Tempt my dog

foreign_correspondent

putting hot water on the kibble and additions seems to help mix the flavour of whatever tasty addition you are using through the entire meal, and makes the kibble more appetising, and the tasty bits harder to pick out!

Doing the same with a scrambled egg or whatever, hot water and her food may help. I have, in a push with my old terrier, put a blob of tomato ketchup and hot water on the food, mixed it in, and it has worked! Other things worth trying and mixing in like this are a few leftovers (my mum's fussy dog adores a few baked beans in hers!) or a little strong cheese!

I know these are not ideal foodstuffs to make up a large part of a dogs diet longterm, but sometimes, if it gets a meal into them when otherwise it would be left, it is justifiable, I think!

lostinrates

Errata wrote: »

Not sure if this will help but here goes. My mum fed her terrier on nothing but Kit E Kat and dog biscuits. The dog finally conked out at 17 years old.

LOL, chocolate becoming a no-no must have frustrated a lot of old dogs used to a chocolate treat. I kow someone who replaced their dogs daily chocolate with fruit cake...then of course had to deal with dried fruit being a no-no!

Errata

Nooooooooooo Kit E Kat cat food !

lostinrates

chris_n_tj wrote: »

Have you tried pasta, next question has she a sweet tooth? I am sat here racking my brains, its a hard one for sure.
Chris n TJ

That I can think of/know of the only sweet food she has had is the odd teaspoon of manuka honey.

(At the moment that is the vehicle for the antibiotics).

I have not tried pasta, but thats a good idea too: the right texture..in the main hard seems undesirable.

foreign_correspondent

lostinrates - if she wants to eat cat food, I think I would try mixing a spoonful of the cat food with her kibble and hot water - if the flavour of the cat food appeals and tempts her into eating the kibble it may be worth a try...

lostinrates

Errata wrote: »

Nooooooooooo Kit E Kat cat food !

LOL, apologies. That's the sort of thing she might like....cat food (albeit more expensive stuff) is the the absolute favourite.

lostinrates

foreign_correspondent wrote: »

putting hot water on the kibble and additions seems to help mix the flavour of whatever tasty addition you are using through the entire meal, and makes the kibble more appetising, and the tasty bits harder to pick out!

Doing the same with a scrambled egg or whatever, hot water and her food may help. I have, in a push with my old terrier, put a blob of tomato ketchup and hot water on the food, mixed it in, and it has worked! Other things worth trying and mixing in like this are a few leftovers (my mum's fussy dog adores a few baked beans in hers!) or a little strong cheese!

I know these are not ideal foodstuffs to make up a large part of a dogs diet longterm, but sometimes, if it gets a meal into them when otherwise it would be left, it is justifiable, I think!

We are on the same wavelength. My concern at the moment is she has run out of ''what's spare on her'' and cannot really afford to lose more, so getting her eating is becomeing of primary importance..and what I'll sacrifice ''ideally'' becomes much less.

Cheese she turned down yesterday. (again, thats another clicker treat sometimes, so thats frustrating.

Before this I wouldn't have said she was in any way, shape or form a fussy dog. The problem here is not what they will/won't eat, its whether they'll eat it before it hits the floor or not usually, :rolleyes:

lostinrates

alleycat` wrote: »

I take it she won't eat from something like a ball with a hole cut in it so food falls our as she pushes it about?

I wondered if making it a game / interesting would stir something in her?

No. Not clever enough for feedballs (much to my annoyance). Have tried in the past!

Initially, I think how off her food she was might have been covered by the fact she was eating well in our ''sessions'' - she is not that sort of bright...breed tendancy, with er, a personal leaning to the backwards but adorable side, so our ''work'' is basic but sound. Now she happily is involved in ''sessions'' but is more interested ina cuddle as the positve reinforcment (spits food out, and head butts for love.)

Exasperating, isn't it?

lostinrates

foreign_correspondent wrote: »

lostinrates - if she wants to eat cat food, I think I would try mixing a spoonful of the cat food with her kibble and hot water - if the flavour of the cat food appeals and tempts her into eating the kibble it may be worth a try...

anything is.

I'll let you all know how that goes.

Thank you!

pboae

Some dogs can't tolerate grains, you could try her on something potato based, I think Wafcol do one, but the DIY version is potato mashed up with a light fish like Salmon.

You can also raw feed entirely on chicken, if she would go for that.

I know a few people who don't have mealtimes for their dogs at all, they get all their food during training. You'd have to be very disciplined to make sure she did enough training to get enough food, but it's one way of getting round the hand feeding without just hand feeding.

Has she had a dental lately? It could be teeth or gum problems.