Hi Guys,

My two Akita bitches are my whole world lol, but, they just don't seem to eat enough! They are both quite "light" and would benefit extra weight. I have been advised to try feeding rice and pasta once a day in the evening (as well as their normal meal in the day). I use all sorts to make their food smell nice etc, but after a week or two on the same food they get bored.... Please help these two have brilliant pedigree's and i'd like them to look STUNNING rather than nice.

Any tips..... Greatly received

If you've got them on a food that your happy with then when they stop eating DONT change it!! Offer them their meal,if they don't eat it after 5 minutes pick it up and don't offer anything till the next feed time.
Don't know what you feed but I've found Autarky good for putting on condition and for general well being.
Good luck Archer

hi whitereath,i have an akita-inu and she is exactly the same,i feed her on royal canin,but she has to have something extra,like raw mince in it or she wont touch it.After a week or so she gets fed up with the mince beef,so i change to mince chicken,then turkey...i'm rapidly running out of things to add in to her food!!!

By continually changing your dogs food you are MAKING her fussy.
Archer

Hi All,

Thanks for the help. They are fed on Vitalin Bitch Diet... Its great for putting condition into them, my oldest bitch has now got a lovely coat, its just she doesn't eat much. I sometimes mix a bit of webbox meat into their food for them which again they eat a little then walk away from. So now i am feeding their normal feed in the morning and giving them rice or pasta with an egg in for evening meals.... so far so good lol.

hi archer,i understand what you are saying,but if she doesn't eat what can i do....i don't want to start chopping and changinging her real dog food as i don't think there would be an end to it at all.....any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Billybob
The only way to sort it is to put the food down for 5 minutes and then pick up whatevers leftand bin it...even if its the whole meal!! Don't offer ANYTHING else then till next meal time..not even treats...then repeat until he learns that he needs to eat when food is available. I know its hard..I have one like this.He will eat for a couple of months and then go off his food...I do as suggested and within 2/3 days he starts to eat again.
Archer

We went through this when we first got buster. We made the mistake of giving him anything we thought he might eat and so he turned to be a fussy eater. This had to stop so we changed his food slowly to a complete gluten and diary free product (i get it from local pet shop) and if he did not eat it after about 30 minutes we took it up and tried agian next meal time. Try to stick to the same times when feeding. They soon get the message if they dont eat it within a reasonable time it gets taken away untill next feeding time.
This is the advice i gave someone else. It does work and they will not let themselves go hungray you just have to stick with it.

We did exactly the same with our Akita male. We had been warned that young males were notoriously fussy, so we gave him a choice - Take it or leave it. What wasn't eaten in 20 minutes was taken away & he wasn't fed again until his next meal time. He eats what is put in front of him now & has done for the past 5 yrs!

I'll give this a go. I have been leaving their food down for them all day.... probably why they're fussy lol

Hiya,

How old are your bitches????

Yes, by leaving food down all day you are lowering its value to the dog, they dont NEED to eat it when it arrives, they can have it when they want it.

By chopping and changing the foods you add in, you are encouraging them to be fussy.

I appreciate that you havent actually asked for my opinion here, but you get it anyway (sorry, im just like that) if you want your dogs to be 'stunning' instead of just 'nice' id suggest you feed a better quality food than Vitalin and Webbox, both, IMHO are sh!te.
Yes, coats will look nice on them, both foods are full of oils.

Have a look at what is actually in the foods you are feeding.... you cant expect to have stunning looking dogs by feeding rubbish. (and yes i know some dogs do really well on crap food, they are a scavenger after all they will exist on almost anything).....

The reason i ask how old the dogs are, is that too much weight too young is damaging, they wont be fully muscled up until they are 2/3, to try and put taht weight on before then is a bad plan.

Hope that helps. If you search through the forum there are lots of recommendations on good foods, i cant recommend a good complete food as i dont feed it, i feed raw.

Em

I've found Vitalin bitch diet to be a good food. I've heard strams of good comments on it, yes webbox is sh!te, and it is only used to add flavour to their meal. They are 15mnths and 2yrs.

Fair enough.

Ive not used the bitch diet, but ive fed vitalin before now...... despite it being shite, ive found the dogs really like it! (that said i eat doner kebabs somedays, and they arent exactly great, lol).....

Em

Alfalfa tablets are good for increasing dogs appetites,2 per day.
THere is also an excellent product that has just arrived in the U.K called "NUPRO" it is in powder form,you add water to it to make a gravy and pour over their food,it is liver flavour,no dog can resist it! It has digestive enzymes and vits. and mins.
Sorry i dont know their u.k website,but the american one is www.nuprosupplements.com  This stuff is brilliant,check out the website and let me know what you all think?
Hope the link works??

christine

lol.... its such a shame we can't just feed the dogs all the "no no" foods we eat that make us gain the weight lol

i know what evryone is saying is probably right,but what do you do if your dog eats about half of what is put down,you lift it ,bin it,then for the next feed this is repeated,she is only eating about half of what she is supposed to be eating....can anyone advise?

Maybe she has a smaller appetite than the 'average' dog? Do you eat exactly the same amount as every other adult of about your height?

perhaps jeangeanie,but she hasn't always been like this....only in phases,she's not as big as most akitas as she is the japanese type...akita-inu,but i still don't think she is eating enough,probably worrying about nothing as she looks fine at the minute......but you do worry about them lol.

one of my elks only eats every other day...its just the way he is.He looks good and is full of life...he just doesn't need much to eat.
Archer

My bitch can be like this too. I try and feed her small meals but often

Your knowledge of Vitalin is obviusly limited, the old museli products were very basic but the new Bitch-Diet is far superior to the majority of so called super premiums. I had trouble getting the conditon and weight of my Akita right until a friend recommended the Vitalin Bitch-Diet to me at a champ show, since then I haven't looked back.