So, last time I bought dog food, the ONLY store here that carries TOTW was all out of our usual puppy food. So I bought the same "flavor" in adult food. Which both dogs thought was waaay better. Now I have them back on the puppy formula and Vixen is turning up her nose and eats only enough to stay alive. She just got over a UTI which caused her to lose a lot of weight in just a few days so she is super skinny. I have tried everything- hand feeding, lacing the food with raw egg (she carefully licks the egg off every piece) I even mixed in some of the cats' TOTW food (since she is very much in love with their food) she manages to sort out the pieces of dog food and drop them on the floor) brat. I bought the other "flavor" of the TOTW puppy food too, she doesn't like it any better. And that is the only decent grain free food we can get here. Her appetite is just fine for other food. I broke down and cooked her salmon and scrambled eggs last night. (Can't help myself,m she is almost emaciated.) Its been about 3 weeks since she went on strike now. I keep thinking if she is hungry enough, she will eat it...but apparently hunger is not a motivating factor. After 2-3 days of her barely touching tthe SAME bowl of food, I cave and give her something yummy. Something tells me I am going to end up either having to give her the adult formula or switching to a junkier dog food. She is almost 8 mos now, but really tiny, (and down to 30 lbs now) I'm worried she won't grow right on an adult food, and I hate to buy junky food. What do you guys think I should do?

I had a similar problem with malakai when he was younger except he just stopped eating for no reason,just point blank refused any puppy or dry food in any way,as a result his weight fell badly,the only thing I could get to work was salmon or mackrel with pasta or rice,(which he would happily eat by the bucket full,lol)then gradually adding the puppy food in till,it was mostly puppy and a tiny bit of fish,then seperated it,fish in one bowl pup food in the other,then just pup food and pretty soon he was back to normal eating the puppy food happy enough,no idea if this always works but it did for him

TOTW has wet food... I'd try mixing that in with the dry so if she wants it she can't eat around the dry but it makes it more appealing.

I think you could probably just switch her to the adult food, better to have her eating a lot of that than very little puppy food. I had a heck of a time finding a food that didn't give my little guy the runs, and finally settled on Merrick lamb with brown rice and apple (tried totw, acana, canidae, and raw - would have stayed with raw, but he has a chicken allergy so it was too pricey). It's not a puppy food but has a decent nutrient profile to support his growth. Any high quality food will meet the requirements for growth, just compare the label to something like eukanuba puppy, and you'll see that the adult totw has more protein. I tried the totw pacific stream puppy and it seemed way too rich for him and gave him the runs and panosteitis (growing pains), so a food with a lower protein content was suggested, totw was 32% protein content, his Merrick is 25%. The other thing I like about Merrick is that they have a lot of different flavors, so if I want to add some variety in for him, I have a lot of chicken free options. Eventually I'd like to get him on something grain free, but at this age the grain free stuff gives him diarrhea. He loves eating and would eat until he burst, so I don't have the picky husky problem, I have to limit what he eats, but 2-2.5 cups/day works well for him. He is in a huge growth spurt now, and a little on the thin side, so I'm trying to increase to 3 cups per day. He is just about 30 lbs. For training treats, I use Nature Balance dog food rolls. They smell like beef jerky, and he loves those things! They also include organ meat, so they have some different nutrients than his dry dog food. If you are concerned that she isn't getting enough vitamins you could always add a supplement. I'm no expert on those, but I think there are some recent threads about supplements if you do a search. If you are concerned she isn't getting enough calories, you have a lot of options to help with that. Look up satin balls, I've never used them, but I hear they put weight on fast. Also, I wouldn't worry too much if she looks thin, a lot of huskies go through a lanky phase when they are all legs and look way too skinny. Good luck!

Something that used to work really well with an old dog of mine (she refused to eat any type of kibble). We would make chicken broth (so get some good bony meat (thighs, drumsticks)), and mix in the chicken broth and some chicken bits with the food. The broth with be absorbed into the food, so she can't "lick" it off of the food. I would also try getting some of the adult food, and starting off with mostly adult food (or cheaper food) with a bit of puppy food mixed in really well, and then slowly increasing the amount of puppy food. Also, if my old dog wouldn't eat her food, a little trick my grandmother used to do was to take the wet kibble and put it on a paper towel or oa baking sheet and slowly eating it in the oven so it is reusable.

blueeyedghost wrote:

I actually was told by the vet at Shadow's daycare to switch her to an adult food at 4 months because of the calcium content. She was cool with all life stages too, especially when I told her that Ca:P ratio was one of the things I look closely at. I think Dizzy would probably be well suited with one of those as opposed to specifically puppy or adult.

This was some advice I received when I was trying to find a food for Dizzy and I was concerned about putting him on adult food.

My two refused to really eat for about a week when the weather started getting hot here and havent gained their weight back yet either. Their ribs arent sticking out and they are eating now maybe not as much but eating, I'm thinking maybe thats going to be a routine for them. Loose weight for summer put on for winter. They really seem to HATE the warm weather, I brought them out for a car ride the other day and both were very reluctant to leave the house. They would rather be indoors right now. I've had them since like mid january and they've gone on a few not eating binges for me, I am a bit worried about their weight having been basically emaciated strays prior but they dont seem to be suffering and act normally otherwise. But maybe just switch her if she prefers that food if totw is all life stages then she should be fine. Or try mixing something in like others are saying, mine go nuts for canned green beans in their food every now and then. They've also had purreed sweet potato and love it. Personally i wont do wet dog food because my grandmother insisted on mixing wet with the dry for my last dog and hers and it resulted in my dog refusing to eat without the wet but that was just my experience.

I'd just switch her to the adult food the difference between the puppy and adult TOTW is minimal...

I agree with amora just switch to adult TOTW if she likes it.. Mine skip alot of meals in the heat but... mine still seems to maintain their weight if not gained a few pounds the last 4 months. I feed Merrick sweet potato and buffalo to my dogs it is grain free they only eat about 1 1/2 cups A day. I do give them craisins and carrots with their food. I add and raw egg about once a week and salmon oil or coconut oil everyday.

Thank you for all the advice. I guess I will just get the adult formula next time then. Meanwhile, I am going to try the chicken broth suggestion and let it soak in. Pretty sure she would just lick the wet food off every piece- she is incredibly thorough fornot having opposable thumbs...

Ha!

If I remember correctly TOTW is an all life stages food. This means that switching her wont have any adverse affects on her and you know she'll eat it. I switched Karli to the adult BBW food when she was six months old. It was more cost effective (they sold the BIG bags of adult food but only the little bags of puppy food, super annoying) and she LOVES it. Hasn't affected her growing any either. So if that's what she'll eat, then go ahead and switch.