I'm afraid I have come to the conclusion they are as fussy as you let them be, late Rosie chi was so fussy I ended up buying lamb cutlets and cooking them for her, it was the only meat she would eat ! Betty we decided would eat what we gave her and she is eating absolutely anything we give her even lettuce she has a go at ! All because we put her bowl down leave her with it for 10 minutes then pick it up - she hasn't chosen to starve herself and just chows down and eats the lot.

Thanks for taking so much time on this TW. I will have to ask the boarding if this will inconvenience them too much. Or, probably better still, start on it after end July. So I can monitor her myself.

As for kibble - Bella does LOVE her kibble. She never leaves a bit of her Bento Kronen. Whether it is put in her bowl or into a toy or whatever. Crunch crunch crunch til it's gone.

I'm not even sure if it's a good one or not (it is expensive) it just turned out to be the one (from the small choice I have here) that she liked. Versele Lagen Bento Kronen - it's tiny kibble of course for small dogs. I usually get the chicken one.

Thing is TW - I don't want to ask the boardings if they will take in her frozen food and then them not give it to her or forget some days or whatever depending what staff are on.

The very first time she went there I said she won't eat wet dog food (I'd tried them all) and left a bag of her stuff. When I collected her they said she ate all hers and some of the wet stuff too.

Well I guess someone just goes round filling the bowls for them. Having worked in rescues I know how difficult it is to get every animal's spec. requirements right (sometimes the previous staff don't leave the note up or whatever) and of course they'd have to have a freezer on the premises.

I'm thinking aloud now and rambling! Let me know if you think the Bento Kronen is rubbish will you? There's no way she ever won't have some kibble. I am just wondering if her having both frozen raw AND kibble is what is piling the weight on?

I need my DiL back here taking her on the 10km runs! Not really as in this heat it would probably kill her!

I could actually make up small zip bags of it for her as you've suggested and whack em in the freezer. I do that with my own soups!

First would have to be sure it was some concoction she WOULD eat.

I can't see any reason why she wouldn't eat the chicken or the fish, if she doesn't eat it after 20 minutes, lift the dish up, put a plastic bag round it and put it in the fridge, and offer her it the next mealtime, if she still won't eat it, then put it in a bag and freeze it. Try her on something different the next day. Repeat the exercise till she eats.

Is this the one Pat?

Mini Regular

My old Cavvy adored lettuce! Especially if it was one STOLEN from our tortoise! I've got a photo somewhere of her polishing one off when she was just a puppy.

I take your point. Life is a tad harder with a doggy when you and that doggy live alone and more or less spend 24hrs a day together!

My daughter says not to worry because when almost my WHOLE family and their waifs and strays join me in August the weight will just fall off her! She will be too busy and excited and all that to be bothering much with what she is fed!

Hi Malka,

Yes I think so. Thing is (as you will appreciate) here in Cyprus I leave NOTHING in an opened bag (can you say cockroaches? or food moths?) it is all decanted once opened into secure big Lordos plastic screw top containers so I don't actually have a bag to hand to read the details.

However, since I mentioned it to TW I looked up a few places online and was a bit dismayed to read that it came under LOW quality?

Yet on another it says it contains only meat and hypo allergenic wheat stuff?

I think what I'm seeking re kibble is something that is not too bodybuilding or full of nutrition (coz of her having the raw chicken) but not stuffed with horrible things either.

Fill her up but not fatten her out! You will no doubt understand how difficult it can be to deal with a 'hungry' dog when it is just you and that hungry dog together in the same room with no distractions lol!

*I was logging off but do appreciate the responses I am getting here to help me with the problem of PORKY.

Pat, I know that Pereg is quite a bit bigger than Bella even though she is still in the small to medium range, but after her having gone from 17kg in April 2011 to 20.6 in less than six months from when she went on medication and the non-stop gimmees - I managed to get her down to 16.6 in April this year.

But she was started partly on raw in mid 2011 and once I realised how much she had gained, by which time she was fully on raw which she loves and seems to suit her so well, I bought the first kitchen scales I had ever owned and weighed everything. I went by 2% of a target weight of 18kg and the weight slowly but surely came off.

Pereg also has a lot of vegetables for bulk - lightly steamed to go with her first meal so she gets the vitamins etc from them, and raw for snacks which fill her but mostly go straight through. So your vet was not far off when he mentioned cucumbers as Pereg loves them!

But in case she has to stay at the Pension in an emergency, and I cannot expect them to feed her raw as I do, I occasionally give her the holistic kibble or some top quality tinned food [bought from the Pension for emergencies] so I know she will eat either of those if she had to stay there. Hopefully it will never happen though.

Couple of questions. But first I was impressed how you managed to get her weight down so much. And second you've mentioned the same concerns I have (about others being able to supply the same 'diet regime' not least because I know a big 'change' in food can bring on diarrhoea and all sorts. So 'easy peasy' feeding with little difference is the way to go for me with having to leave her 2 or 3 times a year. Hell - living somewhere ELSE is a big enough change without adding a total change of feed into the equation?

(And, even when I am with her, as in the 6mos spent in UK last year - when moving around between different people's houses - it was nigh on impossible to keep her on the same diet all the time. And dork that I am - I'd buy the right food and then leave it behind at the last house and have to go seek out something quickly at new port of call or, worse still, find something in their house to give her in emergency til I could get to the shops!) She ate some v. strange stuff in the UK - especially when staying with my Veggie Contingent!

Now I'm interested in this 2% of target weight stuff. What puzzles me is this. If you are talking about total weight of food given in a day - is that regardless of WHAT FOOD it is? Or what? Coz I know with humans it is 'calories that count' and you could eat a small amount of v. high cal food and get fatter than if you ate a large amount of low cal food.

If you know what I mean?

The 2% of body weight is merely a guideline, it isn't set in stone, so if your dog is a good do'er then it could well be less, especially if they need to lose the weight. Cariad and Lona are on very little actual food, I bulk it out with a lot of veg purely because they do so well on raw. If I just gave them the 3 spoonfuls of mince that they actually get they would pass out with the shock of it all
As for travelling about, well that's what tinned fish was invented for Also freezing a couple of meals in advance if you are changing houses so to speak will keep you ahead as regards her meals

I can imagine - see that - that 3 spoonsfuls of fish - that's your dinner that is! lol!

Tinned fish. Hmmm I'd almost forgotten about that - she actually loved canned mackerel (I bet that's the most fattening fish lol) she gets a bit of salmon many days a week as I virtually live on it! I always give her the skin too (I bet that's the most fattening bit lol)

If it wasn't SO hot right now I'd just keep her OUT with me but I can't risk her getting heat exhaustion or sunstroke to slim her down a bit from the canine hot dog she has become!