AKita Puppy won't eat his food.

Austin14

Hi guys,

I was hoping someone could help me understand whats going on with my puppy.

About 5 days ago my puppy stopped eating his food from his bowl. If I put his food in his crate he would eat it. Initially i just put the bowl in the crate and then just laid his food out. Last night he ate from his bowl. This morning he did not eat from his bowl and I laid it out in his crate. When I checked his crate two hours later the food was still there.

He has been drinking water, and been running around well for the last five days. No changes in his behavior. I switched him from Origen Large Puppy food to Acana about one month ago. for the first three weeks I had no trouble with the food. I never have given him wet food so he does not know the difference between kibble and wet food. i have given him dental treats that he likes and billy sticks.

He is 6.5 months old and I try to feed him about 3.5 to 4 cups of food a day during three sittings. I am just worried becasue this stage is very important fro his development.

I appreciate any help.

thanks

AK

PoetikDragon

4 cups a day is a huge amount of food for those brands - especially for a puppy! Orijen and Acana are densely packed with nutrients and calories and require significantly less volume of food compared to lower grade kibble. Please check the serving suggestions on the bag.

Austin14

My breeder (and breeders I spoke to getting the puppy) was the one who said to feed 3.5 to 4 cups a day.

He has been eating and in good shape according to the vet too. I guess I could change the serving sizes, but was not sure if that would explain the lacking of eating. today is the first day he did not eat the food.

The bag says feed about 2.5 to 3 cups.

zandrame

The breeder said that for which brand? Check the nutrition content of the that brand and compare to yours. Like @poeticdragon said, they are not necessarily equal, and your pup is probably just full. If he is otherwise acting normal and healthy, you can reduce the food regardless of what the print says. Some dogs eat less, and some eat more. As long as the vet says he's good, don't worry.

MapleTwinkie

Do you have a Japanese Akita?

My Japanese Akita was eating Orijien Puppy then switched to Orijien Adult around 5-6 months and he only ate 2-2.5 cups at most!

Austin14

Hi yeah he is a JA from japan. Thanks guys.

Yeah I got worried that he stopped eating and being a brat. he would sometime eat in his bowl and then in his crate and switch. I just wanted to make sure he was not trying to tell me something else.

He is about 51 pounds (6.5 months) and I was not sure when to reduce his food intake. I wanted to make sure he got to the 75 to 80 pounds (healthy). The vet has always said he was lean.

Which orijien adult works best for your JA? I used the large puppy food and had to switch to acana because of a fishy smell.

CrimsonO2

You're feeding good quality food, there's no need to feed that much. Cut back a cup/day and your puppy will be fine. Also, sometime in their juvenile stage they go through a weird rebellious period where it's not uncommon for them to go a day or two without eating. Keep to your scheduled feeding and as long as your puppy is active and drinking water, it'll get hungry enough to know you won't give.

Jesse

BearMom

Many pups have fluctuating appetites around this age. My sister's JA pup also ate 3-4 cups a day...she was very active going to daycare at least 3 days a week. She eats Acana. Then she cut back to barely 2 cups a day all of a sudden. Her littermates when through similar decreases in appetite as well around the same time. Now her appetite has gone back up, especially with the extra cold weather.

*JackBurton*

I'm surprised that Mr. Yamaguchi suggested 3.5-4 cups a day. Personally I would switch to adult food and back off a little on the amount of food given.

MapleTwinkie

Saigo loved the Regional Red, but I immediately switched him over to the Orijen Freeze Dried dog food which I found to be a LOT better for him. He wasn't on this for long before I put him on a raw diet ( at 9 months ). Best thing I ever did for him.

Austin14

Thanks you guys.

MapleTwinkie...would you mind passing on any info about raw diets and books to read. i would like to switch him at some point down the line.

shibamistress

There's an entire thread about raw feeding here (probably more than one!) which will give you all the information you need.

I feed my dogs raw, but I decided to keep my akita puppy on kibble til she's got all her adult teeth (I feed BARF, with bones). some of my dogs have had no problem going to raw immediately as young puppies, but my akita? Not so much. But we're adding a bit of raw to her meals these days. She always eats the raw food, but she's always been very leisurely eating her kibble, regardless of what kind we feed.

She's 44 pounds and 5 months old and we feed about 3 cups a day.

Austin14

Thanks ShibaMistress. I will get started on the research!

timkim

55 at 6 month is already big. you don't have to feed too much to make dog gain weight. growing fast means more problem. after rasied couple Akita, big dogs grows anyways. small size dog don't grow even though you give them alot of food. they just get fat. so give food as instructed and it's upto genetic. Akita will gain more weight when they become 2-3. make sure weight goes well with their height.

Hinata23

Holy cow, that's a lot of food. Kibble in Japan is really cheap, as in cheap quality. The food your feeding your pup is top notch, so you don't have to feed him as much. He's probably feeling a bit overwhelmed and not feeling too well.

Austin14

Thanks for the explaining the difference. He actually feels fine (active, running, body -muscular level, and drinking water). I will decrease his food by a cup and go to 2.5 to 2.75.

The reason i was worreid about his weight and size was we got him veyr lean and small. he was only 20.8 pounds at 3.5 months.

PoetikDragon

20 pounds at 14 weeks is perfectly fine also...

Austin14

oh ok. The vet was a little concerned and my breeder siad the puppy was a little small too.

Thanks for you help everybody! I could not raise this guy without you guys. : )