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Fresh parsley, shredded mint and more bones!

I add my endorsement to the Natures Gift canned food. It smells appealing. Looks nice and isn't mostly water or "jelly" filling. My puppies like it and it hasn't given them the runs. from me and I'm adding it to my puppy diet sheet as another "approved" alternative.

I wouldn't touch it either. I WAS a believer in convenience. Yeah, go on, give 'em everything now, saves me coming back later or risking forgetting it. Now, however, due largely to DOL and a couple of All Breeds email lists I am on which originate in the USA, I have rethought my practices and am going as "natural" as I am able to do so within my means and circumstances. The same applies to my horses...where possible, I follow "natural horsemanship" techniques with them, both feeding and handling. Yes, some natural remedies have dangers but they are also more easily treated than a problem caused by heavy chemicals. It is always interesting to note that Australia seems to ban products which are popular in the USA, yet it always seems to take forever for them to have the same reaction to products which are outlawed in the USA. Gentian Violet, Boric and Boracic Acid are just two products which we don't sell for public use in Australia any more (without jumping through hoops to get it) yet you can walk into any Walmart Store in the USA and purchase them for a couple of dollars each. My ex-husband is a printer. He is using chemicals on a daily basis which have been out of circulation in the USA for TWENTY YEARS! What is the justification for this?

Let's just say it isn't the most PLEASANT thing around!

hehe....you sound like my ex! He used to HATE it when I cooked up liver treats for show bait!

But you ARE. The kibble (or not) is the least of his problems. NO dog can remain healthy on JUST chicken wings and that is ALL...LITERALLY ALL the puppy will eat. Chicken wings are NOT a balanced diet on their own. And I for one wouldn't like to be the poor little guy trying to squeeze anything out of his rear end either!!!!!

Hey Shek, wasn't there some liver or something equally slimy in Matt's Mince? What did he do with that, do you recall?

The pup is NOT eating. Not on a regular basis and not a balanced diet. THAT is the issue.

And you're missing the point as well. The issue is NOT just kibble. THAT is the issue that other posters have chosen to focus on. The issue is that the puppy will not eat ANYTHING except for ONE thing which is fine when fed with an otherwise balanced diet but is NOT healthy on its own.

Well, considering that this whole subject was discussed with Shekhina's vet and she TOTALLY agreed with my thoughts and analogies, given that she has a demonstrated degree in Veterinary Science, I'm happy to go with her agreement to my comparisons. It seems to me that you are totally fixated on the price of the kibble, moreso than Shekhina is. If you read ALL of the posts concerning this puppy, in this thread and others you would probably get a far better idea of the background and methods which have been discussed, trialled and discarded. What it comes down to is that dog taste buds are not developed as highly as our own. They do NOT live to eat, they eat to LIVE. There is a BIG difference. Many dogs would rather eat sh!t than something good, but does that mean that they are allowed to? I'm sure Shekhina welcomes the constructive comments, but can live without the nasty ones.

Onion and garlic can both cause problems. Large doses can cause haemolytic anaemia, where the red blood cells burst while circulating in its body. All forms of onion can be a problem including dehydrated onions, raw onions, cooked onions and table scraps containing cooked onions and/or garlic. Left over pizza, Chinese dishes and commercial baby food containing onion can cause illness. Onion poisoning can occur with a single ingestion of large quantities or with repeated meals containing small amounts of onion. While garlic also contains the toxic ingredient thiosulphate, it seems that garlic is less toxic and large amounts would need to be eaten to cause illness.

Was this comment TRULY necessary?

Well my friend, if you change your mind, please don't hesitate to "mention" something. Even drop a hint or two if you don't feel comfortable asking. OK? PROMISE ME!!! On another note...there is a thread on an email list about anorexic dogs and some of the suggestions which have been given are interesting. One of them is to have tonsils checked. That is ALWAYS a good place to start. Open his fat gob and peer in and if you can see any redness or if you press firmly up behind his jawbone and he coughs or you can feel swollen glands, it could be a tonsil issue. Other than that, suggestions are peppermint tea, Nutrigel (which we have already discussed with the vet and discarded) and/or Whey powder as a food additive. Also 'Collovet' has been suggested.

That's one of the things that I suggested: I think the risk isn't so much now that Daegon is going to get sick, it's more that he is at risk of developing some form of psychological "barrier" to eating...ie anorexia. I do think he's being stubborn, as is evidenced by the scoffing of the chicken wings and neglecting everything else. I doubt he is stupid and will simply allow himself to starve but I would seriously consider ditching that bag of kibble. Just holler and I'd be happy to shout Daegon another variety of kibble to see how he goes.

Yes, I'm well aware of this...it would be hard NOT to be after 20 years. Personally, as I've told Shek...the smell of the kibble she feeds doesn't appeal much to my nose when it IS good, let alone otherwise. Whether she can feed another kibble is entirely her choice and may depend upon her pocketbook. I personally don't agree with a lot of chopping and changing, as has been expressed in other threads, because you could possibly contribute to the problem and encourage even more finicky behaviour. Sometimes, offering a different food is like offering a child the choice of icecream instead of brussel sprouts. And given that a dog eats to live and doesn't live to eat, it shouldn't really matter WHAT is going into it, as long as SOMETHING is.

Maybe in other States they are but it can be VERY hard to find a good "all purpose" vet in Tassie, let alone one which thinks out of the square. I will add here that I've mentioned to Shekhina that I personally am not fond of the puppy kibble that she feeds. I wouldn't give it to my puppies but I respect the choices of other breeders and as that is what the puppy was reared on, she is perfectly correct to continue feeding it. I also know how expensive the outlay is so I can understand Shek wishing to at least get the maximum value out of what she has spent thus far. My puppies have done well on a different kibble and I am currently trialling one of the more "expensive" foods on my adult dogs and will consider changing the puppies if the adults do well on it. I've seen Daegon personally and by all accounts he is a "normal" little man, except for his eating habits. I was with Shekhina the first time she took him to the vet about his finicky eating and we all agreed that tough love may be the order of the day. I would suggest that instead of offering him food 4 x per day, maybe until he starts eating, he should be allowed to become a tad "hungrier" between meals and twice per day might be a good compromise, at least until he gets into the habit of munching again.

If it is any consolation I'm going through the same thing now with Michael. He's only 11 weeks old and is getting rather skinny. BUT at the moment, as his brother is doing so nicely (and competition doesn't work with Michael either), I'm simply going to ignore him. Where they used to have food on demand, now they're on a strict 4 x per day regime....take it or leave it. Zen takes it, Michael leaves it. Michael is getting skinny but is still as full-on as ever, so he can keep ON leaving it because I will NOT be dictated to by a white monster!

Don't forget Apple Cider Vinegar (with no preservatives, colours or flavours) and you could also try the 1/2 Listerine 1/2 water in the spray bottle trick.

As I said in my post as well, what doesn't affect one dog can rapidly kill another. The books can quote figures but they cannot necessarily quote facts which are pertinent to each and every dog. Each dog is an individual and as Nadia said they metabolise things at a different rate. There is no such thing as "one size fits all" when it comes to dietary issues. If you MUST give chocolate treats, give them the specially-made doggy ones...otherwise stick with a bone or something else your dog finds yummy!

Well in MY humble opinion you could do far worse than ditching a lot of your pre-conceived ideas and looking very carefully at the writings of some of the people who have posted here. With all due to respect to your first breeder, her ideas are rather "outmoded" and have been largely superceded by good old science, technology and proof! I've been breeding for 20 years, still largely follow my "original" gameplan but have introduced some new things and am finding it all to be so much better for myself AND my dogs. You could do worse than take notice rather than sit on your soapbox and tell others what they are doing wrong. I will be perfectly honest here and state that for somebody who is so forthright about their way of feeding, you are very novice in many other areas of dog management. That in itself tells me that you could do worse than adopt a new mentor and do some more learning.

The chemical IS Theobromine. The rule of thumb is that the darker the chocolate, the higher the levels of the chemical. That being said, as with some people, some dogs can have high sensitivities to it, so what doesn't affect one dog can quite rapdily kill another. White chocolate isn't in fact chocolate (it is cocoa butter and emulsifiers) which is why some dogs are ok on it. It is however loaded in fats and sugars which is why caution is advised.

Gee, I'm so glad my dogs exist on nothing but pure Tassie air. It appears that everything else that they like is bad for them. Oh but wait, they aren't Chinese Cresteds, just common old American Cockers, Staffordshire Bull Terriers and a token Rottweiler so maybe they're exempt?

Excellent! So glad it helped! :D

And the problem is? The dog will still lick at the stones to get any remaining treats. That is why it is best to use smooth, round ones that can be easily cleaned.

hehe....I LOVE brainstorming!! So glad I could be of assistance...let us know how you get on and what you ultimately end up with. Hey, maybe you could patent it and sell it to others with puppy/pussy dynamic issues?