HI,
i have been trying to add vegies to my dogs meals lately(pumpkin,potato to start with) but they refuse to eat it even when i mash it in with their favourite meat,i've been adding about 1tbsp. each to their meals,is this too much? Is there a favourite vegie that most dogs like, should i be starting with less?
One more thing, neither of my dogs breeders fed them dry food so therefore they refuse it,someone mentioned adding hot water with a bit of vegemite mixed in to tempt them,but i think they are a bit old for mushed up dry,what do you all think? They are both shih-tzu's, Emma age 3yrs. and Bonnie age 7mths. dry food will be the only commercial food they'll be getting,i cook all their other meals.

i'd so much appreciate all of your suggestions:)

Christine

Potato is not a particularly useful vegetable to feed bearing in mind the reason you have chosen to feed veggies in the first place which is to provide some trace minerals and nutriceuticals which dogs may or may not choosed to ingest at the "kill" in the wild. Also as you have said you are mashing that implies that you are cooking the potato which again seems rather pointless. As an aside the potato belongs to the nightshade family like peppers, aubergines and tomato may be contra indicated in animals who suffer from arthritis etc.

Vegetables are a "nice to have" (for some dogs) rather than a "must" and therefore you will have to experiment with which ones they like! (LOL).

I mush all my RAW veggies in the blender and mix in live yoghurt and a raw egg complete with shell which mimics the consistency of the contents of the stomach/intestine of the prey animal. This is fed separately from the RMBs I feed. In general dogs like sweet veggies for obvious reasons like carrots.

Some dogs do not like veggies at all; it is not a problem.

Interested to know why you are feeding both commercial and homecooked food?

HTH

i feed them home cooked for dinner and am trying to get them to eat dry for breckie,i just want to make to make sure they are'nt missing out on any nutrients on the home cooked meals,i am feeding them an excellent dry food named "INNOVA".
they would never in a million years eat raw meat or veg,i have tried on alot of occasions:(

Christine

i thought veggies were a MUST HAVE as meat alone is not enough??? Is this correct?

Christine

The only problem in feeding both a complete and home cooked foods is that the diet will become "unbalanced". The complete food is designed to be just that so that you don't have deficiencies in essential amino acids, minerals, vitamins etc. By choice I prefer to feed raw as nature intended using the prey animal as a model. This is, after all, how wild dogs, jackals, coyotes, dingoes, wolves, foxes etc eat. Therefore they eat raw meat, offal, eggs, fish as well as Raw Meaty Bones. If you study how wild dogs eat they don't generally go digging up a great deal of potatoes, beans etc! (LOL). It is also a fallacy that all dogs eat stomach and/or intestinal contents. If you feed meat/bones from a variety of sources the dogs will find all the nutrients they NEED from this. They must indeed have BONES as well as meat otherwise they will become seriously calcium deficient.

Cooking food changes the molecular structure and the bio availability of nutrients and also inhibits correct enzyme actions etc. The dog has been designed to rip, crunch and swallow raw animals and digest them for optimum nutrition. Veggies are by no means a MUST HAVE. If you trawl yahoo sites such as K9nutrition and Rawfeeding etc you will find a plethora of info on this.

HTH

my dogs could not be further away from the wild dog genes:) they are a pair of prissy,pompous shih-tzu's, yes i know they are derived from the wolf,way back when, but you cant compare them to a husky or gsd for example.i appreciate all the info you have given so far and i agree with you,but like i said i have gone the raw route(i would much prefer them on a more natural diet) but they both held out for 3 days,on the fourth i just gave in,i usually mix their dry with a tin of sardines or mackarel,they eat the fish & leave the dry,so i spose i could say they are'nt getting any processed foods.
I have taken every one of your suggestions on board and i will endevour to give them the best possible nutrition i can.

thanks

christine:)