I give my terrier raw minced beef, chicken and tripe - usually one large meal in the evening, as she will not eat in the mornings or during the day.

Occasionally I can persuade her to eat a small amount of a good quality complete dry food, but that's very infrequent.  Sometimes I can sneak some terrier mix into her raw meat, but she tends to pick it out.

I have been adding a cod liver oil capsule and a multi-vit from our vet to her food, but, bearing in mind she doesn't eat veg either, cooked or raw, how can I balance her diet better?  I can't help feeling that simple raw tripe, chicken and beef - with no bones - isn't enough.  I have tried her with bones (beef ribs and chicken wings), but she just drags them over the living room carpet, then buries them in our bed and doesn't eat them. :(

Any suggestions?  She is nearly 2 yrs old, full of boundless energy, is a semi-working dog and gets lots and lots of free exercise.  She stands about 12 inches tall and weighs just 5 kg.

Thanks!

How much is she getting in the one meal?

I find terriers to be VERY 'good doers' to use a horsey phrase... incredibly economical to feed.

My terrier-ish thing is middling fit, lean and hard - he gets about 200g of raw meat (AMP frozen block) a day, split into two meals (or the equivalent of this in the form of wings or mince and veg or an egg or some fish).

He will eat chicken wings though I suspect if he was stuffed full he wouldnt!

If we increase his exercise/work then we do increase his food accordingly but even if he is out and about running and swimming all day he never gets MUCH more than this, though the fat content of what he gets goes up quite a way.

Sooo... I would try cutting down the evening meal quite drastically, by half or more (what size terrier, how old, how much exercise does she do is she fat or thin or in the middle?) and stick with that for several days and then try offering a chicken wing again or failing that, try Prizechoice (AMP) mince meat which does contain bone as well.

Thanks for the reply.  Nellie is just about 2 years old, she's 12-13 inches tall and weighs 5kg.  She gets a lot of exercise and is very athletic and energetic - you can feel her spine and hips, but they do not protrude and she does have flesh on the base of her tail!  I'd say she was on the thin side.

The size of her single meal varies - on a work day I'll give her up to 250g, but on home days maybe 150g.  If my husband feeds her, he'll give her enough to feed a great dane. :)  It can't really be split into two, as she is not interested in food at all until after 5pm - she would only ever get half rations if I gave her two feeds.

Some days she wolfs down the whole bowl, sometimes she eats it in 3 or 4 sittings.  Some days she doesn't eat it at all.

The mince I give her is Prize Choice, I use the the big frozen bags from PAH.  Does that include bone then, I didn't realise?

Hi Susie,I did ask Prize Choice whether their minced meats contained bone and they replied saying those containing chicken do(but they didn't say how much) while all the other minced meats don't and require supplementing with calcium.I now feed the Minced Varieties from Back2Nature(they do Lamb,Mutton,Beef,Chicken and Rabbit varieties which all contain the right ratios of meat/bone/offal).I just find this makes things so much simpler.I also give raw sardines a couple of times a week.
My papillon gets mainly cooked chicken or turkey most days which I also use for training titbits and I use the See Spot Live Longer dinner mixes to balance her diet out so I'm not worrying about calcium/phosphorus levels not being right.These are quite expensive as you have to order them from the States but last ages for her.

Oohhh.. shes quite a lot smaller than mine, hes a staffie x wireyhaired jobby, 18" tall and weighs about 12kg.. so although yours gets probably a fair bit more exercise than mine I would say its VERY possible that its simply over feeding and shes not eating because she doesnt need to.

If she was mine, i would cut down the food by half for a few days, then see if she wants some for breakfast and some for dinner and if that goes ok increase it slightly and feed two meals.

Monitor that for a few weeks and see if shes losing or gaining weight - if shes losing then make the evening meal on a work day a bit bigger and see if that sorts it out.

I would also start a 10 minute rule on meals - eat it in ten minutes or its gone.

Doing those things ought to ensure she then eats what shes given, when shes given it and then you'll have a much clearer picture of whether shes being fussy because shes not hungry, whether she plain doesnt like something, or if shes actually ill - as things currently stand thats going to be harder to figure out (the burying and saving of a chicken wing though suggests she WOULD eat it.... if she needed to but she doesnt, shes full so shes hiding the valuable stuff for later!).