westiemum Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 My westies have never been terribly keen on dry food - but early this year (?) for breakfast I switched them to VIP grain free (Andy) and then to Earth Born grain free coastal catch (Sarah) to see if it was the chicken necks which were at the bottom of Sarah's itchiness/possible allergies . (Yes I've done a strict elimination diet with her and it didn't help - I still really have no idea why she seemed to scratch). I also switched them to a combo of turkey and rice or turkey and mackerel at night which they wolf down so they haven't had any chicken of any sort for months. Since Mac died (coincidence?) Sarah has really been really turning her nose up at the dry in the morning - and I mean really flatly refusing to eat it.(I have two types and she's not keen on either). They do the westie dance for their raw meals at night and for their occasional bones but are really mopey and unimpressed when the dry gets put down in the morning (and no I'm not humanising it - they really mope and have to be physically picked up and put in front of their bowls) And to be honest she still paw licks in particular and scratches a bit and always has. (Andy is no problem - he eats whatever is put in front of him and doesn't appear to itch or scratch). So while I was at the supermarket this afternoon I bought a packet of chicken necks for the first time in a very long time - and you'd think the way they danced they'd won the lottery. They wolfed them down. So I think I'm going to try them back on raw breakfasts - what else could I given them in the mornings that's raw and not chicken? ( I don't want to give bones as I'd need to leave them unsupervised - I think). Or do I just give them the necks? Other ideas? TIA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rascalmyshadow Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 A couple of my dogs are not big fans of plain dry food so I soak it in boling water then add sardines, egg, grated cheese etc. never had one of them refuse it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salukifan Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 (edited) Chicken necks and wings would probably be the quickest. Just package them in meal sized amounts. I add a little something extra to kibble - mince, fish etc Edited December 19, 2015 by Haredown Whippets Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pjrt Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 Gruf is raw fed with no kibble at all. For breakfast he gets a couple of table spoons of "the formula" which comes in several varieties, some chicken free. I add a cup of water to make a sort of meaty soup because he's a dope and won't drink enough for my liking. I often add egg, yoghurt, chopped organ meat, oily fish in rotation to his breakfast. He gets bone dinner, usually turkey neck, but once a week a lamb or roo bone, or a whole fish head. He gets other bits and bobs of raw food but no kibble. It's not that he won't eat kibble, he'd eat anything, I just don't believe it's necessary or terribly healthy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pjrt Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 Ps..... Last week I got 3 packets of puppy 4legs for .20c each in the specials area at the supermarket, so he's been getting that for breakfast the last week or so. I also got a tub or goat yoghurt for .20c so that's been added to the bowl, with the water, so he's been having a goaty 4legs soupy delight for his breakfasts this week. I'm lucky he has a cast iron guts and I swap and change a lot within the raw diet and the occasional thing like the 4legs and never have any problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ness Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 (edited) My guys are raw fed to - I get prey packs made from Adelaide Dog for them. They have the appropriate ratios of meat and bone so you could always feed the meat in the morning and the bone in the evening. I get a weeks worth and just pull there meals out of the freezer the evening before and defrost over night in the fridge. I tend to do the opposite for my girls they get there bones in the morning and the meat for tea with supplements mixed in. Edited December 19, 2015 by ness Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottsmum Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 Is turkey OK? Turkey mince and kibble could work? Any mince and kibble could work... That said Scottie often sucks the mince off his dry and spits the dry back out. Depends on his mood... When I was in Sydney I used to go to Woolies and hit up the clearance section of the meat cabinet - I'd buy anything suitable then portion it out into what ever sized chunks worked (kilo bags if I was mixing proteins, the original packaging if it was all white meat). Some weeks we got minute steaks, occasionally lamb chops... what ever was on special. Scottie weighs 10kg - I figure your two would be about similar - max? That means on a full raw diet they'd be getting 200-300 grams each a day over two meals. At the moment I find I can squeeze 300g into smallish tupperware / sistma containers then dole out approx 1/2 AM and PM and that doesn't take up too much space in my freezer (standard top mount fridge/freezer). But then you have double to me. I must say - while I think raw for a small "pack" and smaller dogs can have it's draw backs I do love that my weekly prep can be done in about 15 mins with very little bloody and guts or need for a hacksaw :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westiemum Posted December 19, 2015 Author Share Posted December 19, 2015 Thank you all so much - they are great ideas - I swear this heat is pickling my brain. I might start switching them back to raw in the mornings gradually by mixing in your suggestions and see how it goes. Snook the whole sardines is a great idea. I'll see what Karina can offer thats 'chicken-less'. Thanks and keep the ideas coming - I feel like a bad mother feeding dry food in the mornings - I think its like giving them Maccas every day - and if I was getting that I reckon I'd turn my nose up at it too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ness Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 (edited) I would think closer to 200grms then 300grms as 300 is what my active BCs are on and they are much bigger then a westie . My girls have been having a fair amount of goat in their prey packs westiemum :laugh:. She customizes them to have whatever the dogs like. ETA. When I was doing my own raw I would also use eggs, tuna and cottage cheese to add to meals. If you need to feed dry you could always try mixing it with something like that to. Edited December 19, 2015 by ness Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westiemum Posted December 19, 2015 Author Share Posted December 19, 2015 Is turkey OK? Turkey mince and kibble could work? Any mince and kibble could work... That said Scottie often sucks the mince off his dry and spits the dry back out. Depends on his mood... When I was in Sydney I used to go to Woolies and hit up the clearance section of the meat cabinet - I'd buy anything suitable then portion it out into what ever sized chunks worked (kilo bags if I was mixing proteins, the original packaging if it was all white meat). Some weeks we got minute steaks, occasionally lamb chops... what ever was on special. Scottie weighs 10kg - I figure your two would be about similar - max? That means on a full raw diet they'd be getting 200-300 grams each a day over two meals. At the moment I find I can squeeze 300g into smallish tupperware / sistma containers then dole out approx 1/2 AM and PM and that doesn't take up too much space in my freezer (standard top mount fridge/freezer). But then you have double to me. I must say - while I think raw for a small "pack" and smaller dogs can have it's draw backs I do love that my weekly prep can be done in about 15 mins with very little bloody and guts or need for a hacksaw :) Yep I'm not heavily into blood and guts either! Thank goodness for Karina and Ben at Adelaide Dog who do the 'dirty work'!! Yep my guys get the 200g end of that range or they get too fat! Packing up in sistema containers is a great idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westiemum Posted December 19, 2015 Author Share Posted December 19, 2015 My guys are raw fed to - I get prey packs made from Adelaide Dog for them. They have the appropriate ratios of meat and bone so you could always feed the meat in the morning and the bone in the evening. I get a weeks worth and just pull there meals out of the freezer the evening before and defrost over night in the fridge. I tend to do the opposite for my girls they get there bones in the morning and the meat for tea with supplements mixed in. Hmm... didn't know prey packs were on offer ness - I'll ask about them too. My guys would absolutely love that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ness Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 (edited) not only do they do the dirty work they even deliver if needed and saved me a trip out in the heat this past week. Yep the prey packs are awesome. I think they are good value for the convenience factor to. I don't have to worry about doing anything more then defrosting :laugh:. Especially since they are all balanced to the right ratios and stuff. Its also good because if the dogs like variety I find they get a heap more variety then doing it myself. Edited December 19, 2015 by ness Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westiemum Posted December 19, 2015 Author Share Posted December 19, 2015 Justice stopped eating within about a week when I fed him on just raw and if you know what a garbage guts he is, you'd know that means something is really wrong. I went back to giving him kibble in the morning and raw at night he's now on Canidae Platinum instead of Royal Canin. It works really well for him and I don't feel like I'm feeding him the equivalent of McDonalds. Obviously loads of dogs do great on all raw but if they don't, I don't think there's anything wrong with feeding a good kibble with raw. True Snook. Its just you should see the performance that has been getting worse here in the mornings over the past month!! Anyone would think I was trying to poison them the way they mope and carry on!! Which is why I think its time for a change. But yes you're right - you do what your dog does best on - maybe a raw/dry combo in the mornings to change them over might work or maybe I could just add some raw to the dry? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westiemum Posted December 19, 2015 Author Share Posted December 19, 2015 not only do they do the dirty work they even deliver if needed and saved me a trip out in the heat this past week. Yep the prey packs are awesome. I think they are good value for the convenience factor to. I don't have to worry about doing anything more then defrosting :laugh:. Especially since they are all balanced to the right ratios and stuff. Its also good because if the dogs like variety I find they get a heap more variety then doing it myself. I'll ring Karina on Monday, Thanks ness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westiemum Posted December 19, 2015 Author Share Posted December 19, 2015 (edited) Gruf is raw fed with no kibble at all. For breakfast he gets a couple of table spoons of "the formula" which comes in several varieties, some chicken free. I add a cup of water to make a sort of meaty soup because he's a dope and won't drink enough for my liking. I often add egg, yoghurt, chopped organ meat, oily fish in rotation to his breakfast. He gets bone dinner, usually turkey neck, but once a week a lamb or roo bone, or a whole fish head. He gets other bits and bobs of raw food but no kibble. It's not that he won't eat kibble, he'd eat anything, I just don't believe it's necessary or terribly healthy Blink blink you're a woman after my own heart - I'm a hydration nazi - I do the 'westie soup' trick too as I like to make sure my guys are really well hydrated - particularly since they've been on the dry - its a 'dry soup'!! Edited December 19, 2015 by westiemum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ness Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 Think they aren't open on Mondays westiemum so might have to call Tuesday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westiemum Posted December 19, 2015 Author Share Posted December 19, 2015 (edited) Think they aren't open on Mondays westiemum so might have to call Tuesday. Yep I remember that!! (Yes this heat is definitely pickling my brain... has the cool change arrived yet??!!) Edited December 19, 2015 by westiemum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ness Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 No hurry up cool change I have bored puppies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westiemum Posted December 19, 2015 Author Share Posted December 19, 2015 I hung out some washing earlier this afternoon and it was absolutley putrid. I haven't been out since! The westies race outside for a quick wee and then barrel back in through the doggie door as fast as they can! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottsmum Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 I would think closer to 200grms then 300grms as 300 is what my active BCs are on and they are much bigger then a westie . My girls have been having a fair amount of goat in their prey packs westiemum :laugh:. She customizes them to have whatever the dogs like. ETA. When I was doing my own raw I would also use eggs, tuna and cottage cheese to add to meals. If you need to feed dry you could always try mixing it with something like that to. 300g = 3% & Scottie is always "starving" on this! He's not food driven at all but honestly on 100% BARF model raw I often slip him more veg (and occasionally a whole extra meal or kibble). It's crazy. We're all different... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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