Dog lovers? help with food??

Janet9906

I work at a pet store, try the higher quality foods, not any of the commerical ones. The holistic types are the best...and dogs seem to love them (and cats too).

BlisterLamb

I have a Great Pyrenees that is supposed to weigh about 115. He was about 107 when I got him and I couldn't get him to eat anything either. I finally found out that he likes soup. He wants his food to be soupy. I always get myself a roasted chicken at the beginning of each week. At the end of week, I boil the carcass and use the broth for his food the following week. He likes Taste of the Wild dry food with half a can of their canned food, a bit of chicken and chicken broth. And of course, I have to stand there while he eats it or he walks away and won't eat. He's not AT ALL spoiled. But the big, neurotic thing is up to 112 and looks really good. It just took trial and error until we figured out what he likes.

This is him with my daughter.

kwest_4_fitness

I'd give a raw diet a try. Fresh meat, veggies, yogurt, eggs and cheese. Mine love it.

monicalosesweight

I agree about limited training in nutrition overall, but I have never received a "kick back" from a fet food company.

If you don't, than that's great. If I'm totally wrong, than I take it back. I may have misspoken myself. I guess what I meant by kickback is lower prices on foods to sell to the public, not necessarily cash outright - just a better deal. That doesn't mean the food is a really high quality. It's sorta like a doctor, they receive training on new drugs from pharmaceutical reps AFTER medical school. Unfortunately, you're reliant on the dog food companies training you in their new products. That's doesn't mean the foods are actually a good balanced diet.

A lot of the stuff that's dry is junk and isn't even human grade - it's leftovers baked to practically carbon. Also, the issue is whether some of the products are being loaded up with chemicals that are dangerous (places like China do that). There are some reputable new companies that came out and test their foods regularly for chemicals thank goodness. Those appeared after dogs started to die and suddenly, everyone started looking for alternatives.

You're right about toy poodles. They don't need to eat a lot so that's a totally different issue. If you have a bigger dog, the occasional piece of cheese isn't going to harm them. A toy poodle - heck - they are so small you could probably cook a meal for them and just load up a good vitamin mix. It wouldn't be hard to prepare foods for a dog that size.

ToyaXxGreen

My dogs like that, she just wont eat dog food so we just give her human food, but make sure we dont give her anything spicey and mainly we give her the scraps, like bread crusts and pasta, we dont give her spicey food like curries. Shes quite healthy, shes 10 in 9 days and still acts like a puppy hope this helps

hngland

The protein listed on MFP is for people, not dogs. Their nutritional needs are quite different from ours. And hot dogs and processed things are just as bad for dogs as they are for humans ! So - if your dog has no special medical needs - pick a dog food and stick with it. He will turn his nose up at it at first, cause you've trained him to. You've reinforced his behavior with the treats you're giving him. He will not starve. He will pout until he gets hungry, then he'll eat. At this point, he's trained you - not the other way around. I have dogues de borduex, and they would eat whatever they could get their big ole slobbery lips around. But then they would also be knocking me over for what's in my hand at the time. They weigh between 150lbs and 200lbs each. Can't risk it. I put their food down once a day and leave it down for only 10 minutes. If they don't finish it in that time frame, oh well. There's always tomorrow. Your dog will be healthier and happier if you are in charge and he's not.

cawmacomber

We had to switch our dog to a soft diet a couple years ago. Every week I cook up a batch of pasta, brown rice, veggies and left-overs. Occasionally I will use a food processor to grind up the batch (usually if the left overs have large chunks of meat). He gets this mixed with some canned dog food three times a day.

My suggestion is to try processing his favorites with one or two extras and grind it up. Sometimes it's easier to get them to eat it if it's all mushed together and they have no choice. Also, if you just leave it in the dish, eventually, they will eat it, like it or not.

banshishi

If my dog doesnt eat her dinner she goes hungry..she has a good quality food...the only extra she has is tripe 3 times a week on the advice of my vet because she is very lean, and even feeding her working dog premium she doesnt keep her weight on..seen the vet its just the way she is...occasionally she gets distracted at dinner time and walks away from her bowl, she has 20 mins to eat it then its gone. I absolutely will not pander to her whims...for heaven sake, dogs will eat anything to survive..dont believe me check out what you see a stray dog eating if it has to.

If there is no health issue preventing the dog from eating then it will eat if you stop spoiling it. And given its a toy..make it work, dont carry it around all the time, take it for long walks, (you may well do already just worth a mention) Poodles were originally hunting dogs til they were turned into handbag ornaments!

suzmagana

Personally, I find that picky eaters are not helped by doctoring their food. First of all, rule out a medical issue. Lots of small breed dogs tend to have problems with teeth that make it difficult for them to eat. In your shoes, I'd find a good quality dog food (read the ingredients and look for lots of meat meals in the top 5). Then, put down a measured amount. Whatever is not eaten gets picked up in about 10 or 15 minutes. Dog gets nothing - no treats, no food until the next meal time, when you put down the exact same food.

There is a concern here, because of the dog's size, of Hypoglycemia. Have some Nutrical on hand, just in case.

Or you could research a raw diet and feed it, since your dog seems to like it. A properly done raw diet is excellent for dogs.

Sigh... This was going to be the first answer I agreed with until the comment about properly done raw diet. THERE IS NO SUCH THING. Dogs get salmonella and pathologic e coli just like people do. It's not safe. Don't do it. Ever. And yes, I am a vet.

Toys poodles have more than their fair share of liver problems that can cause poor appetite so go to your vet and have blood work done, maybe an abdominal ultrasound to have your pup checked out.

If all that is normal, then try switching a high quality food (which in dogs usually means high protein, high fat)
Adding meat, eggs, etc to a dogs food causes deficits in other nutrients - calcium and fat mostly.

To evaluate what you are feeding and to find out about health home cooked meals for dogs, check out BalanceIt.com

Sigh..... I hope they taught you in vet school that dogs and cats have different guts than people. Specifically shorter and much more acidic. Before you try to scare people off of raw food, I suggest you do some research on it. You can start here: http://www.pointlomapetpantry.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4&Itemid=7

I do my research too, just in different places than you do.
Like... A study published in the journal Zoonoses Public Health
The researcher took samples of 166 commercial frozen raw foods at randomly selected pet food stores in Canada. The salmonella prevelance was 21%

Another study published in Canadian vet journal looked at the incidence of salmonella in the stool of dogs fed raw diets. Of the 16 dogs fed raw diets that has tested positive for salmonella, 7 of the dogs were shedding salmonella in their stool for 1 to 7 days after eating the diet.

There are plenty of other good studies out there that show the same findings.

korsicash

IMO I have found that when we spoil them with these things then they won't what they are supposed to. Is he healthy and normal? IF he is leave the dog food down. He will eat when he is hungry. BTW he is a toy? He may be getting all he needs and you don't realize it. A toy should be getting maybe an 1/8 a cup of food. They over feed our pets on the dog food bag. I was a vet tech I had a breeder that I worked with and her poms also a toy breed got a coffee scoop in the am and in the PM of a high quality dog food plus their little treat tid bits. His tiny tummy may be full up on the chicken bits. But you are right he needs more than that. IF you insist on cooking for hi boil him chicken hearts. Way more of the good stuff he needs.

Leaving the dog food down will cause the oils to dry up making the food unpalatable to the dog, if you are going to leave food down you should toss it back in the bin after about an hour and mix the bin about then pull out a fresh measure of food. Fresh oils make the food more enticing to your pooch.

I should have clarified better I would not leave the food down because this is also a training issue. If he doesn't eat in 20 minutes pick it up till the next meal. Repeat.

dinoskycm

bump

fitz1970

For whatever reason, the only food my mastiff / lab can keep down is Purina One Smart Blend. She's active, healthy, clear eyes and shiny coat. So, unless health problems present themselves, that's what I will stick with.

You could go old school . . my dad always says "If they get hungry enough, they'll eat it." = )

Spanaval

Personally, I find that picky eaters are not helped by doctoring their food. First of all, rule out a medical issue. Lots of small breed dogs tend to have problems with teeth that make it difficult for them to eat. In your shoes, I'd find a good quality dog food (read the ingredients and look for lots of meat meals in the top 5). Then, put down a measured amount. Whatever is not eaten gets picked up in about 10 or 15 minutes. Dog gets nothing - no treats, no food until the next meal time, when you put down the exact same food.

There is a concern here, because of the dog's size, of Hypoglycemia. Have some Nutrical on hand, just in case.

Or you could research a raw diet and feed it, since your dog seems to like it. A properly done raw diet is excellent for dogs.

Sigh... This was going to be the first answer I agreed with until the comment about properly done raw diet. THERE IS NO SUCH THING. Dogs get salmonella and pathologic e coli just like people do. It's not safe. Don't do it. Ever. And yes, I am a vet.

Toys poodles have more than their fair share of liver problems that can cause poor appetite so go to your vet and have blood work done, maybe an abdominal ultrasound to have your pup checked out.

If all that is normal, then try switching a high quality food (which in dogs usually means high protein, high fat)
Adding meat, eggs, etc to a dogs food causes deficits in other nutrients - calcium and fat mostly.

To evaluate what you are feeding and to find out about health home cooked meals for dogs, check out BalanceIt.com

Sigh..... I hope they taught you in vet school that dogs and cats have different guts than people. Specifically shorter and much more acidic. Before you try to scare people off of raw food, I suggest you do some research on it. You can start here: http://www.pointlomapetpantry.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4&Itemid=7

I do my research too, just in different places than you do.
Like... A study published in the journal Zoonoses Public Health
The researcher took samples of 166 commercial frozen raw foods at randomly selected pet food stores in Canada. The salmonella prevelance was 21%

Another study published in Canadian vet journal looked at the incidence of salmonella in the stool of dogs fed raw diets. Of the 16 dogs fed raw diets that has tested positive for salmonella, 7 of the dogs were shedding salmonella in their stool for 1 to 7 days after eating the diet.

There are plenty of other good studies out there that show the same findings.

Most of studies on raw feeding are from a public health perspective, and in that sense, it is worse to have more salmonella, E.coli, etc. ending up in our water and environment. There are no studies that show that dogs are more likely to get ill from these bacteria, however, since their physiology is different from our own. Unless the dog id immune compromised or has an underlying health problem, it will likely do just fine on a properly formulated raw diet.

I have done a lot of research on various methods of feeding raw and came to the conclusion that I don't know enough to do a proper raw diet. So, my dogs get a variety of high quality kibble.

ironanimal

Give him a couple of days with no alternative to the dog food. If he knows he can hold out for goodies, he will. My dog is the same.

Try boiling some water and pouring a little over his food. Let it cool enough that you can comfortably put a finger in it, then present it to him.

Keiko385

My 2 eat Blue Buffalo but once or twice a week I cook them up the chicken, rice and veggies. I dont know how you are cooking the chicken for them, I just let it simmer in a pan of water I hold on to the broth and will add a little to their dry food if they decide to hold out for the good stuff, they are not the brightest crayons in the box when it comes to being tricked into eating dog food vs people food all they know is I open the fridge and gave them something

sarahmaryfearnley

I have made food for our dogs before when I wasn't working so much. Our dobbie is much pickier than the other but she would eat the rice and veg if it tasted like meat.

My general recipie was, boil chicken thighs in a big pot of water. Once cooked remove bones and some skin if its too fatty. Then I would put in the rice and frozen veg to cook so that it would soak up all the chicken broth flavor. She loved that stuff. She is also a big fan of eggs and I will break one in her bowl sometimes if she is being really fussy.

She even turned her nose up at green beans in a thanksgiving plate covered in gravy once :grumble: crazy girl.

Welshie_girl

I didn't read all they responses so I apologize if it was said before. I feed my dogs no grain food. Kirkland signature ( costco brand) salmon meal. One of my dogs was a picky eater so I did what years of working in rescue taught me. I put dog food down... dog doesn't eat it in 20 minutes I take the food away. I try that at night again... 20 minutes whatever is not gone I take away. I do that for few days and trust me it works. I know food I give them is good quality , and I do not feed them table food. Now that they know that's all they get I don't worry... I leave food in a bowl and by the ed of the day food is gone.... They will eat when they are hungry.

AlyK47

My Golden doesn't eat dog food - my mom doesn't approve of it, because apparently it's mostly 'fillers' - food that isn't really of any nutritional value to the dog. I'm not sure if that's correct, but I trust my mom's research methods. What we do is feed her a mixture of lean meat, vegetables, and potato - all cooked without any sauce. She gets this twice a day, with just enough to fill up her bowl each time. When she gets hungry (or greedy!) between meals and she's finished all her food the meal before, we feed her fruits (like pears) for fibre.

misslou7

<<<< This little lady refuses to eat anything remotely veg related so has Bakers Meaty Meals - chicken or beef. She used to have chicken and bacon dog trays but now can't stomach them - she will however shake with excitement when faced with real meat!

http://www.bakerscomplete.co.uk/Products/6/Bakers-Complete-Adult-Meaty-Meals-Beef?BackState=BrandType=CompleteMeals&Age=0&Brands=1,2,6,7,8

One thing about little dogs is that they get away with far more than bigger dogs. If she barks for human food, try and ignore it - if she's hungry she'll eat :-)

bb4886

try this:

http://www.trophypetfoods.co.uk/

Its the best food i have found my 2 (husky and an akita) love it, and its delivered to your door!!

The guys who run them (franchises) are great too always there to help and give advice

plantgrrl

Victoria Stillwell (the "It's me or the dog" lady) recommends having set meal times and that picky dogs like to have their food heated (warm food smells more attractive to dogs) you can take good quality canned food and heat it up in a skillet until it's just warm, the scent of the warm food is more appetizing. Or as some others have said, some broth over the food may also do the trick.

Also, don't feed your dog when you're not training it or it's not dog food time. You may actually be training your dog to beg or wait for a better offer (so to speak). Good luck, I hope you find something that works for your dog!