What is everyone's opinion on a dog eating cat food?  From what I read, I understand that their dietary needs are different, but that whilst a dog won't come to much harm eating a little cat food, a cat fed on dog food might not be receiving adequate levels of taurine.

Nellie is a notoriously fussy feeder and will happily go on hunger strike until she looks like death (as a 5kg terrier, weight loss or gain shows on her in 24hrs).....and even when she is eating consistently, she doesn't eat enough to support a small rodent.  Now she is starting to LOOK like a small rodent.

She is nearly 2 years old and has settled on a diet of raw tripe, with whatever I can hide in it - a bit of good quality dry food sometimes, for example.  If I wait until she's really hungry I can sneak it past her.  She also gets a good quality mineral supplement from the vet, plus cod liver oil.

I just seem to waste so much food by chucking it in the bin, I wondered if I could encourage her to eat a full meal - all of about 200g of tripe - by mixing in a tablespoon of cat food once a day.  She is perfectly fit and well and has no health issues, yet she gets an excessive amount of exercise and is very thin, due to her birdlike eating habits.  I did once stoop to giving her cooked chicken to keep the weight on, never again!

Just an idea anyway.....the vet recently suggested I try adding bran to her food as well, to bulk out her stools.....mmmm, nice subject at tea-time, sorry :)  But even more reason to add something tasty to disguise it, otherwise she'll refuse the  entire meal..........

If she will eat tripe what  is she like with other meats ? You could consider raw feeding either with or without other things such as sardines in tomato sauce/oil cottage cheese ,fish generally etc.  Raw chicken wings are a good way to start or some mine from the pet shop.
My 2two are raw fed and are in excellent health and love it, I have one toy breed and a Gsd

Hi there, tripe is pretty much the only thing she has shown interest in - she was finicky about chicken wings even if I crushed them first, and would only eat them if she could drag them onto the living room rug!  She occasionally likes a bit of white fish, but tires of it easily.  She eats sardines and tinned mackerel half heartedly if they're in oil, but won't touch them if they are in tomato sauce.  She'll take a bit of natural yoghurt on its own, but if I mix it with food she won't touch it.  I've tried her with raw meaty bones but she behaves as though she is afraid of them.

*sigh* she's not even that interested in treats!  The only thing she is ever enthusiastic about - and I use the word very loosely, meaning she is marginally interested - is dried tripe sticks, and raw tripe.  And cooked chicken or turkey ham of course.  And sausages.

I added a tablespoon of Sainsburys cat food to her tripe this evening, mixed it with her supplement and some porridge oats - and she scoffed the lot, oats and all!  Hmm, methinks it will be a different story tomorrow night.

After her dinner she had a mad hour (an HOUR!!) of chasing around the house, launching toys in every direction, flinging slippers around and being a pain.  I checked the cat food pack and it has some sugars in it - ooops, sugar make her crazy!  :(

I too have a very fussy dog (toy poodle)  I have tried various different foods on him and actually found that he will eat Natures menu in tins (he is not so keen on the natures menu in pouches for some reason) this is a good quality food although rather expensive he also has Royal canin mini sensible which is for fussy eaters and is very tiny kibble (cat sized) which I sometimes give him mixed with tripe and I also put it inside a kong for him to get out himself. I have tried other wet foods as well such as nature diet and natures harvest but he certainly seems to prefer the tins of natures menu, I know it is very worrying when they won't eat so I hope this helps.

You could try adding a good quality kibble to the tripe in powdered form, well mixed in. Maybe put the kibble in a food processor?

You can get tripe mixes. Chicken and lamb carcasses (so she'd get bone as well) are often mixed with tripe. The trouble being you'd probably have to buy a freezer full and you don't want to do that until you know she'll eat it! You could try http://www.back-2-nature.co.uk as they do small amounts and trial boxes, she's also very helpful.

HTH

ETA: Just realised back-2-nature don't do tripe so that's not much good!

Thank you both!

I like the idea of a tripe mix, which includes bone.....perhaps I could do some research and see if anyone would let me trial some.  We do have a fair bit of room in the freezer!

As for grinding down the dry food, oh my goodness, we've been there and back!  I started off with a coffee grinder when she was a rangy little puppy, and spent ages grinding down a few days portions - nope, no go.  Several brands and a personal nutritionist later, we found a brand she was reasonably interested in...but before long we were back to trying to grind it down.  My husband actually bent the blades in my food processor :)

Every now and then, after she has had a busy day at work and hubby hasn't given her ANYTHING (we took her down to one meal a day to stimulate her appetite), I can get half a scoop of Trophy into her dinner and she'll eat it.  Very slowly.

She hasn't touched her dinner tonight, probably because hubby isn't here.

I use various raw suppliers that do tripe mixes. Some also do a "complete" mix and will also prepare a mix to your own requirements.

Give them a ring and see if you could get some samples:

http://www.prizechoice.co.uk/
http://www.landywoods.co.uk/
http://www.albionmeatproducts.co.uk/

I have got a spaniel, that when I first started feeding raw, would only touch it if it contained tripe. She now eats everything apart from kidney which has to be liquidised and well disguised!

> like the idea of a tripe mix, which includes bone.....perhaps I could do some research and see if anyone would let me trial some. 

you can buy individual blocks from pets at home and probably at other local pet shops. there only about 60 or 70 p.

Thanks Pedlee, I've been looking for RF suppliers in my area and this is quite literally next door to me !! cant believe I've been looking for a while. Thanks so much :-) Angela

Thanks Pedlee.......and Astarte.  Nellie currently gets minced Tripe, bought in 2kg bags from PAH (which I think is Prize Choice).  She didn't like the fish, rabbit, chicken, beef or lamb varieties!

She is occasionally intrigued by a new variety, but rarely eats it a second time.  She refused to touch the beef or rabbit at all!  Fish inspired her for two meals, then she was repulsed by it.....  Weirdo.

I originally gave her 200g tripe per day, as I was also trying to feed half rations of a complete dry food along with it....now she is only getting the tripe, should I feed her 400g per day?

She weighs 5kg and is 22 months old.  And rather skinny, although the vet says she is not underweight.

For her 3 last meals I have added a tablespoon of Sainsburys cat food (chicken in jelly), and she has eaten the entire meal in stages.  Which is good for her, she usually leaves two thirds of what is put down.

The 3 suppliers I mentioned all vary in the consistency of the product, which may have a baring on her preferences (or not as the case may be).

Prize Choice blocks, rather than the 2kg free flow bags you are using, are finely minced, a bit like a paté consistency - my dogs don't particularly like these, but will eat anything.

Landywoods is much chunkier and more roughly chopped, definitely the favoured one - it is probably the smelliest as well!

Albions is somewhere in between.

I tend to make my own mixes by adding tripe to chicken, lamb etc. I sometimes add a raw egg and veg.

In answer to your question,adding cat food to her meals won't do her any harm.
I had a dog once that was as fussy as your girl,who spent a very long and healthy life living on mostly cat food.