My puppy picks at food all day. Is this normal, and what should I do?

The biggest problem we have with nutrition in dogs is obesity. And it can be hard to measure food on a dog that grazes, so to prevent problems in the future, I would continue to measure Elsie's food twice daily, so you can monitor how much she is eating. There are sometimes problems with having other dogs in the house when one dog is a grazer, but if Elsie is the only dog in the house, let her graze. I hope that helps! Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Every puppy is different. Chloe may just be a grazer and not eat the entire meal in one sitting, as some dogs are. As long as she is eating, continues to gain weight appropriately, and acting like herself I wouldn't worry too much. If you leave the remaining food down she may go back and eat it at her leisure.

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Abby. Is she maintaining a healthy body weight? If so and if she is acting like herself, then I would not be concerned about her food habits. It may just be her preference to eat at night. If she is consuming enough calories, then I do not have a concern. However, if she is continually dropping weight and shows signs of illness such as vomiting or diarrhea, then she needs to be seen by her veterinarian. Some dogs that go close to 24 hours between meals will vomit due to a build up of stomach acid. In these patients I encourage the owners to feed them more frequently. If this is not occurring with her, then you do not need to worry. I hope this information helps!

Some dogs are just picky eaters or are not very food driven. So we have some dogs, like your typical labrador, that will eat anything and everything within 30 seconds of it being put down, and others that are more picky and graze throughout the day. There are not necessarily medical drawbacks to leaving her food down throughout the day, or at least leaving it down for a few hours in the morning and a few in the evening. Sometimes unfortunately with dogs who are picky we just have to be tough and not offer them a different food every time they decide they aren't excited about their current one. We can predispose dogs to food allergies if we are changing their foods all the time and we do get allergies later in life it is much harder to find a good diet for them. I would choose one food and stick with it, and she will eventually get hungry and eat it. The exception is toy breed puppies which can develop hypoglycemia if they go too long without eating https://veterinarypartner.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=19239&id=4952329 , but adult dogs should be able to tolerate this. I am a fan of the purina pro plan line, which is available at most pet stores and is good quality, they also have dry diets, wet diets, and their Savor line has kibbles along with softer/chewy kibbles which my dogs love. If there is some treat that she is very fond of you can mix it in with the food that you want her to eat and slowly decrease the amount of the treat each day so she gets used to the other food. Some people find putting some low sodium chicken broth on the food can entice them to start eating a food and you can slowly decreas the amount placed on the food, or warming food up slightly makes it more appetizing.

As long as she eats and is not losing weight, don't stress out over it. It is true that smaller breeds can be a bit more finicky. Switching foods would not be recommended as it can lead to gastrointestinal upset and reinforce her finicky nature. Instead, try mixing in a bit of warm water or a teaspoon of baby food to stimulate the appetite.

Yes! If you are buying a good dry dog food from your vet then this is all the nutrition she needs. Some dogs are grazers and prefer to nibble during the day and some dogs will eat three times a day if offered. So I am not worried about her eating only in the afternoon. This may just be her preference and her personality. As long as she eats everyday then that's good! I hope this helps!

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! It is probably that her eating habits have changed. This is actually not uncommon and to correct it, this behavior has to be discouraged as much as possible. What I recommend is to give them their food and give them a certain amount of time (about 1 hour) to eat it. If she does not eat it then you can remove it and feed her again whenever she is due to eat again. This usually will get this resolved as she will eat it at more controlled times giving her less time to graze. Good luck and have a great day!