# Toy poodle always starving



## Sunnybutton (5 mo ago)

Hello,

I recently adopted a toy poodle. He is 3.5 months old and 1.4kg. I've had dogs and puppies before but this boy is something else. He is food obsessed. I'm not sure if this is normal or he has a medical problem.
I split his recommended daily amount into 5 small meals at the advice of my vet. He also gets one chew, a few spoonfuls of wet food to take his probiotics, and around 5 small dog biscuits. Despite this he is starving. I accidently dropped his food recently and he started scoffing it down quicker than I could pick it up. I'm convinced he would eat himself to death. I've fostered a toy poodle pup before and generally I could leave a bowl out and she would pick at it, but my pup will not stop. He searches for food everywhere and puts everything in his mouth.

Things I do:

Never give table scraps
use puzzle feeders and slow feeders to slow him down.
checked with vet that the amount I give is appropriate and the correct amount of food.

I'm seriously getting concerned about him always acting starving and I'm not sure what tests I should request.


----------



## twyla (Apr 28, 2010)

He is a growing pup
I have had two bottomless pit poodles, some dogs are that way, some are grazers.


----------



## Sunnybutton (5 mo ago)

twyla said:


> He is a growing pup
> I have had two bottomless pit poodles, some dogs are that way, some are grazers.


how do I know if there's something medically wrong or it's normal?


----------



## cowpony (Dec 30, 2009)

3.5 months was peak growth spurt age for my pups. They ate crazy amounts of food, sometimes double the amount they now eat as adults. I would try increasing his portions. I'm glad your vet has you spreading his meals out. I also like your idea of slowing the puppy down so he doesn't eat so fast he throws up. I used a snuffle mat. 
I check body condition by feeling the ribs, hips, and spine. I've never had a poodle that was so fat I couldn't feel his ribs. Something definitely needs investigation if a poodle is that well padded! You should be able to feel the spine, but it shouldn't feel sharp and uncomfortable to pet. Likewise, you should be able to feel the two nubs of the pelvis sticking up, but they shouldn't feel sharp, and you shouldn't feel the spine between them. It's very normal for puppies to eat voraciously enough to get a little plump, then go on a growth spurt and lose all that weight a week or two later.


----------



## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

Sunnybutton said:


> He is 3.5 months old and 1.4kg.


What does your vet say? Is your vet worried that the puppy is overweight? Most poodle puppies self regulate so they only eat the food they need but it is possible to have a poodle that wants to over eat. You need to know your dog. 

He’s still growing and perhaps in a growth spurt. At 1.4 kg or appropriately 3 pounds he’s under the average adult toy poodle weight which varies from 4-5 pounds up to 10 pounds. My puppy during a growth phase ate far more than the recommended amount according to instructions on the back of the bag. There were days when he barely ate anything after a growth phase. He has never been the kind of dog who eats the same volume of food each day. 

When you feel your puppy’s ribs, what does that feel like? This website has an explanation of what the ribs should feel like. How to check your dog's body condition score - tails.com. You should also ask your vet how his ribs should feel so you can gauge if he’s healthy or overweight. As I was typing this Cowpony responded with similar information. I do find dogs less than 2 years can have extremely bony backs because they have not developed their full adult muscles which is why I focus on feeling the ribs on a puppy.

Your plan to slow puppy down and to spread out meals is good. Unless your vet tells you, or you can clearly see your puppy is significantly overweight, I would feed puppy as much as it wants to eat.


----------



## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

Assuming that he has been wormed and vet checked (you mention your vet's advice) I would think either growth spurt or that he has had to fight for food at some point in the past and is making up for lost time. Having said that most of my dogs have been enthusiastic eaters and I have tended to go with the flow when they are still growing. Puppy energy + building bone + growing + puppy brain work = lots of calories needed. I would increase the size of 3 of his meals a bit (10-20%, perhaps) and offer him rather more healthy chew snacks. As long as his digestion is good and he is bright and active I wouldn't worry - if he fails to thrive or has D&V or becomes significantly overweight it would warrant further investigation. 

Look on the bright side - there are so often people posting on PF because their puppy won't eat and is at risk of hypoglycaemia. A pup that eats everything put in front of him and asks for more is much less of a problem!


----------



## 94Magna_Tom (Feb 23, 2021)

How much food does this add up to daily? Total calories? How does this compare to the breeders recommendations? Sounds to me like a hungry puppy. What is his name and final expected weight (range)? At 3½ months he should be about 50% of full size. If he's not, I'd let him eat plenty.


----------



## Sunnybutton (5 mo ago)

cowpony said:


> 3.5 months was peak growth spurt age for my pups. They ate crazy amounts of food, sometimes double the amount they now eat as adults. I would try increasing his portions. I'm glad your vet has you spreading his meals out. I also like your idea of slowing the puppy down so he doesn't eat so fast he throws up. I used a snuffle mat.
> I check body condition by feeling the ribs, hips, and spine. I've never had a poodle that was so fat I couldn't feel his ribs. Something definitely needs investigation if a poodle is that well padded! You should be able to feel the spine, but it shouldn't feel sharp and uncomfortable to pet. Likewise, you should be able to feel the two nubs of the pelvis sticking up, but they shouldn't feel sharp, and you shouldn't feel the spine between them. It's very normal for puppies to eat voraciously enough to get a little plump, then go on a growth spurt and lose all that weight a week or two later.
> 
> 
> ...


my vet said his feeding schedule and weight is perfect, ive also felt his body as well as the vet and everything is fine. But he has been gaining weight fast and my vet did say most poodle puppies can regulate themselves. however he absolutely can't. I'm going back next week and going to ask for some more blood tests to rule everything out, but im not sure if im just being over concerned and he will grow out of it, or if there is a real problem going on. I live in South Korea so even toy poodles are a lot smaller than other places as I believe unfortunately they're bred to be that way as people love small puppies here.


----------



## cowpony (Dec 30, 2009)

I think with a growing puppy I would err on the side of too much food. You can always cut back later. However, I'm really glad you are working with a vet who has eyes and hands on the pup. The vet can assess things better than we can.


----------



## Sunnybutton (5 mo ago)

fjm said:


> Assuming that he has been wormed and vet checked (you mention your vet's advice) I would think either growth spurt or that he has had to fight for food at some point in the past and is making up for lost time. Having said that most of my dogs have been enthusiastic eaters and I have tended to go with the flow when they are still growing. Puppy energy + building bone + growing + puppy brain work = lots of calories needed. I would increase the size of 3 of his meals a bit (10-20%, perhaps) and offer him rather more healthy chew snacks. As long as his digestion is good and he is bright and active I wouldn't worry - if he fails to thrive or has D&V or becomes significantly overweight it would warrant further investigation.
> 
> Look on the bright side - there are so often people posting on PF because their puppy won't eat and is at risk of hypoglycaemia. A pup that eats everything put in front of him and asks for more is much less of a problem!


I cannot increase his meals anymore because when I tried that he ended up vomiting from eating too much, I do give him a sweet potato chew, dehydrated chicken for extra snacks and he has natural dog biscuits. I also give him carrots for his teething. He gets kibble 5 times a day so it's regular. he's probably eating 3x the reccomended amount and I can see him getting chunkier. The vet said his weight was okay when we last went but im wondering if it'll be a different story next week.


----------



## Sunnybutton (5 mo ago)

cowpony said:


> I think with a growing puppy I would err on the side of too much food. You can always cut back later. However, I'm really glad you are working with a vet who has eyes and hands on the pup. The vet can assess things better than we can.


Yeah I definitely have been giving him extra, I've got another vet appt next week for his vaccines so I'm going to see if theres been a huge increase in his weight or not, seeing as the hunger has definitely increased in the last 2 weeks. I'm the type of person that sees my vet regularly about anything haha


----------



## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

A good vet is an absolute blessing, and it is always better to be safe than sorry. I long ago set up a savings account for the animals and think of it as my peace-of-mind account - I would rather pay for a visit to set my mind at rest than lie awake all night worrying...


----------



## Sunnybutton (5 mo ago)

fjm said:


> A good vet is an absolute blessing, and it is always better to be safe than sorry. I long ago set up a savings account for the animals and think of it as my peace-of-mind account - I would rather pay for a visit to set my mind at rest than lie awake all night worrying...


Yes I have a little fund that I contribute to each month, thankfully vet care is cheap where I live and I've been to the emergency vet twice and it only cost a couple of hundred.


----------



## Sunnybutton (5 mo ago)

94Magna_Tom said:


> How much food does this add up to daily? Total calories? How does this compare to the breeders recommendations? Sounds to me like a hungry puppy. What is his name and final expected weight (range)? At 3½ months he should be about 50% of full size. If he's not, I'd let him eat plenty.


My country doesn't have breeders its pretty much all puppy mills. I adopted him though. So I don't know anything about his history. He has a cup and a half of kibble and plenty of snacks. If I feed him anymore he throws up. He literally cannot be hungry because he is fed constantly.


----------



## cowpony (Dec 30, 2009)

My puppy Galen was the runt of his litter; he came to me underweight due to his larger siblings pushing him away from the food. Plus he caught worms from snacking on the rabbit poo in the back yard. He was a little eating machine. At 3.5 months he would gobble his entire meal. Then he'd go over to the other food bowl and crawl under my elder dog's head to steal as much second dinner as he could inhale. He became much less obsessed with food once he hit his adult weight and stopped growing.


----------



## Sunnybutton (5 mo ago)

cowpony said:


> My puppy Galen was the runt of his litter; he came to me underweight due to his larger siblings pushing him away from the food. Plus he caught worms from snacking on the rabbit poo in the back yard. He was a little eating machine. At 3.5 months he would gobble his entire meal. Then he'd go over to the other food bowl and crawl under my elder dog's head to steal as much second dinner as he could inhale. He became much less obsessed with food once he hit his adult weight and stopped growing.


thanks I hope this happens to my pup too, I don't know much about his history.


----------



## Rose n Poos (Sep 22, 2017)

How long have you had him?
Has he been eating like this since he came to you?
What has the vet checked for?


----------



## Sunnybutton (5 mo ago)

Rose n Poos said:


> How long have you had him?
> Has he been eating like this since he came to you?
> What has the vet checked for?


I've had him about a month, and yes but the last 2 weeks his hunger has increased. I'm not exactly sure what he has been checked for but parasites and worms definitely. But he hasn't had extensive tests as I only briefly mentioned it last visit.


----------



## twyla (Apr 28, 2010)

He might be just having a growth spurt too. 
My adult toys eat 1/4 cup of kibble a day when they were growing they could eat up to a cup of kibble. My toys aren't huge either. Slightly oversized as in 10 1/2" tall 8.5 pounds and 11" tall 6 pounds.


----------



## DogtorDoctor (Mar 20, 2020)

As long as your vet says everything looks good (and all fecal tests have come back negative), he may also just have high food drive. While poodles are known for being better at self-regulating meals, all dogs are still individuals. My standard, Jango, is almost a year and a half old. His x-rays show that his growth plates are closed. I got him at a healthy weight from a reputable breeder at 9 weeks old. He will still ravenously eat every bite offered to him regardless of the time of day or when he last ate. I keep him at a very lean 60 pounds and he eats 4 cups of quality kibble per day, spread into three meals.

The food drive makes his training pretty easy, so I prefer having this in his personality rather than being a picky eater, as my mother's poodle (from the same breeder!) is.

If your puppy experienced food scarcity when he was younger, that can cause a different mindset and a desire to eat everything in front of him. Some animals will grow out of this with a consistent routine, but not all. I think that teaching a rock solid "leave it" will be important in his future.

I would ask your vet to tell you what his body condition score is at his next exam so you have some more information. I also like tracking growth week by week in puppies so you can see trends in his weight gain.


----------



## Audi (Aug 3, 2021)

If he’s in good health ,I envy you. My toy poodle wouldn’t eat!


----------



## kontiki (Apr 6, 2013)

5 times a day? I have never had a dog that was fed more than 3 times a day as a pup and two times a day after a year. I am just maybe not educated?


----------



## Sunnybutton (5 mo ago)

kontiki said:


> 5 times a day? I have never had a dog that was fed more than 3 times a day as a pup and two times a day after a year. I am just maybe not educated?


My vet recommended me to feed 5 small meals a day instead of 3. Since he was vomiting bile. It seems to have solved the issue.


----------

