Lurcher owners - what do you feed?

[Jingleballs]

We've had our girl for almost 10 months now and she's gone from being a greedy little minx to a fussy ******.

We're at least her 4th home in her life - all we know is that she has spent some time in kennels and when we first got her she ate as though she never knew when she'd get her next feed.

She's put on weight nicely although I wouldn't have said she was too skinny when we got her.

We've always fed her on raw chicken wings or sardines in the morning and then natures menu raw mince for dinner.

She used to scoff it but gradually she's gone off the minces and will only eat the tripe or beef ones now and won't touch the chicken, lamb, turkey or rabbit once - she used to like them all.

She's also not as keen on her chicken any more and has taken to hiding them in her bed rather than eating them. She does however still scoff tuna/sardines/mackrel and loves a nice raw egg.

She will eat liver but only if it's cooked. Is happy to eat dry food or tinned food (we keep tins of chappie in case we run out of raw).

Due to the cost of the tinned fish and the wasted chicken wings I feel as though we are wasting money so want to find a better diet for her.

I'm also not sure if the tripe and beef offers enough variety for her so looking for ideas on what to feed her to make sure she gets a well balanced diet but it doesn't cost the earth!

 

[twiggy2]

can you put a picture of her up, her age and what exercise she gets?

 

[Jingleballs]

We think she's 2 years old - no older and might be a bit younger.

Exercise wise, she gets 2 good off lead runs a day and a couple of shorter walks/runs in between (my dad looks after her during the day).

Here are a couple of pictures - (hopefully it works)

 

[twiggy2]

difficult to tell from the pics how much weight she is carrying but she is not thin so maybe she is just being offered too much food, for what it is worth mine is fed skinners had lamb and rice.

looks like a happy little girl

 

[Leo Walker]

One of mine is fussy about food and if we make any sort of fuss about it at all she wont eat at all. We are used to her now, food down, if its not eaten back in the fridge till next time. There are certain things she loves, ribs, fish, chicken feet and heart. She will usually eat those but still sometimes has her moments! Luckily my other dog is a first class pig so anything not eaten by Flossie is eaten with delight by Dylan :lol: If she has a serious hunger strike she will always eat fresh food from Morrisons etc, so long as its not liver or kidney, they are apparently posion :lol:

We also have a rule of no bones or wing etc in the house as they do seem to decide to hide them sometimes!

I'd keep on with the raw. Get some from somewhere like Manifold Valley Meats, it cheaper than pre packaged but is still very good quailty, then try her on some different things. And make sure your not reacting at all. Sometimes when they get fussy you give off all sorts of signals without even knowing. Both of mine are very sensitive to human emotions and react in a way I would consider completely over the top in most other dogs!

 

[Nicnac]

James Welbeloved Turkey and Rice for the lurcher and the Flattie. Both look good on it.

 

[Bosworth]

For my lurchers, whippets and bedlington I always offered only one feed a day, of raw. And I am afraid its take it or leave it. My little beddy will sometime decide he doesnt want to eat his, but my whippet normally eats hers, and saves a small amount to eat in the morning. I have tried reducing the amount I give her, but she always saves a small amount till morning. I dont panic if they dont eat what I give them, i used to worry about the beddy as he was an horrendous fusspot with food. Now I dont. I found with 2 feeds a day they didnt really want that, one feed a day, and they are less fussy

 

[NeverSayNever]

bowl down, in her crate - no eye contact , no fuss and walk away. Give her 10 mins and when you return if she hasn’t eaten just remove it She won’t starve herself, promise!

 

[Carlosmum]

bowl down, in her crate - no eye contact , no fuss and walk away. Give her 10 mins and when you return if she hasn’t eaten just remove it She won’t starve herself, promise!

I do this. Normally she will eat but occasionally not at breakfast, so the bowl goes up on the shelf till supper time. I'm feeding Skinners turkey & rice to a Beddy x whippet.

 

[cremedemonthe]

My Lurcher gets raw meat and bones, I make sure I vary it enough so there's no boredom, unless she's feeling under the weather (very very rare) she always scoffs the lot as do my other 2 dogs

 

[{97702}]

I feed mine raw (from Manifold Valley Meats) and it is always gone within 30 seconds She is a lovely girl, so pretty

Before I moved mine onto a raw diet I fed them Skinners Duck & Rice, I rate this is a product but they look miles better on raw.

 

[Chiffy]

My lurcher is fed twice a day, small breakfast, larger supper. Skinners salmon and rice with a table spoon or so of Butchers Superior tinned food just to make it look more appetising (probably just to me, I know!) Although nervous when first rescued, she has never been difficult to feed. If she ever leaves a meal (rarely), I just take it away and she has nothing until the next meal time. Unlike some retriever breeds, lurchers, whippets etc are not usually greedy and will self-regulate. Lovely dog OP and she doesn't look thin. As other posters have said, don't pander to her whims!

 

[Nudibranch]

I have a saluki, so not strictly a lurcher but she is a fussy beggar, as is the dachshund. They will only eat raw now, I use RawToGo after someone on here recommended them. They send the meat in the right meat/fat/bone ratio and they love it. I only feed them once a day. The saluki won't touch any of the prepared foods, and it seems that the more expensive and healthy the brand, the less she likes it!

 

[splashgirl45]

I feed james wellbeloved turkey and rice and put a little something on the top to encourage her to start eating...can be tuna, chicken, jwb wet pouch, fish or even a rich tea biscuit. she is quite fussy and if I just put the dry food down she wont eat. I feed 2 thirds of her meal in the morning after her long walk and the other third in the evening after her short walk and this works well for me..

 

[TGM]

Mine is on Burns fish and rice, only thing that doesn't upset her tum.

 

[ChesnutsRoasting]

We've had our girl for almost 10 months now and she's gone from being a greedy little minx to a fussy ******.

We're at least her 4th home in her life - all we know is that she has spent some time in kennels and when we first got her she ate as though she never knew when she'd get her next feed.

She's put on weight nicely although I wouldn't have said she was too skinny when we got her.

We've always fed her on raw chicken wings or sardines in the morning and then natures menu raw mince for dinner.

She used to scoff it but gradually she's gone off the minces and will only eat the tripe or beef ones now and won't touch the chicken, lamb, turkey or rabbit once - she used to like them all.

She's also not as keen on her chicken any more and has taken to hiding them in her bed rather than eating them. She does however still scoff tuna/sardines/mackrel and loves a nice raw egg.

She will eat liver but only if it's cooked. Is happy to eat dry food or tinned food (we keep tins of chappie in case we run out of raw).

Due to the cost of the tinned fish and the wasted chicken wings I feel as though we are wasting money so want to find a better diet for her.

I'm also not sure if the tripe and beef offers enough variety for her so looking for ideas on what to feed her to make sure she gets a well balanced diet but it doesn't cost the earth!

If she eats tripe, feed her tripe. Once a day. If she's an adult, she doesn't need breakfast. Trust me, one meal a day is suffice.

 

[littlebranshill]

The thing is don't panic. My 5 yr old lurcher is exactly the same. He eats one sort of food for about 6 weeks and then refuses it. It used to worry me but I am used to it now and just vary it as much as I can. He seems to get to an optimum weight and then self regulates himself. Your girl looks just right so maybe she is doing the same. He also doesn't really like breakfast much so just gets a couple of handfuls of kibble. At the moment his main meal is tins of Butchers tripe with kibble. Last thing at night he usually polishes off another bowl of food. He does quite like the moist Bakers food which I know some people will throw their hands up in horror but, hey, whatever works. He is currently on Burns kibble but have used most of the makes now! I also used to make my own food using cooked chicken, rice, eggs etc etc but he went off that as well! Now and again I cook up a chicken for him but he only likes it warm!!!!!! I do live to serve him and not the other way round - a typical lurcher!

 

[JulesRules]

Mine is a cross breed but she looks a bit lurchery! ( ie skinny with long legs)

Anyway, she wouldn't touch the kibble when we got her so we put her on raw. We use Raw Menu. They have a good variety of ground meat/bone, balanced dinners which include salmon oil and veg or just raw meaty bones and we just vary her diet with all of these including tripe, lamb, beef chicken etc

She also get the odd tinned fish or egg as well as treats which are usually things like chickens feet, cows ears, trotters, liver jerky, sprats etc

Just a thought but are you weighing the food? With raw the right amount always looks a bit stingy to me and its easy to ovrfeed...so maybe your dog is leaving the food as its not needed?

I guess it could be worth trying a different brand of raw to see if a change helps?.

 

[amy_b]

My lurcher has a bowl of Science Plan Advanced fitness, I have always been of the rule whereby the bowl gets picked up after ten minutes and that's that, however with my lurcher I have buckled and she gets the bowl in the evening and in the morning it gets picked up as she won't eat with anything anywhere going on unless we are with her and i refuse to keep her company while she eats her dinner when I have stuff to be getting on with! She has phases where she eats less but it doesn't last long and she looks brilliant. She has two good flinger sessions a day and a couple of short walks, then at weekends is at the yard with me.

Yours looks in good shape to me so I wouldn't worry, they seem to be very good at only eating as much as they need to

Other good ones are Millie's Wolfheart and Barking Heads, both have very high meat content.