[Double J]

i am a new maltese owner, and i was wandering if they sleep a lot? it seems like my maltese likes to sleep all the time. i am afraid something is wrong with her, but the vet says she is healthy except she is too thin for her age. which brings me to my other question. do maltese's eat a lot b/c i cant hardly get mine to eat anything. the vet says she needs to eat 4 times a day to get her weight up, but i cant get her to eat enough. is this normal for them to sleep a lot and not eat a lot? thank you.

 

[littlepeanut]

How old is your pup? How much does she weigh? What kind of food are you feeding her? When they are young they do nap a lot. I had a lot of trouble getting my first malt Peanut to eat, but TicTac, my second malt, is such a little piggy.

If she is really small, you have to be careful. Peanut has had a few hypoglycemic attacks when his blood sugar fell. I always keep Nutrical on hand just in case. Some also use Kyro syrup I think. Check her gums to be sure they are pink. If they look white or grey I would give her some Nutrical and call the vet.

 

[Brinkley & Neyland's Mom]

Brinkley has never slept much when I am around/home. He has to follow me around everywhere. He sleeps when I am gone.

Maybe it is just puppy stage still...if you are uncomfortable and still worry, even after the vet says all is OK, maybe you should get a second opinion. At least it would help ease your mind.

Good luck!

(Do you have a picture of your new fluff-ball?

)

PS:

 

[abbey]

Abbey is 5 months old and weighs 2.12 lbs. She eats 1/3 cup of food divided up 3x a day, so a total of 1/3 cup for the day. She sleeps about half of the day - short naps through out - especially if you hold her all day! She didn't seem to eat much either at first so we fed her baby food chicken and also her kibble.

Hope that helps! Good Luck!

and Congrats on your new little one!!

P.S. We also gave her nutrical everyday 2x a day until she was 4 months old, just as a precautionary. Vet said it wouldn't hurt her.

 

[Brinkley & Neyland's Mom]

Originally posted by Abbey@May 21 2005, 07:15 AM
Abbey is 5 months old and weighs 2.12 lbs.  She eats 1/3 cup of food divided up 3x a day, so a total of 1/3 cup for the day.  She sleeps about half of the day - short naps through out - especially if you hold her all day!  She didn't seem to eat much either at first so we fed her baby food chicken and also her kibble. 

Hope that helps!  Good Luck! 

  and Congrats on your new little one!!

P.S.  We also gave her nutrical everyday 2x a day until she was 4 months old, just as a precautionary.  Vet said it wouldn't hurt her.
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I hadn't thought about nutrical, (duh!) but I gave some to Brinkley when he was younger when he seemed lethargic to me-or didn't eat well for a day or two. That is a good suggestion!

 

[Double J]

macy is a little over three months. she weighs 3 pounds, and she eats the science diet small puppy food. thank you all for your help.

i will try to put a pic of her on here

 

[k/c mom]

There are a lot of food choices better than the Science Diet that you may want to try. I would try various "premium" food and see what she likes. You should hand feed her to make sure she eats... I've done that with all of mine.

Also, make sure the kibble isn't too hard for her to chew. The Royal Canin Small Breed Puppy food has very tiny kibble... my guys loved it.... it is easy on their tummies....

Some other good foods that have a puppy formula:

Innova
Artemis
Chicken Soup
Royal Canin
Wellness

There are lots more... this is all I can think of right now!

 

[littlepeanut]

I forgot to say Welcome to SM!!

Macy is a cutie pie! Is she eating canned food or the kibble. If she's eating kibble it may be too hard for her to chew. You can wet the kibble with some warm water and let if soften up for a minute before you feed her. I feed the boys Artemis Small Breed. It is formulated for all life stages. For a puppy, you would double the serving size listed on the bag.

Click here The link to the ingredients is on the bottom of the page if you are interested

 

[Double J]

i fed her canned food in the little packages, and she loves that. i will probably have to feed her the soft food b/c she wont hardly touch the hard food.

Originally posted by littlepeanut@May 21 2005, 11:08 AM
I forgot to say Welcome to SM!!

Macy is a cutie pie!  Is she eating canned food or the kibble.  If she's eating kibble it may be too hard for her to chew.  You can wet the kibble with some warm water and let if soften up for a minute before you feed her.  I feed the boys Artemis Small Breed.  It is formulated for all life stages.  For a puppy, you would double the serving size listed on the bag.

Click here  The link to the ingredients is on the bottom of the page if you are interested

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[Double J]

i fed her the canned food, and she seems to love that. so i guess will feed her that so she will eat.

 

[LexiAndNikkisMom]

Originally posted by Double J@May 22 2005, 10:16 AM
i fed her the canned food, and she seems to love that. so i guess will feed her that so she will eat.
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You can do that but you should also try to get her to eat some hard food. The hard food is really good for her teeth. I would try softening it. I would also try to find a premium dog food she likes. The thing with the premium is they have less fillers so the puppy doesn't have to eat as much to get all the nutrients it needs. Plus there is less poop since their body absorbs the nutrients.

When I first got Lexi the only way I could get her to eat was to sit on the floor with her and hand feed her. You could also try adding something to the top of the hard food. Like some canned food, baby food (check ingredients), cottage cheese, etc. That might get her to eat the food.

 

[Sunshine]

Originally posted by Double J@May 22 2005, 10:16 AM
i fed her the canned food, and she seems to love that. so i guess will feed her that so she will eat.
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It might be just too hard for her little teeth for now. My Abby would hardly eat hard food until she was about 6 or 7 months old and had done teething (the rest of her teeth were pulled when she was spayed).

I'd give her the wet food and maybe just leave a little dry out for her to have a nibble here and there. One day you'll notice that she's eating it properly - then you'll know that her teeth are done!

 

[jmm]

Hard food, unless it is specifically formulated for dental health (like Hill's t/d) really doesn't make a big difference on the teeth. Canned food is just fine. Brushing the teeth is the most important part of dental care.

 

[Double J]

she does not like to eat out the bowl we have for her. i think she is afraid of it b/c when i push the bowl towards her, she scoots back. if we put it on the floor she eats a little, but it seems she gets to excited to eat. we cant keep the food down all day and just let her eat when she wants to. i do have to hand feed her even with the canned food, but she wont eat it by herself. she has gained .25 pounds, so she is up to 3.25 pounds. i guess i am a little worried b/c we have two chocolate labs also, and they eat a lot. we have never had an inside dog, so i guess this is normal for the size of maltese's. is it bad to feed her canned food, or does she need to progress to dry food? also, she sleeps a lot, is this normal?

 

[jellybn1]

I would not feed her Science Diet.... Go hollistic! Wellness is great & so is Merrick.
jellybn1

 

[clharter]

Duke will eat any thing he thinks is food so I don't have that problem. But I have heard that baby food meats are great for little ones that aren't eating. When I first got Duke at 12 weeks he slept alot too. He still likes to take alot of naps and sleeps most of tha night.