Help Me - I'm stressing out!

I don't think a 5 pound dog needs to eat 1/2 c of Innova at a time. My 23 lb dog eats 1/2 c of Innova at a time. If you haven't had a dog in 25 yrs... the foods you are feeding are calorie rich (that's a good thing) and a lot more nutrition-packed than the foods you might have been using 25 yrs ago - you might just be unused to how little a dog that size needs to eat.
 
If you're feeding Innova Puppy dry only (for eg), your 5lb puppy only needs to eat about 3/4 cup per day.

Just an update - Eli had his first serving of EVO Beef and he absolutely loved it!  He even licked the bowl clean and came back several times later just to lick it again.  I've never seen him eat like that.  He actually enjoyed it!  The web site said that it's suitable for puppies and he is a small breed.  I e-mailed them about it but haven't gotten a reply.  Will it be okay to keep feeding him this along with the other EVO varieties?  Does anyone know where they get the venison from?

ORIGINAL: glenmar


However, I'd stop the constant food switching and employ a bit of tough love with this little one.  I refused to be a short order cook for my children and I darn well won't be turned into one by my dogs.  Give the dog his bowl, give him 15-20 minutes to eat and take it up.  If he hasn't eaten, well, he gets NOTHING until the next meal time.  A healthy animal will not starve himself out of stubbornness...when they get hungry enough, they WILL eat, even if it's something that they have decided to hate.

I agree with that. And just a side note- free feeding actually decreases interest in food. If it's there all the time it's like "blah". But if it's only available at certain times, it encourages them to eat what's there!

One thing you could try to make the food more palatable is to mix in meat babyfood- the creamy stuff like ham, turkey, lamb, etc. If you microwave it for a few seconds (the baby food in the jar) that brings out the aroma.... then put a little bit on the dry food, mixing it around so that it coats all the kibbles. It's the one thing that Gingerbread ate with gusto when he turned his nose up at canned food. It seems to have given his appetite a "jump start" and now he eats his food (dry mixed with canned) and licks the bowl clean every time.
 
I just noticed that your puppy ate EVO canned and loved it. That's great! [] 

don't think you should ever take away food from a pup--especially a small breed one. My vet said they can get low blood suger and act lethargic.

 
I disagree. I think it is very important to establish good eating habits from babyhood. Pups who haven't been taught bad eating eating habits rarely end up skipping more than one meal when you start your "tough love" program. Let him develop bad eating habits and you may have several weeks of eat/not eat tantrums in store for you.  If he's too distracted to eat, which is often the problem with pups, well, lock him in a crate for 15 minutes.

This is my first puppy in 10 years too.  She is 30 lbs at 5 months today.
 
I give 1 1/4 cup of Puppy Innova with 1 tablespoon warmed Canidiae canned 2x a day. 
If I don't put the little bit of canned on it, she won't eat it (very much).  But with the canned on it, she licks bowl clean.
 
PS:  I tthought EVO was not suitable for puppies because it may cause PANO  (or is that just large breed?)  "growing pains"

Its a little dog so eats just a little.  What did your vet say?  And stop worrying, your dog sounds healthy!  Dogs are as variable as children.  Just love them and dont worry.[]