Hi everyone!

My husky is a little over a year and the breeder we got her from was feeding her Purina Puppy Chow (I know it's not the greatest food, but I was told not to switch her unless there was a problem.) She weighed 43 pounds in February and when she was weighed yesterday she was down to 33 pounds. She is not a big eater. She doesn't even eat 2 cups of food per day! I did give her a wet food last night which she inhaled, but not sure if this is a good route to go all the time. Any suggestions on trying new foods or what brands to try? This weight loss isn't healthy!

Thank you!

Hiya,

Are you saying that you are still feeding the Puppy Chow at over one year in age? I, like many here feed Taste of the Wild and my boy started on the 'all life stages' version at around 12 weeks of age.

The nutritional needs of a puppy differs significantly from that of an adult. Keeping a dog on puppy chow for his whole life likely isn't the best thing for the pup. At the age of 1 or more, switching over to adult formula or all life stages would be fine. There are a lot of threads on here about what food people are feeding, I'm sure they'll come up if you do a search. Off the top of my head, the popular brands are:
Taste of the Wild
Earthborn Holistic
Blue Buffalo
Avoderm
The Honest Kitchen

Another resource is Dog Food Advisor. Most people here would recommend a 4 star or better food if they are in your price range.

We personally are currently using Earthborn Holistic for our pack.

Orijien and Acana are the other great choices

Hi All

I am new today just joined 5 minutes ago. I am worried about my husky Shadow she is 9 months old and is not eating at the moment. And she is all of a sudden acting a lot quieter the vet said there is nothing wrong with her though
We have tried a huge range of canned foods, biscuits of all types, fresh mince, lamb kidneys (human consumption food) as well as beef livers. I have even cooked a piece of rump steak! We thought the other day rice mixed with vegies but she didn't like that neither.
We are very worried is there any suggestions?

Mandeymck wrote:

Hi everyone!

 My husky is a little over a year and the breeder we got her from was feeding her Purina Puppy Chow (I know it's not the greatest food, but I was told not to switch her unless there was a problem.)  She weighed 43 pounds in February and when she was weighed yesterday she was down to 33 pounds.  She is not a big eater. She doesn't even eat 2 cups of food per day! I did give her a wet food last night which she inhaled, but not sure if this is a good route to go all the time.  Any suggestions on trying new foods or what brands to try? This weight loss isn't healthy!

Thank you!

No, that weight loss doesn't sound healthy. What does your vet say? Did she get a clean bill of health? First and foremost I would rule out any health problems.

If her health seems to check out okay, tell me how much food she eats on an average day.

Not switching food unless a problem arises is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. Actually, never switching food is a sure way to cause problems down the road. Additionally being on a lower quality food will only add to those eventual problems.

I see she downed the canned food you offered which is a good sign. She's not refusing all food, just certain food. I would not start incorporating something that you don't intend to do long term to get her to eat. So unless you plan to mix canned food in all the time, I wouldn't start as a means to get her eating. I personally feed a mix of kibble and canned, but it's not an occasional thing, I feed like that all the time.

Your dog may be just completely disinterested in her food because she's bored of it. I know I get bored of eating the same food after just a few days so I would probably be downright sick of a food if I ate it exclusively for a whole year. I can't say that I would blame her for not wanting to eat.

I am a strong believer in rotation diets. They offer a number of benefits to your dog, the same way they do for people. Rotation diets offer variety and keep things interesting. This engages their senses (smell and taste) as well as fills in nutritional gaps. Contrary to what dog food manufacturers will tell you, no one food is going to be nutritionally perfectly balanced. Us humans cannot eat a multivitamin, hamburger, peas, carrots, and potato every single day of our entire existence and expect to be healthy. Our diets are varied and balance is achieved over time through eating a healthy variety of food. The same holds true for dogs. A healthy balance is achieved over time through variety which is why I am so strongly in favor of rotation diets for pets.

Rotation diets also help to prevent the development of food allergies. Think of it this way, a dog that does not normally have a sensitive stomach or that may not have food allergies can actually develop those ailments from being on one food all the time. If you only ate chicken and green beans day in and day out your body would be accustomed to that and that only that. So when you are one day fed beef and corn, after living your whole life on chicken and green beans, your body is likely to have serious reaction to the radically new food it was offered. You'd probably have a very upset stomach and possibly end up with the runs and you'd probably never want to eat beef and corn ever again. But if you'd spent all your life eating a variety of foods including not only the chicken, beef, green beans and corn but also so many other things then your stomach is already accustomed to variety and therefore less sensitive. The same applies to dogs. Also, when a dog is feed the same food all the time, let's say chicken for example, it is more likely that the dog will eventually develop an allergy to that very food in the long term. So that is just another reason rotation is good for a dog to prevent that from happening.

Rotation diets have so many benefits and I've yet to hear of a single negative to a rotation diet. I would say more but my kids just woke up and I have a crying baby so I will have to leave it at that for now. But there are plenty of good food options to consider trying. Take a look at the "What are you feeding..." sticky in this forum for lots of examples.