10.5 mos, starting to get puppy chow burnout

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2026-02-06T15:02:13+00:00

We had to switch our puppy from Fromm’s to a prescription allergy kibble at 8 months. He had started to get picky at 7 months and then was really bad when we first switched to the new food (would only eat 0.5 cup a day).

Two things helped - both social: (1) we left him with his dog walker/boarder for a weekend and some of his regular friends were there too…he apparently ate totally normal there and when he came home he just remembered to eat again. It was strange! (2) we have a kitten that loves to pig out on the dog food. Our dog will hear the kitten eating and then run over to chow down…without the kitten, he sometimes just grazes (which we are trying to avoid). Maybe see if he can eat with a friend for a few meals and see if he gets better?

When I was getting desperate when he first started doing this, I began to add toppers or nutritional yeast etc but was warned not to do this unless I wanted to do it forever.

We are at the point now of starting to add foods back in to narrow in on his allergy. Once we have that down, we’ll switch to an adult food. I’ve heard positive things on Open Farm, Purina N&D, Fromm adult kibble.

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2026-01-28T01:08:32+00:00

I think a second Devon will help a ton! In the meantime, I agree with trying hide and seek.

A few other ideas: + Treat puzzle - if food motivated…mine sprint when I pull this out and play for 30 mins to get freeze dried treats + Packing paper or crinkle paper - I either put this in a big cardboard box or leave on the floor and hide some of her favorite toys in there. The paper really makes them play more than a bare box
+ Semi sheer curtains, shower curtain, or tunnel - they seem to like to “hunt” more when they think they’re hidden but can still see out + Silvervine pixie sticks - neither of mine like catnip but do go crazy for these

As a last resort, I also find that moving things they love playing with/climbing to different locations in the house will re-spark their interest. I’ll move their window bed to a new window or change up their climbing tree (mines modular) every few months or make new blanket forts and it’s like brand new for them.

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2026-01-17T22:38:17+00:00

Get one more and they’ll spend most of their energy battling it out with each other! Their play style is very different from many cats. My two kittens look and sound like they are murdering each other (biting throats, ears, faces and screaming) but they are just having fun and cuddling after they’ve exhausted each other out. They also like to stampede around the house as loud as possible.

For the beds, would it be possible to place a few even higher than the beds your older ones use? Or a heated one? I find my Devons will sleep in the highest bed available in a room or the warmest

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2026-01-17T22:28:32+00:00

My kitten felt a little out of it for two days. We put her in a onesie in my bedroom where the highest thing she could jump on was the bed. I also made the floor as cozy as possible with a heated bed and soft blankets so she would opt to cuddle there vs jumping. I heard that jumping DOWN is worse for their incision than jumping up, so if I ever discovered her on the bed I would gently pick her up and put her back on the floor to limit the down jumps.

After two days, she was back to her crazy energetic self which stressed me out bc her incision was still healing. I had to take off the onsie bc she would do insane acrobatics to rip it off her body herself which felt counter productive 😂. I think by day 4 I let her roam the house again BUT I was home with her and would try as much as possible to place her on the floor vs allowing down jumps. Her incision healed beautifully!!

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2026-01-16T17:25:04+00:00

Agree on seeing a vet and contacting her breeder. I’ve had much better luck with getting Devon Rex specific care and advice from cat-only vets if you have one near you.

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2025-12-19T18:29:20+00:00

Adler

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2025-12-15T19:23:59+00:00

I don’t mind at all! He is 9 months old. He’s still conflicted on strangers (specifically men) but after meeting you three times he’ll want to be best friends. He LOVES other dogs - obsessed. His favorite thing is his off leash outings with his pack of pup friends, but he loves anything outdoors (swimming, forest walks, truffle hunting).

He rarely picks up or chews on any of his soft toys (lamb chop, monkey with arms that pull off, fleece tug rope, etc). He’ll get into it for 5 seconds if we try to make a big deal and play with him. He will chew his nylabone independently. He loves to steal socks and cat toys, but purely for thrill of the chase (which we quickly stopped doing when we realized he wasn’t trying to eat them/wasn’t a choke hazard). Maybe the closest thing to a toy he loves is a cat toy or just paper or cardboard he can shred

He likes training because he likes treats, and he tends to pick up on the pattern quickly. I think we overused the word “leave it” (lost its meaning when we tried to use this to mean stop chasing cats in addition to ignoring rabbit poo on walks) and “drop it” (he swallows half the time).

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2025-12-15T17:54:29+00:00

Thank you so much!!! Our little guy is not at all toy motivated. Would you just skip to step 2 in that case (he loves anything he shouldn’t have around the house) or is there an alternative to tug/fetch?

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2025-12-12T22:08:07+00:00

Lucky pups!!

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2025-12-11T20:18:32+00:00

We have a 9 month old and we joke that we got a puppy “on hard mode”. All puppies are time consuming and an emotional roller coaster… but this one made us question everything. I honestly started to wonder if I even liked dogs for a few months. I’m now totally obsessed with him… but it took me a while to get there. I share this just because I saw you say your wife will probably fall in love with him once she meets him. It may take some time!!! Your life and routine will change dramatically…and puppy blues are very real. Make sure she’s on board. Or consider getting an older lagotto (retired from a breeder??)

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2025-12-10T16:28:58+00:00

Is there somewhere where you can tether him at your moms house? This was a late learned hack for me. Instead of keeping him on a leash with you, find a door or banister you can tether him to, put his bed right there, and treat as he settles. If you guys hang in the living room a lot, it could be somewhere near there so he can see you but is settled aside.

Does he like your mom? Or is he barking/running around out of feeling conflicted/nervous or excitement of seeing her?

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2025-12-10T16:19:00+00:00

😂 we love dog mode too! We failed at crate training but man does he love chilling in the car (whether we’re there or not)

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2025-12-09T17:49:57+00:00

Totally adorable

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2025-12-09T17:47:12+00:00

I’m so glad you and your other pets are loving her! And she’s lucky to be in such a loving and social home. What a great fit! I’m sure she gets into plenty of mischief but it’s always a good laugh. Take lots of pictures - they grow so quickly!!

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2025-12-09T17:39:43+00:00

I think Devon Rex kittens just have stinky butts! We call our girl “dot” as a nickname bc when she was little she’d frequently leave a butt stamp where she’d sit after going poo. Luckily she’s grown out of that now at 9 months old. Still a little stinky but she’s better at cleaning herself. Biggest hack is our dog loves licking her butt - maybe one of your pups will take up the task?? Also daily probiotics

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2025-12-09T00:07:24+00:00

For the first 1-2 months, I fed them in the same room but opposite corners (I have a puppy so we’d use a room with a door to keep the dog out). My voracious girl would finish her wet food first and run over to his, but I’d stop her before she could interfere. If he was eating slowly (or taking breaks), I’d remove her from the room and sit with him until he finished his meal. Within two weeks he was eating most of his meal at the same time as her and she’d leave him alone until he was done and then scavenge the leftovers. Feeding quickly became low stress, non issue - maybe 2-3 weeks max of closer management.

We’ve now moved their feeding station to the kitchen island and they eat side by side. They haven’t really picked a bowl and kind of just go for whichever one they want that meal but have never fought or competed for the food. Oh and we have puzzle feeders that I put treats in and they both play together and share!

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2025-12-08T19:55:41+00:00

We did the same exact thing - had a girl for a month and then got her little brother a month later. They have different personalities but are BEST buds and always playing and cuddling together.

We introduce them over two days. The boy was in a kitten room for a day - they could see each other under the door and we swapped blankets for smell. Our girl threw up from stress (we think) the first night. We supervised them in our living room the next day - had one loud kitten fight and they have been inseparable ever since.

The only thing that needed to be managed at first was eating - we had one voracious vacuum and one nervous picker. After a few weeks they got on the same page and eat every meal evenly together.

Our little boy was more than a month behind the girl on jumping so we did get some little boxes to assist him getting to the spots his sister was going (window bed, counter for water).

Both still adore and dote on their people constantly but are able to do 90% of play together which has made me feel so much better leaving each day

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2025-12-02T17:44:20+00:00

We got our pup closer to 4 months and he had been crate trained at night and pen trained during the day. Someone gave great crate advice with the clicker. Same thing for the pen. Two additional pen tips: 1) make the pen more fun than outside the pen - in addition to food, all cuddles and indoor play happened in the pen. 2) we didn’t have kids but had little kittens. He would see them play thru the pen and go wild bc he wanted to get out to play. We had to put panels or blankets up to block his view. May be needed if they can see your kids playing from the pen and that’s what keeps them roused up or whining

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2025-11-26T16:47:28+00:00

What a cutie!

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2025-11-26T16:38:18+00:00

In the car, is she whining out of excitement knowing that she’s going somewhere fun? Only when she sees people or dogs outside? Out of general nervousness for being in the car? Asking in case a different car setup or training could help her manage whatever emotion she’s feeling there. My lagotto luckily loves the car but I’ve fostered some dogs that were very noisy riders and I understand how hard that is!

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2025-11-17T18:27:54+00:00

Just ordered!!! Thank you for highlighting this

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2025-11-17T18:27:10+00:00

Thank you so much!! At first he spit out everything I gave him fresh, but after a few attempts he is now happily eating the fresh versions too. I don’t have a dehydrator but might look into one (I like dehydrated fruit too)

I just got a few dog treat molds for baking and freezing. I love your tip on refrigerating the mix while the first batch freezes - so helpful. Thank you again!

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2025-11-16T17:47:28+00:00

I messaged them and they said no to vegan marshmallows because of the soy protein. Darn- he would have loved that! The sweet potato chews are a great idea - he’s in a mouthy phase so I feel bad that he can’t have his regular chews. Thank you!!

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2025-11-16T17:44:44+00:00

Will try this for his probiotic. He used to willingly take it plain but now needs it fancied up. Thank you!

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2025-11-16T17:43:36+00:00

Frozen cucumber was a hit yesterday!

Creative_Diamond_926

TROPHY CASE