Fussy eater..

[stussy]

Hi

Had a chat with Liz about Bels pickyness with food (which was really worrying me as shes not putting on weight at the mo and i know she needs to at the mo as she is still growing - she is 7 months old) anyway she suggested a few things like splitting down her meals etc.. anyway mixing something yummy in to her food worked for a couple of days but she was still being really picky (so we tried another option - i now officially have the only dog that hates James wellbeloved food!)
so i have given in and am just feeding her what she likes 3 times a day which so far we have discovered is left overs of any description, chicken, fish, mince, rice and veggies

Now obviously im over the moon that she is actually eating and enjoying it now but im a bit worried about nutrition with feeding her like this, so if she is getting meat and either veggies or rice/pasta each day 3 times a day will she be getting everything she needs nutrients wise and whats the best way to guage amounts?
For her 3 meals i was thinking of something along these lines
Brekkie small chicken breast & 1/2 mug of rice/pasta/veg
lunch mug of mincemixed with rice or veggies
evening mince/peice of fish/chicken breast with mug of veggies and any other left overs

I know its not a convential way to feed a dog, but as long as shes eating i dont mind a bit of faffing about

Any advice on if im about right with quantites etc would be helpfull

Thanks
Claire x

[Letty's Mum]

Haven't a clue about the nutritional values of that diet, but Lettice and Buster say " Please can we come and live with you?"

[Princess C]

To be honest, I'd be very wary of switching to completely home cooked food for two reasons; it will be very difficult to calculate the nutritional balance, especially for a growing pup (and although dogs always used to be fed human leftovers in the past, dogs lifespans have lengthened hugely, largely because of improved and specifically tailored manufactured diets) and secondly, if she gets into the habit of only eating 'human style' food, you will never get her to eat complete kibble in the future.

I home cook for mine about once a week, but with a number of reservations. Matilda is terminally ill, ancient, has few teeth and spent most of her years before rescue eating leftover pub food, so when she becomes picky and refuses to eat, she is the only one who ever has a completely homecooked meal (funnily enough tonight she's had rabbit mince cooked with pasta and porridge oats) Tomorrow morning she will have a reduced amount of the same, but with Naturediet mixed in to get her back to dog food, and the next meal will be complete mixed with homecooked, then complete with Naturediet or whatever the others have as their added bonus. The others always have have a dollop of lurcher stew, or whatever I have made, but added to their complete, not instead of...

Is it because she doesn't like hard food perhaps? Have you tried feeding Naturediet or Natures Menu instead? Or does she hold out because she knows you'll offer something better if she does? Finding something they like and will eat without fail and that they do well on is a bit of trial and error, but it will be worth persevering - can you imagine homecooking three times a day for the next fifteen or so years?

[Nettie]

She'll certainly need a source of calcium - would you consider raw feeding her if she enjoys it? I can help you with that as I brought Bertie up on raw from the age of 12 weeks when we became failed fosters and I put him onto the same diet as the others.

[Barneysmum]

Would consider the raw diet as an option - it is the only meal that is never seen to be refused, normally go back asking for more by both of mine - Barney extremely difficult to find a kibble that doesn't have some from of reaction or refusal

[Letty's Mum]

Dec 15, 2008 19:53:11 GMT -5 Barneysmum said:

Would consider the raw diet as an option - it is the only meal that is never seen to be refused, normally go back asking for more by both of mine - Barney extremely difficult to find a kibble that doesn't have some from of reaction or refusal

What do you generally feed your dogs each day? Does it work out really expensive to feed raw?
I give a couple of raw chicken bones for brekkie then Lunch and Dinner are dry complete. ( but they prefer their Brekkie)

[stussy]

I would be interested in finding out more about raw diet ;D

As someone said on here and as my husband said last night, i might be finding it fun cooking casseroles for her now, but its not exactly conveinient and i think ill get bored after years of it !!

my immediate worry is really just to get some food into her, she does need to bulk up and as a pup i am worried about growth, but the bowls of chicken and sausagemeat and veg she had yesterday went down rather rapidly so im a bit more relaxed now i have found something she will eat

Long term i know this is not a great solution tho i have tried her on tinned meat, nature diet and james welbeloved she really wasnt interested in any of them! but my plan is to start mixing nayture diet in with her chicken casserole or other meat (as i have nearly 2 boxes of it at home!) and then start to increase the nature diet and reduce the human food

Still as i say i really really want her to enjoy her grub so have considered raw feeding, again tho with her being young i am concerned about getting it right! , im a bit confused as all my dogs in the past have been hoovers! funnily enough at the weekend when sally my mum in laws grey was leaning over her trying to nick her food (a mix of soft kibble and nature diet) she wolfed it down, so maybee i need to borrow a greedy grey to encourage her!

Thanks everyone

[vickyb]

I've had to feed River totally on home cooked food for 11 years and I'm just so used to it now, but I have to say that in the middle of summer it gets to be a pain, but I have a big freezer deliberately so I can do big batches. He can only tolerate potatoes as his carb source so I cook them in the microwave for each meal.
If he was young now there might be a food he could tolerate but he's too old to change about. I have always added various supplements and oils and he has chews for his teeth.
I would say that if you could find an alternative then do as it is a worry about getting it right but as he's always been healthy I think I managed it.
He's always had a fair amount of white fish and salmon, it's quick to cook and adds variety.
Have you got other dogs? Trix went through a really picky stage when she was an only dog I thought she might be anorexic and even fed her caesar but the only thing that cured her was the arrival of River
I might add that our previous dog was fed all his life on dried without added bits and lived for 14 incredibly healthy years so I'd expected to do the same with River but it wasn't to be.

[Nettie]

Have you got a Pets at Home near you? If you have you will find they have a freezer section where they sell Prize Choice blocks of frozen mince, different kinds of meat, I'd just buy one of each to see if she'll eat them (mine won't touch the fish). I get the amount I need for the next day out of the freezer the night before and put it in the fridge to defrost. I keep all the dog's meat separate from ours in a tupperware box. It still has a chill on it so before each meal I zap it in the microwave for a minute or two just to warm (not cook) it. Offal should also be fed about once a week.

Have you any idea what her ideal adult weight might be? I'd feed her about 4% of her ideal weight a day. Once you've been feeding her a week or two and you think she's not putting on enough weight then up the amount or if she's putting on too much reduce the amount, the percentage is just a guide. For example Bertie weighs the least of my three but actually eats the most as its hard to get weight on him. He gets between 600-700 grams a day.

Once you've sorted out which mince she'll eat and get her used to raw then I'd add chicken wings for one meal. To start with you might give them a bit of a bash to crush the bones up a bit just in case she doesn't chew them. You could also hold on to one end of the wing while she eats it, just watch your fingers! Once she's used to these you can try adding other types of meaty bones but avoid weight bearing bones. These could be chicken necks, turkey necks, lamb ribs - just introduce each type gradually one at a time and see how she gets on.

A raw egg and shell (break the egg and shell up a bit otherwise you might fine she walks away from her bowl and then breaks the egg elsewhere - could be messy) twice a week. Mine also have pilchards in tomato sauce for breakfast once or twice a week. When Bertie was a pup I also used to add Entrodex probiotic (Vet UK supply this www.vetuk.co.uk/idevaffiliate/idevaffiliate.php?id=205 ) and vitamin powder to his mince meal. Mine also have veggies, usually I cook too much and they have leftovers but I also give them greens and the greens cut offs from our veggies but you can't feed them raw because dogs can't break down cellulose so they need chopping into small pieces, blanching and then freezing which breaks down the cellulose and aids digestion.

If you have freezer space and this works for you both then you can order meat online directly from Prize Choice, they can also supply meaty bones.

Raw feeding is not an exact science and providing the dog is getting everything they need over a couple of weeks then everything should be fine.

The above is just a guide and what I do, there are loads of books and there is a Yahoo group called Brit-barf where you can get loads of advice.

[stussy]

Thanks thats a great help, it does seem fairly simple, i think if my current plan does not work then i will move her onto raw.

Going well today tho, shes allready had some chicken for brekkie and i sneaked some nature diet in with luchtime chicken and veg and she didnt notice

[Barneysmum]

One thing I have to do with Barney is hold onto his bone meal at all times as he gets protective of his space and food, so if you are going to go ahead with raw feeding get your dog used to you taking up any remaining bone (if any) so that the guarding instinct doesn't become an issue.

Marie

[stussy]

Well after all my faffing about we seemed to have solved the issue

At work the other day Bel wandered into the kitchen and the spaniels had left a bit of food (which is a working dog museli) and she woolfed it down, so i left woprk armed with a carrier bag of it to try and she has been eating fine since even trying to steal Paiges grub

fingers crossed she carries on liking it but its been a week now

[lurcherlot]

Excellent Claire