# Maggie being a Picky Eater



## Lindor (Feb 3, 2014)

So when Maggie was little I fed her the Acana Puppy and Junior food and she ate enthusiastically then I switched her to the adult grain free chicken. She ate it with medium enthusiasm. Now she doesn't seem to like it very much; acts like she eats it cause she's hungry not because she likes the taste. Sometimes now she is even skipping breakfast. Oh by the way she get 1/4 cup for breakfast and 1/4 cup for supper and a couple treats in the evening and one treat each time I take her for a walk (she doesn't come to have her harness and leash put on otherwise)

I went to the pet store today to get some samples of food. I got different flavors of Acana as I would prefer to keep her on that as its a 5* food. So I put little plates of food around the kitchen with chicken, duck, fish, beef and Origen beef. She went around to each plate sniffed picked up a kibble spit it out sometimes and then went from plate to plate eating everything but not with any enthusiasm. I was also thinking of getting Merrick dog food but I'm now at a lose what kind to feed her. Your opinions would be welcome.


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## Mazzapoo (Jul 28, 2013)

How about a wet food? Poppy was never particularly bothered about any kibble for very long but has never left any Nature Diet and nearly drools when I open the packet


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## Lindor (Feb 3, 2014)

Don't want to go the 'wet' route. I've ordered a bad of Merrick Backcounty. It's kibble and has freeze dried pieces of meat in it too. She really likes her freeze dried treats so hopefully she will like this food too.


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## Lexi&Beemer (May 5, 2013)

I have heard that you should change out kibble food somewhat more frequently than people do. 3-6 months. That means changing brands altogether as the formulas and ingredients tend to me the same or very similar within the same brand. I'd try a different brand. 


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## Lindor (Feb 3, 2014)

Lexi&Beemer said:


> I have heard that you should change out kibble food somewhat more frequently than people do. 3-6 months. That means changing brands altogether as the formulas and ingredients tend to me the same or very similar within the same brand. I'd try a different brand.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk[/QUOTE
> ...


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## fairlie (Sep 7, 2013)

Speaking of food, we've decided to take the plunge and start making our own dog food from fresh. I bought the book of recipes from the vet and also the powdered mix of balanced vitamins to add in. With more eggs than we can eat here, all the fresh veg and fruit available to us (which we can freeze) and free range chicken, it seems like the healthiest and cheapest alternative for us. I'll only need to buy fish, lamb, codliver oil and safflower oil. I plan to start after our holiday.


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## Lindor (Feb 3, 2014)

fairlie said:


> Speaking of food, we've decided to take the plunge and start making our own dog food from fresh. I bought the book of recipes from the vet and also the powdered mix of balanced vitamins to add in. With more eggs than we can eat here, all the fresh veg and fruit available to us (which we can freeze) and free range chicken, it seems like the healthiest and cheapest alternative for us. I'll only need to buy fish, lamb, codliver oil and safflower oil. I plan to start after our holiday.


Are you doing raw food?


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## fairlie (Sep 7, 2013)

I could do, because the cookbook says to do it either way. 

The fruits and veg I'll do raw because they are more nutritious that way. The starches, eggs and meats I'll cook. She gives a lengthy scientific explanation about trypsin inhibitors, thiaminase and avidin which I won't bore you with, but for me the bottom line is still the same. 30% of dogs fed raw have samonella in their stool, which had *no adverse symptoms* for the dogs. But even though I no longer work with special needs kids, I still have my sister recovering from cancer and my elderly mum to think about. Simply too big a health risk for me to take.


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## 2ndhandgal (Aug 29, 2011)

What are you adding for calcium Fairlie? I home cook for Molly and add a powder to her food for calcium as she does not have any bones in her diet.


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## Lexi&Beemer (May 5, 2013)

You can dry and crush egg shells for calcium too. Best though to get fresh eggs as many are processed so has coatings. 


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## fairlie (Sep 7, 2013)

2nd the recipes all need different amounts of a vitamin blend which balances them scientifically. Each recipe comes with a really long list of the nutrition in every single element. There are recipes for many types of medical conditions but for the adult recipes there is roughly 1100 mg of calcium for every 100g of food. There is a chart which says the daily recommended dose is between 600 and 2500 mgs. Eggshells and Tums tablets are the usual things that add calcium, but I won't have to do this because this blend will boost the calcium to the required level.


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## 2ndhandgal (Aug 29, 2011)

Sounds like an excellent book  is it something your vet produced or something I could buy as sounds like it might be useful for Molly.


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## fairlie (Sep 7, 2013)

http://www.completeandbalanced.com/

You can only order it through a vet. I plan to keep a very close eye on both dogs for any changes in their activity level, coat, etc... I tend to be sceptical about glowing testamonials but my best friend is a vet and she recommended it to me.

LL


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## 2ndhandgal (Aug 29, 2011)

Thank you  I always stress that I am missing something vital for Molly by homecooking - even though I really have no choice


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## whatsuppup (Mar 9, 2015)

When Davinci got his 2nd set of shots he wasn't in the mood to eat much. He has yet to return to eating the same amount of food as he ate prior. It is common that his bowl is still full of his breakfast kibble at noon. Yesterday at 2:00pm I finally locked him in his crate with his uneaten breakfast until he finished. It didn't take him too long, thankfully. But.. I don't like doing that. This morning he didn't bother with his breakfast. I put a few pieces on the floor in front of his dish and he willingly ate them. And then he checked out his bowl and ate a few more before walking away. So I "spilled" some more on his food mat and he came and ate them all. I continued to spill some to get him to eat. Once there were a few left in his bowl, he gobbled those up and shortly after returned to his bowl sniffing around for more. So I gave him some more food. Same scenario - sniffed the bowl and walked away. I "spilled" some and he didn't hesitate to come eat. 

Not sure what to do at this point. I want him to eat, but I'm not sure this is the right way to go about it. Is there a chance he doesnt like his food dish all of a sudden? I'm not sure I want to start feeding him kibble sans bowl in a pile on his mat... but that may be the only way to get him to eat 2 meals a day right now, down from the 3 he was previously eating.

He hasn't lost his desire to eat - I dropped a bowl of cheesies last night and the "leave it" command was useless - he was trying to scoop up as many as he could as I was trying to pry him away from the mess! 😄


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## Lexi&Beemer (May 5, 2013)

I'd take it out of a bowl and put it on a plate or a bowl of a different material. Beemer really disliked his dog bowls, especially the plastic ones. 


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## whatsuppup (Mar 9, 2015)

Thank you Lexi&Beemer  I will try a plastic bowl, and if that fails I will try a plate. Davinci has aluminum bowls for both food and water and drinks his water just fine.


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## Lindor (Feb 3, 2014)

Back in January when I was getting ready to board Maggie i changed from plastic bowls to metal bowls as the kennel uses metal bowls. She wouldn't go near them but then once at the kennel she ate from them no problem.


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## whatsuppup (Mar 9, 2015)

Interesting how something that can be perceived as insignificant can be quite significant for our canines.


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## Lindor (Feb 3, 2014)

Lindor said:


> Don't want to go the 'wet' route. I've ordered a bag of Merrick Backcountry. It's kibble and has freeze dried pieces of meat in it too. She really likes her freeze dried treats so hopefully she will like this food too.


So Maggie has been on Merrick Backcountry for a week now and she really likes it. Now she's waiting for me to put the bowl down and eats it all right away.


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## whatsuppup (Mar 9, 2015)

Glad to hear you've found another food that Maggie has interest in.


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