I need some help with our 5-mth old Shih Tzu puppy. He's a super fussy/finicky eater and I'm not sure what to do.
When we first got him at 7 weeks old, the breeder was feeding him Puppy Chow. I wasn't impressed with this so I tried switching him to Science Diet. I let him have the Puppy Chow for 2 weeks to get him settled with us before switching his diet. It was great. He ate and even got excited when it was feeding time. I gradually switched him over a 1-wk period with Science Diet. This is where our problems began. He slowly started not eating. When it was time to fully switch him over, he only ate when he felt like it. His feeding schedule was morning, noon and evening. Then we only started feeding him morning and evening since the dog walker said he never ate his lunch. After that, we tried once a day. I put his required food in his area and he can eat whenever he wanted and then I would take it away by 8pm. This sort of went ok but he still won't eat at least half his daily requirement of food. The vet says he's fine, he's just picky and that when he's hungry, he will eat. He does but not a whole heck of a lot.
I refuse to mix canned food with this dry. I would really prefer not going down that route.
I went and bought puppy chow (very reluctantly) and he gobbles it up! He even ate from my cousin's dog's bowls and that was "Beneful". I don't know much about food but I know if you buy it from a grocery store, it's probably not the greatest for them. I went to a few pet stores but they don’t have sample packages and buying 2, 3, 4 different kinds of food to waste is just not in my budget.
Does anyone else have a fussy Shih Tzu or dog? What are your tips? Any brand food I should look into without wasting too much money?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
When we first got him at 7 weeks old, the breeder was feeding him Puppy Chow. I wasn't impressed with this so I tried switching him to Science Diet. I let him have the Puppy Chow for 2 weeks to get him settled with us before switching his diet. It was great. He ate and even got excited when it was feeding time. I gradually switched him over a 1-wk period with Science Diet. This is where our problems began. He slowly started not eating. When it was time to fully switch him over, he only ate when he felt like it. His feeding schedule was morning, noon and evening. Then we only started feeding him morning and evening since the dog walker said he never ate his lunch. After that, we tried once a day. I put his required food in his area and he can eat whenever he wanted and then I would take it away by 8pm. This sort of went ok but he still won't eat at least half his daily requirement of food. The vet says he's fine, he's just picky and that when he's hungry, he will eat. He does but not a whole heck of a lot.
I refuse to mix canned food with this dry. I would really prefer not going down that route.
I went and bought puppy chow (very reluctantly) and he gobbles it up! He even ate from my cousin's dog's bowls and that was "Beneful". I don't know much about food but I know if you buy it from a grocery store, it's probably not the greatest for them. I went to a few pet stores but they don’t have sample packages and buying 2, 3, 4 different kinds of food to waste is just not in my budget.
Does anyone else have a fussy Shih Tzu or dog? What are your tips? Any brand food I should look into without wasting too much money?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!