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Beagles/14 week old beagle not wanting to eat

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Expert: - 1/11/2012


Question
My husband and I bought a beagle puppy at the age of 9 weeks.  He is now 14 weeks and is a very happy, active puppy.  Up until the last couple of days he has always eaten all of his food when it is put before him, 3 times a day.  Now he sniffs at it and eats a little bit here and there, not finishing it.  He is very active, so he takes many naps throughout the day.  I am just a little concerned that he has lost interest in his food.  What can I do?

Answer
Hello, thanks for writing, I apologize for the delay. Congratulations on your new baby beagle!

Don't know if this is still going on at this point but I can offer some thoughts.... a dog will never go hungry or starve so if he hasnt eaten for 2-3 meals it is time to go to the vet and find out the problem, puppies especially seldom turn away food unless they don't feel well. Resist the urge however to think he doesnt like his food and change it. Dogs unlike people do not need variety. They should stick to the same food every day, changing their food especially abruptly will give them stomach upset and usually diarrhea. IF it is recommended by your vet to change foods for some reason it has to be done very slowly over about a week of integrating pieces of the new stuff into the old stuff so their GI systems can adjust. That being said as I stated above it is not usual for puppies to not want to eat unless they are sick so hopefully if this is still happening you have gone to the vet.  

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Have4Paws

Expertise

I am happy to answer BEAGLE BREED SPECIFIC behavioral questions. Please DO NOT ask CRATE TRAINING OR MEDICAL questions! I am not a vet nor an expert in the use of crates.

Experience

I currently have one beagle, a male age 5, an 12 month old Pit Bull, and a 8 year old min. poodle. I have had to let go of three of my dogs, 2 beagles and 1 whippet/rat terrier mix in the past 5 years, most recently my whippet mix. The two beagles lived to 15 and the whippet mix to 13.5, it has been hard to say goodbye to them. I have done rescue work on and off for years as well as fund-raising for the local animal shelter. I worked for a dog magazine in the past (Southern California Dog Magazine). Being a psychotherapist has encouraged me to do in depth studying of animal behavior as well. I have worked with many people to help curb undesirable behaviors in their dogs (or them!) or to form good behaviors. My life is devoted to and surrounded by my dogs........The picture you see here is Zeppelin but we also call him the "miracle dog". He was hit by a car April 2010 while out with the dog walker and had very serious injuries... 4 surgeries and $17,000 later my boy is whole again and back to loving life. He is so special to me and he weathered a lot of pain and trauma yet is still the sweet boy he always was! I also work to stop Breed Specific Legislation and help to get pit bulls adopted.

Organizations
HSUS, PETA, SPCA DONT SHOP...ADOPT!!

Publications
Dog Fancy

Education/Credentials
I am a Marriage and Family Therapist licensed in the state of CA and am also credentialed as a Certified Addiction Treatment Specialist

Awards and Honors
Honored by the Agoura Animal Shelter for my volunteer work.

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