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flowisp
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12-12-2007, 07:37 PM

Please help, Flower is soooo fussy

I am currently feeding Flower and Willow on Skinners field and trial puppy kibble with a little butchers meat mixed in. I started with pure kibble, which Flower ate to start with, but then wouldnt eat anymore even though I varied the flavours. I added butchers, but she has now gone off that...and once again tonight I am cooking her chicken!! She is a slender dog anyway and I dont want her to get thin. I keep getting scowled upon because Im cooking for her....but she needs food!!

Willow will eat anything but Im struggling with Flower, she is never interested in food? I know if I put my dinner down on the floor she would gobble it up, but she wont eat what I give her, and I have varied it so many times Im stuck....arrrghhhh

Please help....
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Mahooli
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12-12-2007, 07:53 PM
I think she has you very well trained :smt002
You just need to have more will power than she does. Keeping chopping and changing will just make her more fussy. If she's healthy she wont starve herself!
Becky
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Malady
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12-12-2007, 07:54 PM
Originally Posted by annajennison View Post
I started with pure kibble, which Flower ate to start with, but then wouldnt eat anymore even though I varied the flavours. I added butchers, but she has now gone off that...and once again tonight I am cooking her chicken!!

I have varied it so many times Im stuck....arrrghhhh
She's training you well isn't she

Many dogs will start trying for different things, especially when they smell your food.

The fact that she will gobble your food means it's not a medical issue, but a 'being fussy cos she can' issue.

Put her kibble on the floor, wait 20 minutes, if she hasn't eaten it, take it up, and feed her again TOMORROW at the normal time.

DO NOT be tempted to offer it to her again later, and then later again, etc or you will just go round in circles.

Dogs will not starve themselves, but they will sulk for food they really want, hence making you change it so often

I did what you are doing for 2 years with my older dog.............never again, the cheeky beggar had us running ragged thinking he was going off food ! Dogs can be scavengers, so don't think they don't like their food, most just want something different and because you have obeyed them, they know they have that choice now.

Persevere, don't give in, and within a week she will be eating her food. If she is given no choice, she HAS no choice but to eat it.

HTH
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Mummy2Max
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12-12-2007, 07:56 PM
Sounds like you have a case of fussy-collie-itis! Max is exactly the same. He'll eat something new for the first few days, then goes right off of it.

The danger with changing foods all of the time, and cooking for her when she doesn't eat is that she will become a fussier eater than she already is.

Is it possible for you to feed both of the girls seperately? If you can find a way to do this, put Flower's food down for 20 minutes, and whatever she doesn't eat, even if it's her whole meal, gets taken away, and nothing else is given until the next meal time. It worked with Max, she should soon get the idea that if she doesn't eat her food when put down, she doesn't eat at all (obviously I'm not suggesting that you starve her ). It took about a week for Max to get the idea properly, but he certainly didn't starve for that week as he would eat what I gave him when hungry.

He still has the occasional fussy week now but I tend to just let him get on with it. He's healthy enough at the moment and has a good covering over his ribs - if he started to drop weight obviously I would be concerned.

Give it a go and see how you get on
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Malady
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12-12-2007, 08:02 PM
Originally Posted by Mummy2Max View Post
He still has the occasional fussy week now but I tend to just let him get on with it. He's healthy enough at the moment and has a good covering over his ribs - if he started to drop weight obviously I would be concerned.
Yes, My older boy is still the same and often still has the odd week where he thinks something better will come along alas I'm not under his 'starving puppy eyes' "Spell" anymore :smt042
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Meg
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12-12-2007, 08:12 PM
Hi Anne I confess I have struggled with Millie's food, Minis are usually sooo greedy but not this one .

She came with a supply of Royal Canine puppy which she eats with little enthusiasm most of the time, my vet says it is a good food and it agrees with Millies tummy.I tried her with samples of other high quality puppy foods but she wouldn't eat them preferring worms/slugs/snails and anything that smells nasty

I think some kibble just doesn't have enough smell, smell is more important to dogs than taste so a little of something strong smelling rubbed into the kibble can make it more appetising .

I would like to feed fresh home cooked food to Millie but I am 'growing a dog' here and you only get one chance to do that (so you need to get the proportions of essential nutrients right, in the past when feeding fresh and before the invention of kibble I relied on variety to do this ) . She loves 'Nature Diet' puppy and I cook chicken quarters covers in foil with herbs and save the jelly to add to her food which she also loves,(I cook four at once then strip the bones and freeze the meat in double portions) she also loves cheese/sardines/any meat/eggs and some veg.

Now I know about the manufacturers instructions regarding adding things to kibble and 'unbalancing the diet' and people saying about 'making a puppy fussy' but growing a strong healthy dog is the most important consideration to me and slightly 'unbalanced' is better than having a thin light boned adult dog. Anyway I have been cooking food for/feeding dogs longer than the manufacturers have been producing kibble, and most of my dogs live to be very old so I have no worries there. I am also aware if I offer kibble and Millie won't eat it that if I wait long enough she will eat it ,but I am not prepared to do this while she is growing.

So I would suggest a good complete ' kibble ' to get all the nutrients with a small amount of strong smelly food well rubbed in to make Flower interested (warming the 'wet' part of the food makes it smell stronger too) .

Added Millie is doing well on this regime and growing into a very strong little dog built like a rugby player all muscle and very little fat .
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flowisp
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12-12-2007, 08:43 PM
Thank you everyone, your advice is helpful... The main problem I have is I have a little scavenger in the house...she is small,white and fluffy and goes by the name of willow wisp wisp.. and as soon as her food is gone...she tries to steal Flowers!! Flowers food is fed in a holder which makes it harder for Willow to reach...but not impossible! I struggle to leave flowers down for her to eat for 20 minutes!!

I may try just leaving flower in the kitchen and taking flower out of the room (i guess I will have to bite the bullet) I know Flower will probably not eat for a few days until she is really hungry...thats what worries me, as she is an ebergetic collie, with hardly any meat on her anyway!!lol!! She is very slight, and always has been!!

xxx
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jess
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14-12-2007, 10:17 AM
No offence to anyone here, but personally I don't like the term ''dogs won't starve themselves''....
You couldn't pay me to feed commerical dog food, however if you didn't feed me anything for a week I would eat it myself, as the inbuilt mechanism for survival would kick in, and common sense (for long term survival) would go out the window.
I see it the same with dogs, you can starve them until they eat it... but what is going on.
It could be that they can sense that it is not 'food' and you may well think of that as daft, but my completely raw fed dog Akela who has never had dog food has many times refused to eat a dry food, she sniffs at it and looks at the person who has offered it as if they were mad.
Most 'oils and fats' listed on dog foods are pre-cooked that have been collected from resturants. They have already been used in cooking and are sprayed on pet foods because they 'taste' vaguely of the foods they were cooked in. 'Oils and fats' might seem like something your dog needs, when in actual fact they are used for palatability - without them the kibble is dry cardboard that most dogs (maybe labs!) wouldn't look twice at.

People feeding raw/natural diets will know that to prevent oils going off and turning carcinogenic they should be kept cool and in the dark...

My personal feeling is that if we are having to starve an animal to get them to eat - Especially if that animal will eat other food (you said that your dog will take your cooked food) then we have gone wrong somewhere.

In summary my advice would be to look into a natural balanced diet for her, perhaps in time you might look back and see her annoying habit as a good thing...
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flowisp
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14-12-2007, 10:30 AM
Originally Posted by jess View Post
No offence to anyone here, but personally I don't like the term ''dogs won't starve themselves''....
You couldn't pay me to feed commerical dog food, however if you didn't feed me anything for a week I would eat it myself, as the inbuilt mechanism for survival would kick in, and common sense (for long term survival) would go out the window.
I see it the same with dogs, you can starve them until they eat it... but what is going on.
It could be that they can sense that it is not 'food' and you may well think of that as daft, but my completely raw fed dog Akela who has never had dog food has many times refused to eat a dry food, she sniffs at it and looks at the person who has offered it as if they were mad.
Most 'oils and fats' listed on dog foods are pre-cooked that have been collected from resturants. They have already been used in cooking and are sprayed on pet foods because they 'taste' vaguely of the foods they were cooked in. 'Oils and fats' might seem like something your dog needs, when in actual fact they are used for palatability - without them the kibble is dry cardboard that most dogs (maybe labs!) wouldn't look twice at.

People feeding raw/natural diets will know that to prevent oils going off and turning carcinogenic they should be kept cool and in the dark...

My personal feeling is that if we are having to starve an animal to get them to eat - Especially if that animal will eat other food (you said that your dog will take your cooked food) then we have gone wrong somewhere.

In summary my advice would be to look into a natural balanced diet for her, perhaps in time you might look back and see her annoying habit as a good thing...

So what diet might you suggest I try? Im not sure where to start, I didnt make her any chicken last night and she didnt eat at all xx
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jess
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14-12-2007, 10:54 AM
''In summary my advice would be to look into a natural balanced diet for her''

It is a huge subject, and shouldn't be taken on lightly, however it does get easier in time once you know the basics. Google 'natural diet for dogs' and have some time...there is alot of info out there now!

There is not one dog food that I would recommend, as I have a problem with trust (!) however why not learn how to read the ingredient labels so you can make yout own informed desicion. It has to come from you I am afraid...
Let us know how you get on and if your babe starts to enjoy her meals (and if her mum does too!)

p.s. remember that while cooking human food is a million times better than dog food (in my and countless others opinions) you are destroying important nutrients in the cooking process, and dogs are carnivoures - able to cope with raw meat better than we can. Good luck in your search...
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