dog won't eat

[jrid]

I have an eight month old male Border Collie puppy, who up until last Thursday ate with vigor.

Since last Thursday, he has gone from eating one &1/2 cups of lamb&rice food twice a day to eating less than 1/2 cup 2 times a day. He eats a little bit and stops. My other four dogs are still eating the same food and never lift their head from their bowls.

 

I think he may have swallowed a small piece of tennis ball or who knows, maybe he ate a sweet gum ball. There are millions of them in my yard.

 

I took the puppy to the vet this past Monday and had xrays done but nothing could be seen. His stool was negative for worms. Bloodwork was done and was okay except he had 7% bands? The vet put him on Clavamox. He had passed a couple of loose stools this past weekend, but that resolved itself and stools are normal again.

 

If you could see this puppy run and play, you would wonder why I am worried about him. He acts like he feels great. I have to be out of town for a couple of days and am leaving the puppy at the vet's office. I will tell the vet if the puppy does not start eating well to go ahead and do barium xrays.

 

Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

thanks

[Allie Oop]

I haven't got the experience or expertise that some of the other folks on this board have, but my own 9 mo. old BC has had a couple of periods like that.

 

I free-feed, but Allie goes through phases that she doesn't eat very much at all. That usually passes after a week or so. We use Nutro Natural Lamb & Rice kibble, but I usually mix in the small wet food cans/packets of the Nutro in the morning with the kibble. She seems to really enjoy that (although I do have to chase the cat away from her bowl).

 

If you are feeding only kibble (couldn't tell from your post), try mixing a wet food in. That has always done the trick for my various dogs. Also, my friend has a BC mix (and 4 or 5 other dogs) and when her BC mix goes through the nibbling phase, she feeds him in his crate away from the other dogs and he does much better. Who knows why!?

 

Also, maybe he just has an issue with the type of food and doesn't like it anymore.

 

Good luck!

[jrid]

I have been adding some canned food called "AD" that my vet says most dogs can't resist. The puppy seems to like it but not enough to eat as much as he should. The other dogs start drooling when I open the can. I let them finish off what he won't eat and they lick the bowl cleaner than clean.

[Allie Oop]

You can also try throwing in a few Cherrios. I had never fed them to my dog before, but the other day she was practically drooling by my son's chair at the table when he was having them for breakfast. Just for fun, I threw a few into her kibble dish and she went wild! The only downside was that after each bite she ate the Cheerios, but spit out the rest of the kibble. (Little twerp!)

 

But seriously, did your vet seemed concerned and has the dog lost much weight? It could just be a phase.

[jrid]

My vet had said if he did not start eating normally in a few days, he would want to go ahead and do the barium xrays. If nothing is found on those xrays and puppy is still not eating well, an ultrasound would be next test to do.

[juliepoudrier]

Sounds like your vet has given you good advice. Things like parts of tennis balls, etc., won't necessarily show up on a regular X-ray.

 

J.