Dry dog food advice, again!!

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RunToEarth

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Morning :)

I'm stuck.

My 10month old golden retriever has been fed Acana with her becoming increasingly more fussy about it, to the point where she isn't really eating it at all. I have been mixing with chicken and fish as and when, however she still seems to be eating around the biscuits, for a retriever she isn't really motivated by food.

I was wondering whether it may be worth switching to another dry food, and looking around both Canagan and Applepaws seem to have a good crude protein content - has anyone tried either? If I do switch I think I will be erring on the side of Applepaws because I don't like the "free run chicken" wording on Canagan, anyone know what that is alluding to?
 
Maybe try Orijen? Or is now the time to switch to raw?? Go on, it's easy! Start slow, replace a few meals a week. Surely the OH can be persuaded? You could go the Nutriment ready made route if bones and lumps of meat make him nervous.
 
We're currently feeding Lukullus and the non-food led spaniel loves it. The kibble is quite large - about an inch long which is unusual, good protein comment and wheat free etc. We order it through zooplus as I've not seen it on sale elsewhere but delivery is usually =<3days
 
Golden Retrievers can be very fussy about food and not really greedy. Both mine have gone through periods of turning their noses up at food.

My puppy went through a phase of picking at her food when she was a similar age. I just offered her the food and then took it up if she didn't eat it straight away. She prefers it when mixed with a bit of hot water to make a gravy and is much better at eating if there are other dogs around!

I wouldn't worry too much about it, pretty normal for the breed. Be glad you won't have a food obsessed fattie :)
 
Thanks all. I did look at Skinners but wanted to avoid food with lots of maize in there. OH is still dubious about the raw diets, I think mainly due to the bones, but I will look at nutriment as an introduction, will also look at Lukullus.

Abb123 - thanks, that is helpful as this is my first retriever I'm flying a little bit blind. The keeper at work yesterday commented that she looked thin. She is well covered but not carrying extra weight, I took the view that I would rather have her a bit lighter as a growing, larger dog as I'm a bit neurotic about stressing on her joints whilst she is still very young.

I might get a smaller bag of orijen or applepaws today just to see whether she will eat it on its own.
 
But a lot of rice won't put weight on her, quite the reverse.

I think something wet might be more tempting. Have you tried the old tin of mackerel/sardines over the food trick? Mine like the ones in tomato sauce. Salmon oil drizzled over kibble might encourage her to eat more, plus it's great for coats/joints/skin/weight gain.
 
cinnamontoast said:
But a lot of rice won't put weight on her, quite the reverse.

I think something wet might be more tempting. Have you tried the old tin of mackerel/sardines over the food trick? Mine like the ones in tomato sauce. Salmon oil drizzled over kibble might encourage her to eat more, plus it's great for coats/joints/skin/weight gain.
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I've done quite a bit with fish - mackerel tuna etc and she will eat everything when I do this - I was sticking to tinned fish in spring water because I was a bit concerned how much salt/sugar other sauces had in them but maybe I'm being far too precious/worry wart? If tinned fish is perfectly good for them then I might continue with this for the time being.
 
I have just got my (old) setter onto Nature's Menu-he gets a mix of tins, pouches, frozen nuggets and the biscuits (I think some of their minces have bone in I think?). He's particularly partial to the salmon and the rabbit ones. Barking Heads he likes as well (they do a nice salmon one). He does get chicken wings and the odd bone as well and he's looking much better on it (he has a tom of allergies). He's never been food oriented and he started refusing kibble some years ago.
 
I would be tempted to leave it be and if she turns her nose up then she goes hungry, with my older collie I went through all of the 'oh he doesn't like it, i'll mix this in/change to this/try this new food', and in the end it didn't do him any good as he got so fussy because he had an option and thought he'd get something better if he didn't eat.

Once I got wise to him and stopped him training me then he eats well and has put on weight on a healthy diet, still has the occasional day when he doesn't eat but they are few and far between.
 
RunToEarth said:
Abb123 - thanks, that is helpful as this is my first retriever I'm flying a little bit blind. The keeper at work yesterday commented that she looked thin. She is well covered but not carrying extra weight, I took the view that I would rather have her a bit lighter as a growing, larger dog as I'm a bit neurotic about stressing on her joints whilst she is still very young.

I might get a smaller bag of orijen or applepaws today just to see whether she will eat it on its own.
Click to expand...

Don't worry about her! Young Goldens often look very slim as they have a very pointer/hound like body that you can see as they haven't grown all the hair yet. Your keeper is probably comparing her to the much more barrel shaped Labs or older Golden retrievers. They are very much supposed to have waists and be slim/athletic in build. I measured the waist on mine (14 months old) at 20.5 inches if you want something to compare to.

I would stick to the dried food that you already have her on. I'd be willing to bet she'd do exactly the same with a new food once it became normal. They just don't have a huge appetite. I add some hot water and then tasty things like potato and whatever left over food we have. If you are still a bit worried about her weight then try giving her a couple of bonios or something similar as a treat in the afternoon or even another feed. I wouldn't want to mess around too much with her food as they can have very sensitive tums.
 
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