Hi all,

I've just taken on my late brother in laws 2 collie crosses, aged 8 and 10.
They're lovely, and have settled in well, but they're not in great condition even for older dogs.

The problem I'm having is, they've both been fed on tinned meat with occasional mixer throughout their lives. My other dogs are fed on a dry complete food. I'd like to change them over to the complete food....so I've tried cutting down the meat and adding complete, but they won't touch their food at all then.

Do you think, at their age, I should leave them on the tinned stuff? (which I hate!)

Any advice would be appreciated...

Thanks

Lisa

Have to tried putting the complete stuff down and adding a *little* bit of gravy to it? Or maybe even some pilchards?

Melody :)

Lisa,

We got Boycie, a 6 year old Bedlington Terrier, from a rescue home 3 weeks ago. He wouldn't touch his dried food. I tried soaking it first and also tried adding doggie gravy. He would lick the gravy off the top and leave the food. We did try adding dried food bit by bit to his tinned meat as well but he used to pick around it and just eat the meat. It didn't take him long to realise that, if he left it, I would eventually chuck it away and give him what he preferred. So I decided that, if he was hungry, he would eat the dried food. And sure enough, he eventually did, that night after I had gone to bed and he realised that nothing more was coming his way.

One of the things I did consider was if maybe his teeth were bad or hurting him. In slightly older dogs this can be a reason for preferring canned meat. But the vet said Boycie's teeth were in tip top condition.

Also, it has been easier for me to say to Boycie that it is dried food or nothing. I don't have other dogs around the house that might finish it off for him while he dithers over it. All I can say is good luck and I would keep trying if I were you. You don't say how long you have had them. Maybe they are still feeling a bit homesick or depressed. This will make them fussier with their food than usual. You may find they naturally perk up soon anyway.

Jenny

Hi,

Tinned food has loads of sugar in and many dry foods have not, which makes then taste really boring and bland. Have you tried Nutro, James Welbeloved or Royal Canin dry food, these are meat based and have a better taste than the cereal based ones such as Beta, Pedigree, Bakers or Omega.

You could also try Naturediet, it's wet, but very good quality and will put the weight back on easily. :)

manda
X

Hiya

Thanks for the replies...

I've managed to get them onto dry complete now.

I tried everything..introducing it gradually etc.....they just wouldn't touch it.

Anyway, I decided i had to be hardhearted about it, and just leave them to eat when they were hungry!!!

I have to say...it's worked, and they look a damn sight healthier!!

I'm not going to be so soft with my dogs any more, I swear sometimes they do things like this just to worry me!! :)

Take care, and thanks again

Lisa

Hurrah! :)