Gone off the Kibble, any alternatives

[saeagle]

Hi,

As the title says, Rich has taken a real disdain towards his kibble. He has been on Wainwrights Hypoallergenic since we got him. He tends to get a very runny tum if we take him off the Hypoallergenic stuff and we have tried mixing the flavours.

But lately he really does not seem to enjoy his kibble. When we first got him, he would wolf it down, but now even with some wet food in it and warm water, he tends to just pick at it and leave on average half of it, at each meal. He will sometimes come back and eat it later if he gets really hungry. Its not an appetite thing, as he will happily wolf down his treats or anything else. Just seems to be this kibble.

Does anyone have an alternative to the Wainwrights, or perhaps not using the Kibble at all. I know a lot of people will feed, rice and potato, with chicken etc, but what sort of portion sizes should we use if we went this route?

I saw in some of the other queries, that they will eat sardines etc? is it plain sardines, or can you give them sardines in tomato etc?

He isn't dropping weight thankfully, just the poor guy really doesn't look forward to his meal time, and would like to change it.

thanks in advance.

[lurcherlot]

Are his teeth OK? Perhaps a quick vet check would be a good idea.
You could introduce another hypoallergenic kibble - several companies do it, including James Wellbeloved, which is expensive, but if he likes it, it's better than buying food that he doesn't like!
My dogs eat sardines either in sunflower oil or tomato sauce. You could change to wet food, but that too is expensive ... I would definately suggest a vet check first - there could be several reasons why he no longer wants to eat his kibble.

[Ted]

I feed all 4 of my Hounds Naturediet Chicken and Lamb or Chicken, which comes in 395 gram cartons. I also leave a Bucket of Barking Heads Kibble for them to snack on. My second Greyhound Missy (1999-2011) refused once I had rehomed to eat any Kibble so I gave her Naturediet as well. It is a good quality of food, Gluten free no chemical additives and no Derivatives or meal substitutes. I get Naturediet via Berriewood who charge for 4 boxes of 18 cartons each box for a total of £51.96p with free next day delivery via DPD who notify of the day it is being delivered and on that day they give you the hour's time slot for delivery. DPD will also deliver to a neighbour or a safe area if you let them know.

[saeagle]

Cheers Ted and Lurcherlot.

I think his teeth are ok as he happily munches down hard biscuit treats, but just seems to get bored easily with his kibble. I think the word is Spoilt . He also just had his mot and everything came back hunky dory.

I have though just mixed his kibble with vegetables and chicken and he wolfed it down...won't even have to wash the bowl.

Can you feed them purely on a wet food diet? I am just not sure on how to work out the quantity if I feed him on a rice and/or potato, mixed with chicken, veg etc? It is easy enough with the kibble as just go on the the advised quantities.

Thanks again for your help.

[Ted]

I give my 4 Hounds 1/2 a carton each for breakfast and 1 carton each for their evening meal. Naturediet states 2 cartons a day each. As my 4 are well built I decided 1 & 1/2 cartons a day each would be okay for them, with the bucket of kibble should help their teeth and if they feel peckish.

[vickyb]

I've fed various dogs a homecooked diet for various reasons. Yes it can be done but it is quite a big undertaking. Alternatively as Ted says you can feed tray food but it is a bit expensive. Ours love Forthglade trays which are a good price on Vet uk.
I add all sorts to their kibble to vary it. I also pour water over the kibble just before giving them it and stir so it makes a sort of gravy with whatever I've added. Re sardines I wouldn't add to much to start off with as they can give them the runs if they're not used to them, you can give him it in oil or tomato sauce or pilchards etc. You can add tuna, low salt gravy mix made up thinly (but not the onion flavour). A favourite here is a small amount of lambs liver cooked in plenty of water then chopped up and poured over. With one dog I would probably freeze half for another day.

[2tuxedos]

When I fed Wainwrights years ago the dogs just suddenly became reluctant to eat it, & weren't fussy eaters at all. I even tried a different bag in case it was off, but was same. I switched a different brand of salmon & rice (one gets soft poops/stinky farts on poultry kibbles), they wolfed it down again.

I bought lukullus when I was looking to switch my foster pups food & saw it was highly rated on www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk/ & affordable. Turned out my other 3 dogs all liked it so much I had to change them over too, its cold pressed rather than extruded so perhaps smells better.

[andywillow]

I've recently swapped my dogs onto a raw diet, something I never thought I would do. When we got Lady back in June she was really underweight but wouldn't touch kibble and was eating very little. I tried all sorts of stuff, the only thing she liked was cheesy scrambled eggs which she couldn't live on.
A friend suggested trying her on raw and she really took to it. I then decided to try Joe our big greyhound lad as he was constantly messing in the house (practically every night), he was on a sensitive food, he was fine during the day but it was awful coming down to a foul stench and mess every morning. I did a straight swap onto raw and we haven't looked back, then I swapped little Roy as he frequently got me up at night needing a poo, he is sleeping through now too. I've put them all on it apart from one who has had pancreatitis and she is on forthglade/naturediet and is doing well so don't want to change her.

Its made a huge difference too to the amount of poo's they do. I did try Lady on Nutriment which is expensive and she didn't like it, then I tried natures menu which she was eating but sometimes didn't want it. I now get it delivered in bulk from Bulmers raw foods, they absolutely love it and its so much cheaper than the others.

[saeagle]

Thanks Everyone.

Glad to see that I am not the only one with a fussy eater. I will definitely try the other brands out there, but we have to keep him on the hypo allergenic ones as his skin and tummy get really bad if he eats the normal ones (with grain etc). 

I bought a box of Wainwrights wet food, which I am using in the morning to try and entice him to eat (and mix it with warm water). He tends to drink all the gravy and try and get as much of the wet food, and leave what kibble he can.  He does go back and eat it, after his walk, so guess he just sucks it up and eats what he needs to, when he gets hungry.  His kibble is just about to run out, so I will try one of the new flavours suggested.

Thanks VickyB.  We were adding some stock to the kibble as well, but Rich suddenly had some funny turns.  We weren't sure whether this was something like epilepsy (which we had the blood tests done, which all came back normaly) or whether it was too much salt or something in the diet.  So we stopped using the baby stockcubes and touch wood he seems to have been ok.

Andy, thanks for the advice.  Rich funny enough was going through a bad patch of needing a poo during the night, just a couple of weeks ago.  He isn't a big barker (not sure if this is a greyhound trait, its our first one, or just rich), so we would only notice the whimpering from downstairs and thankfully managed to get him out most times.  Which is the raw food you use?  Natures diet or Nutriment?  And what sort of quantities are you giving them daily.  Rich is about 37 kilos at the moment.  Do they miss the kibble at all and do they get enough nutrients from the wet food?

Sorry for the million and one questions, never fed a dog on the raw diet before.

Cheers again.

[andywillow]

I get the raw food from here www.bulmerdogfood.co.uk/frozen-meat-products/

The nutriment is too expensive as we have 6 dogs on raw, also Lady our newest didn't like it and it gave Joe diarrhoea. They absolutely love the meat from Bulmers. I haven't been feeding it long enough to give advice, I'm still learning. They do have fruit and veg mixed in with their meat. You can buy it ready made, I have used Natures menu frozen fruit and veg from Pets at Home but am starting to make my own in the blender and freeze it.

Its getting a balance with various meats, offal, bone etc. I borrowed a book called Honey's natural feeding handbook for dogs which has been useful.

I really never fancied feeding raw but haven't looked back since changing them over.

Oh and just for the record, my name is Sue, Andy and Willow were my first two greyhounds

[saeagle]

Thanks Sue.

I will take a look Bulmers and see what it is all about.   

Rich seems to enjoy his veggie and chicken mix I am giving him in the evening, but if he goes off that again, I will definitely try the raw food diet.  And who knows, perhaps it will reduce the toxic smells radiating from him  

[andywillow]

Sept 29, 2015 12:13:07 GMT -5 saeagle said:

Thanks Sue.

I will take a look Bulmers and see what it is all about.   

Rich seems to enjoy his veggie and chicken mix I am giving him in the evening, but if he goes off that again, I will definitely try the raw food diet.  And who knows, perhaps it will reduce the toxic smells radiating from him  

Its definitely helped with the vile farty smells here! Joe used to choke me at night as I sat watching tv. All mine have a pack each per day split into 2 meals with added fruit and veg, Joe who is 34kgs has 2 packs but he is on the slim side. I know other dogs the same weight don't need as much. Its pretty much trial and error, if they gain weight, cut it down, if they lose weight then increase it.

I'm more relaxed about it now I've been feeding it for a few months and very pleased with the results. Its lovely not having to get up in the night to take Roy out and also great not getting up to piles of poo! Joe sleeps downstairs (his choice) and doesn't bark or whine to go out, he just does it!

[saeagle]

Thanks Sue. Do you just buy a variety of the minced flavours?

I may try Rich on the remainder of the Wainwrights wet food and see how he gets on, before swapping him over to a total raw diet,think he is just about to run out of kibble anyhow. May try a small bag of another flavour and see how long before he starts moping about that flavour.

2 days running though, he has wolfed down his kibble, which I have mixed with frozen veg and chicken. Lets see how long this lasts before I have to come up with a new recipe .

[andywillow]

Don't know where you are in the country and if they deliver to you but their minimum order is 150lbs of meat which just about lasts me a month but that's a lot to buy for one dog. I buy 5 trays of various flavours. There are loads of various suppliers around the country if you google them.

[saeagle]

Just to say our first instalment of nutriment arrived yesterday and decided to give Rich a try on it this morning. Well this looks like it could be a waste of a starter pack. Took a sniff of it and just went and lay down. Will try some of the other flavours and see if they are any better.

I also bought a portion of Burns Sensitive Kibble, which he seems to love. This dog is more fussy than me