10 week old puppy picks at her food

[Excaliber]

I have a 10 week old Lab puppy and she only picks at her food.
We have been trying to feed her a cup twice a day but she only eats half of her food at the most then walks away from it.
We tried Eagle pack LBP and at first she liked it then she really slowed down on it. We went to Eukanuba LBP and although she seems to like it better she's still not eating as much as we'd like.
How much should puppies eat at this age? The bags all say 2+ cups a day at 10 weeks and 15 pounds.

Is there something we could add to her food to make the food more appealing without spoiling her too much? I'm worried that if we resort to adding some tasty stuff in her kibble she may totally reject it if it's served plain in the future.


My other Lab never had this problem as he cleaned up his dish every time at this age. This girl is finicky to say the least.

Should we pick up the food and then teach her to eat it all at once if she want's it or leave it down for her to pick at it during the day?

[Furball]

Feed her three times a day until she is 4 or so months old. Two meals is probably too much for her to eat all at once and then she'll be starving in between meals.
Give her 10 minutes to finish up and if she doesn't eat it all by then pick up the food until the next mealtime.
Beyond that if she is acting normally don't sweat it. Not every puppy scarfs down their food, especially in the first few weeks they are in their new home.
Best of luck,
Anney

[North Mountain]

At that age I usually feed 3 times per day. They still have small tummies. I usually feed 1/2 cup per serving to start and then slowly increase as they grow. Best to feed in the crate, put the food down for a short period and the take away till the next scheduled time.

Laura

[Mike Drew]

My pup is 11 weeks old and does the same thing. He eats maybe 3/4 cup at a time. Initially he would eat a couple bites then walk away. What I did was I picked up the food after 5 minutes and gave it back at dinner time. He didn't pick anymore. He eats what he wants and leaves the rest.

[Excaliber]

Thanks for the replies. We started out with three feedings a day but she was still picking so we thought by going to twice a day it would make her clean the dish better.
It has been better with two feedings but still not good enough.

I guess we'll continue to pick up the food and hopefully she'll eat it all once she's hungry enough.
I hate to switch food as we'd like to find something she really likes and stick with it.
We might try some Pro Plan and see how that works.

[yukonriverriley]

We free fed our lab puppy because she wouldn't down her food either. When we went to three feedings a day she still wouldn't finish her food, and after about a month we went back to free feeding. She's 8 months old now and still free feeds and has never gotten overweight. She eats the amount they recommend without us rationing her interestingly enough. Some days she doesn't eat hardly anything and then other days she'll eat three or four bowls a day, but again, she's never had a weight problem. She gets plenty of exercise though

Lauren

[caglatz]

I agree with "Furball" --- feed 3x a day but for 10-minutes at a clip and then pick up. I've also noticed that the bag recommendations (quantities) are sometimes wrong. Feed to an ideal-lean weight.

[YardleyLabs]

I also agree that the trick is to feed to the weight of the dog. Too many people expect their pups to eat until they pop and some pups will. When I raise a litter I try to make sure the food stays out until no pup is interested. As a consequence, when I send pups to their new homes (or keep them in mine), they tend to be relaxed eaters that will walk away from a full dish when they are full. If the dog appears to be growing well (and it doesn't hurt to weigh them often) and it's not losing weight or getting fat, it is eating the right amount.