new puppy question

[tjedt]

i just got my little guy yesterday he hasn't even been here 24 hours yet but he isn't drinking or eating yet is it pure excitement or curiosity of being in a new place and when should i start to worry??
now he did eat a piece of peach that my daughter dropped from her high chair and some spaghetti from last night supper and loved the meat sauce and pasta lol but that's all no kibble?!?!?!
what should i do??
he has peed four maybe five times and had a BM twice.
the breeder did feed him a mixture of human and kibble so i wasn't to worried about him eating human food.
his BM are nice and firm no diarrhea.

[bubbatd]

I'd wet his kibble with some chicken broth ...maybe add just a little people food . Green beans would be good .

[Boxer100]

He is just feeling the environment. He will eat when he's hungry. Are you feeding him the same food that the breeder used? If you want to know if he's sick, give him a wiener and if he doesn't want to eat it, then he's sick. It is a great way to test when a dog is sick since most of them cannot refuse a wiener when presented to them. Also, do not feed him human food or food from the table. If he gets used to that now, you'll have a lot of problems in the future.

[lizzybeth727]

Originally Posted by Boxer100

Also, do not feed him human food or food from the table. If he gets used to that now, you'll have a lot of problems in the future.

Isn't a weiner "human food"?

Dogs don't know the difference between what food is for humans and what food is for them. They will eat what they think is good when they are hungry, as long as they can get to it. Yes, feeding food from the table CAN BE a bad idea.... if you feed your dog while he's begging you for food, you will only teach him to beg more. If you feed him dog kibble while he's begging (and he likes the kibble), you will be teaching him to beg more. But, if you teach him to go to a bed or something across the room from the table, and toss him food if he's laying there while you're eating, you will actually be teaching him to lay in his bed instead of begging while you're eating.

So, human food is not always bad. Feeding while you're at the table is not always bad. Giving your dog what he wants when he's begging for it and/or performing obnoxious behaviors, IS bad.

[tjedt]

the breeder was also giving them human food in their bowl she would feed them yogurt, cottage cheese, chicken, beef and some fruit and veggies.
the breeder gave me a puppy pack and said that was his food then i took him to a pet store to buy him some better food and see if he would like it and a woman gave him science diet and he loves it!!!
the breeder said he ate that too and she likes that better then royal canin so now i mix the both but i think i am going to switch to a healthier brand once he settles in better!!

thanks for all the advice and i am so happy he is eating now the vet also gave me some wet that they feed to sick cats and dogs so he doesn't get hypoglycemic so he has been eating great and perked up very well.

he is extremely hyper today lol

[babymomma]

Did you try just giving him the new kibble? Or did you gradually change it by addding a few peices of new to the old? A quick change of food can be very upsetting to a dogs tummy...

[Barb04]

Glad to hear the pup is eating.

[tjedt]

no i mixed it and im giving the wet that the vet gave me i tried to give just the dry and he wont eat it how picky is he? am i doing something wrong i don't want him on wet for life it is softening his BM and it is making it stinky and i'm not liking that lol

also he was on that kind before at the breeders she just gave me the royal canin puppy pack she said cause she ran out of the science diet ones!!

[Doberluv]

This is your little Chihuahua puppy, right...With bigger breed puppies, you can wait until they get hungry or say, "He'll eat when he's hungry." But with Chihuahuas, they mustn't go for hours and hours without food or they can get into serious, life threatening hypoglycemia. Do whatever it takes to get him to eat. Human food tid bits are fine; tiny pieces of chicken, a little cottage cheese or yogurt, a tiny sprinkling of parmessan cheese often gets them to eat, chicken broth is good. You don't have to have problems when he's older. I give my dogs added in goodies all the time which are human food. The fear of creating a begger is unfounded. If you don't reward pushiness, you won't get pushiness. (as Lizzy described) You might get a pup who won't settle for just plain kibble but when he's older, you can lessen the amount of goodies if you want and also hold out on him a little bit (up to a point) because it's mainly the puppies who are so prone to hypoglycemia. I found a kibble that my somewhat picky (previously) girl Chi loves. Sometimes they get extras put on their food and sometimes not and she eats either way.

Incidentally, Science Diet is lousy food. Royal Canin is good. They make one specifically for Chihuahuas that has stuff in it that is good for the heart. That has tiny sized kibble and seems to be very tasty. But it's very expensive. Of course, Chi's don't eat much, so... Sometimes the larger sized kibble is too big and hard to bite for a Chi pup.

Good luck. Hope to see pictures of your little wee one.

[lizzybeth727]

His BM is probably soft and stinky because the canned food is lower-quality, not necessarily just because it's canned. Vets often have no training whatsoever in dog nutrition, and sell whatever food companies give them the highest kickbacks.

I'd suggest gradually taking out more and more of the canned food, until all that is left is dry food. Say you're giving him a can of food a day, and a cup of dry food (I know you're probably not giving that much, it just makes it easier to explain using round numbers). Now take out about 1/4 can of food, feeding him 3/4 can, and add 1/4 more dry food. Feed him that formula for about 2-3 days, then take out another 1/4 can of food, feeding 1/2 can, and 1 1/2 cups of dry food. Feed that formula for 2-3 days. Then go to 1/4 can, 1 3/4 cups of food per day for 2-3 days, then maybe 1/8 can, 1 3/4 cup, and finally, just 2 cups of dry food. You could also add some water to the dry food to make it a little tastier, nothing wrong with that. Or feed him the kibble in food dispensing toys, that might make the food a little more exciting.