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madmare
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Location: Essex UK
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15-03-2011, 09:11 AM

Struggling with Lily's feeding

Lily has lost a lot of weight as she is just so fussy. I have tried to tempt her with all sorts of complete foods and apart from cheap and cheerful Wagg sensitive which she nibbled at she turns her nose up and walks off. Even that now she often won't touch.
I have tried making her porrige for breakfast like she had in the kennels and which she apparently loved and she won't even take a lick. Its getting so frustrating especially as I can see even her back bone prominent now.
She will eat a bonio in 2 seconds flat and loves them, she will also eat tripe no problems, but that is not a balanced diet (although better than nothing) Mixing tripe with complete she will spend ages at the food bowl carefully extracting each bit of tripe but leaving every bit of complete. She seems hungrey as she is always sniffing round for food. I'm not sure what I can try next. I need a bonio flavour compelte food. Any ideas?.
Just to add I always remove her food bowl when kyiro has finished his (he eats his straight away) so he can't get it so its not like she can come back and pick at it, she knows if she doesn't eat it, it dissapears.
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cava14una
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15-03-2011, 09:15 AM
What about tripe and mixer?
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madmare
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15-03-2011, 09:21 AM
I havn't tried mixer although i woudl have thought that was more bland and unappetising. but worth a try I suppose.
Only problem is that won't be a balanced diet for her to stay on all the time.
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krlyr
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15-03-2011, 09:25 AM
Sorry, don't know her story, but has the vet ruled out health issues?
I would perhaps continue with the tripe for now and look at some sort of calorific supplement - like Nutri-Cal. I know some of these pastes were appetite stimulants too but not sure if that's the one that's no longer available in the UK or if it's a trait they all have. If you want to go down the herbal route then Gentian is supposed to be a natural appetite stimulant, I used it for a litter of pet rats I was handraising and it seemed to help.
Would you consider raw feeding? If she eats the tripe then this may be an option. Or how about NatureDiet? You can microwave ND to warm it up and this tempted my GSD pup who went through a very fussy stage.
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madmare
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15-03-2011, 10:10 AM
I have thought about raw feeding but am worried about getting it right and balanced as i will not feed any bones, as anytime my dogs have had raw bones in the past they have ended up in the vets very ill and needing treatment.
Then I had a friend who tried it with her dog and it choked and died on a chicken wing bone on the way to the vets. So no bones.
I have tried ND and Wainwrights and she licks at it then leaves it.
Lily was nice and healthy weight and condition wise when I got her from the greyhound rescue kennels 10 days ago. She is on antibiotics as she was in season in the kennels and had a discharge when I got her. That has cleared up now.
My vet is having her in to borrow next week to scan her heart and do a doplar test for his heart training, so if she is still losing weight I will get him to perhaps do some more thourough checks for her eating problems while she is there.
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krlyr
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15-03-2011, 10:38 AM
Personally I would get her checked out sooner rather than later - especially if she's recently had symptoms of what sounds like pyometra. Or it may be an unrelated issue - how are her teeth? Maybe it's painful for her to eat. Possibly an injury to the throat, that could be making it sore?
Some raw feeders do feed raw without bones. You could use the Prize Choice stuff which, I think, it completely balanced, or there are companies like Natural Instinct and Darling's that do a "nugget" kind of raw food which is balanced.
Alternatively I know someone on another dog forum who invested in a mincer (I think it was about £80 or so) and gets freebie/cheap bones, meat and offal from a local large catering company and makes complete, minced diet as her dog isn't "bone savvy". If I was feeding raw without bones then I think I would just up the content of "meaty" stuff as opposed to minces to help keep the teeth clean, but make sure the minces I did feed covered the required amount of bone. Some companies do minces that are quite high in bone, I think Landywood's chicken mince is quite a high portion of bone. I order from The Dogfood Company and I think Scott said the chicken mince is 10 or 20% bone so I could feed that daily or every other day and that would cover the 10% amount recommended in the prey model diet. I'd probably feed lots of tough chews like pizzle and similar for the teeth too.
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smokeybear
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15-03-2011, 10:49 AM
Obviously you need to check out her health first.

If all is clear then you need to consider whether or not you are making a rod for your own back and have developed "rescue dog" syndrome? You know where you think you have to make it up to her for her past life?

These links may be useful.

http://www.b-naturals.com/newsletter/inappetence/
http://www.b-naturals.com/newsletter/picky-eaters/
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Lynn
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15-03-2011, 10:50 AM
Hi Bev I was going to suggest the blocks of prize choice too. They do contain bone but it is ground I would think anything at the moment that helps her to eat will be better than her leaving stuff all the time.

You can get the blocks with tripe added like chicken and tripe or you could by the tripe blocks and the plain rabbit and chicken and maybe mix them and see how she goes.

Tell her aunty Lynn says she must eat something.
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kirsty_
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15-03-2011, 11:30 AM
Originally Posted by madmare View Post
Lily has lost a lot of weight as she is just so fussy. I have tried to tempt her with all sorts of complete foods and apart from cheap and cheerful Wagg sensitive which she nibbled at she turns her nose up and walks off. Even that now she often won't touch.
I have tried making her porrige for breakfast like she had in the kennels and which she apparently loved and she won't even take a lick. Its getting so frustrating especially as I can see even her back bone prominent now.
She will eat a bonio in 2 seconds flat and loves them, she will also eat tripe no problems, but that is not a balanced diet (although better than nothing) Mixing tripe with complete she will spend ages at the food bowl carefully extracting each bit of tripe but leaving every bit of complete. She seems hungrey as she is always sniffing round for food. I'm not sure what I can try next. I need a bonio flavour compelte food. Any ideas?.
Just to add I always remove her food bowl when kyiro has finished his (he eats his straight away) so he can't get it so its not like she can come back and pick at it, she knows if she doesn't eat it, it dissapears.
Hmm its odd that she will eat a bonio as they seem pretty bland but won't eat naturediet etc. Will she eat other treats or your food etc? its hard to tell if shes being fussy or its a medical problem
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Velvetboxers
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15-03-2011, 11:33 AM
Try Wainwrights wet tray food, they love that & its a complete food. When Katie goes off food (she has renal disease) i temPt her with the jars of baby food. 90% of the time they kick start her eating again. Have ti be fed off a spoon though

Raw tripe is good & fed enough will body her up. Bonio ciukd be her hard crumchy food & your vet could advise on a supplement

If her health is ok it coukd just be a case of settling into her new home. Some it takes lOnger than others
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