Need Help With Very Finicky Girl

[jemappelle]

I am giving my fussy little rescue dog pet milk mixed with an egg and she loves it. I mix 250 ml with one raw egg and give it to her over two days (she is tiny).

She also likes BBQ chicken breast but leaves the bits with the skin She won't touch anything with fish or Megaderm in it - very weird. Actually tonight I gave her tinned food, in desperation, and she scoffed it down so I am guessing that is what she is used too so I will start to slowly mix dry food into that.

This is my first experience with a fussy dog

[Norskgra]

She loves BBQ chicken but is not fussd with pet milk unless it has flavouring in it.

I have occasionally tried her on Natures Gift tinned food and she gulps it down but I don't want to feed it to her permanently.

I have had othe fussy dogs over the years but she is by far the worst. She will however want to eat whatever we are eating!

[Staff'n'Toller]

I agree with espinay and aatainc some great advice there...

Other things I have tried with sick dogs and dogs in the hospital are tuna/salmon juice poured over the food, and chicken/beef stock, made from stock cubes (low salt & no msg) you can pour it over the food whilst it's still warm and it may smell more inviting to her.

I'm no Vet or Vet Behaviourist but I know in the past we have used low dose valium tablets especially with cats, as they tend to stop eating- then won't restart again.

A couple of weeks of that may just 'retrain' her brain.

Also you can try Hills Prescription A/D cans if your Vet will sell you some, it's very high calorie can food that comes in a paste so we can tube feed it if we need to for critically ill dogs, but I generally mix it with dry food and zap it in the microwave for 10-20secs- dogs love it.

Do you have access to BARF patties up there? They may make it easier for you timewise- they come in a roll of ?12? and have the raw meat, offal, yoghurt, vegies, kelp, yeast etc. My dogs love them too, they are gone in 2 secs.

Lastly- have you run full bloods on her? I would if it were one of mine.

Cheers,

Mel.

[Norskgra]

Do you have access to BARF patties up there? They may make it easier for you timewise- they come in a roll of ?12? and have the raw meat, offal, yoghurt, vegies, kelp, yeast etc. My dogs love them too, they are gone in 2 secs.

Lastly- have you run full bloods on her? I would if it were one of mine.

Cheers,

Mel.

Thanks Mel.

I have tried the BARF patties and she will not have a bar of them. She will not eat raw meat.

We have taken her to the vets and they have done blood and urine tests on her and the results came back that she is fine.

[espinay2]

She will eat chicken necks, cooked beef and chicken mince, tuna, sardines, salmon, sardines, cooked chicken, rice, sometimes pasta, vbegetables, cheese, cooked liver, cooked beef and lamb, gravy. I can't think of anything else at the moment. She will eat treats if I make them my self. She really goes berserk with chicken wings and tries to steal them from my other dogs.

I agree with aatainc, you can make a pretty reasonable diet with what you have listed there.

As she eats chicken necks, wings etc, then that is great.

Does she eat egg? That would be a good addition if she does. What about yoghurt? A fish oil supplement too will be good if she will eat it.

Several meals a week of just chicken wings, necks or frames is fine. If she wont eat the frames, stick to the wings and necks. For example, you can feed 4 meals of just chicken mixed around through the week with three meals such as the following:

1. A meal of fish like tuna, sardines or salmon and maybe some rice (and egg/yoghurt if she will eat it).

2. Beef with vegetables for another meal. Start with less and begin to cook less and less if you can. Mixing raw meat with warm broth or gravy sometimes works. Or mix some cooked and some raw. Start with small amounts at first.

3. Beef or lamb for another meal with some liver (or if you find a mix of meat, liver and veggies that she likes, feed that twice a week in place of meals 2 and 3). Again, you can later begin to cook less and less maybe so the outside is seared but the inside is a bit pinker to raw. Start slowly though and work with what you have at the moment so she gets into a routine. I would suggest getting the routine of eating sorted first before 'challenging' her overly much by changing the food and making it too completely raw if you dont think she will accept that yet. You can do more of that in a week or two. That said, while not ideal, we dont live in an ideal world and the raw chicken accompanied by the above cooked meals is still streets ahead of commercial foods imo and a pretty reasonable diet if she will accept it and maintain weight on it.

If she needs to gain weight, perhaps also feed treats as often as you want of your homemade ones, BBQ chicken and bits of cheese etc.

HTH

Edited December 31, 2005 by espinay2

[Norskgra]

Thanks again Espinay.

Yes, she will eat eggs. I forgot to add it to the list.

So far she will eat diet flavoured yogurt but not full fat flavoured yogurt. She won't eat plain yogurt.

I give all my dogs fish oil capsules and she loves them. She comes running as soon as she hear me at the container!

I will try what you suggest. she will eat the homemade treats without any trouble and I suppose they could be fattening but they contain only good things which is why I prefer to make my own. She would sell her soul for BBQ chicken and cheese! She prefers vintage cheese to any other sort.LOL

I would really love her to eat a raw diet so I will try again by slowly decreasing the cooking time. I tried this once before and as soon as I got to the only just seared stage, she stopped eating it.

She loves her fish so that should not be a problem.

I just wish she could be like the other dogs and eat whatever they are given.

How many/much chicken necks, frames etc would you feed her for a meal?

Even when she will eat dry food, if we give her any more than 1 1/2 cups at a time she will bring it back up.

[Norskgra]

I tried her again on a chicken wing along with a couple of chicken necks this morning and she was not sick with it.

I had to make do with what we had in the fridge/freezer. Tonight she ate some mince, mackeral and a huge chicken neck. She didn't leave anything and licked her bowl clean. This is the first time in weeks that she has eaten all her meal. Her tummy was very full. I don't think she could fit anything else in it. I had also give her treats through the day.

I really hope she keeps it up. You wouldn't believe how relieved I was to see her eat like that.

I will have to go shopping as soon as possible to buy some more necks as I don't have enough for her to have several full meals of them as well as give my other some.

Thanks again everyone.

Edited January 1, 2006 by norskgra

[espinay2]

Tonight she ate some mince, mackeral and a huge chicken neck. She didn't leave anything and licked her bowl clean. This is the first time in weeks that she has eaten all her meal. Her tummy was very full. I don't think she could fit anything else in it. I had also give her treats through the day.

Fabulous!

Remember, there are bound to be days when she doesn't eat. PArticularly in the beginning. Even if you can get her to eat like that a few times a week in the beginnign it will be an improvement. Just keep to a routine and remember not to stress on the days she decides not to eat.

Let us know how she goes!

[Norskgra]

We had another success tonight. I put her in her crate with over 500g of chicken frames and she scoffed the lot.

I think it helped that she could see the others and if any of them came to close to the crate she would growl at them and continue to eat.

She had a few small chicken necks for breakfast as well as some treats.

I will see how she goes tomorrow with her mince, liver and vegetables.

She will still not eat flavoured full fat yogurt but I will keep trying.

Edited January 2, 2006 by norskgra

[KitKat]

Would it be worth trying her with a turkey neck? Just thinking that if she likes chicken necks she might like turkey necks...and there is so much more of a turkey neck

[Norskgra]

I am going out shopping for her today and I will see what I can find that I think Little Miss Fussy will eat.

Edited January 2, 2006 by norskgra

[Norskgra]

I minced some liver and vegetables and cooked it with her mince and added some rolled oats last night. Tyra didn't eat it all but after feeling her tummy, she couldn't fit in anymore. I mixed in some plain yoghurt with the mince as well.

That makes three nights in a row that she has eaten until she was full and couldn't fit in any more. That is a record for her!

I hope Tyra keeps it up!

Thanks everyone for your much needed advice.

[espinay2]

Fabulous! If she keeps this up she will be turning into a garbage guts and you will be trying to keep the weight OFF!

Keep up the good work!

[Norskgra]

Thanks for your help Espinay.

The last time Tyra was a garbage gust was approximately 12 months ago. I doubt that I will have to worry about that with her.

If she puts on too much weight, I will just cut down the amount abit.

It is so good to see her eat for a change.

I didn't want to spoil a raw diet by cooking her mince but if it works, I don't care.

Edited January 3, 2006 by norskgra

[greytgirl]

norskgra,

Had a similar problem with my greyhound - wouldnt eat her dry food unless there was gravy on it and would only eat some, and come back later and eat some more. This would drive me nuts . I ended up trying her on a mix of dry food and big dog dog food greyhound rolls. A bit of compitetion with a foster dog who scoffed all her food because she didnt eat it and the new barf diet and she is doing really well. 3 months down the track, we dont have a foster at the moment and she still scoffs her food down. I have even had her on a diet to loose a little weight .Perhaps a ready made barf diet like big dog may help.

[Norskgra]

I ended up trying her on a mix of dry food and big dog dog food greyhound rolls. A bit of compitetion with a foster dog who scoffed all her food because she didnt eat it and the new barf diet and she is doing really well. 3 months down the track, we dont have a foster at the moment and she still scoffs her food down. I have even had her on a diet to loose a little weight .Perhaps a ready made barf diet like big dog may help.

Hi Greytgirl,

One of her problems is that she won't eat raw meat. I have tried the premade barf and she wouldn't touch it and she does have competition from our other dogs. All she would do was growl and snap at them but wouldn't eat her food.

She was a real pain to feed. She would eat some dry for a short time and then stop.

[Norskgra]

She ate all of her chicken wings last night without any ill effects. She must have out grown whatever it was.

That is 4 days now that she has eaten her dinner and she is definately putting on weight. She is also a lot happier.

I am hoping that this is the start of her eating properly for the rest of her life!

[espinay2]

Fingers crossed!

[Dog_Horse_Girl]

Good news! I hope she keeps it up...fingers crossed here too.

[Norskgra]

She is still eating. The only way I can get her to eat any yoghurt is to either mix it in with her mince and fish or actually put it in her mouth. It doesn't matter whether it is plain or flavoured. She is still getting it one way or another.

Her fiance is getting jealous. If he can see her eating he gets upset that she is getting something different to him. I told him that he has to wait until we finish the dry we have got. I give him a chicken wing with his dry if she is having a chicken meal or else he gets some of her mince or fish with his dry and now instead of him being the slowest eater in the world, he gulps his meal down. He then gets some of the yoghurt that we had bought Tyra and she wouldn't eat, for desert.

Edited January 6, 2006 by norskgra