My puppy won't eat his food, only drinks water. Is he healthy?
Updated On September 23rd, 2025
Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed Small (up to 22lb) | Male | neutered | 4 months and 1 day old | 18 lbs
Hi, Buddy is a very determined little fellow. He has even jumped out of his play-pen, but he doesn't eat his meals like he should. His feeding bowls are in his play-pen with fresh water all day. For example at 6:30 in the morning he gets out of his bed after having a good night sleep, he eliminates on his wee-wee pad. Then I put down his bowls of kibbles and water, he will go for his water but does not touch his food. I leave his bowl down for 20 minutes and pick it up.
2 Answers
Most Helpful Answer
Published on May 7th, 2017
Kudos to you for being so concerned about Buddy! :-) As long as Buddy is at a healthy body weight, he is likely getting plenty to eat. To make sure he seems to be a healthy body weight, run your hands over his ribs to assure that you can easily feel (but not see) his ribs. You should also be able to see a "waistline" when looking down at him. I can't see Buddy well enough in the pictures to help you determine if his weight is appropriate. Some dogs are naturally picky or have been conditioned to eat less dog food because they know that treats or more appealing food is coming. I always recommend offering food twice daily as you are doing, but some dogs choose to only eat once a day. Avoid midday treats or snacks to try to train Buddy to eat at mealtimes and continue avoiding table scraps. Make sure that Buddy is being offered a high quality kibble (I generally recommend Science Diet, Purina ProPlan or Royal Canin foods) and if you choose to switch foods, be sure to do so by mixing old and new foods together over 5-7 days. If the canned diet seems to tempt him to eat, you can continue mixing a bit in with the kibble, but I would recommend avoiding Beneful and looking for a higher quality canned option. Feel free to request a consultation or post additional questions if you have further concerns! :-)
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
Related Answers from Veterinarians
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Published on September 5th, 2017
There is no way for us to answer this question without seeing your dog and without knowing his size and whether or not he is currently underweight or overweight. This article may help you: http://www.vetstreet.com/our-pet-experts/10-things-you-should-know-about-feeding-your-pet All I can say is that with puppies (dogs under 1 year of age) we don't get too crazy about their weight because they are growing and some days they will look thin and some days heavier. So, don't get too hung up on that until he is closer to one year. The best advice I can give you with limited information is to use the instructions on the bag of food you are feeding. If you give a lot of treats use the lower end of the feeding range they give you. If you start seeing his ribs, he's too thin. If he loses his "waist" he's too heavy. Look at that article and it has a link to a body condition score chart. Look at that and you will be able to determine if he is too thin or fat. Hope this helps. If you have more questions please feel free to post again!
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
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