Hi all,
After a bit of advice please. I have an almost 4 year old dog who since 7 months has been on BARF. I changed him onto BARF after he had awful problems with diarrhea as a pup. Spent a fortune at the vets with blood tests etc and all diff foods the vet recomended. Nothing helped, except BARF. On BARF he's had no problems at all.

Now my problem is that in the last few weeks he wont touch it, the only thing he will eat is his chicken wings and rib bones. I've tried the 'he'll eat when he's hungry approach' but he really doesn't seem interested in his raw! I know he won't starve, but I want him to enjoy his food! So, although I don't want to, I'm thinking of a dry complete food (Can't bare the thought of wet food!). I love the BARF diet and the thought that my boy eats naturally, but it's no good of he doesn't like it. I'd give him dry in the afternoon then his raw bones in the evening (for teeth cleaning etc)

Does anyone else do this? Or has anyone else had this problem with their dog?

Also, what kind of dry completes do people feed?

Thanks for any advice :o) xx

Instead of feeding dry complete and risking ending up in the same place as you started with him ... why don't you try one of the frozen products from Natures Menu (?) or other suppliers.  You can cook it briefly in the microwave, which might tempt him.

Or - just lightly cook whatever you've been feeding him as raw.  Seems to me it's better than doing a 180 in terms of his diet.

(Of course, I didn't mean to cook the bones!)

If you do need to go back to dry the nearest I could get to a 'natural diet' was Orijen. I use this as a back up when I'm away and works fine.

I feed taste of the wild which is a grain free diet like orijen, it is supposed to mimic the natural dogs diet, but in kibble form

I wouldn't pander to him. Leave him to fast for a day or two and he'll come round. If the Barf diet suits him I would stick to that. Complete diets are man's invention for an easy life and to make profit, not for the good of the dog.

Maybe if he still won't eat after a fast then take him for a check up, it could be an illness that's causing him to lose his appetite It is natural for dogs to fast when they feel ill. It gives their bodies time to mend and concentrate energy on getting better.

Have you checked teeth?

When you say he has gone off BARF, but will still eat chicken wings/lambs ribs, what is it that he WON'T eat? Will he eat kidneys/heart/liver etc? eggs? minced meat/ground chicken and bones? tripe? Has he gone off ALL aspects of raw or just the bigger 'Bone' part? (carcus, shin bones etc)
Personally if mine went off raw I would rather change to a 'home cooked' diet than feed dry kibble. Have you tried that?

will he eat the stinky foods such as Tripe and Fish?  Is he polishing off his wings and ribs with enjoyment or just going through the paces? 

Hi there. He will only eat chicken wings and rib bones, literally thats all, no minced  meats, tripe, offal etc No veg. He loves his wings and still goes mad for them. Teeth are fine and pearly white! He seems fine in every other way, is his normal cheery self.
I've tried cooking his mince and he eats that! I undersatnd what you're saying about changing to complete and believe me I'd much rather not, all my dogs are on raw, I'm just worried he's no longer enjoying it! I'm going to try reducing the ammount I cook his mince with each meal and see if I can slowly get him back to totally raw.

Also, he doesn't seem at all off colour, playful, happy and acting totally normal. When I put his raw down he'll look at it, give it a lick, look at it for a few more minutes then go and lay down. IF he see's me spying on him to see if he's eating he will walk away straight away lol

I think a trip to the vet maybe a good idea if he this keeps up though, as I said he's never been like this with his food before so although he seems fine in himself I'd rather know for sure. I'll keep trying and if he's still not interested I'll see the vet. Although they will probably just recomend whatever complete they sell ;)

Thanks a lot everyone :)

So if the others' are eating the raw ok, then its probably not that its 'off' or a 'bad batch' ? (I know this can happen because a few months ago NONE of my dogs would touch a certain tripe mix but it really did stink worse than normal - sent it back, got it replaced, and all was fine again) Soooo........ I don't know! LOL
To put your own mind at rest maybe a vet visit is in order, just to play safe. If all ok and your happy to cook it, then try that and, like you said, introduce (sneak) a bit of raw (liver, kidney etc) into it or stuff it in a kong maybe he might eat it that way?
Kids..I mean dogs..eh? ;)

Hi Gizmoo,

one of mine went off all but chicken thighs and breast of lamb after successfully enjoying a varied raw diet for almost 18 months.  I resorted to giving Nature Diet and Natures harvest in different varieties plus some cooked offals for treats and this has helped greatly :)

Now most of mine are on a mix of part raw, part moist complete and occasional mixed cooked offal.  Like you I want my dogs to really enjoy their food - nibbling only enough to keep them going or wandering away from it in disgust is horrible to watch.  Even some dried kibble (JWB, AG, Timberwolf etc) with tinned sardines etc may be an option - feeding a home prepared diet need not mean only ever giving rmbs, mince and mushed veggies!  It also gives you options when travelling away from home / visiting etc to have them happy to eat a variety of foods ;)

best wishes, Teri

My dog did this recently and to be honest he has always been a bit of a fussy eater. It was worse when he was a pup and really going through the growth spurts as i was worried this would hinder them.

Anyway i found that by giving him for a few days goats milk and an oily fish from a tin(not at the same time) he was eating something. This went on for about 4 days and then he started eating his chicken wings and necks again. Today he has gone back onto it all and eaten everything at both meals times which is very odd.
Lots of the books state that giving them a day off food completely is a good thing, so maybe i'm expecting to eat too much at each meal time??

I'd say that as long as your dog is eating something then i personally wouldn't worry(imo). If there was a huge problem he wouldn't be eating a thing.
Our other dogs which are fed on a different food often have off days as well.
Though i have to say if any dog refused any form of food for 3 days then i would be off to the vet.

Well he had his wings today but I'm going to stop them and give him 2 days on mince only and see how he goes. If after that he still doesn't want it I'll try part cooking it ect. Also forgot about sardines, he likes them so will try them too.
Not going to the vet just yet (Was there today with my sisters Chi who's being spayed and spoke to the vet, she said she thinks he's seeing what he can get out of me and gave me some advice) because as I said he will eat, but only what HE wants. I'm pretty sure he's just being naughty. He's never been a greedy dog anyway. I know it's not the food beause the others will eat it fine with no problems.
So, I'll keep persavering and 'try' not to pander to him lol If it carries on after that off to the vet we go...

I'm really surprised about this, has he gone off everything except chicken wings?  What about lamb breast, oxtail?  Seems to be my boys favourite.  I have always had a problem feeding offal to one of my dogs so it has to be disguised by mincing and adding something really tasty to it.  I hardly ever feed any type of mince.  To get him to eat his mushed up veg try grating some cheese over the top or mixing it with pilchards in tomato sauce. 

I don't think I'd give up raw just yet, it is probably a phase, and he just needs some variety and a bit of tempting?     And no he is not being naughty, if he doesn't fancy eating a certain thing he is just showing you he prefers some things to others :)