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Puppy No Longer Interested In His Dry Food.....


jaxdar
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I've had my pup for nearly three weeks , he came to me on optimium puppy and i have slowly switched him over to Eagle Pack Holistic puppy, he had no problems with that but since introducing bones & chicken mince he hasn't been eating his dry food, i'm interested in feeding him RAW when he's a bit older but i've only just started reading up on this and would rather him have the complete food of kibble while he's growing.

Any tips on getting him interested again?I do only leave it for 15 mins and then take it away...

atm he has

morning : dry food ( doesn't touch it)

lunch:Chicken wing or lamb flab (devoures this)

dinner:Chicken mince mixed with kibble ( eats but leaves most of the kibble)

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I find if my dogs will always leave dry food if they are offered raw or know they will be getting raw at some point that day. Try mixing his dry food with the chicken mince and maybe something like sardines - make sure you give it a good stir through ... or maybe try adding a little gravy (make sure it is low salt).

I am feeding my almost 12 week old GSD on raw and are using the BARF patties which are already made up (because I also don't know a lot about RAW yet - didn't want to take the risk of getting it wrong). I had all intentions of feeding dry food until he was a bit more mature but he made it look like I was trying to poison him - so I ditched the dry all together and went completely RAW. He is thriving.

Edited by Tilly
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Yeah, I have the same problem.

I give my pup chicken mince, just a tiny bit on top of his dry food.

And he eats it then wants to eat what my other dog is i eating.

But I pick it up after 5 mins and don't replace it.

He will eat it all the next morning.

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Raw meaty bones & a few tabble scraps are all a dog needs. I used to do the Billinghurst diet b4 the pre-made patties when we 1st got Sooty. She's a lean dog & the vet almost had me for feeding her this way. So I caved & put her on kibble. But after reading Tom Lonsdale's books & reading & watching vids on his website, that's all a dog needs. After all they survived for thousands of years before kibble was invented.

www.rawmeatybones.com

To see the videos go to media archives.

Edited by luvsdogs
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Our pup got picky about dry food at about 4 months old

We kept her going on it by mixing in Sardines, and sometimes peanut butter or pumpkin. Also scattering it on the floor seemed to make her more interested

We tried different flavours and different brands which she would eat for a week or two and then go off it

Eventually though she was sucking off the sardines (or other mixer) and spitting out the kibble and by about 6 months old she refused to eat it at all - I was doing the 15 mins etc and she went for three days without eating

We changed to raw diet and haven't had any issues since (except the 10kgs of kibble sitting in the laundry. lol).

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Eventually though she was sucking off the sardines (or other mixer) and spitting out the kibble and by about 6 months old she refused to eat it at all - I was doing the 15 mins etc and she went for three days without eating

:rofl: Dreamy is definitely a broken beagle, Gills :thumbsup:

luvdogs:

Raw meaty bones & a few tabble scraps are all a dog needs

IMO you need to be more careful and precise when you are raising a pup on a raw diet than simlpy feeding table scraps and RMBs. Dogs need the right balance of bone, meat, offal, vegies etc.

Edited by huski
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Eventually though she was sucking off the sardines (or other mixer) and spitting out the kibble and by about 6 months old she refused to eat it at all - I was doing the 15 mins etc and she went for three days without eating

:rofl: Dreamy is definitely a broken beagle, Gills :thumbsup:

Raw meaty bones & a few tabble scraps are all a dog needs

IMO you need to be more careful and precise when you are raising a pup on a raw diet than simlpy feeding table scraps and RMBs. Dogs need the right balance of bone, meat, offal, vegies etc.

That's why I gave the link to the website. This link is on the site.

:http://www.rawmeatybones.com/diet/exp-diet-guide.pdf

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It really isn't rocket science.

If the dog isn't getting enough to eat then the dog will be hungry and will look for more to eat. If the dog is getting more than sufficient for their needs then they can afford to be picky in what they do eat......so, you have to feed the dog just enough so that the dog is not over nourished.

Generally dogs do prefer the raw Dr. B's BARF over dry food regardless of what brand it is although some brands are more palatable than others.

If you want them to eat both types of food ie. raw and dry kibble then you have to get the balance of the amount of food you are feeding overall tuned to the hunger of the dog. Feed too much BARF and they don't have the inclination to munch on the dry.

If you pander to the pickiness of the dog by offering more and more seemingly appealing types of food and you will get a picky eater that is no longer programmed to eat what is put in front of them.

Think about it, if you dine out every night for a week and overeat then at the end of that time you (usually) don't feel that great or have a great deal of interest in food. If you miss a few meals and get very hungry then even a basic meal looks good! If you eat a nutritionally balanced meal your body gets the right fuel so you can function to the best of your ability. If you eat junk food you get pimples!! :thumbsup:

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If mixing the dry food with things like yogurt, sardines or mince doesn't work then try making a game out of it by putting the food into a toy such as a Kong, treat ball or Tug-a-Jug.

Dog's seem to enjoy working for their food, plus it's good mental exercise too :hug:

eta: If you're mixing mince in with the dry you have to make sure you mix it REALLY well so that the puppy cannot eat the mince and leave the biscuits. This is where the natural yogurt is handy :)

Edited by SecretKei
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My first puppy wasn't really that interested in food, we were finding that she was leaving the kibble. Then I read somewhere (probably on DOL!) that dogs don't really go on the foods taste but rather its smell.

I have since used a little warm water over the kibble, just enough to moisten it and release that foody aroma, and she is much happier eating it.

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Our beagle is 8wks old now. We picked her up on friday night. The Breeder gave us a small bag of the food she was on (DR Harrys supercoat puppy [purina]) we used up the hole bag. half on friday night (as instructed) she ate it all. And the other half on sat morning. She at that 2. So we were out of food. We went to the supermarket and got a bag of the same stuff. Although the biscuits are different in shape they dont smell diff. And the are what we were told to give her. We have been giving her small peices of poached chicken for training. Now she doesnt eat much of the dry food. for dinner last night she had a little bit. And breaky this morning she sort of just sniffed. Had a little bit, Then some water and that was that.

She did as a whole get quite a bit of chicken as we did alot of training. Could it be that because we have given her chicken as a treat she doesnt want her dry food now? Or she may have just been not hungry?

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If they are continually refusing one meal in particular, no matter what you are offering them, then it could be the puppy telling you that they no longer require as many meals as you are dishing up, so if you are feeding four regular meals, perhaps cut it down to a similar amount spread over three meals.

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Ohh great thanks for that! She has eaten that food since my last post :cry::laugh:

I am currently giving her about 100gms of food 3 times dailey. Thats what the back of the food bag/what the breeder told us to do, Around about.

I bought some VIP puppy dog roll at the supermarket today so will try my luck with that for dinner. As i dont want her just on dryfood, I know its not that bad for them id just prefer her to be getting some fluids through food aswell as water.

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Ohh great thanks for that! She has eaten that food since my last post :cry::laugh:

I am currently giving her about 100gms of food 3 times dailey. Thats what the back of the food bag/what the breeder told us to do, Around about.

I bought some VIP puppy dog roll at the supermarket today so will try my luck with that for dinner. As i dont want her just on dryfood, I know its not that bad for them id just prefer her to be getting some fluids through food aswell as water.

The dog rolls aren't a great alternative to feed if you want to feed something other than dried, I'd rather feed something with a bit more nutritional value.

Before I fed a raw diet and had mine on dried food, I would feed a lot of raw meaty bones as well. Raw chicken necks and wings are a great size for beagle pups, as she gets older you can also try her on chicken frames, lamb necks, turkey necks and turkey wings. You can also mix some natural yoghurt into her dried food and feed fish like tinned sardines or mackeral. Raw egg is good too - all a better option than dog food roll.

Our breeder gave us a bag of Optimum when Daisy was a pup but I found she did better on brands with less grain content - Artemis or Eagle Pack Holistic would be my first choices if I needed to feed dried.

If she doesn't eat her dinner within 15 minutes pick it up and give it back to her at the next meal time. A healthy pup won't starve themselves and you need to teach her she won't 'win' when she's fussy by getting given something better or always having food available.

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I have been pushed towards that Eagle pack many times. I think i may just go and buy her that yellow Eagle Pack bag of puppy food next week and slowly put her on that.

Check ya PMs Huski!

Ben

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