Please advise me what to feed my puppy - she has stopped eating!

R2R

R2R

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I posted a week ago about my puppy not eating her dried dog food...I have done the twice a day, 10 mins down then pick up thing for the past week and she is still not interested. She does, however, have an appetite, just not for her dried kibble (we have tried her on Royal Canin – which she had from weaning, and also James Wellbeloved, a mixture of both, and a mixture of both with gravy)

I finally gave in last night and bought her some natural chicken and rice moist dog food which she ate in 30 seconds flat and then picked up her bowl and dropped it at my feet as if to say “thats better can I have some more” – cue me feeling really guilty. She is fine in herself.

I obviously don’t want her to starve so, having tried for a week, have to accept the fact the puppy wins and maybe dried dog food is not for her.

My question is what is the best thing to feed her? She is a 6 month old Tibetan terrier. I don’t know if work load is relevant to dogs but she is very active and when not at the yard running about is walked three or four times a day (mostly 4), as well as having ‘ad lib’ access to the garden via the dog flap.

I would rather have the simplest option available – we live in London etc so need an easy option. I don’t mind ordering online though! I also feel odd about feeding her mush – for some reason I think something to chew on would be far better for her teeth and gums, but maybe I am wrong. Budget not really a problem as we have got used to feeding RC!!!

Thanks!
 
Sensible Girl!!

Why not try her on raw, for one her size you can get all you need from the local butcher or Supermarket, she would be on human grade natural food that you know the source of with no grain or carbs, no additives, preservatives or flavourings. If you feed a variety of raw meaty bones and offal over a week all her nutritional needs would be met, her teeth will be clean and she will be satisfied by her meals and not begging for more?

Living where you do you could buy her meals every now and then and not need a freezer or to buy in big bulk, just buy a pack of meat/bones and feed it for a couple of days then feed another item for a couple of days, a bit of liquidised or steamed veg and you are away.
 
I would suggest raw. However if you don't have the additional space for RAW/BARF diet, or you are a bit worried your dog may not be getting everything it needs, as I know RAW diet at first is a bit daunting(you have to make sure you are feeding the right balance etc); maybe an alternative you could look into is Natures Menu, Natures Diet or Natures Harvest. All of thee can be googled... I would reccommend the first 2 highly, but I haven't got experiance in feeding Natures Harvest.
 
Thank you! Is there a website where I can read up about raw?

Spottyappy was looking at the Natures menu, does it have bones in? If not, what can I give her to crunch on?
 
The best one for you would be the Ian Billinghurst's book Grow Your Pups on Bones, Amazon do it with free postage. He is a vet and has written several books about feeding raw. Bones are vital in the diet as they are a dogs natural fibre and provide all of its mineral needs plus essential fatty acids, a real power food. The pet food raw meat available in the UK is not always human grade and does not have any bone content, some of them add veg as bulk and some have cereals in them. But chewing bones is really important too in making their meals more fulfilling and cleaning teeth.

With a freezer and a friendly butcher or two I can feed my two for about 60p a day all human grade apart from tripe, which I buy in chunks in pets at home.
 
Just a thought but before embarking on a new feeding regime.....get her teeth looked at. At her age she may be losing puppy teeth and it could be that the reluctance to eat anything other than mush is caused by discomfort somewhere.
 
spaniel said:
Just a thought but before embarking on a new feeding regime.....get her teeth looked at. At her age she may be losing puppy teeth and it could be that the reluctance to eat anything other than mush is caused by discomfort somewhere.
Click to expand...

I did think that Spaniel - she is looking her teeth at the moment. She is also, however, very keen to chew everything and anything (read shoes here!!!) and get her nashers round the marrow bones I give her....
 
To keep her occupied I would buy a kong and put her food in there, and freeze it... This will keep her occupied for longer, as well as working her jaw to get to the food.

As for chewing, I would go to your local butcher and ask for some bones.. Something like chicken wings/thighs, or turkey wings. These generally go down with dogs and are not rich (which could potentially make yours dogs poos soft). You can get chicken/turkey from supermarkets also, I would purchase the ones that are reduced and then re-freeze them.

Places like pets at home, pet supermaket, and planet pets sell pigs or cow ears... These are brilliant chews for dogs. Cows chews are generally cheaper, and lower in fat than pigs ears.

Another source that provides good bones is Landywoods. However, there is a minimum purchase of £30? (Maybe £40) and depending on where you live, there may be restricted delivery. Yahoo group BritBarf is a great place for information of feeding raw/Barf etc. As with Landywoods you get so much for your money, people on there generally group together and share the purchase. I would watch Marrow bones as they are quite hard and quite rich for dogs, and should be introduced slowly.

Natures Diet had ground bone in it.
 
I don't tend to feed beef bones as they are hard being from older animals and because they fight I cannot leave them with bones! Also Beef bones are not as nutritious as chicken or lamb, they are much lower in essential fatty acids are hard on teeth and are usually stripped of most of their flesh. Nutrition wise chicken are the best and for first time feeders and puppies I would recommend the supermarket ones as they are softer as the animals are younger and build up to older chickens and turkey bits as they can be a little hard to start with.
 
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