8 Month Old Mastiff Concern?

[HMR11913]

Sorry to start another food thread, and maybe this is just a coincidence, but the last few days our almost 8 month old (who LIVES to EAT!) stopped showing interest in his food. He actually loves to eat so much that he's had a slow feed bowl since the day we brought him home.

He is probably around 150/155 lbs now and we noticed that he stopped eating.... not completely, but he barely eats anything out of his bowl. We have noticed that he might only be eating 2-3 cups a day... if that. He is still peeing, and pooping(pooping a lot actually... 3x a day at least) ---- we wondered if maybe we got a "bad bag" (We feed TOTW Bison) so we opened one of our unopened ones and gave him some of that to see if he'd eat that and he really wasn't interested in that either. We have another dog, a yorkie, and he only eats as he wants to, so we haven't really noticed if he's ate less than normal or not as well.

We thought that maybe he was just getting older and slowing down on how he's eating, but it seems weird that it just happened over night and that he's eating probably less than half than he normally does. We haven't noticed any weight loss, and he's still drinking a lot, eating his normal treats (he LOVES carrots and apples) still playing and doing everything else normally.

I know it's probably hard to assume just based off of that, but do you think that it could just be that he's becoming un-interested in his food? Do you think it's bad food? This is our first EM and so we're at a little bit of a loss, and maybe nothing is even wrong, but I worry when he normally LOVES to eat and now he's not really interested.

I was just reading the other food thread, and thinking about switching to Earthborn Holistic? Any concerns with that food?

 

[twood71]

It's a hard one to say, yes dogs may know if it is bad and not touch it, If he isn't showing any bad signs as it appears to be then it just may be him, but keep doing what you are by watching.

You could buy a small bag of another flavor of TOW to see if he touches that?

As for the Earthborn, I just switched(well currently switching) to that from the TOW. Mainly I do not trust Diamond and being the overseer-er of the product, My gut feeling was to change.

 

[HMR11913]

We have tried other kinds of TOW and I think he might have had an allergy to it as he was itching a lot; I was actually just looking at the Earthborn, as the price is really comparable and I had seen someone else(maybe it was you) talk about it on here. I think we're going to buy one bag of it, and see if that helps. Thanks for the opinion!!

 

[musicdeb]

Pups will self regulate their food if they are not feeling well or the weather is too hot. If it's only been happening for a couple of days, I would not worry.

Set the food down for 20 minutes and pick it up, if the pup does not eat it. Feed the food at the next feeding. Again, food down for 20 minutes and pick it up.

I would recommend stop all treats until he eats his food.

If he is drinking water, going potty normally, play and walking normally, he will eat when he is hungry.

Do you add toppers to his food or did you add toppers to his food? If yes, then he's holding out for the toppers. Once you add toppers, you can create a food monster.

 

[HMR11913]

We don't add any food toppers, but we sometimes do add water to it because if we don't, it seems like he really guzzles the water in between eating & after, from the food being so dry. We were adding the water still (it's not a lot really) when he first had stopped eating so much, but then stopped adding water now, otherwise the food would just be all mushy from sitting there all day.

We live an hour north of Green Bay, WI, so it hasn't been too hot here. He did eat a lot more last night than he has been the last few days, so maybe his appetite is coming back. Otherwise, we'll have to try the 20 minute trick. Thanks.

 

[Alexus]

We don't add any food toppers, but we sometimes do add water to it because if we don't, it seems like he really guzzles the water in between eating & after, from the food being so dry. We were adding the water still (it's not a lot really) when he first had stopped eating so much, but then stopped adding water now, otherwise the food would just be all mushy from sitting there all day.

We live an hour north of Green Bay, WI, so it hasn't been too hot here. He did eat a lot more last night than he has been the last few days, so maybe his appetite is coming back. Otherwise, we'll have to try the 20 minute trick. Thanks.

Musicdeb's has some good suggestions. One of our kangal pups became somewhat indifferent to eating when he turned 7 months. Then we added toppers, mostly a teaspoon of canned food, and he was fine.
Just curious if you know whether he has an appetite for human food- beef, ham, etc?
God Bless, Alexus

 

[HMR11913]

Yes, he would still eat human food.... we mainly only give them fruits/veggies such as carrots(they love carrots), apples, he tried pineapple last night lol..... he's been eating a little more than he was the last few days, so I'm not sure what was going on. We're trying to avoid the toppers.

 

[Barlow611]

Oden did the same thing around 8mo. I would add peanut butter to warm water and put on his food. sometimes my daughter would glove up and sit on the floor and just hand feed him. Even now at a year he still eats less then at 6mo.

 

[gilles]

no problem he could feel bad ..you will not see any weight loss at all if he does not eat well for few days..he could feel bad or he is just being fussy but in any case it is not going to hurt him if it is for few days

 

[HMR11913]

He went back to eating like his normal self, so not sure what was going on for those few days....... feeling thankful that he's back to himself.