Eating habits!! Aaaagh!

1968 Views 17 Replies 10 Participants Last post by Dolgad, Mar 3, 2005

Camilla

Discussion Starter · Mar 1, 2005

I find myself having problems yet again with Miss Poppy..the little madam! :x
I posted a while back about the fact that she didnt eat for 3 days. I took all your advice and she did eat in the end, although she has never eaten her kibble with much enthusiasm! Anyway, I was curious to know the eating pattern of your dogs. In the beginning I would feed Poppy 3 times a day at set times, but then when I realised she was going to be picky, I started to free feed her.
The problem is this; I put out the kibble in her bowl in the morning and she doesnt show any interest at all...when I come home at lunch time it has hardly been touched, she might take one or two pieces and eat them on the carpet ( :x ) but not a significant ammount. By evening, there is still a good 3/4 of the kibble left in the bowl.I simply do not know how she survives! By evening time I am worried to death that she hasnt eaten and so in despair end up giving her bits of whatever we are eating...but this cant go on! :shock:
I have tried every type of kibble available here, also the wet dog food but she behaves the same with every kind! I thought perhaps that it dries out too much in the day and change it every two hours and she still wont eat it.
It is costing me a fortune in kibble that gets thrown away at the end of each day!
She is full of life and energy and has no pp or poop problems but she follows me every time I go into the kitchen and drools! She seems to be hungry and is almost asking to be fed! She also begs helplessly at the table (we TRY not to give her anything but it is damn near impossible for me to tuck into a steak when I know she hasnt eaten all day!!) What would you guys do? she loves our food...chicken and minced meat and her favourite is toast and honey :roll:
I havent been giving her treats at all...but some days I figure that its better to give her a treat than our food...I am at my wits end! Please help me!!!

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Dolgad

· #2 · Mar 1, 2005

here I am again

If my advice is not to your liking just "ingnore me"

why dont you do a little research, ask the vet and start feeding her with natural food (I mean cooked not raw)..
the appetite will be great, the begging will stop :wink:
anyway it will be better for her than "trying" to eat kibble and getting stuff from your meal - which is not really balanced that way :wink:

Camilla

Discussion Starter · #3 · Mar 1, 2005

Dolgad said:
here I am again
If my advice is not to your liking just "ingnore me"
why dont you do a little research, ask the vet and start feeding her with natural food (I mean cooked not raw)..
the appetite will be great, the begging will stop :wink:
anyway it will be better for her than "trying" to eat kibble and getting stuff from your meal - which is not really balanced that way :wink:

Thanks Olga..of course I wouldn't "ignore" you!

I remember you said that you feed your dog home cooked food...is it working for you? Problem is I, have so little time to cook special food...can you cook portions and freeze them, and then reheat in the microwave?
what exactly do you feed your dog? at this point I am grateful for any help at all...thanks!

Dolgad

· #4 · Mar 1, 2005

I think it is working :wink:
she has good appetite, she doesnt beg as much as before, at least I dont feel "guilty" for not giving her from our meal

If you give me some time I will write to you a bit more about what I am feeding, cos now I need to take Pupa out

When I say that I am feeding Pupa natural food I feel odd cos a lot of people just dont approve it and critisize me a lot without even asking :?

Ms_P

· #5 · Mar 1, 2005

I free feed my girls. Sometimes they eat all their morning bowl of food by 1:00 PM and sometimes they don't finish it until 5:00 PM. I do give them table food once in a while, but not on a regular basis.
If you are giving in and giving her table scraps, then of coarse she's going to wait until those yummy scraps are available to eat. Why eat the dog food if you can have something better tasting. She doesn't know what her nutritional requirements are, only that it tastes better.

If you can't refrain from giving her people food, do your research and make sure you are meeting all her nutritional requirements.

I think Dolgad has done a lot of research, so she can probably help you out. But you should also check with your vet and let them know what you are doing and see if they have any advice.
It's a big commitment and takes a lot of time, so make your choice wisely. Once you start, she will probably not want to eat dog food at all and it will not be easy to switch back.

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KB

· #6 · Mar 1, 2005

I sort of have the same probelm.........Bindi needs like an enticer to eat....although she will eat her dry throughout the day but....what I do is either buy ground chicken and cook that up....or get baby food chicken diced up......if that is on top of her food she will eat the rest. I only put a little and it works. I also found that when she wont eat or Kemo has hoovered up her food that I hand feed her a meal. That just helps you be alpha too. You may want to try that but since I switched to the Royal Canin I find they both like it. Even if Bindi is full she will BEG for human food. I think any dog will once they get the taste of it. (I know its my fault) but i was also going to say what Dolgad said and just cook for her. I wasted a ton of money in the past so I know how you feel :wave:

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Camilla

Discussion Starter · #7 · Mar 1, 2005

Thanks for the replies...I would like to know more about the diet that Dolgad uses and would appreciate her sending me the info as to what her dogs eat. However, I wont switch to that unless I know that i can take on the commitment time-wise.
Victoria, I will try the hand feeding too..it did work in the past..and I guess I will just try to stop feeding her human food from the table....oy vay, this is HARD! :?

Tinker

· #8 · Mar 1, 2005

Marcus gets mostly cooked chicken, steak, and ground round with kibbles left out for him to nibble on. Dog food is not something he will eat. He gets lots of veggiescooked and mixed with his meat and a drip of omega-3 oil.

luv4mygirls

· #9 · Mar 1, 2005

have you tried mixing some people food in with the dog food?

Auggies Mom

· #10 · Mar 1, 2005

Here's what I do which is a combination of what some others have said but it works at least for Auggie. In the morning I put out a measured amount of kibbles for Auggie which he nibbles at. Not eating much at all. I buy frozen chicken tenders and cook them 3 at a time and keep them in the fridge. At night Auggie get 1 tbls approximately of wet dog food mixed with a big portion of the dry he has not eaten. I taken a little of the baked chicken tender and tear a few little pieces to put on top and he will pretty much eat it all. Before I put the little bit of chicken on it , he sometimes ate it and sometimes not. It like the chicken entices him to get started and he will eat. I also use small pieces of the tenderloin cut into small cubes as treats. It' s really simple and I feel that the chicken is a good protein treat for him. :roll:

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SnickersMom

· #11 · Mar 1, 2005

Snickers gets like that sometimes.

I mix his kibble with Neura meats. I have found that I have to mix it in really well so that he will eat both the Neura meats and the kibble. I must say that he LOVES the Neura meats and if it weren't for the teeth issue I would just feed him that.

sjc

· #12 · Mar 2, 2005

My Chis wont touch their dry food unless it has "Pedigree Chicken (pouch) mixed in with it. I just put in about 1teaspoon and mix it up extremely well.They will gobble it up! I have to admit the Pedigree smells great!

It can get expensive trying to find the right food :roll: And I kinda think they get tired of eating the ame thing all the time.....I would

sandra

Camilla

Discussion Starter · #13 · Mar 2, 2005

Thank you all for your helpful replies...at least I now know that its not just my dog that is fussy! I will try the mixing in thing and see if it works...

Vala

· #14 · Mar 2, 2005

:wink: Stinky does this some days..and I was buying all sorts of food until my bf stopped me cause it was getting expensive..he said Stinky needed tough love :wink: so we don't give him any human food and if we notice he hasn't touch his kibble at all during the day and whines while we are eating..we 100% ignore him..sooner or later he eats..it sounds mean..but like my bf said..he needs to learn to eat whatever we give him! :wink: after all is good for him! :wink:

luv4mygirls

· #15 · Mar 2, 2005

i am not for giving human food either but if you can't find any wet dog food to mix with the dry kibble to make it more appealing then some won't hurt. as long as they aren't beging at the table while you are trying to eat (that irks me)
one of the vets at my job said "dog's won't starve themselves to death unless they are sickly." we get al ot of boarders that wont' eat out of spite for days. we try everything to get them to eat but they just won't do it, then we notice them pick at the food and it's enough to keep em alive. if they are hungry they'll eat eventually. i think they like being fussed over.

Dolgad

· #16 · Mar 2, 2005

sorry, I didnt respond to you yesterday, cos when I wanted to write turned out that internet had gone and we didnt have till now

Yes, I do cook for Pupa and then freeze it, it holds very well...
and then what I want to say is that it is not really like "cooking for a dog" - you are cooking for your family, and just put aside in a separate bowl some meat(chicken) from your meal, veggies, rice (or any other grain) and it won't take any time at all.
that's what I do. And if you decide to feed like that buy multivitamins and other supplements (the vet will tell you - cod liver oil, calcium, omega3 oil, wheat germ etc)
that's all basically

about the diet that I am feeding- I wrote it in one topic..will try to find it again..some pages ago

I am really sorry I dont respond quickly because my internet is SOOOO limited now that I almost have to "fight for it"
just in case it helps you my topic was called "Feeding with home-cooked food"

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Camilla

Discussion Starter · #17 · Mar 3, 2005

Thank you Olga, I will look up your old post on home cooked food.
I have tried adding wet dog food to the kibble but she still wont touch it :?
I will let you know what happens..thanks again

Dolgad

· #18 · Mar 3, 2005

it is me again :wave:
did you manage to find my topic?
if not I will look it up now that I have bit more time in internet :wink:
how is the feeding going?
just ot give an idea:
like now I am going to make Pupa chopped beef+ a bit of beef liver+cabbage+Carrot+rice

then I add vitamins and a bit of oil
even my appetite is opening up!
doesnt take a lot of time - I mix meat+veggies, form balls and freeze them.

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