "off" this summer, my breeder commented that she is fairly used to dogs going off their feed at certain points....teenagehood being one of them.

She assured me that a healthy dog would never starve him/herself. So as long as everything is well, don't change anything.

That being said, if it lasts for more than a few weeks, then you need to re-examine. Maybe she is a one meal per day dog? Timber was free-fed in the morning, and that was the program that worked for him.
 
mbfrench said:
What time does she eat supper? Is it about the same time every night? also forgot how old she was..sorry~

Don't really know what measurement you are feeding,but I would'nt up her nightly meal,because she is not eating breakfast.Try that for a day or two,if you have'nt already.Cause if you are upping the night meal,she probably is not going to be hungry in the am.
Click to expand...

Bailey eats breakfast at 7:30am and dinner at 5:30-6pm. She's 8 months old. Her food label says 3/4 cup for 80% of adult weight and 2/3 cup for 100% of adult weight. I'm not sure when puppies reach their adult weight, so I usually feed her 2/3 to 3/4. I usually start out with 1/3 cup for breakfast. If she eats it all (which she does on weekends) then I give her a little more. If she doesn't eat it all (most of the time she doesn't even touch it), then I carry it over to dinner time and add it to her normal 1/3 cup.

Tomorrow (Thursday), I'm not feeding her dinner. Her obedience instructor said not to feed them before class. So if she doesn't eat her breakfast on Friday morning, then I know something is up. If she eats all her breakfast, then I guess it means she's only hungry for food once a day. I will also not increase her dinner portions. If she doesn't eat her breakfast, I won't carry it over. She'll just get her normal amount of dinner food.

If she only wants to eat once a day, is it better to feed her meal in the morning or in the evening?
 
BarbV said:
When Bacca was "off" this summer, my breeder commented that she is fairly used to dogs going off their feed at certain points....teenagehood being one of them.

She assured me that a healthy dog would never starve him/herself. So as long as everything is well, don't change anything.

That being said, if it lasts for more than a few weeks, then you need to re-examine. Maybe she is a one meal per day dog? Timber was free-fed in the morning, and that was the program that worked for him.
Click to expand...

Bailey has been this way for months. Even when she was eating 3 times a day, she would never eat all of breakfast. However, she always ate all her lunch and dinner.
 
take4roll10 said:
Bailey eats breakfast at 7:30am and dinner at 5:30-6pm. She's 8 months old. Her food label says 3/4 cup for 80% of adult weight and 2/3 cup for 100% of adult weight. I'm not sure when puppies reach their adult weight, so I usually feed her 2/3 to 3/4. I usually start out with 1/3 cup for breakfast. If she eats it all (which she does on weekends) then I give her a little more. If she doesn't eat it all (most of the time she doesn't even touch it), then I carry it over to dinner time and add it to her normal 1/3 cup.

Tomorrow (Thursday), I'm not feeding her dinner. Her obedience instructor said not to feed them before class. So if she doesn't eat her breakfast on Friday morning, then I know something is up. If she eats all her breakfast, then I guess it means she's only hungry for food once a day. I will also not increase her dinner portions. If she doesn't eat her breakfast, I won't carry it over. She'll just get her normal amount of dinner food.

If she only wants to eat once a day, is it better to feed her meal in the morning or in the evening?
Click to expand...

Really honestly I could not answer that one for you.since I have Earnie,and being a lab,his energy level is no wheres to any sheltie.I really do think it would weigh heavily on taking a look at what is best for her & her daily routines etc.You have her quite active,obediance etc.

I have many friends that opt for the night meal with thier dogs(Labs).Only because they find thier dogs much more focused on an empty stomach.These are very active dogs,compared to Earnie.

The only real issue,and it was no big thing really,was the first day of switching. Since he was so used to being fed a supper,although he rarely ever finished it,we took away that first day supper.

So we did give him snacks of veggies,and it was enough to satisfy him.
By morning he was hungry,and wasted no time eating.That evening,he did very well with no supper.

Now we did that way long prior to them being on TOTW,only having one meal.However if we had been feeding it,I do think honestly he would gobble a supper meal. Because that is how much he likes this food.But our goal was to take off much needed weight.
 
Tully often skips her breakfast, sometimes she eats, sometimes she doesnt. She has been doing this for ages. I just put it down to sometimes still being a bit full from dinner the night before If she doesnt eat it I just pick it up (she only gets until Deska finishes to decide otherwise he will eat hers too). But unless she is sitting outside I always give her the option of breakfast.

Realistically, at 8mths she is close to finishing growing. I wouldnt worry if she doesnt want to eat breakfast, she will be getting enough nutrition in her dinner. A vet nutritionist told me once that manufactured dog food has much higher levels than daily requirements to account for people giving their dogs less than the recommended amount, or replacing a meal with something else (now this person was from Pedigree and I was talking to her at a show so cant contend to how accurate that is).

As for puppy vs adult. If she is coping with it okay and not getting chubby and the food is recommended for adults I wouldnt worry about changing at this stage. Puppy does have higher fat and protein levels, and sometimes is fortified with higher levels of some nutrients. I had mine on the Eagle Pack puppy and small breed formula for a while but it made Deska sick with the additional nutrients
 
At 8 months and a female, its is possible that she is done growing and her energy needs have dropped off. Some dogs are very good at regulating how much food they need, usually not shelties though.:lol: 1 cup might be more than she needs. My dog, Jazz did not eat all her food as a young dog. She too had food allergies(turned out beef)and funny enough ate Cal. Natural and then Innova. If she didn't eat all her food, I just picked it up and added it to the evening meal. I didn't worry to much if she didn't eat everything as long as she and active(and she was seriously active) and eating the majority. As she got older, she got better about eating her food and turn into a chow hound in her later years.:smile2:

Ember is slightly bigger than Bailey,at 13" and 14 lbs and she only eats 1/2c to 3/4 c total dialy or she gets fat. Ember stopped growing at 6 months and by 9 months was eating what she eats now. Of course, Ember would eat until she explodes.
 
Last edited:
McKinley has taken to eating half of his breakies and saving the other half for lunch. This is so he can stick out his tongue at me and say that he truly needs his lunch. He started doing this about 4 weeks ago. Dinner, he chows down in less than 3 minutes flat. I am feeding him just 1/2c at breakfast and another 1/2 c at dinner. I know that the amount seems low, but he is 23 lbs and his ribs are exactly covered as they should be. He does get scooby snacks (homemade) thru the day for training and carrots and/or popcorn at bedtime. He is NOT starving though he tells everyone he is.

I know that is probably not an option for you with Bailey, to let her have her other half for lunch, because of you working. But just so you know that are other pups that are not eating their whole breakfast as well.
 
Maybe I'm misremembering (is that really a word?), but aren't you planning to move in with a roommate soon? When you do, you might want to try free-feeding Bailey, since she doesn't seem to be a glutton like some of our pups. I know that isn't a possibility now, living your parents' Chi, but could be something to think about trying in the future.

As long as she's a healthy weight, I wouldn't worry much about breakfast. :smile2:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top