[BozMan]

Hi all,
New to the forum and thought this would be the best place to ask.

I have a female shiba over 1 years old. She’s spayed, currently about 27lbs. She grew up on kibble, Blue buffalo to be exact. When she was a pup, she would eat her food no problem. Over time, she seemed to get bored of it. She’d eat a few, then she was done. It continue on for a while until I started looking for other ways to interest her. I then started feeding her “The Honest Kitchen” dehydrated foods, grain free. Upon introducing it to her, I’d top her kibble with the wet food and she would INHALE her food gave her a couple weeks and she’d only eat the top wet good. Now, she’s getting bored of the wet food, even if I change the flavours up. She’ll eat a little. Then move on.

So now, I’m looking to ease her into a variety of raw foods.
I’ve been looking at local website that offer portions of raw foods (RawCo, HighCollaredRaw) but I wanted to see if anyone has suggestions on this. Trying to do my research on what foods to feed but kind of lost.
Any suggestions?? Thanks in advance

 

[storyist]

Are you sure you aren't working hard to get her to eat more than she should? 27 pounds is a lot for a Shiba bitch.

 

[BozMan]

Are you sure you aren't working hard to get her to eat more than she should? 27 pounds is a lot for a Shiba bitch.

Thanks for the response. I am not intending for her to eat more. Her weight is fine and she seems a little taller than other Shibas. But that being said, I am trying to get her to eat more consistently. I’m aiming to get her to eat at relatively the same time throughout the day. But when I provide her the first meal of the day and it’s kibble, she will pick at it. When I introduced her name Honest Kitchen dehydrated food, she ate no problem. Over time, she would start picking at her food again, having a few bites and walking off. I can’t leave this food out as it dries out and then she is definitely not interested after that.
If I have work, and she doesn’t want to eat her food that morning, then not much I can do to interest her. This weekend she went almost two days not eating a full meal. Picks at it and goes.
Im just looking for alternatives to spark her interest in eating.

 

[storyist]

By offering better and better food to entice her to eat, you're encouraging her to be pickier and pickier. The generally accepted way to stop this cycle is to decide on a good food, offer it, and if she doesn't eat it in 15 or 20 minutes, pick it up and don't offer more until the next meal time. That doesn't mean you can't put a little bit of a topper on kibble. If you do that, decide what to use and how much and that's that. I offered the example of a friend of mine in another thread. She did what you're doing and ended up enticing her dog to eat with things like salmon and filet mignon. At which point reality intruded because she couldn't afford to keep that up with a Rottweiler.

 

[BozMan]

By offering better and better food to entice her to eat, you're encouraging her to be pickier and pickier. The generally accepted way to stop this cycle is to decide on a good food, offer it, and if she doesn't eat it in 15 or 20 minutes, pick it up and don't offer more until the next meal time. That doesn't mean you can't put a little bit of a topper on kibble. If you do that, decide what to use and how much and that's that. I offered the example of a friend of mine in another thread. She did what you're doing and ended up enticing her dog to eat with things like salmon and filet mignon. At which point reality intruded because she couldn't afford to keep that up with a Rottweiler.

That makes a lot more sense. I guess I’ll stick with the honest kitchen food for now, or use it as a topper. And if she doesn’t eat, then wait for the next meal. But what if she also doesn’t want to eat that meal? ive had an instance where she went to sleep on an empty stomach and ended up vomiting the next morning, I assume from bile build up due to empty stomach. I’d begin to feel bad if that became an everyday thing. Did your friends Rottweiler end up eating consistently after that?

thanks for the replies.

 

[LeoRose]

Yep, with rare exceptions, picky eaters are made, not born. This is some good info on retraining her to eat. Teaching Your Dog to Eat | Mind to Mind

 

[DaySleepers]

I also think it's often worth trying food puzzles or stuffable chew toys like Kongs with a picky eater. Sometimes dogs (and other animals) find food they have to work for more appetizing - the concept is called contrafreeloading if you want to look up more about it. You definitely want to start with easy puzzles first so you don't shoot yourself in the foot by making things too frustrating for her to think it's worth it, but it's something to try!

 

[storyist]

Did your friends Rottweiler end up eating consistently after that?

Eventually. It takes a while to change the mind of a dog convinced he has the owner trained.

As for your girl not eating several meals in a row - since she's an adult and if you're sure she's healthy, it won't hurt her. There are some people who fast their dogs one day a week and believe it's healthy for them. Heck, there are people who do that. I don't know if it's beneficial or not, but it doesn't seem to hurt them.

 

[mtriver]

I also think it's often worth trying food puzzles or stuffable chew toys like Kongs with a picky eater. Sometimes dogs (and other animals) find food they have to work for more appetizing - the concept is called contrafreeloading if you want to look up more about it. You definitely want to start with easy puzzles first so you don't shoot yourself in the foot by making things too frustrating for her to think it's worth it, but it's something to try!

This has helped my picky eater tremendously. She had never been excited about meal time until I started feeding her kibble in the "Planet Dog Orbee-Tuff Snoop" toy. She loves rolling it around to get the kibble out. KONG toys work great too.

Agree 100% about starting with an easy toy. Because my girl is not food-motivated, more challenging toys like the "Busy Buddy Tug-A-Jug" have been a fail. She doesn't love the food enough to want to work hard at getting it out... it has to be easy. Hope that helps!