Shih poo barely eating

greetings to all,

recently my fiancee and i were given a 4 month old shih poo by her boss.

no one was playing with her and they pretty much ignored her the entire time they had her. So with open arms we accepted her into our soon to be new family. They were feeding her mixture of softfood and a hard food called evolve. For a while she was eating it, now she barely touches the stuff. She does however go after my parents dog adult food which is some pretty large stuff for her. Shes also alone for about 8 hours out of the day. we have her in a large pen with a puppy pillow, toys, food and her wee wee pad. we give her a full cup of food and let her go as she pleases till we move out of our apartment. She is still extremely hyper even when she doesnt eat, so i dont think she is sick. what should i do? should i try another type of food. should i take her to the vet. any help would be extremely appreciated

thanks

Joe

 

If you haven't had her to the vet since you got her, take her in for a check-up, deworming, and vaccination update. You can also discuss her diet and spaying.

Puppies, like any other baby, eat more when they're in a growing phase, and less when their growth slows down. Growth rate isn't continuous, it comes in spurts. It's possible she's just not in a growth phase at the moment and doesn't require a lot of food. It's also possible you're overestimating just how much food she requires. My standard dachshund only eats a cup of food a day, and he weighs 25 pounds!

How is her weight? Is she too thin or is her weight holding at a good level? If her weight is good, and she's active and playful, you might very well be expecting her to eat more than she really needs.

 

she weighs in at 6 1/2 pounds. im going to make an apointment tommorow.
i thought dogs were only dewormed if they had worms?

 

A lot of vets routinely deworm puppies because 1) many puppies are born with worms, 2) some worms can be extremely difficult to detect in a fecal exam and 3) there is a possibility of transmitting worms from puppy to humans. The deworming medications used by vets are safe, inexpensive, and effective.

She should also be starting heartworm prevention treatment soon.