border collie pup has gone off food

[DeenaDee93]

Hi Guys,

I need some help please 

I have a 7 month old Border Collie Named Misty. 
She’s always had an appetite and got excited at meal times however the last few days she has been leaving her food. 
Right from the moment we brought her home she has had the same food. Her food is a custom blend from tails.com which is formulated for her breed, age and weight. She has 2 meals a day, 1 in a morning of just dry food and 1 in the evening of dry and wet food mixed. 
She has always eaten both meals happily. But the last few days she has started to leave food. Her morning feed she tends to eat most of it but leaves a little. But with Her evening feed she has started to leave over half of the food. She’s no longer excited at meals times and when I put her bowl down she doesn’t want to eat straight away. When she eventually does she will have around half the food then walk away. I’ve tried reducing her portion sizes but she still leaves half. Other than her food she had a Dental chew and that’s it. 
Shes fine in herself, she’s still drinking and playing. She still goes for her walks and has plenty of energy but she just won’t eat her full meals. I’m just worried that she’s not eating enough and I really don’t know what to do. 
Is this normal? How can I encourage her to eat?Could there be a medical problem? 
Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks 

[D'Elle]

I am not familiar with that brand of food, but if a dog stops eating you can do a couple of things: change the food, and/or have her checked out by a vet. If it were my pup I'd take her in to my vet first to make sure there's not something that should be seen to. Even if a puppy seems fine there can be something going on. These dogs are good at hiding it if something is wrong.

[Bordercentrics]

I agree with D'elle.  When that happens in our house, the dog is invariably sick in some way.  Get her to the vet. 

 

Kathy Robbins

[Lawgirl]

I agree with D'Elle that the first step is a precautionary vet check.

Second possibility is that you may want to think of moving to a single feed a day, and maybe leaving some dry food out for her to graze on if she feels like it.  I have four boys who get fed once a day - it does not harm them to eat once, and a longer time between feeds may stimulate her to eat with more appetite.

Third option is to try putting something enticing on top of the food as an appetite stimulant.  Whether that is some meat, or fish, egg, broth, cheese, yoghurt, whatever might stimulate your dog to eat.  This may result in her only eating the treats on top, but you can mix it through a bit.

Fourth option is that she may have slowed in her growth and no longer have such high food requirements to fuel activity and growth.  This may be temporary or permanent.  But this may just be her regulating her own intake to her needs.

Another option is that she may just be off her food a little.  I have one dog who always starts to eat less at the start of Spring (which is around August/September here in the Southern Hemisphere).  It lasts a month or so, and then his appetite picks back up.  

And yet another option is also what D'Elle said, maybe she no longer likes the food.  So maybe try a different food (bought in small quantities, or see if you can get a trial pack to test until you can see if she will eat it) because would you want to eat the same thing every meal, day in and day out?

Sorry I don't have a definitive answer.

[planomustang]

I put our border collie through working dog school.  They trained me, more than the dog.  One thing they told me is that border collies are very good at self-regulating their food intake.  Consequently, you rarely see an overweight border collie.  We leave our dogs food bowl out and full of food.  He typically eats once about every 20 hours, usually emptying the bowl.  You might try that

Randy

[beachdogz]

I think Lawgirl has some very good options there.  I also have a girl puppy - 10 months - and she will periodically leave part of her meal.  She has been vet-checked recently, and I am confident there is not a medical reason.  At first I attributed it to maybe a slow growth rate, but I am now starting to wonder if it is hormonal-driven.  She has not been in season yet.  It is also very sporadic - I cannot find a pattern to it.  So I am following this thread since I also have had the same experience.