hi all, It's been ages since I've been on here. My lab Monty is two, he got his bits done at about 15 months. He never has been a normal eater since he was a pup. I feed him after his walk in the morning. He has human grade wet foot and skinners biscuits, the wet food is just enough to wet his appetite as he went off biscuits. Sometimes he'll wolf it down but most he might not eat it or leave it until 4:00 and eat then. He will then have a smaller second dinner at about 5:30 after his evening walk. We also give him a medium jumbone in the evening. We have no garden so he gets half and hour in the morning, an hour at lunchtime and then another 30 minutes evening, luckily we work from home. I've talked to the vet and he said that Monty is the fittest lab he sees, he said he could run some bloods etc, in case there is a problem. We said we would wait and see and then some days he'll eat all his food.....other days hubby pretends to call the cat to eat it or pretends to eat it himself on the floor and then Monty will eat! My question is, is this normal behaviour for a lab? Thanks everyone x
So, you are feeding him three times a day but he doesn't seem keen on the middle meal? Maybe he only wants two meals a day. I only feed two meals a day. Some dogs are fine with only one meal a day, that was the norm for feeding when I was a kid and the family dog got only a supper. If he seems otherwise healthy and happy I would try just two meals a day. It's not cheap to run blood work and if there is no other reason to do so I would save my money on that and not do it.
I wouldn't worry, as long as he's fit, active and happy he's obviously getting enough calories from what he eats. Maybe you're feeding him just a little too much and he's not hungry.....
Cooper is 2-1/2 years old and he stopped eating lunch on his own when he was 1-1/2 years old. He now eats breakfast and dinner. A month or so ago he went off his breakfast but would be ravenous at dinner-time. So I switched his food from Fromm to Orijen and now he gobbles up both breakfast and dinner. He just loooooves his Orijen....and, of course, cost is double over Fromm! Sometimes I think they get bored eating the same food day in and day out. I now mix half Orijen and half Fromm and he devours both his meals. Give it a shot and get some other food just to try....a small bag ....I got him the 6 Fish Orijen. Guess it must be good!!!
Not all Labs are ravenous eaters. Our first Lab would eat everything in the bowl as soon as we put it down. Tilly could be a free feeder, except that some other dog would eat her dog food if she left it. I'm not sure where Cooper falls in the spectrum since we have always fed her 2x per day and she usually eats everything fairly promptly.
I would think about swerving the Jumbone. I think they are pretty unhealthy and packed with calories. Maybe a bit like giving your child a chocolate bar after them not eating your lovingly prepared meat and two veg?
Hi everyone, Thanks for all your advice. It seems that he just wants to split his breakfast between the morning and evening, so only one meal split. Today I had to start him off by hand feeding him at 3:00pm as yesterday he wouldn't eat all day! I'll take your advice and wean him off the Jumbones, think I'll swap them for a denture stick instead........he has to have something as I can't stand the 15 minute stare if it's late lol. I'll watch his weight too, it may be that I'm still feeding him the same amount before his op.......he's also a very short lab (weighs 25kg) so possibly the feeding instructions on the food don't relate. Many thanks again xx
Dentastix are complete rubbish too. If he is staring for food, give him his tea - maybe he'll eat it then!
Jumbones and Dentastix are empty calories. You don't need to wean him off them, just stop giving them to him! I gave away a couple of boxes of them when I first had my pups because they're so awful. If you feel you really must give him something (which you don't, until it's dinner time), get a few kongs and stuff them with his dinner. You can freeze them if you like. It'll keep him busy for a little while and you just take it out of his meal allowance, so you know that he's getting the right calories and it's nutritionally balanced.
I don't give him a treat until about 8pm. By then he should have eaten his breakfast at 9 and then his dinner at 5.30pm. My vet recommend denturestix as a treat for the evening, which is why I thought they were ok. He always used to like his kongs as a puppy but he doesn't like them now. Its now 3.20pm and he has finally eaten most of his breakfast which was 160g of Skinners biscuits and a spoonful of Natures Diet (+10ml of Yumega and a small scoop of fibre).I normally give him the same in the evening at about 5.30 and then a treat at 8.00pm. But now he won't eat his evening dinner all. Am thinking of putting him back on Millies Wolfheart to see if he is just bored of Skinners? BTW the Jumbones have been binned!
