# Figo 8 Months - Not eating



## figo (Jul 14, 2013)

Hi,

My puppy 'Figo' is currently 8 months old and his appetite is horrible. He just does not eat and its worrying me.

He used to eat thrice a day until he was 6 months old.It all began from his teething phase when the amount of intake reduced.We started feeding him wet food at that point, as per recommendation. But since his change of food, he started eating only twice a day and now eats only once a day or none at all. We are wetting his dry food also(as he doesn't eat dry food anymore). 

We have changed his dog food type. We always fed him Blue Buffalo small breed puppy food(the pink bag), now we've switched to Blue Buffalo -Blue Wilderness for puppies guessing maybe he got bored of his old food. He doesn't eat that as well.

He loves egg, so we started mixing egg with his food. Now he doesn't eat that as well. He stopped liking egg too.

He eats all kinds of snacks(which we try to avoid giving hoping he would feel hungry and start eating his regular food).

PLEASE HELP!

Oh and we took him to the doc, she says he's all good and that this happens sometimes to puppies.

What starving?!:hurt:


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## Ruth4Havs (May 13, 2013)

Does he still eat treats?


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## TilliesMom (Sep 30, 2010)

uhhhhh, sounds like he is training YOU!!
Do you have human kids?? Basically you are teaching him to hold out because there is always something better around the corner... pick a HIGH quality, nutritious food and STICK TO IT! Feed him and if he hasn't eaten it in 15 minutes pick it up. no snacks or treats until the next mealtime. Eventually he will learn that he eats what you give him or he starves. he will eat. eventually.


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## Pucks104 (Aug 16, 2012)

At 8 months, the more rapid growth of the puppies first few months is slowing significantly. As a result the appetite will tend to lessen sometimes quite a lot. My Leo is 6 months old and though he has always been a rather streaky eater, I can tell that overall his appetite is lessening. Puppies typically eat the most that they will eat in the 4-9 month timeframe with larger breed puppies closer to the 9 months or so. If dogs continued to take in that volume of food they would either be gigantic or just really obese. Since Havanese are smaller in relation to many dogs they will tend to slow in growth in the 6-8 month period probably not getting much taller and a few pounds heavier as their bodies fully mature. You'll need to adjust the amount of food you offer accordingly so Maestro maintains a healthy weight! Keep an eye on his waistline and a feel on his ribs.


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## Suzi (Oct 27, 2010)

Thats Good that you found out he's healthy. I wouldn't worry just keep food available and he will eat when he's hungry. Mine go threw stages all the time where they wont eat. Sometimes all I have to do is offer them a bite from my hand and that gets them going. I dont have scheduled feeding times because my work is so varied. Mine have food available whenever they want it. They do however like eating when I'm home.


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## misstray (Feb 6, 2011)

You don't actually say how much he is eating. They don't really need much.

Brody eats anywhere from 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of kibble most days (sometimes none, and occasionally 3/4 cup if he's super hungry that day)


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## Lila (Apr 9, 2013)

As long as he's healthy. I agree with the threads so far. Find a good food, stick with it and NO SNACKS until you see him eating his dog food. And, it's true, Havanese's don't eat a lot and definitely slow down and don't eat as much around 6-8 months. Mikey (my hav) is big and he's cut down to about 1 cup a day, sometimes only 1/2 cup if he's had some treats. He's 7 months. Don't worry, sounds like he's healthy so he is holding out. He's not starving - he will eat when he gets hungry enough. I actually put 1/2 cup at a time in his bowl and he eats whenever. Then I will put another 1/2 cup in - so he free feeds but I know how much he eats that way. My first Hav was "normal size"  fully grown - 12 lbs - there were days he didn't eat much at all but I would notice the next day he made up for it


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## jcbpaisley (Mar 6, 2013)

Diva had a picky eater phase. I wanted to encourage her to finish her food without giving her tastier food (which is problematic for the reasons Tammy mentioned) so now she gets "dessert" of a small treat if she finishes her meal nicely. She is 8 months and eats 1/3 of a cup in the morning and 1/3 in the evening.


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## SJ1998 (Feb 4, 2013)

There is great advice also in another thread from DavetGabby - something to the effect of giving the dog a small amount of food and taking it up after five minutes. Just noticed TillesMom said the same this above. I am doing that with my dog and it works very well. 

In general I have noticed with my boy his appetite varies a lot. Some days he woofs it all down and wants more, other days he eats some and I take it up and leave it for the next meal. 

Make sure you feed the best food you can afford and consider a home cooked diet from a nutritionist if you can (the cost for the diet recommendations are a one time thing). They are small dogs so dont eat much and good food is so essential to their well being. Just like us!


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