Recommend me a dog food.

MrsElle

MrsElle

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Elsie eats very little, perhaps two mug fulls of dried food on a good day. Often it is less.

She came to us two weeks with a bag of Bakers (food of the devil!) but since it ran out we have given her the same as our other dogs are on, a working dog mix. However, she eats even less of that. She isn't in the least bit interested in food. I bought chicken wings, she wasn't bothered. She turns her nose up at all doggie treats and will not go anywhere near chews and bones. The only thing she will eat with any interest is cheese, and even that doesn't create a huge spark of excitement - the others would go mad for cheese!

So, what is a good nutritious food to try her on next?
 
i feed james wellbeloved turkey and rice kibble as my lucher has colitis and she does very well on it. i just put a little bit of cooked chicken, drained tuna or cooked fish with it to tempt her as she is very picky and this seems to work. (i also give the same to my collie/lab but she doesnt really need tempting!) what breed is she? and is she thin? have you posted pics and ive missed them? have you tried making a little bit of gravy and putting this with the current dried food? lots of people on here have recommended fish4dogs.....
 
Orijen or Fish4dogs but ask for samples to see if she likes it. My Dobes are on Skinners Duck & rice as its for working dogs there is no vat. The Dobes will eat anything which is bliss but the Lancashire Heeler pup is so fussy, I tend to alternate her food,Orijen,raw & tinned sardines in oil. I also grate carrot,free range egg just to make it more interesting. I dont normally give into faddy eaters but she is still growing and belongs to my daughter and her bf and they are away on holiday for 5weeks so she is my responsibility.:eek::)
 
I would recommend Orijen. Our JRT puppy is doing very well on it. His coat is amazing! It is expensive but money can be saved if you buy the larger bags. You could also look at Acana which is a little bit cheaper, if the price of Orijen is a bit much.
 
If you are going down the dry route get Skinners instead of JWB as its hypoallergenic etc BUT is half the price of JWB and some one else has said as it is for working dogs it is also VAT free:) If necessary add hot water as it makes a 'gravy' to tempt them:)

Would agree with lexie - tripe:eek:

When you feed her how long do you leave the food for?:confused: it may also be that she isn't totally settled yet:o
 
She's a rottie Splashgirl, and at the moment is 'ok' weight wise. I wouldn't like to see her lose any though.

She really isn't interested in food at all. We have tried fish, eggs, raw minced beef and lamb, cooked minced beef and lamb, chicken, the Bakers, and the working dog mix the others are on (local feed merchants own brand).

I will try to get some samples of the recommended stuff :)

I have never come accross a dog with such a low interest in food. She doesn't eat the cat food, we can leave our meals within reach and she doesn't even sniff, there is just zero interest.

When she went to the vets last week she had her teeth looked at as we wondered if she had toothache. She does have quite bad plaque build up at the back one side which will be removed when she is spayed, but the vet didn't think Elsies teeth were giving her any problems.

Elsie has plenty of energy, runs at full pelt constantly while chasing a ball on the beach for an hour plus, and destroys her balls, so teeth are ok for chewing them!

She is a strange beast indeed but already has many admirers in other dog walkers on the beach, and a lot of potential doggie enemies who sit giving her the evils when their owners are fawning all over her :D
 
I would leave her food for about 15 minutes then take it away.

Have you tried her with a nice fresh bone from the butchers?:confused: give it to her and leave her with it - mine have theirs in the garden. Will help keep her teeth clean so no need for vets in future:D My old spaniel is nearly 14 and has always had bones - never had doggy breath or any dental work done:D My Lab also has sparkly gnashers:D I get bones etc from my butchers including pigs heads. One last my Lab a day - no other food just a pigs head - wears him out as well:D I am sure she will soon get the hang of fresh bones:D
 
Yep, tried fresh bones! After two days we had to give it to the other dogs so it didn't make the house smell :D

She doesn't go near her food during the day, the only time she will eat is at night. She sleeps in our room but I hear her go downstairs in the night, hear her crunching away on her food then she comes back upstairs to sleep.

I am at a loss to be honest, I have never met a dog like Elsie when it comes to eating.
 
If she is used to having her dinner at night - just feed her once a day at night - put it down leave it for 15/20 minutes and then pick it up if she doesn't eat it. She is a smart dog she weill soon get the message that then is when food is available. Our old setter was a bit like that when we rescued her - we talked to the vet who told us to do that. She said she woul probably only miss out on her dinner once or twice before realising that it was dinner time:) She did miss her dinner once or twice but that was it:D Green tripe was also her favourite so worth getting hold of some as they really do LOVE tripe:D
 
I will try putting her food down for just 15 minutes and see how she goes :) It is a bit of an alien concept for us as we have always free fed our dogs, but one can but try it!

I will also nip to the butchers tomorrow and see if they have any tripe. If they don't we will have to wait until our next trip to the 'big town' as it is a 3 hour round trip, no not a 'nip to the pet shop' type journey, lol!

I am sure she will be fine, as you say, she probably hasn't settled in properly yet. We are her fourth home in four months, so she is bound to be a bit freaked out.
 
The other thing is make a up a small cup of Bovril and tip that over her food - its hot beefy smell is also yummy for dogs so may tempt her - and easy to get hold of;):D

Green tripe is from pet shops BTW not butchers:) if there is a Pets At Home or soemthing like that in your 'big' town call them and see if they can get it for you if they don't have it in stock:)
 
http://www.petforums.co.uk/dog-health-nutrition/189896-dry-dog-food-index.html

http://www.petforums.co.uk/dog-health-nutrition/194976-wet-dog-food-index.html

If the working dog food is full of cereals, then quite likely she's not finding it appetising. You can disguise the taste with Bovril etc, but ultimately, if it's poor quality, she's not finding it tasty etc, I'd switch her onto a high quality food.

Would you consider wet food or even raw? Raw would solve the teeth issue and is probably the cheapest feeding method around.
 
not had any experience of rotties , i would do as others have said and only put food down once a day(evenings if she prefers) then take up. as she eats during the night maybe she is a little worried about eating when other people/dogs are around. she is prob still a little unsettled as she has been to a few different homes recently . as she is not actually thin it wont hurt her to miss a couple of meals, im sure once she settles she will be fine......
 
MrsElle said:
I will try putting her food down for just 15 minutes and see how she goes :) It is a bit of an alien concept for us as we have always free fed our dogs, but one can but try it!

I will also nip to the butchers tomorrow and see if they have any tripe. If they don't we will have to wait until our next trip to the 'big town' as it is a 3 hour round trip, no not a 'nip to the pet shop' type journey, lol!

I am sure she will be fine, as you say, she probably hasn't settled in properly yet. We are her fourth home in four months, so she is bound to be a bit freaked out.
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MrsElle, There's a new raw food supplier just starting out. They are based on the coast in mid/north wales somewhere (can't remember exactly), they deliver to our area & are very helpful. They stock green tripe so that may be an option. If you want some urgently I have some in the freezer & we could meet somewhere in the middle if that's any help.

link to supplier www.cymraegblaidd.com <http://www.cymraegblaidd.com>
 
Tried bovril, that didn't work.

We have tried raw beef and lamb, which she just nibbled at. Raw meaty bones were of no interest either.

The vet is happy with her weight (can feel ribs but not see them when stood), but said she wouldn't like to see her any thinner. You can see the vague outline of her ribs when she lays down flat.

I will give the raw food supplier a ring Davisn, get them to drop me some green tripe off. We are not far from Barmouth so pretty close to the supplier, they are just over the river in Fairbourne :)

Thanks for all the advice, I am sure we will eventually find something that will tempt her to eat :)
 
My boxer is a fussy eater and only eats because he is worried that the other dog will get it.
We changed him onto barking heads, he loved it at first then turned his nose up, when back to the shop and they suggested adding warm water and leave it to cool and soak in, made a massive difference eats every mouthful twice a day.
 
Bet you a tenner she will eat minced green tripe! :) You can get it delivered- unless you live in the middle of nowhere- which by the sounds of things you may well do!
 
I have one that's picky and he's a big fan of the tripe. :)

Mine basically eat raw but do have a handful of kibble in the morning if they want it and I have it for staying away. The picky one will eat Barking Heads or Orijen. The Orijen is pretty high powered so if she's not eating much it would be a good one to try. And I'm not just saying that because it's Canadian. ;)

Funny about the eating at night. I had a dog that looked like a coyote (probably some sort of husky cross but she really did look freakishly like a coyote and had some VERY undoggy inclinations, like a fondness for climbing!) and she self-fed dry food but it was not uncommon for her to eat nothing for a couple of days then get up in the middle of the night and finish her bowl. She would SOMETIMES eat when she came in in the evening, but very rarely. I would say she ran up a bit light but she was also very active and never got any lighter, so clearly she knew what she was doing. She also had no trouble keeping warm - she used to lie out on the snow in -20C and sunbathe!
 
No photos on the computer, I'm afraid. She predated the internet. ;)

It was back in Canada, so perhaps slightly less unusual, although she was a VERY strange dog. One barn/yard (depending on where you're from) I rented was sort of set into a hill and she used to climb up a wall, onto the roof, then walk over to the other side and sit over the doors then bark at people when they walked out! You've never seen people jump like that! I stopped her doing it when there were horses going in and out, obviously, but she did love it so she was allowed up there the rest of the time. She had a similar game in parking lots, where she'd sit in my pick-up cab - always in the driver's seat - and wait until someone walked by then go Cujo on them. Again, not very funny if you were on the receiving end but hilarious otherwise. :)

She did used to lock me out of the old truck quite often, though. It was a diesel so had to be left running in the winter if I stopped at the post office or something. No one was going to be stealing it with her in it so I often left it unlocked but more than once she stood on the button and locked me out!! Once she did it when I was alone at a strange farm. :mad: Luckily the truck was old style and by that point it had got pretty easy to break into from repeated episodes like that. :)

If the coyotes came around the farm she used to go visit, usually standing on a mound/wall/round bale etc. and barking at them. I think they were very confused by her - she looked like them but sounded like a dog. And I don't think she was saying nice things to them. Her favourite winter game was digging the partially frozen mice out of the round bales in the morning and then throwing them around for a bit. :(

She also slept in the bottom of a closet by choice. Odd dog. She was great but like a lot of those types of dogs, quite leery or strangers and inclined to be defensive. I got her because friends of friends left her with me for a week while they moved house - ostensibly - then never came back!! They wouldn't take my calls either, so I clued in pretty quickly. Oddly, she never showed the slightest sign of missing them but was often very difficult when I left her, doing things like digging under my father's porch and staying there for days, refusing to come out or even eat!! Great dog but not for the faint of heart. :)
 
I've got an elderly, mega fussy lurcher. She's always been a nightmare with food. She used to go days without eating then would eat 3 meals in one day! I tend to have her on burns as it seems to suit dogs with small appetites & now I have 2 other dogs the competition greatly improved her appetite! Sometimes all she'll eat for a day or so is Bonio's so I give her loads of those as she seems better with any food going through her. I do the food stays down for set period of time thing as well(also the jrt would scoff it all if it got left down!) I also top their good with dome wet food-usually nature diet or something similar. She really loves strong smelling,fishy food so if she's going off her food I get the salmon & prawn nature diet or a tin of tuna. Also cheapo aldi salmon paste works a treat as well. She's driven me to distraction over the years but you do get used to them being not food motivated! However I do love my jrt as he eats anything you put in front of him & yesterday he spent ages grovelling a piece of dried pasta out from under the fridge then happily crunched it down!
 
Bizarrely, competition seemed to make my fussy one even worse. Now, if I don't watch him, if he isn't keen on his dinner he'll let the other dog, who is much quicker, finish it then pretend he's eaten and is still hungry! Interestingly, she knows if it's something he likes and doesn't even lurk those days.
 
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