A friend of mine, Retha, sent me some information on what helped her little Bonnie to eat more. Bonnie is 15 and didn't want to eat.
We've all had dogs who didn't want to eat. Applesauce told her new mom that she had to put two pieces of food BY his plate and then he would eat and move on to the rest of his food.
Granger has never had trouble eating-- he even ate through a door once. LOL My daughter was moving, and put him in the bathroom to keep him safe. He was having none of that! (Years ago.) Was it tasty?!
Callie lives to eat-- she was so overweight when my daughter adopted her. She was an outside dog and probably ate whatever was put in her pen. Now, she still gets so excited when it's meal time. The neighbors know when it's meal time! Callie makes sure they know!
Retha said she tried soaking the food. (Zoey here has to have her a little moist, too, since she has no teeth. It helped for awhile, but then Bonnie stopped eating it.
Retha's little Chin was not eating, though, even when she soaked her food completely. So, she came up with an idea and said I could share it. (Thank you!) She soaked the food and let it sit overnight in the refrigerator. Then, in the morning, she used a potato masher (or smasher as I call it haha) It came out as tiny pieces, looking like hamburger. Since her dog was a "licker" this made it easier to pick up with her tongue.
It was soft and moist, but not sticky. She heated it a little in the microwave to bring out the flavor. Her little Bonnie was eating better. Sometimes, it would be several dinners and breakfasts, spread out over a few hours. The water content meant it filled her tummy, and then a little later, she wanted more. VICTORY!!
All our dogs are different. Some inhale their food (slow feeder bowls are so helpful). Some take their time, like Zoey.
Zoey with her softer food (no teeth), loves her food,
Minnie just takes her time, enjoying it all. She lets me know if it is not prepared correctly, with the right amount of canned food and maybe a little chicken in it. They are all different. Do you have any tips that have helped you with picky eaters?
2 comments:
Yum Yum is having issues with food .... I hope he is not going to be like my dear Coco who had a sensitive stomach on top of pancreatitis .
So... we are going "low fat".... he is not liking it .
I do a couple of Omega oil drops (for dogs) and sometimes this will stimulate him to eat the "lousy food" she is dishing up now...as Yum would say..... but ..... I do this only a couple of times a week as it is oil = fatty but he adores salmon and the oil is from fish.
It can be very hard so I might just give Retha's idea a go .
I must say.... that little Bonnie is super cute and does not look her age at all !!!
I have a couple of ideas...
1. Freshly roasted sweet potato added to food. Warm and fragrant!
2. Turkey/Chicken meatballs: l pound ground poultry, 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger (I use microplane), 1 tablespoon freshly minced parsley, 1/3 cup cooked basmati rice. Mix everything together. Form balls. Boil in a small amount of water. Freeze unused meatballs. These meatballs are so fragrant. Our shih tzu boy, Joey, showed interest in them even when he entered the later stage of kidney disease. (Adapted from a recipe in the book, The Cancer Fighting Kitchen by Rebecca Katz p.59)
Darlene
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