I have a 5 year old lhasa apso and he kept refusing his dog food, sometimes he would go up to 2 nights without eating before deciding to eat a bit only to start the whole process again. I couldnt keep doing this as i felt very guilty when he wouldnt eat it after a couple of nights and didnt think it was good for him.(He wont touch dried food either)
In the end i decided to feed him cooked chicken breast and he gobbles it up everynight without fail!!

The only thing wrong with this is now im worried he is not getting any vitamins etc that he was from his dog food as all he has 2 eat now is pedigree smachos and biscuits/ham in the day then his chicken at night. I want to start him on raw chicken wings and meat and also a bit of fish maybe once a week but also i want him to have a variety of meat etc...Could anyone please advise me as how i should sort his new diet out. for example i have wrote down (as an idea of what i was planning his new diet to be)
MONDAY - cooked Chicken breast
Tues - raw chicken wings
weds - raw lamb/beef
thurs - raw mince beef and pureed veggies
fri - pork ribs
sat - sardines/mackarel
sun - liver/ox heart

Would this be sufficient , would he be getting enough of all the vitamins etc that he needs? I cant believe its taken me so long to think about his diet and now ive realised im concerned and really want him to have everything he needs money is not a problem.
Any advice will be greatly appreciated!!

Is he actually or has he ever been too thin?  If not then why pander to his fussiness? 

It is perfectly OK for a dog to not eat every day, and cert6ainly in the wild it would not ahve the luxury of food every day.

I have been there and done that with a picky practically anorexic dog.  She never had enough body for my liking but was actually fit as a fiddle and just lean rahter than skinny.  In the end after about 3 years I just stopped worrying about it.  She got her food put down and lifte3d after 15 minutes, the same next daqy bit never any extra.  Now at 7 I have to watch she doesn't get fat :D

Thats a pretty good menu.

I would split that into two meals a day, and possibly feed veg a bit more often.

If you have a fussy dog though, you will hae to be strict, and also, NO TREATS.

Even if you think your dog isnt getting any vitamins, dog treats and snacks are not going to do him any good at all.

Em

Hi -

First, cut out the Pedigree Schmackos and biscuits.  Have you looked at the ingredients?  Sugar - bad for teeth.  Unspecified meat and veg - why can't they tell you what it is?  Additives, colouring etc etc.  Every now and then, it's not a prob, but to give him Schmackos every day is a bad idea I reckon.

Second - I think you have 2 choices here (well, you seem to have made the choice anyway, but here it is):

Either 1. Choose a good, tasty, wet food (like Nature Diet, or Natures Menu) and stick to it.  Put it down every night, give him 15 mins and if he doesn't eat it, pick it up again.  Don't give him any treats or any other food and don't add anything to the bowl to make it tastier.  A dog won't intentionally starve himself.  I wouldn't be worried if he eats nothing for 2 nights, try about 4 before you get v worried - as long as he's still drinking water he won't fade away.  You don't have to wait a whole day to offer it to him again, but don't offer him anything else.  Have you actually tried Nature Diet or Natures Menu?  I think you might find he likes them if you haven't.  They are made from good natural ingredients and contain no additives.  They are also both wet foods so are likely to appeal to your fussy eater.  And they come in several different flavours.    They are probably comparable to any cooked meal you could make yourself, both in terms of goodness and in terms of taste factor.  I'm just telling you this before you go down the route of making cooked meals - you could save yourself a lot of time and bother if you tried ND or NM, and no I'm not on commission...

or 2.  Try a BARF diet.  You seem to be open to this from your talk of raw, but why are you mixing raw and cooked?  Why not just go down the route of all-raw?  From your list, it looks good, but maybe some more veggies would be good.  Also be careful of how much liver you give because it can give some dogs the runs - they usually love it though, despite the runs. 

Hope some of that is some help?

Thanks for all your advice.. no Brainless he has never been too thin..what do you feed your dog on then?Ive never actually tried nature diet i never heard of it until i read a few other threads. where can you buy it from? can you get it in the shops or do you have to order it specially from the net? Ive not actually tried him on any of the other stuff i mentioned in the diet yet, so far he has had raw chicken wings and loved them. i used to give him tuna every now and then but read before that that can be bad not really sure why?

i think id prefer to have him on the 'barf' diet but before i stock up my freezer ill definately give the nature stuff a try! Does anyone have any suggestions as how i could sneak more veg in and is it better to feed them raw/cooked/pureed? just that ive tried to give him raw veg and he used to love carrots but now he wont bother with them. is there any other good veg to include apart from brocolli caulliflower n carrots?

I got the mince & pureed veg idea from a thread and thought it would be good to try because its mixed with the meat therefore if i mash it up enough theres no way he can pick the bits out lol that is of great help thanks onetwothree (and evry1 else)i will definately cut out the pedigree treats.this may sound silly but i actually didnt look at the ingredients i just thought they were made of meat!                                         To be honest i dont know why i would mix raw and cooked if i choose to put him on a barf diet then i guess ill just feed him all raw.

EM could you please give me an idea of your dogs daily diet?

Thanks again evry1

I have fed her a BARF diest, and complete and same thing happened with both.  Bit more interest in Barf, but she would leave out some things and eat the tastiest bits only.

At the moment mine are all on complete, Two on Arden Grange and the 3 Veterans all on Autarky.

Hokies.

I have four dogs, ranging in age from 7 months to rising 11 years.

they are abby:saluki x, pteppic: collie x, dill: bedlington xwhippet, and rocky staffie x. (gives you an idea of the amounts they will eat)

Breakfast:

Either.

2 x tins of Glenryck pilchards in tomato sauce, split between them, Pteppic and Abby get the most, then Dilly, then Rocky.

OR

Blended veg (big table spoonful) with cottage cheese/quarter of a block of AMP mince.

Tea:

Chicken wings (i get mine off local market they are MUCH bigger than asda/tesco ones),
Abby gets 5
Pteppic gets 2
Dill gets 2
Rocky gets 1 or 2

OR

three/four lamb ribs each

OR half a rabbit each

Supper:

Pteppic and Dill only (pteppic stil growing, dill has lost a bit of weight through stress recently and with firework season approaching thats not going to change).

1/3rd or 1/2 block of AMP mince each.

There are variations, somedays ill have eggs just past their date, so they get a raw egg plus the shell each. Somedays the lady next door gives me a chicken carcass or two.

In addition i mix in olive oil iwth the veggy mush, also Keepers Mix or Kelp powder. When i feed amp mince, its usually one of the varietys with offal in it, as i cant stand blending offal and mine wont eat it whole.

Be aware that veg can be a git to feed at first. Do your veg mix at first with a good mix of sweet things to bitter things (ie carrots = sweet, spinach = bitter), and putting oil in it makes it much more palatable!, increase the range of foods you feed slowly.

I never actually bothered iwth any of my dogs, doing the 'change over slowly' as i believe its not so good for their stomachs to be chopping and changing between raw and complete foods. What i DID do, was to decrease the amount of complete they were getting in the few days before i changed them over. Thus hungry dogs take to new food a lot quicker!

Hope that helps

Em

Hi Dionne,

You can get Nature Diet from most pet shops, but you'll pay about 67p a pack for it there.  If you order it direct from them, then it's 50p a pack with delivery included, but you have to order at least 4 boxes (18 packs in a box), so you'll want to be sure your dog likes it before you do that.  Maybe buy a few from the pet shop and go from there.  It comes in several different flavours.  Have a look at:  www.naturediet.net

Natures Menu is a different food and is in pouches.  Again some pet shops sell, but I think it's less widely available than ND.  It costs 65p from the pet shop and there are no reductions in that if you get it direct from them.  So, for trying it out, it'll cost the same as ND, but if you decide to use one food or the other, ND will be cheaper.  However, I do find that Natures Menu is perhaps even more tasty than ND.  My dogs will eat both but when I prepare Natures Menu it smells edible even to me!!!!  Have a look at: http://www.naturesmenu.co.uk/

I haven't heard of tuna being bad for dogs - has anyone else?

I'm not a barf feeder so can't tell you about feeding veg, but I think most people I know cook the veg and then puree it.  You can include any veg you want apart from onions.  Also don't feed grapes or raisins. 

Ok, good luck with it!

>I haven't heard of tuna being bad for dogs - has anyone else?

Tuna contains quite high levels of mercury which could prove harmful if fed in large quantites but the odd tin now and again should be fine.

Dont bother cooking the veg.. to make it soft enough you end up cooking all the nutrients out of it.

Should have said that in my post sorry. Blend it, i do it till it resembles really fine grass clippings, or that cudded grass that horses like to wipe all over you... i then freeze it for convenience, in daily portions.

Em

Thanks once again! You ppl are brill!! I tried him with some carrot,broc n cauli before (and with the oil too). he seemed really interested and stood sniffing it for  a good 5 minutes but then to my disapointment he just walked away!

I then decided to get a slice of turkey put the veg on it and wrap it up i hand fed him this and was surprised that he ate it as he usually tries to pick stuff out when i try and sneak things in lol But if thats what i have to do and he eats the veg then so be it.
Im overjoyed as ive just got two new puppies tonight. they are currently on pedigree puppy and biscuits and when they get old enough i would like to try them on barf diet too.
How old should they be when i start them on this? At the moment they are only 7 weeks old and i wouldnt attempt to change their food yet as i know it would upset their stomachs.

Hi - Dionne -

Whatever you decide to feed your dog, don't hand feed!!!  Not unless you want to hand feed forever!!  And now you have 3 dogs - do you want them all to queue up for dinner while you hand feed them??? 

What did you do with the carrot, brocolli and cauli to prepare them?  If he's not keen on veg, then I wouldn't try feeding him just veg.  Mix it all up together with the meat and put it on the floor - no hand feeding!!

As for your pups - some pups are put straight onto barf at 3-4 wks old when they are weaned, there is no minimum age for it. 

However, as you've just got them, I'd keep feeding the Pedigree (yuck, nasty stuff) for a week, while they settle into their new home.  You don't want to make too many changes too quickly.  Then slowly phase out the Pedigree and phase in the barf.  I think you'll find soon they'll turn their noses up at the Pedigree though!

Be careful you really do want to barf feed your 3 dogs before you go down this route, though.  As it sounds like your pups are quite happy eating Pedigree at the moment - a dry food.  They would probably be equally happy eating Burns or James Wellbeloved, which are also dry foods but far better than Pedigree.  And they would definitely be happy to eat Nature Diet. 

So, although your fussy eater might want his barf diet, if it's not what you really want to do (and doing it with 3 dogs is a bigger undertaking than with 1), then I'd feed your others something else....

Id actually switch them straight to barf.

changing to barf slowly isnt particularly beneficial as the two types of food digest at different rates which can cause tummy problems.

Do it straight away, yes you might have runny bums for a few days but it wont cause a HUGE problem, and in the long run is going to be WAY more beneficial than feeding Pedigree Bum for a week or two!

Gotta agree about not hand feeding... put it down, if the dog doesnt eat it (and ill bet with the competition from pups he WILL), put it away, try again later.

Eventually, on a raw diet, your dog learns it might well NOT be the same thing every night, that every meal is actually YUM, so they stop being fussy!

I wouldnt wait to put the pups on raw.... feeding three is as easy as feeding one if you do the prep in advance and can store enough food.

I feed FOUR dogs this way!

My two who arrived as pups started on raw at 6 weeks and 12 weeks respectively..... both did fine although it takes a while before a chicken wing changes from being a recreational chew toy to a meal in itself!

Go for it, and have two pups who grow up NOT fussy!
Em

I don't feed barf Dionne, so go by what Em says here, if you decide to switch.

I feed my dogs cooked meat once or twice a week,to change over to raw, how would you suggest Igo about this.