Hi all,
Our 7 month old cockerpoo got bored with Royal Canin kibble so we switched to Wellness Core Puppy. For a few days she was excited by that but the interest wore off. We can get her to eat by playing games with the kibble, microwaving it for increased smell and at times mix it with a bit of Royal Canin Intestinal wet food. But she’s never really excited by meal times, it takes lots of effort to get her to focus on the food and I worry she’s not eating enough (her weight is fine but would it be if we didn’t make such an effort)?
She loves her treats that we are sparing with - Nature Diet and especially any Fish4Dogs things. On the occasions we’ve done scrambled egg for her then she’s really keen on that too.
I’m wondering about switching to wet food and if people’s experience is that their dogs show more appetite with that? But also I’ve been used to comparing dry food using this amazing website and have looked for foods where the dashboard dials show moderate for fat and fairly high for fibre (to help with good toileting). What’s confusing me is that when I look at the dashboard dials for wet foods then they all tend to show ‘higher than average’ for fats and ‘lower than average’ for fibre.
Can anyone give me any guidance on these points or other thoughts you might have. As I’d love to feel that meal times were an eagerly awaited treat for our puppy and she would trot over to the bowl full of excitement - rather than look at us as she does now as if to say ‘is that it’?
Hello and welcome to the forum. We have a thread on feeding the fussy dog here. Dogs are attracted to food by aroma so you are right in the steps you have already taken.
Wet food tends to be more aromatic and fussy dogs sometimes do better on it. With regards to the fat/fibre in such foods they do tend to have a higher fat level (dry weight) than dry food. This shouldn’t be a problem as long as the correct amount is given. Also, dogs do need a reasonable amount of fat in their diet, especially young, active ones. The lower fibre content can easily be rectified by the addition of well cooked brown rice or oatmeal. Cooked, mashed sweet potato is also a good option. For dogs who are full quite quickly a good quality product can be advantageous so it might be helpful to look for something with a high nutritional score. If there is more than one variety in the range, that might be useful.
As your dog is of a good weight then he is probably getting what he needs. Small, more frequent meals may be helpful - perhaps three times a day instead of two. Try to give them at quiet times when he is calm and has nothing better to do. If he doesn’t eat up, just remove the bowl and try again later. Try not to get anxious about it because dogs are very quick to pick up on human emotions.
Just a thought - if he wears a collar in the house, make sure the tag isn’t hitting the bowl as he is eating. The noise can irritate some dogs.
Sometimes fussy dogs can be tempted by enhancing the diet with some human, cooked food diet - link.
Edit: There are now a few fresh foods available but they tend to be more expensive. Freshpet can be bought in some supermarkets. Butternut Box and Different Dog are subscription based - they are delivered frozen. Fussy dogs often do well on such products. We Cook for Dogs is a business that assist the pet owner to home cook for their pet. They sell the necessary supplements and provide suitable recipes. You will find more information on the forum about these by using the search box.
Is there a rough guide as to how much oatmeal and how often it might be fed? I realise all dogs will vary but some range to work within for an 8kg puppy would be helpful. I’ve just looked around for this but can only find people saying ‘a little’ which is a bit vague for my overly-pedantic mind!
TBH I don’t know the answer to that but I have adult dogs of 7kg and 8kg. I would probably give them about one dessertspoonful once a day and increase as necessary, according to output. It needs to be well cooked. Suitable cooked vegetables are a good source of fibre but they need to be pureed or mashed for the dog to make full use of the nutrients.
I give my dog oats cooked in water in her morning meal. It makes up about a quarter of her meal but it is quite watery usually. I am just guessing but this seems to keep her stools from getting too hard.