Dog lovers? help with food??

dinoskycm · September 2012

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fitz1970 · September 2012

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 · September 2012

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 · September 2012

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 · September 2012

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 · September 2012

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 · September 2012

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 · September 2012

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 · September 2012

<<<< 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 · September 2012

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 · September 2012

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!

Dog lovers? help with food??

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