Finicky Eater

[NorthJerseyRott]

I'm back with another question I hope offers me some guidance. We picked up our puppy from the breeder last week and brought her home. She is 12 weeks old eating, sleeping, playing great.

Here's where I am going, she was feed BARF by the breeder after she was weened from her mother. I would like to continue this with her, however, I would also like her to eat high quality kibble also which she has no interest in at all :( . Will she eat the kibble when she is hungery? or are rottties determined enough to put themselves on a hunger strike until the BARF comes out of the fridge again? I've tried blending kibble with BARF, etc, etc.

Thanks

[JD102175]

Have you tried blending the kibble with some canned food of the same brand? That may help entice your pup to eat the kibble.

Jaime

[samanthac]

Originally Posted by NorthJerseyRott

Here's where I am going, she was feed BARF by the breeder after she was weened from her mother. I would like to continue this with her, however, I would also like her to eat high quality kibble also which she has no interest in at all :( . Will she eat the kibble when she is hungery? or are rottties determined enough to put themselves on a hunger strike until the BARF comes out of the fridge again? I've tried blending kibble with BARF, etc, etc.

Put some kibble in a container. Fill it with water and let it soak overnight..should be mushy. Put the amount of mushy kibble you want in a bowl and nuke it for 30 seconds. Put it in her dish and add a tsp of plain yogurt and some raw ground beef or ground chicken. Mix very well until the consistency of canned food. Offer RMBs one or two days per week and some canned fish with vit c and e one other meal per week. Oh yeah and you can throw in some VERY lightly scrambled egg one or two days per week as well. Top off with large raw chew bones a couple times per week and voile, youa re feeding kibble and raw....best of both worlds. Lots of people are feeding this way now.

[mmgy]

Originally Posted by samanthac

Mix very well until the consistency of canned food.

Or just use canned food. ;)

.............which I was going to suggest anyway. In terms of processing, canned is somewhere in between raw and kibble anyway, so why not use it for a while? At least during your transition, until you and your puppy get into a routine.

[samanthac]

Originally Posted by mmgy

Or just use canned food. ;)

Except that I find canned food more expensive believe it or not based on the volume you have to feed even to a puppy! I have found that it is actually cheaper to buy the kibble and add the yogurt, ground meat, eggs, etc, than it is to feed a solely canned diet...unless you are feeding a really crappy kibble...YUCK! :)

[mmgy]

You're right about cost, but if they're wanting to use kibble for convenience's sake, then paying for canned for a short period of time would be a convenience too.

And actually, I wasn't thinking about feeding canned exclusively, I would mix the kibble and canned. And you can cut back on the canned as the puppy gets more accustomed to eating kibble.

[NorthJerseyRott]

Thanks for your responses. I'll try it out and see what happens.

[NorthJerseyRott]

Samatha,

I worked great! I soaked some kibble in water overnight and mixed it in with her Oma's Pride. She seemed to enjoy it!

Thanks

[samanthac]

Great. I am glad to hear that solution worked.

If she persists in being finiky, which she very well may after a few days, apply the 10 minute rule. Food down 10 minutes. Even if they are still eating 10 minutes later, up the food goes and NOTHING, no treats, no human food, no nothing until her next scheduled meal. Repeat until she is eating consistently. If she misses a meal or two or even three it won't kill her.

The 10 minute rule sounds mean, but what happens is that people tend to squash the dog's food drive by feeding on a set schedule or feeding all the time. So the he dog never gets hungry in the head (not the belly, the head). He's never had to work for his dinner like his wild ancestors do...notice that wild dogs in the wild do not pace themselves. They eat with gusto because they have to work hard for their food. Our dogs do not have to work for their food because we satisfy the drive with regularity by just giving them their food. They don't have to do a darn thing for it which goes against all their instincts and only serves to make them lazy.

Since most people use food as part of their training, you can see just how valuable food drive can be in your arsenal of training tools - why deliberately squash it? In training the dogs have to work for their food, why not in everyday life?

Make your dog work for their food (even if it is only a short OB routine with dinner as the reward) and apply the 10 minute rule when necessary and I guarantee you will no longer deal with finicky animals.