What the hell am I going to feed this dog?
I have a Siberian Husky named Nik. He's 8 years old. When I moved in with my husband he was feeding him Iams. N had him on Iams since he was a puppy. I did some research and found that it wasn't exactly nutritionally superior so we switched all the dogs to Wellness.
Nik appeared satisfied with this food for some time, maybe six months, then he started refusing to eat it. In fact, all of my dogs besides my garbage-disposal-of-a-dachshund refused to eat it. So we did some more research and decided to switch to Blue Buffalo.
We started them out on the fish formula and he ate that happily for about a week then again, refused to eat.
We switched to the duck formula, same thing, ate it for about a week then quit.
He has out right refused to eat for a couple of days now. His stomach was growling so loud last night I could hear it from my bedroom with the door closed. I got out of bed and fed him a banana and a piece of bread to get something in him. He ate both with no problem so I know he's just being picky and not sick or anything.
What should I do next? I know some people cook for their dogs and I was considering this. My only concern is making sure I provide adequate nutrition and finding the extra time to do the cooking.
Any thoughts/suggestions on this?
I don't know, his stomach was pretty loud and he still wasn't eating! I couldn't figure out what it was at first. I thought it was the cats outside fighting! (I feed the strays and they get into it in the yard sometimes.)
We used to mix a bit of chicken broth or stock into our picky dog's dry food. We didn't use enough to turn the food to mush, but enough so that each piece of kibble got hit with a little broth. I remember that working pretty well.
Original Post by aczinder:
I don't know, his stomach was pretty loud and he still wasn't eating! I couldn't figure out what it was at first. I thought it was the cats outside fighting! (I feed the strays and they get into it in the yard sometimes.)
hmmm....
I've had picky eaters. Usually after a day or 2, they will start eating.
I've had good luck with Solid Gold food, you can add a little water to it and make it mushy.
I keep a bottle of olive oil that was infused with some bacon grease. A tiny spray of that stuff on the dog food and the dogs will gobble the food.
Original Post by cajunrider:
I keep a bottle of olive oil that was infused with some bacon grease. A tiny spray of that stuff on the dog food and the dogs will gobble the food.
Yeah, I'll bet that works great!
I always feed any dogs I have a mixture of wet and dry...if you think about it dogs stomachs were not designed to cope with dry food, it's yet another thing we humans think we know better about!
Re #20 .. my vet said this. We kept switching up their food and even considered cooking for them .. but asked the vet first, vet said our dogs had US well trained!
She said if edible food is available, a healthy dog will not starve itself...and so if they are refusing, then they are simply not hungry. I heard their tummy rumbles so I thought they must be.. but she said they will eat when they are hungry enough.
Our dogs will skip a meal once in a while but we have stopped leaving food down for them constantly. It's put down and there for one hour and then we pick it up. They either eat it or not and they get nothing else until their next meal in time. This, plus not freaking out / treating to make them eat seems to have done the trick.
Original Post by beady17:
Re #20 .. my vet said this. We kept switching up their food and even considered cooking for them .. but asked the vet first, vet said our dogs had US well trained!
She said if edible food is available, a healthy dog will not starve itself...and so if they are refusing, then they are simply not hungry. I heard their tummy rumbles so I thought they must be.. but she said they will eat when they are hungry enough.
Our dogs will skip a meal once in a while but we have stopped leaving food down for them constantly. It's put down and there for one hour and then we pick it up. They either eat it or not and they get nothing else until their next meal in time. This, plus not freaking out / treating to make them eat seems to have done the trick.
Crap, I've been doing the exact opposite. Giving him bananas and bread! *iz well trained*
Perhaps give him Iams, but supplement with a raw chicken leg or quarters (bone and all) just remember to give him a bit less of the dry food.
Original Post by ignayshus:
Perhaps give him Iams, but supplement with a raw chicken leg or quarters (bone and all) just remember to give him a bit less of the dry food.
Raw? He won't get sick?
If you're thinking salmonella, it doesn't seem to be an issue for their gut, but it's still an issue for ours, so just make sure to wash your hands after handling the chicken and don't pick up their poop barehanded ;)
edit: note I don't feed my dogs raw or table scraps, because they're not picky about their kibble so I just buy whatever is on sale that has the right ingredients and try to avoid fillers.
Original Post by ignayshus:
If you're thinking salmonella, it doesn't seem to be an issue for their gut, but it's still an issue for ours, so just make sure to wash your hands after handling the chicken and don't pick up their poop barehanded ;)
edit: note I don't feed my dogs raw or table scraps, because they're not picky about their kibble so I just buy whatever is on sale that has the right ingredients and try to avoid fillers.
Well, now how the hell am I sposed to pick up their poo then!? lol
Raw would sicken MoMo.
She does get a scrambled egg and a piece of toast on Sunday for breakfast though. :)
Original Post by kathygator:
Raw would sicken MoMo.
She does get a scrambled egg and a piece of toast on Sunday for breakfast though. :)
AWWW! <3
She's my girl, and for all the love and joy she gives me, it's worth it to spoil her a little.
If she were overweight, I wouldn't do it, but she isn't.
(((MollyGator)))
I know a few people that feed raw (not just dog but cats too). They literally make their own food using very real, natural ingredients like chicken and veggies.
When I first got my cats and was in college, I was feeding them whatever crap was on sale - then I read up like OP and realized that it was not good for them. I started feeding Natural Balance (high protein no grain) and all of my 4 boys have AMAZING coats. I could not believe the difference. They get fed 1 tbls of wet food from Trader Joes each morning and free fed dry food and once made the mistake of feeding them Friskies canned food because thats what I feed the ferals and had run out of their normal wet food...big mistake. In the afternoon after I had come home from work, one of my cats had scratched himself saw between the shoulder blades and another would not stop hacking. Turns out that they are allergic to something in the food and that fateful .49 cent can of food caused a huge vet bill and worry on my part.
So all tht to say that feeding raw is an option just do some research on the topic. The rationale behind it is pretty interesting, but I have a hard enough time cooking healthy meals for myself, let alone the boys.
You could try and mix a bit of chicken or beef bullion in with the dry food to make it more appealing. We put a tablespoon or two of collage cheese in with our dogs dry food. It's high in protein and doesn't hurt. You could try this as well!
Original Post by cajunrider:
I keep a bottle of olive oil that was infused with some bacon grease. A tiny spray of that stuff on the dog food and the dogs will gobble the food.
This is an awesome idea!!
I am so glad I have corgis....they eat everything and anything (except celery - won't touch the celery)
Original Post by corgisrule:
I am so glad I have corgis....they eat everything and anything (except celery - won't touch the celery)
That's because celery is gross!
