Starving Shorthair

Mousedipper

Mousedipper

New member
Guys HELP

My female 1 1/2 year old GSP is a very picky eater. I need some suggestions on what a bird dog will ALWAYS eat. I have tried all the expensive brands of hard and soft food, even bought some 4 ounce hi protein cans from the vet to help her put on weight but to no avail. I boil chicken till it falls off the bones, (and remove bones) and she will nibble at that. Ground turkey fried and mixed with rice, used to eat that fairly well but no more.

She has weighed about 42 lbs since 8 months old.

Any Ideas?

Dave /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif
 
Hi Mouse,

I am sure you have had her checked by the vet, and hopefully they have ruled out any internal issues. Are you sure she is not getting food from somewhere else? And 42 pounds is probably her good weight. They usually reach full size around six to eight months, the weight alone does not seem to bad. However if she looks skinny there may be a problem. How is she on table food, obviously not a solution but if that dog won't eat french fries or hot dogs she is sick.

I am not a vet but I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night.
 
Riccur,

I have had her to the vet, and no she won't eat french fries, but she loves barbecue potatoe chips and chocolate.

Yeah I know Dogs ain't supposed to have chocolate but a mini tootsie roll once in a while don't seem to hurt.

I had another GSP that as a puppie ripped open and ate a complete 2 lb bag of m&m's and she lived almost 13 years.

She passed 3 years ago of Cancer.
 
About the only thing I've seen as far as always goes, is stuff you don't want them too, cat crap or a nice fresh cow pattie, a little eatin then a good roll.
With my shorthair, sometimes I'd mix in a raw egg with some of her dry food (Purina)a liitle extra protein after hunting. But I found with her(she was on the small side too)
just keeping dry food in her bowl, she'd eat when she needed, worked the best. Maybe once in a while some pan drippings on it, but for her the more fussing, the fussier she could be. As long as there no health issue, it's like with the kids, "if your hungry eat"
 
Well Mouse, if she looks healthy and seems to be happy she is probably just fussy.

As far as the chocolate goes, I hear it is an allergy that some dogs have to chocolate that kills. Just like people not all will have a problem but some have extreme reactions. My dog can eat chocolate as well with no ill effects, except the runs from eating a dozen chocolate donuts that he swiped while me and the boys weren't looking.

Good hunting pal,

Riccur
 
I had a problem with my pointer getting skinny this spring even though he always had food in front of him.. I put in a 25 lb self feeder in the kennel with him and when I got off work I would take out a big bowl of dog food with a couple raw eggs mixed in, shell included. After about 2 weeks he started gaining all his weight back..

Hope this helps!!!!
 
Dave,

I feed my Gracie dry food, (I think IAM's) along with scraps from whatever I eat. She is a solid little girl, as you know.

I always thought a dog would eat when it gets hungry, if it's not sick.

BTW,
Gracie just loves milk, I mean she is crazy over it. You may add some powdered milk to her food. That is supposed to be high in protein and other good stuff.
 
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Dan,

Poor little girl, Maybe you ought to give her back to John-Henry. You should be ashamed making her eat your left-overs, I have seen some of the crap that you eat. Of course you have seen me put some weird things in my mouth also. (that didn't sound too good, but you know what I mean.)

LOL

Dave
 
Just pick a good dry food and leave it for her, when she gets hungry she will eat. My shorthair will eat anything, but then again he is also #90. Take her out and work her for a few hours, then bring her in and let her sit till she eats.
 
Do you feed twice a day?
I feed my 5 year old German Shorthair about 1 1/2 cups of high protein dry food twice a day. About 2 months before hunting season I give her more.

My vet said you can also mix in 1 or 2 tablespoons of salad oil to the dry food. (Oil is pure calories) I would not give her a lot of table scraps but sometimes it is OK. I will give mine the skin off a baked or boiled chicken (just a little)

Mixing in a little oil in my opinion is worth a try.
 
Chocolate is not a good thing to feed your dog.

While they may not exhibit any outward signs serious internal damage and nervous system failure may very well be going on...

Her's a link to a good source about what happens when a dog eats chocolate...

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/211104.htm&word=chocolate

I personally witnessed my son's dog go through some f the things mentioned after he ripped a package of Reeses open..
 
1+ for rice and chicken boil a whole chicken and cook up some rice I also like to add some green beans this is very good for a dogs digestion and is easy on thier stomach my GSP is 6 this month and is a great bird dog and also a great coyote tracker
DSCF1293.JPG
 
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Quote:
Of course you have seen me put some weird things in my mouth also. (that didn't sound too good, but you know what I mean.)



Dad,
You might want to explain this story before the fine folks here think that you are one of those San Francisco village people types. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
My 6 year old female GSP barely tips the scale @ 40 pounds. If she checks out as healthy, then stick with one food and enjoy her.

By the end of bird season, both my gsp's are in rough shape. Skinny with multiple cuts in various stages of healing. But man, are they happy dogs.
 
I've had a couple of picky eaters and I just ignored it. If a young dog is skinny in the off-season, that is usually no cause for concern, at least not if she has no other health issues. Young pointers can be a lot like free-ranging farm kids in pre-McDonald days. Skin, bone, energy and toughness. Forget to eat on a lazy summer day, eat a horse when put to work. My bet is she's likely to get hungry fast as she starts working this fall.

But besides that, competition can make a dog mighty hungry. Feed her with another dog close by, maybe even one that'll finish her bowl if she leaves it. That might do the trick.
 
i have a 6 yr old male GSP. He is a big one weighing off season around 95 and in season 88-89. He can be kind of pickie, I find sticking to one brand of food works best, I used to feed IAMs but switched due to their anti gun relationship with the humane society a couple years ago...feed him Purina high energy now. Also used to add a couple spoons full of Alpo beef with gravy to make it look pretty but the chinese are already putting lead in my other kids didn't want them to also poison my bird dog so now he just gets the last couple bites of whatever I am eating. I do leave his food out all day and he east when he wants to. Seems to work best for us. He is an inside dog and spoiled rotten. Sounds like you dog eats better than I do though with boiled chicken till it falls off the bone with beans and rice. Toss in a couple beers and A few of us might make a drive over to see first hand how it tastes. At $4.59/gallon for diesel I might have to start eating dog food.
 
Try taking the dog off grain based(fillers=crap) foods. Besides that has been proven that dogs (carnivores) get cancer from fillers & it takes up gut room for vital nutrients.

They don't need it. Grain free foods such as Innova's EVO and Timberwolf Organics are about the same price as high quality kibbles and you feed about 1/2-1/3 less.

My dogs are on a raw diet consisting of 50% meat/10% fat from oils and meat fat/ 5% organs/5% edible bone/5% ground veggie & berry mush/5% EVO kibble.

If I were to feed them 100% my Wilson would eat about 7 cups of a top quality grain based kibble or 3 cups of the EVO. GRAINS ARE GARBAGE! for dogs.

So at the register I pay more but in the long run I pay 1/2 as much!
 


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