My 11 month old lab is not eating enough. He has had Skinners Field and Trial food since we got him at 8 weeks. He is offered 3 small meals each day but in the last 2/3 weeks he is ignoring his food and may over the course of the day eat about half of what he is offered. The only treats he is offered are those used as training rewards and he accepts those as eagerly as ever. Should I be concerned? Any suggestions?
Well, his condition is the best indicator of how much you should be feeding him. If he's not getting too skinny, then he's getting enough food and you shouldn't worry
Everything ok with the bag of food you are using? We've had chats on here before from members about food that's become damaged / contaminated and they've not realised x
MumG.....I had a similar problem and found out the hard way that I should NOT be putting the food in a plastic bin.....it made the food toxic. Something to do with the food and the plastic.You CAN put the bag of food into a plastic bin but not empty the bag into plastic. Actually, the bag of food states NOT to put it in anything plastic. My Cooper put his nose up to the food so I knew there was something wrong because he inhaled his food before. I went out and bought new bag of food and did NOT put it in the plastic bin and all is OK now.
Do you have any further information about that, Yvonne? My food doesn't say that, and I just contacted the manufacturer to ask. They hadn't heard that you shouldn't store it in plastic bins, either.
OK, I've just done a little bit more looking up. I haven't found any studies on the effect of BPAs (which are the problem) on dog food. I've found a bazillion (no exaggeration! ) opinion pieces about it. All saying how bad BPAs are. Which may or may not be true, but I think most of us store food for ourselves in plastic containers... not to mention, drinking from plastic bottles, using plastic beakers for our children, even using tinned goods, most of which have a plastic lining.... An additional concern with food storage bins is based around bacteria and mites, but that is only true if you constantly top-up your container without emptying it and washing it between uses.
Fiona,I feed Cooper Fromm and Blue Buffalo Wilderness. My bags say do not put into plastic bin which is a shame because I have a huge one on wheels that was so practical. Now I put the whole bag in it but the bag is bigger than the bin so......I now have two smaller bags with food in them that go into the bin. I have to tell you that it was instantaneous when I got a new bag of food and did not put it into the plastic bin. It was like a switch had gone off....Cooper went for the food like he always had. But I knew there was something wrong when he wouldn't eat his breakfast from the food that was in the actual plastic bin. I have had no trouble since then. Also I would imagine that, if you keep the bag of food in an area that gets very hot (like a garage). that might "turn" the food, too. I used to keep the plastic bin in the garage in the Fall/Winter/Spring when it was cool but garage gets plenty hot in the Summer. This has been my personal experience. Hope it helps someone that could be having the same problem.
You are right about us humans keeping food, etc, in plastic .... water bottles. But definitely my dog food bags (33 lbs) state "do not put in plastic bin". I just don't do it anymore and the problem with Cooper has gone away.
Oh, absolutely, Yvonne, I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just trying to find evidence that I am or am not killing my dogs by pouring their feed into a plastic bin. They gobble it up just the same! Apparently (from one article I read), most pet food bags and tins also have plastic liners, containing BPA. Blue Buffalo was one that didn't.
Fiona, I know you were not saying I was wrong.....no worries!! What happened with me: I was going in for my second total knee replacement mid-June so I bought a whole bag of Fromm and put it in the plastic bin so I wouldnt have to lift the bag when I got home....was home end of June and Cooper came back to me (was being taken care of by caretakers 24/7) mid July so the contents of the bag were in the plastic bin for a month. Maybe that's what did it....it WAS inside the kitchen and I have central air, so it could not have gone bad due to high temps. But maybe sitting there for a whole month could have done it. I just don't risk it now and maneuver the bag(s) into the bin. It's a shame because the bin is great to have. So maybe in my case it was just too long to be in the plastic bin. And, no, you are not killing your dogs!! You are funny! They wouldn't eat the food if it wasn't OK! You should have seen Cooper's face when he wouldn't eat it.....he looked at me in total disgust! I even thought he was sick!
@snowbunny It was Yvonne and I that were having problems with Fromm specifically after removing the food from the bag and pouring it into a plastic storage container. This is from the Fromm website: We recommend storing dry food in its original bag inside an outer, sealed container in a cool, dry environment. We do not recommend pouring our food out of its original bag. Our bags are designed to keep our food fresh and to keep contaminants out of the food. Plastic containers in particular may pose a threat of contamination. Over time, the fats in dry pet food will get into the pores of many types of plastic containers which then introduce foreign compounds into the food stored in that container. A good example of this would be when you store tomato sauce in a reusable plastic container. The sauce often dyes the sides of the container red and cannot be washed out.
