Dear All,

Firstly, I want to stress that there is nothing medically wrong with Copper.  He was eating his chum pouches quite happily twice a day, no problem.  Then he started waiting to see what was on our menu before eating his food.  So I stopped serving his food first and made him wait til we finished.  That was OK for a while.  I also stopped giving him any left overs and put them in the bin (much to his distress!).

A few weeks ago I had lots of chicken left overs which I served up to cat and dog and which were very well received :D (bones excluded).  So now I have a dog that refuses to eat anything but chicken.

I put down the pouches (fresh), he won't touch them.  So I've tried to wait him out, thinking he will eat if he's hungry.  But he doesn't seem to be hungry.  Two days, no eating.  But he's not ill.  If I have toast, he'll eat some.  If I have pie, he'll eat some (not that I'm giving it to him but he'd eat it if I did).  All he wants is chicken.

It is actually cheaper to buy those big bags of chicken pieces than it is to buy chum pouches.  It's not the money, its the principle.  Given all my problems with Copper, should I be giving in to him?  Or should I just say, if he's happy then I'm happy? 

Opinions please.

CG

At the risk of being accused of hijacking this thread...............

I have never had feeding problems with my dogs or any that have stayed with me; they have two choices in my house what they get given or nothing; period.

Having said that I would not feed pedigree food of any description, especially not pouches as they are full of unecessary additives to keep the food moist as well as sugar, salt, caramel colourings etc; I could go on..............

Diet is the cornerstone of good health hence why I choose to feed what I consider to be the best, ie a species appropriate menu which the dog was designed to eat; the old saw of "you cannot make a first class product out of third class materials" is, I find, correct.

Although I do not allow fussy eaters in my house neither do I expect them to exist on a diet of convenience food; I am not aware (sorry) of the problems you have had with your dog but if you wish to feed raw instead of commercial, go for it, if you feel you understand what to give him and when to ensure all his nutritional needs are met (easily actioned by reading one or two books and joining a couple of raw feeding sites such as Britbarf).

Whatever course of action you plan to take, make a decision and stick to it.  Remember dogs are designed with large stomachs and short intestines to gorge and fast; it is nothing for a dog to go without food for days; as long as he is drinking he will be fine.

Oooh am I being told off!  I wouldn't be surprised :D  Actually, thanks for that.  I am a marketing man's dream I suppose.  Pedigree chum is the best?  Probably not, but when I got Cops he was on chappie and loved it.  Then he stole the cat's food and he wouldn't eat the chappie.

I'm not giving cops raw chicken, I boil it up and put mixer in it.  I don't confess to know huge amounts about the nutrition of dogs I always just serve up what he'll eat.

You say dogs can go for a few days without food, I believe you!  Maybe going without the chum is the best way to go - I can't put processed food into my own body (for health reasons) so I guess I should dump it for my dog.

Thanks for your advice!

CG

Dogs will generally eat anything, it is only us that makes them fussy; they will eat putrid flesh, manure and after all enjoy licking their own bums so whatever you want to feed him, just hold on to those facts.  :D :D

Hmmm mashed poo with mixer!  Excuse me while I go and vomit!  :D (and I suspect that would be left in the dish as well :D :D)

CG

PS - I suspect as you say its me that's made him fussy.  To live with the consequences sigh .........................

I'm no expert, but I've never heard of a dog starving itself to death, your dog has realised, if it hangs out long enough you'll give in..... and yum chicken dinners!!

Be firm! (so easy to say I know) and if you're happy with pedigree puches, and your dog is doing well on them, then stick with it.

Good Luck

liberty :)

Couldn't agree with Archer more. Many commercial foods are in fact dangerous to dogs but the public has been fooled by numerous ads and advice from vets that this is the best thing to feed your dog. I'll advise you look at this website [link][http://www.yourpurebredpuppycom/health/common/feeding.html][link]
You might not see the effects of this now but later on you will be glad you've read this

Best wishes, Puppylove

You know, until I wrote this post I never actually thought about commercially produced food, however, I do once remember someone telling me that a particular brand of cat food had a kind of cat drug in it to make your cat want more!  Thanks everyone for making me think twice on this one.

I'm not saying the chum is bad, Copper did love it, but its a difficult one to know whether to give in to his whims with "good food" or stick it out with the processed stuff.  At the end of the day I guess its better for me not to have to waste money by throwing uneaten food in the bin and have a happy dog eating his food.

I still can't help feeling that someone in our house has come out on top here - and it aint me :D

CG

My wee dogs think nothing of going without food for 3-4 days,they are masters of manipulation and they know just one sad,staaaarving stare from those big brown eyes will crack me into giving them whatever they want!!
Well,thats what it USED to be like,but their finickiness was literally driving me round the twist,not to mention wasting me huge sums of $$$ from all the good food i was throwing away! I must say i cant blame your dog for rather having chicken then yucky chum,can you? ;) I am lucky if my dogs eat 1/3 cup of dry food a day,at $35 for a 3 kilo bag i cannot afford to throw it away :( they get more home cooked/raw food than anything else! The trick is to not let them know that you have given in to them.Throw all the chum away and start fresh,but eventually he may turn his nose up to chicken in the hope of something better coming along,if this happens you must NOT give in and give something else(as i did) You know he loves chicken and if he doesnt eat it then he is just acting like a spoilt brat :D My dogs would eat something with gusto for a couple of days and then decide they didnt like it anymore,i then promptly swapped it for a more tastier food until they turned their noses up at that,usually a day or two,until there came a point where nothing was good enough for their fussy pallates! In my case I was the one who turned them fussy,i created these monsters I used to have rotties who would hoover up whatever i gave them,i had no idea that fussy dogs even existed!!

I would by a premium quality mixer and add the chicken to that,you can also add vegies,organ meats,tinned sardines,mackarel etc.
Then you will both be happy,your dog because he's enjoying what he's eating and you, knowing that he's getting all his vitamins and is happy with his food :)

Just remember,chicken on it's own is not a balanced food,so you must balance it out yourself.I agree with Tohme,buy a couple of books,join a couple of sites and bombard them with questions or just ask away here :) There are enough of us here who feed home made food who can steer you in the right direction when it comes to balancing things out. Sorry if you've already said,but do you also feed dry food?How did your dog take that?

christine

Coppergirl your situation is almost identical to how mine was.  My puppy was fine on Pedigree dry and then Pedigree Pouches until she started going to my sisters and discovered there was a whole world of food out there, mainly chicken.  After that she would never eat what I put down for her, and would leave it all day, (she was on 3 meals a day at this time) yet I knew there was nothing wrong as she would gladly eat my toast or the meat pie I was having for dinner - she was just holding out for something better.  This went on for weeks and weeks.

I did two things - one I changed her food to JWB, which I was planning to do anyway for her itchiness (she was only on Pedigree because the clever people at Pedigree sent me a 2.5kg sack of dry food and lots of pouches, so I used that as an influence as to what I fed her), and the other thing I did was posted about it on here.  I had read that dogs aren't fussy and will eat the same thing day after day for the rest of their lives, and that dry food was the best thing to give a puppy, so I was surprised when tohme contradicted the view about dogs not liking a variety and also suggested feeding home-cooked food if I wasn't brave enough to feed raw.

Millie loved the JWB straight away, and I am inclined to think that she really did not like the Pedigree after all, she just didn't know there was an alternative beforehand.  I also started buying cooked chicken drumsticks from Sainsbury's, and tins of tuna etc to give as a change, and giving Millie whatever roast meat we were having on Sundays, eg lamb.  I wasn't brave enough to really go for the whole Barf thing, after all we don't even buy raw meat (to cook) for ourselves as we are busy (ie lazy) and most food we buy is ready prepared.  However, Millie has had a raw bone from the butchers which she loved, and some raw steak as well before which she had a nibble at but wasn't too sure.

Anyway, we never have problems with her eating now - she can't get enough.  As I went shopping on Sunday, she has been fed chicken for the past four days, but as that is all gone now, I know that I can put a bowl of JWB down for her tomorrow and she will eat that all up too - now that she knows that somedays there will be a variety, she will eat dry food without complaint as she knows that in a couple of days time there will be something yummy.  Or maybe she doesn't (just how clever do I think she is?lol).  But if i go through a phase of feeding her dry food every day, for over a week, she starts to get tired of dry food and starts getting picky, so I know she's not estatic about the dry food, but is much more willing to eat it when she knows there might be something different tomorrow.

Hope that helps!

Oh yes, and as Christine says, i always add mixer to the chicken (some people say its not necessary, but when Millie was young and having her food soaked she had a fetish for crunching stones and items from the garden, yet she wouldn't eat Pedigree dry food dry, but when we switched to JWB she would happily eat it dry and the stone crunching stopped instantly, so I always add mixer if she's not having dry food to give the crunch).  If we cook vegetables, eg on a Sunday with the lamb, she gets the veggies too, potato etc.  She's had her dinner early today, so later on we will be sharing a banana, and I can't remember the last time i ate an apple to myself, without cutting it into slices to share with her so there's lots of interesting and beneficial things you can give Copper - keep the cupboard stocked with tuna, sardines, mackeral etc!

But for me, Millie still also gets fed on a dry complete food, more than the yummy chicken, so I know she is getting vits etc from that.

Thanks all - he gets a mixer in with the chicken but he only gets one meal a day now.  I tried him with dried food - he looked at me as if I was mad!  I'm going to start mixing in other things slowly and reducing the goodies.  I know he'll eat when he's really hungry but I'm just too soft with him.

CG

My other tip for dry food - grated cheese.  If I put little lumps of cheese on top she'll eat that first then a bit of dry food - grate a little bit of cheese and you can mix it right in and they foolishly eat the lot ;-)

LOL Jess.  My only trouble is that Copper is many things, but a fool he is most definitely not.  Devious beyond deviousness to get what he wants.  However, I will try it as he does love cheese (mostly with crackers and a bit of pickle :D) - yes I know, its my own fault!!

CG

Lol no different to us in our house.  Well OH to be precise.  I of course, never ever leave Millie a tiny corner of my sandwich every day....or a tiny corner of my biscuit....or a tiny corner of toast....or let her lick my yoghurt pot....or a little crisp...;-)