I've tried most of the kibbles, tray foods, tinned foods, raw foods, and human foods out there, and am still struggling with my picky princess, now nearly 2 years old. I came to the conclusion long ago that she is just training me to play silly games with her, but when I try the put it down and pick it up regime, she holds out for days at at time, whatever we are offering her. We're having some success mixing the kibble with minced beef or cheese or hard boiled eggs, but I wonder if there's some ultra concentrated kibble type that she would have to eat a numerically smaller amount of pieces of kibble for the same amount of sustenance - perhaps puppy kibble? She's currently on JWB adult, which all my other current and previous dogs are happy with and do well on. She's not skinny at the moment but I don't want her losing any weight from her current position. She's also always had bad tear staining and I've heard a change of diet can help this too. In a perfect world I would find some magic kibble that would contain all the sustenance she needs in about 20 pieces of kibble! :-D

EUKANUBA is the best they need little of it.

I switched my two from jwb to csj and cannot recommend it highly enough - Ceri is really knowledgeable, if you email her she will advise what would be suitable and send samples.  My two love it as do the fussy eater terriers down the road who I have converted, as does my housemate's dog who won't eat now unless she gets the same as mine, as does my partner's dog - a shih tsu who was previously on small bite kibble as she won't eat big stuff, she manages my csj!!!
Also, Roxy (the pup I was struggling to keep weight on) is blossoming on it, her coat looks fabulous, much better than when she was on jwb she digests it much better too!
As they are working dog foods they have some really high protein foods available - stuff for sled dogs and all sorts, and all cheaper than jwb!

I'd look at Acana, Orijen or Ziwipeak personally of you want the high end food which is moreish. Mine are on AG in the main however I do wish to feed raw when I sort out a freezer. If I were to say money no object then Ziwipeak would be my ultimate choice, but it is expensive :-)

Would have thought nothing could possibly be more concentrated than Applaws. I don't know of any other food, for dogs or cats, with as high a meat content. 75 % meat  25 % vegetables in the dry version. http://www.applaws.co.uk/dog_dry.php
Even more in the wet version, the chicken and salmon with kelp pouch for instance is 60 % chicken 24 % chicken broth 10 % salmon 5 % kelp 1 % rice.

Nutrivet Instincts (look on Zooplus) is 80% meat and 20% veg :)

> EUKANUBA is the best they need little of it.

I found my borzois always done better on Eukanuba than any other type of food as they need to eat so little of it to keep body on. My ex picky, now slightly podgy, Princess is having to come off eukanuba as she's putting weight on at half a handful twice a day.

I've also tried Applaws dried, I like it from reading the bag but Spice pup didn't keep as body on with it as he does with eukanuba. Princess Milly will be moving onto Applaws now I think.

EUKANUBA is the best they need little of it.

Not everyones opinion !!
Not a nice video but it shows how some dog food manufacturers test thier food on animals.
Not for me thank you.

http://my.opera.com/Spots/blog/the-truth-about-iams-eukanuba-dog-cat-foods-they-torture-dogs-cats
Aileen

> I don't know of any other food, for dogs or cats, with as high a meat content. 75 % meat  25 % vegetables in the dry version.

Orijen is 80% meat and Ziwipeak is even higher. I found the Applaws kibble VERY hard, much preferring the Orijen.

If Applaws is very hard I daresay my nitwit would have trouble, she doesn't seem to like the JWB mini snacks or biscuit treats. But she doesn't like wet food either, so it's not just that she doesn't like kibble. Might try orijen or csj then thanks. Problem is we get samples and she eats them (sometimes) but if we then get a bigger bag she goes off it. *sigh*

Pretty sure csj do something which you put on the food add water and it is like a gravy for fussy eaters. 

Has nothing changed at Eukanuba/Iams then Aileen?

Horrendous. I have always avoided their products :-(

My Kizi when young was terribly picky and I had her on Arden Grange premium until she was three. 

She would often only eat 3 days out of 7, but a smaller amount of this kept her in reasonable body.

RC do a food for picky eaters called " Sensible" it has a higher fat content and apparently is tastier,worked well at getting some weight on to one of my males a couple of years back, didn't need to eat as much as it weighed heavier than normal kibble.

Thanks Rhodach, might try that if these other two samples go nowhere. I tried a different brand (can't even remember what now!!) which was supposed to be highly palatable for fussy eaters and she wouldn't even try it!

I've tried AG as we do win sample packs of that at shows, but she doesn't like it. :-)

Not as far as I know Cavlover :-(
Aileen

Holy hell. I had no idea. I've never bought any of their products, but I see most vets stock them. Hasn't anyone told them???

It is shocking :-(  I don't know how they get away with it.

Poor you LucyDogs, nothing worse than a fussy eater!  Only one of my cavs is picky, but I have taught her that until she eats the food I put down for her, she doesn't get out of her crate and it works! Often she won't start tucking in until she sees the rest of the gang get out of theirs because they have finished - so I know that is the reason she starts to eat. Once she has finished, she soon lets me know and barks to be let let out. She never barks until her bowl is empty lol.

> I've tried AG as we do win sample packs of that at shows, but she doesn't like it. :-)

Yes but have you tried the prestige, much higher meat content and it's 30% protein and 20% fat so has the calories.  also worth trying the puppy, tiny kibble, for the weaning food which is 32% protein, the puppy junior has the same protein and fat levels as the prestige but more egg and chicken content.

They do the little 1kg bags

I use Orijen myself but I don't know that that's what your looking for, it does have a high protein content but that doesn't put on weight ( hence The Atkins Diet etc ), carbs  and fat put weight on, although if it makes her eat more than she is, then problem solved.
What about using Hills AD, I'm not a fan of Hills but the tinned AD diet is extremely high in calories and very palatable, you could use it mixed with her kibble to up the calories. I used it for Ben when he wouldn't eat, it's so soft and pappy that once it was in his mouth he couldn't spit it out again.

Hi
My GR has been fussy since the day he was born and we have gone through most of the kibble on the market, trying to find something that he would eat with enjoyment but alas! the only dogs that enjoyed those kibbles werent mine!   Another of those dogs who you put the plate down for and pick up again and hed hold out for days without eating anything.
Ive managed to entice him to eat Royal Canin for Goldens.  (My lab loves it too although she doesnt like the RC for labs)  He is 5 now and I still hand feed him his kibble but at least he eats it.....most days!   His coat is gorgeous and his eyes are bright.   Hes happy, fit and healthy and we hardly ever visit the vet.  (Profit for PetPlan!!)
I sometimes wonder whether certain foods give him belly ache and that is the reason he is so picky.     I know he has a sensitive tum and he doesnt do very well on too much chicken but does very well on ham, turkey and beef.   He wont eat any tinned dog foods and his meat is either home cooked or from the delli counter.   I add pasta and grated veg.
The first couple of years were hell but at last I have a food that he likes to eat and does well on.

>Yes but have you tried the prestige, much higher meat content and it's 30% protein and 20% fat so has the calories.  also worth trying the puppy, tiny kibble

Yes, I've had sample packs of both prestige and puppy, she won't try them. Never had one that a few days of 'eat or starve' doesn't sort before!

CSJ do a large bag of real meat called  Just Meat! - 2kg for £7.50 , it is small pieces of very crispy meat. One teaspoon on top of the food and 'woof' the bowl is empty. I order 2 at a time for free delivery, they last for ages. I'm only 3/4 way down the first bag in 2 months of use.

Don't believe everything you read on the net, JAY15 :).  These stories have been banded about for years by certain sites often anti capitalist in nature. 
They have also been denied for years and on examination they don't really bear up do they.  Ask yourself, why would a company risk this sort of PR when there are so many options for testing nutrition and palatibility.

Wow, that's a loaded comment, Stooge...firstly I don't believe everything I see or read on the net, but whoever and whatever is doing that to animals needs stopping. And I'm not sure I get the reference to anti-capitalists--surely animal cruelty is the issue, no matter who raises awareness of it.

> but whoever and whatever is doing that to animals needs stopping.

Indeed, but we don't really know who it was or when.

So it COULD be Iams then, who knows. The fact that there was always a protest at Crufts and Iams have not been able to disprove it makes me not want to buy their products (just in case). Whoever, the footage definitely shows SOMEONE experimenting on dogs and causing them distress. That is NOT acceptable.

> So it COULD be Iams then, who knows.

Exactly.  Of course it is not acceptable but, as I have already said, we have no idea who was doing it or when.

>and Iams have not been able to disprove it

I'm not sure I could prove it wasn't me!
Imagine if our courts convicted on the basis of evidence like this!

We've tried real meat and she goes off it, but I'll try the crispy stuff if the other stuff doesn't work. Got a nice email from CSJ today suggesting various things that they're going to send me samples of. Also got some Orijen, need to check what on earth I ordered as I have cat food as well as dog food lol!!

Just picked up a breeders bag of Acana adult, 18kg for £40 at Windsor yesterday, hoping that it suits mine, not a bad price really for what it is :-)

Why haven't Iams/Eukanuba sued then Stooge?

> Why haven't Iams/Eukanuba sued then Stooge?

Bad PR. Which, of course, is what these sites rely on.

Not convinced tbh.

Nor me

> Bad PR. Which, of course, is what these sites rely on.

Pretty much like the 'Streisand Effect'. Suing will bring more bad publicity than leaving PETA alone.

I personally wouldn't be so quick to blindly beleive PETA - an organistation that tries to put people off of supermarket dog food because it contains 'the flesh from dead animals'!
Also an orangisation that are trying to blame Iams for 'encouraging breeding of pure-bred dogs' and that is bad due to the 'over production of pets in general and because pure-bred dogs are unhealthy. BUT PETA  would like Iams to "conduct in-home or collaborative veterinary clinic studies using animals who already require treatment for diseases or specific conditions of interest to the company." Nice - test dog food on sick dogs.

Quotes taken from PETA web site, but I refuse to link to them, they can do thier own dirty work.

"Suing will bring more bad publicity than leaving PETA alone"

Even if they are found to be innocent on all accounts and therefore could counter sue, effectively destroying PETA altogether?
I am still not convinced.

Very, very difficult to prove a negative.  Which is what these sites rely on.  The other thing you need to consider is the pointlessness of this sort of thing.  Much easier ways to test nutrition and palatability without any risk of offense to your clients.

"Much easier ways to test nutrition and palatability without any risk of offense to your clients"

Totally agree, which is why if there is no truth in any of it, Eukanuba/Iams should want to stamp out such accusations... not reacting at all, is always going to make people think they do have something to hide.

>not reacting at all, is always going to make people think they do have something to hide.

Perhaps they're emulating the Royal Family's "Never complain, never explain".

Yes, very possibly!

Have very picky pooches.  I feed arden grange prestige, but have to hand feed it.  Mine will eat it better if has veg/olive oil on it and epo. 

I tend to dry my own meat now and it goes down a storm.  I recently soaked the kibble, mushed it up and mixed with raw meat and gelatine to set then dried it.  It got eaten with no problems.  Did one with vegies mixed in as well.

Just been given a kibble reciepe taht friend did, if my eat it will pass it on for you to try.

She's eating the Orijen (ok, mixed with beef mince, but she wouldn't eat the JWB half the time even with tasty food mixed in), but I just discovered it's about 3 times as much per kg as JWB, so am not sure how long hubby will let me get away with buying it!! Still waiting for the CSJ samples, haven't looked at how their prices compare.

Don't know if it may be worth a try but we used to have a Med xbreed who was the worlds worst. He would go 3 days easily refusing food.

I would get a bag of A and he loved it ..............for three or four meals then accused us of poisoning him , think we tried most of the foods going :-D but ended up always having 3 small bags of food open and never giving him more than 2 sucsessive meals of the same food which did work.

The other thing we did was feed him adult or junior/puppy food.............had a big argument with 2 different food reps in Crufts one year, Freckles was then aged 13 ½ and rep insisted he should be on senior but my argument was that as he only ever ate about ½ or less of the suggested amount for his weight then he needed a high protien etc feed NOT one with low everything in it.

We were lucky that he had a good digestion but he had been like this from about age 3 gradually getting more picky and he was 15 ¾ when we lost him.

We never found a puppy food that she liked either, but I have thought that it might be a good idea for the higher protein, I'll keep it in mind - thanks! :-)

I have 4 picky pugs on applaws. Switched over from
RC 4 months ago And there all doing fantastic on it! It's
Cereal free. Never noticed it to be over hard? Even my OAP pug munches thro no problem!!
!

Haven't read the whole threat so apologies if it's already been suggested, but could you not lace her food with gravy or even mix it with a teaspoon of peanut butter to entice her to eat?

Do you think she'd eat from a treat dispensing toy? My sister's BF's GSD was fussy until it was in a treat ball. He gives her a days worth of food in it and throughout the day she will eat the whole lot because it is only 2-3 pieces of kibble at a time. May not be very practical though if you're in a multi-dog household.

We've tried both gravy and peanut butter, and stuff like pilchards in tomato, and she hates them, the little weirdo. :-D I've thought about a treat dispensing toy, but as you say, it won't work in a multi dog household, and she would take far too long to eat like that to give her at dinner time. She's doing well with the Orijen though, so fingers crossed hubby won't notice the cost for a while... ;-)

OK, she's quite liking the Orijen, but we're having soft sloppy poos making a right mess on her feathering. I know it's more concentrated than JWB, and I did switch her straight over because as she won't eat JWB there didn't seem much point with the 'softly softly' approach. Is it just the sudden change, or is she having too much? According to the bag she should be having around 80g, and she's getting about 60g and 30g beef mince (she still won't eat it plain, and I'm trying to put a pound or two on her anyway).