Hi eveyone i am looking for advice on feeding one of my poodles. She is nearly 3 and getting worse at eating she is very fussy and i dont think has ever eaten a full meal.  We have been to the vets and everything checks out ok the only advice they give is feed science diet, which she will not touch at all. Can anyone suggest a food that might be more tempting for her. The other i can say (back to vets visit) she had her first season at six months and has had 4 since totaling 5, from what i can gather a dog of her size should really be only having her second or third. (she is a standard) All hormone checks the vet did were fine.

Hi! Bitches (on average) have a season every six months, so I'd expect a bitch of her age to have had 4 or 5 seasons - so no worries there. :) You say she's never eaten a 'full meal' - how would you describe a full meal? Is she skinny?

Hi Rob,
Are you in the UK or US? 

Science diet is definately NOT a food i would recommend :(

If she is otherwise fine then she must be eating a 'full meal' for her :) Some dogs just don't eat anywhere like the amount that the manufacturers recommendations. Most vets will tell you that it is preferrable to have a dog on the thin side :)

Daisy

What are you feeding her on at the moment? How much in cups would you say she eats per day?

Do you add toppings to tempt her to eat,leave food out all day?

Sorry bout all the questions,but it would help immensly if you could answer them as best you can :)

thanks everyone right by full meal i mean advised amount at the moment she is having half cup of pedigree complete mixed with either tripe chick or lamb topped with cheese. no she does not have food down all the time i have other dogs. i live in the uk

If she's not skinny then that's the right amount for her.

Hi Rob the only commercial food i can think of that pretty much any dog will eat,especially fussy ones is Royal Canin mini junior,it has a very strong meaty smell which dogs cant seem to resist and really small kibbles,pefect for a poodle.Now the ingredients arent that great BUT they are 100 times better than pedigree,no offence rob,but ped. would be one of the very,very last foods i would feed a dog,just my honest opinion :o

I keep a bag of the RC handy for when fusspot dogs come to stay with me,i'm the neighbourhood dog sitter :D

Probaly not a good idea to be adding bibs and bobs to an already fussy dogs food,normally i would say add as much fresh foods as you can to a kibble fed dog,but with fussy dogs they tend to pick out the good stuff and leave the rest :(

If you want to put weight on her you could try lamb breast,marrow scraped out of the middle of the marrow bone,suit,a bit of pasta mixed in with her meals,fatty chicken with the skin on.My favourite for putting weight on dogs plus giving them a shiny coat is parsons noses(chicken bums) they are the perfect size for little dogs and they put weight on quick,make sure they are raw though!

As for curing her fussy eating habits,this will be a little harder to fix. Hunger is the key word here,you have to wait until she is practically drooling for her food before you put it down,dont just feed her at the same time each day wether she's hungry or not. Consult you vet before doing this,but you could fast her for 24-48 hours so she will be really hungry when YOU DECIDE to feed her,you have to show her the value of food :)

Rogaz,

What your poodles is eating sounds fine to me.  A large GSD bitch I used to show was fed on 1/2 cup of Purina Pro Plan, a desert spoon of minced beef, and two dog treats about the size of a Bonio per day.  Plus, she was roadworked at least four times a week - a 2 mile trot each time.  

If I fed her any more she would get too heavy.  Her weight on the above was perfect, meaning you could not see her ribs but if you stroked her sides with slight pressure you could feel them easily.   If you can do the same with your bitch, if her ribs are not showing when she is a rest, then she is fine. 

If you really want her to gain weight and she is not going to eat more volume than I would add some oil to her food.  Increase the amount gradually so her system gets used to it until she's having about a desert spoon per day added.  If she's picky, use a tasteless oil. 

Also, I would try her on a semimoist food like Naturediet.  Most dogs prefer moist foods over dry, even with extras added to the dry. 

Stacey

Stacey any ideas on tasteless oils?i've never really thought about the taste,cant really think of which ones are tasteless.

I know fish oil has the highest calories,but obviously that is too smelly and tasty.

Which oil would you recommend?

You could hide a cod liver oil capsule in a piece of meat - if you think your dog wont like the smell of oil just mixed in to the food.

I have a 20 month old bitch that has had her 4th season so this is irrelevant anything between four and 12 months is normal range though 6 to 8 monthintervals are more usual.

I ahve had a non eater (about 3 days a week) who stayed lean but healthy right up to following her second litter.  she then ate more regularly but never put on any excess weight.  After her thrid litter at 6 1/2 I had her spayed and now I ahve to cut her food by a third as she had become somewhat billowy.

give her her meal, and after 15 minutes pick it up and don't give her anything at all until next day.  do not give her extra in ehr dish if she does eat it, just keep giving the normal amount or less until she is clearing her bowl.

Changing ehr food about or offfering tempting titbits will just make her hold out for something better.  Decide on a nutritious food and stick to it.  I don't feel science plan has the best ingredients chioose something with the higest ingredinnts coming from meat and animal protein.

>she had become somewhat billowy.

LOL! I know the feeling well! :D

Me too still trying to get a handle on my billowyness since Christmas, but at least it isn't getting worse (the dog is nice now) :D

thanks everyone

Quite often on the threads about feeding I have seen Chappie recommended - why is this food regarded as being so good? I am interested to know because my last use of Chappie was years ago and my memory tells me that it was about the cheapest food you could buy and it was also very smelly and sloppy. I changed to dry food because of having a fussy eater and wanting to avoid wasting tins of wet food. My new dog is not such a fussy eater and I might try him on tinned food when he is a bit older so it would be good to know if Chappie is the best one to use. Thanks

It's certainly smelly, being fish-based, but I haven't found it to be sloppy. It's also very digestible for dogs with dodgy digestions - in fact is recommended by many vets because of this.
:)

It was always very firm looking like fish smeling cornbeef :D

very firm looking like fish smeling cornbeef

Thats the perfect description Brainless :D .Cant say i've ever fed chappie,but i have known others who have..