Kibble mix-ins

[justine]

Hi everyone.. so my Abbey is proving to be an EXTREMELY picky eater. :-\

I have tried at least 10 different kinds of kibble.. Pedigree, Purina, Eukanuba, everything. Right now she's on Chicken Soup for the Puppy Lover's Soul, Large Breed Puppy. She refuses to eat any of these without mixing something in. I even tried the whole "eventually she has to eat it" thing and she still refused to touch it.

I know some people mix things in to their kibble, so please tell me what you mix in there!

I know some people put cooked, cooled and washed hamburger meet in there, and some put veggies once in a while...

Any help would be greatly apreciated! ;D

Thanks!

[imported_nellies mom]

If she gets hungry enough she WILL eat. I put a 1/2 can of string beans in Nellie's dinner but that is mostly for weight control. If your pup is still young I wouldn't use fillers like that in place of food.

[brody]

it might be texture, it might be location but basically your dog needs to learn to eat what is good for it

one approach that works (just a slightly different take on what I do but my head hurts too much to type it out) follows - you need to be tough and DO IT tho - caving teaches the dog to hold out... pick a day to implement the program and make SURE everybody in the house is onside

http://www.dragonflyllama.com/%20DOG.../TeachEat.html

[rayluckgoo]

I feel your pain! I feel like an idiot hand feeding Jackson. If I don't...he won't eat and the two older dogs sneak in. They're getting fat. I also mixed things for awhile. It would work for a few days and then stop working. I'd feel guilty not giving the older dogs the same things...they'd put on weight.

Through it all though, Jackson's weight is great. He's lean but not ribby. If it wasn't for showing this spring I think I'd just feed him and if he didn't eat it, I'd pick it up and try again the next meal.

Anyway...I sympathize

[justine]

I feel your pain! I feel like an idiot hand feeding Jackson. If I don't...he won't eat and the two older dogs sneak in. They're getting fat. I also mixed things for awhile. It would work for a few days and then stop working.

that's exactly her problem! i thought it was the metal dish for a while, so i tried making her eat from a plastic dish, which worked for a couple days, then she stopped and so on. then i hand fed her for a couple of days and then she stopped. haha. now she's back to the metal dish, but she won't eat it! i've tried a lot of things.. ground up chicken, turkey, hamburger, a little bit of veggies or applesauce or anything. i'm running out of ideas!

[imported_apollosmom]

Well if you figure something out please let me know. Apollo lets his dogfood sit for days before eating, unless I buy the proplan selects Salmon, but I can't always afford the selects. Instead I'll buy the proplan adult chicken, or beef, or lamb and he just lets it sit. BRAT

[Tanya]

10 foods? how old is your girl and how long are you leaving her on any of those foods?

Changing so often might be part of the problem. At this point she really has YOU trained! I agree with the advice to leave the food down 10mins then remove. Put it down again later for another 10mins. She won't starve herself.

[imported_zoezoe]

Put it down...leave it for 15 minutes, if she doesn't eat...take it up....try the same thing again at lunch (if you're home) and then for dinner....she won't starve if you do this a day or two. Also try just putting a tad of water on it. She's training you to give her something besides dog food. My cocker spaniel did that...he would wait to eat until 11pm at night when he knew I was going to bed...he'd hold out all day to see if he would get something "better". When he realized it wasn't gonna happen, he ate the dog food.

[labby]

Put it down...leave it for 15 minutes, if she doesn't eat...take it up....try the same thing again at lunch (if you're home) and then for dinner....she won't starve if you do this a day or two. Also try just putting a tad of water on it. She's training you to give her something besides dog food. My cocker spaniel did that...he would wait to eat until 11pm at night when he knew I was going to bed...he'd hold out all day to see if he would get something "better". When he realized it wasn't gonna happen, he ate the dog food.

You're nicer than I am. I leave it for 5. Then they don't get anything new added until every last kernel of food is gone. If they leave even one, they don't get more. They get that kernel for the next meal. I've had Seamus lose about 10 pounds from not eating when girls are in season and I refuse to baby him. He eats or he goes hungry. I finally got so fed up last spring I told him to go ahead and starve, I'll just get a new dog in his place. LOL

[Tundra Aries]

Sandy that's a good idea, I have to tell my friend, she's been having trouble with her dog too.