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Driving me to a heart attack

Wrigs Mom

Wrigs Mom

Well-known member
I admit it. Being a mom to a dog has made me go a bit crazy. He's like my child and I worry about him all the time. With that being said, Wrigley has chosen NOT to eat his Canidae. He just doesn't want it. He gets all excited when he hears it's dinner time, until he sniffs the food and sticks his nose up. Now, I've tried the giving him a few days, only allowing him 15 minutes, and then taking it away. He still has NO interest. With Royal Canin, he inhaled it whole and ate with vigor. He's otherwise doing really well and shows no signs of still being sick. He pulled this on us last time with Canidae, too (which is why we switched to Royal Canin). I think the Canidae kibble is too hard for him to chew or something(he looks like he struggles with it more than RC). So, now I'm back to researching and would like to try Solid Gold or Innova. I would appreciate any feedback on either :)
 
Oliver and Bentley ate Innova for a while. They really liked it. Recently I have been doing a grain free diet for them--we have tried Orijen and also Nature's Variety Raw Instinct. They are both kibble and the dogs loved both of them and I have heard really good things about both. The NV Raw Instinct kibble came with a free sample of the Raw Medallions, Chicken and Turkey, which they both gobble down.
 
Wrigps mom, I hear you...and I am right there with you. Dixie is driving me to a heart attack too. She won't even eat the Royal Canin. She is just like Wrigley. She gets all excited when it is time to eat, and then she sniffs it from about 3 inches away, and walks away. The 15 min. doesn't work either. She won't budge, and will just not eat. You should see all the different kinds of food we have tried. I asked on another post, but was wondering if I should just try feeding her once a day???? She is 5 months old. Would that be bad? Any info. would be appreciated. Thanks, Judy
 
I'm glad you brought up the food and eating issue. When we first brought Reggie and Laci home, the breeder told us to put them on a mixture of Royal Canin and Nutro Natural Choice Puppy Bites. Well, Laci had blood in her poo from day one. The breeder told us to mix her food with yogurt, but she wouldn't eat that. This went on too long and then Reggie started having some blood in his stools. After vet visits, worm tests, stool samples, etc, the doc couldn't find anything wrong. She put them on a de-worming regime (just in case) and suggested that we take them off the current food and put them on Science Diet Puppy food. They have been such finicky eaters from the start, but now they're real bad. :( Today I took them off the Science Diet and put them back on the original food. It's too early to tell, but is this a puppy trait? Eating one day and not the next? (Obviously I haven't had puppies in many, many years!)

HELP!:eek:
 
jld said:
Wrigps mom, I hear you...and I am right there with you. Dixie is driving me to a heart attack too. She won't even eat the Royal Canin. She is just like Wrigley. She gets all excited when it is time to eat, and then she sniffs it from about 3 inches away, and walks away. The 15 min. doesn't work either. She won't budge, and will just not eat. You should see all the different kinds of food we have tried. I asked on another post, but was wondering if I should just try feeding her once a day???? She is 5 months old. Would that be bad? Any info. would be appreciated. Thanks, Judy
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I would feed her 3 times a day until 6 months old, then twice a day. At 5 months, she is going through a very uncomfortable teething period. Perhaps you could soften her kibble with warm water (let it cool before feeding) and mix in some canned dog food.
 
Wrigs Mom said:
I admit it. Being a mom to a dog has made me go a bit crazy. He's like my child and I worry about him all the time. With that being said, Wrigley has chosen NOT to eat his Canidae. He just doesn't want it. He gets all excited when he hears it's dinner time, until he sniffs the food and sticks his nose up. Now, I've tried the giving him a few days, only allowing him 15 minutes, and then taking it away. He still has NO interest. With Royal Canin, he inhaled it whole and ate with vigor. He's otherwise doing really well and shows no signs of still being sick. He pulled this on us last time with Canidae, too (which is why we switched to Royal Canin). I think the Canidae kibble is too hard for him to chew or something(he looks like he struggles with it more than RC). So, now I'm back to researching and would like to try Solid Gold or Innova. I would appreciate any feedback on either :)
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How old is he? If he is teething, the smaller Royal Canin kibble might be easier to chew.
 
I feed Wrigs once a day and it always seemed to be fine. That is until we switched from Royal Canin. Wrigs hasn't liked Canidae since he was a puppy, but I wanted to give him a REALLY good dog food. On doganalysis.com, Royal Canin was rated ONE STAR and listed that one ingredient was sketchy b/c it could cause liver/kidney problems. My vet wanted Wrigs off of it because of his recent liver levels. So, I'm trying to switch him to something better that he actually LIKES. I'm going tomorrow to get new food and try again. Innova or Gold seem to be "the best" ingredients. With Royal, Wrigs SCARFED down his food and would even snork and lose his breath because he was inhaling it. He LOVED it and ate with vigor. Anyone use Innova or Gold???
 
I feed Geordie Innova Evo. I haven't tried regular Innova or Solid Gold yet. They are both very good quality foods, and a vet recommended them to us in the past.
 
The puppy food blues--I SO know what you're going through. It gets better--I promise. :)

If you go with Solid Gold, I would recommend Solid Gold-Barking at the Moon. It's fish based and grain free. I feed Mia prepared raw food, but occasionally tried to put a little kibble with it if I ran out of frozen green beans. The kibble never agreed with her--until I tried the SG-Barking at the Moon. So far, it's the only kibble that she likes and that agrees with her tummy. I even had to give it to her for a week straight, because I kept forgetting to get her green beans, and her tummy issues never flared up.

Natures Variety Raw Instinct is also a very good kibble--also grain free. If you're open to prepared raw food, Natures Variety makes a good raw food. Raw seems to agree with Mia better than any other type of food.

Good luck!
 
Cathy Moon said:
I feed Geordie Innova Evo. I haven't tried regular Innova or Solid Gold yet. They are both very good quality foods, and a vet recommended them to us in the past.
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Our dog is also called Geordie but we spelt it Jordi :D

He is 5 months old and has been very pcky with food since we first got him. We have tried Royal Canine, James Wellbeloved and Hill's. Sometimes we mix it with sardines, tuna or scrambled eggs because mostly he only sniffs the dry food and walks away. The trick seems to be to alternate eggs with fish, that way he doesn't get bored with it so quickly. But it does worry us that he is so picky. Some days he barely eats anything :confused:
 
Wrigs Mom said:
That is until we switched from Royal Canin. Wrigs hasn't liked Canidae since he was a puppy, but I wanted to give him a REALLY good dog food. On doganalysis.com, Royal Canin was rated ONE STAR and listed that one ingredient was sketchy b/c it could cause liver/kidney problems.
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I have never heard this about RC, over here we have been told its one of the best food u can give ur dog. AS anyone else heard this about RC. This has got me worried now. :eek:
 
sallymum said:
I have never heard this about RC, over here we have been told its one of the best food u can give ur dog. AS anyone else heard this about RC. This has got me worried now. :eek:
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No! I have not heard this either and have fed it now for 4 years in all varieties to all ages of dogs, reared litters on it, and have NEVER had a problem with it, I go with the old motto "If it ain't broke don't fix it!" on this one!! :lol:

Also, yes puppies can be very finicky eaters, but between 3-12 months various teeth are erupting through which can make their mouths sore at various stages, (back teeth can still be coming in at 1 year old!) If I had £1 for every finicky puppy I have been told about who went on to be the proverbial canine dustbin, I'd own my house outright by now!! :lol:

Have no experience with either of the feeds you mention as am based in the UK and we don't have them over here?? Sorry wish I could offer more advice on them but will only ever speak from personnal experience of something!
 
sallymum said:
I have never heard this about RC, over here we have been told its one of the best food u can give ur dog. AS anyone else heard this about RC. This has got me worried now. :eek:
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I have never heard that about RC either. I fed my dogs RC when they were puppies and would feed it to them again (except for Geordie who seems to need grain free).
 
Never heard that about RC either. As you know, we used to feed Canidae until it became too hard to get. That's when we switched (about 2 + years ago) to RC. It's one of the Whole Dog Journal's recommended foods. You might want to check the WDJ's list and try something different off there. You could also give Kris a call and see if she has any ideas. If it's any consolation, we have a little girl that is the most finicky eater in the world. She's going to drive me to an early grave!

BTW, I went to tha web site you mentioned, but couldn't find anything about RC being poorly rated. Can you find that and send the link?
 
Have you tried putting his kibble in a treat ball? Chester went off his food for a while & would walk up to his bowl, have a sniff, turn around & walk off. Didnt matter how long I left it down for he just wasnt interested.

Now I put his kibble in his ball in the morning & he eats it either straight away or later on in the morning. He seems to get more fun out of working for his food rather than just having it served up in his bowl.
 
Here is the link...It's for the light Royal Canin, but also says this about the others, too:

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=289&cat=7

"Beet pulp is further filler and a controversial ingredient – it is a by-product, being dried residue from sugar beets which has been cleaned and extracted in the process of manufacturing sugar. It is a controversial ingredient in dog food, claimed by some manufacturers to be a good source of fibre, and derided by others as an ingredient added to slow down the transition of rancid animal fats and causing stress to kidney and liver in the process. We note that beet pulp is an ingredient that commonly causes problems for dogs, including allergies and ear infections, and prefer not to see it used in dog food. There are less controversial products around if additional fibre is required."
 
Molly can be fussy, too, and has been since I got her. She was having a problem when I first got her with loose stools (she had cocchidia, but the loose stools continued even after being cleared of all worms). The vet gave her Hill's Science Diet once when she was there and that day she had the best BM since I had gotten her so I've switched to that. Her BMs have been good ever since, but she can still be fussy at times. So I put either a little tuna or cottage cheese on it and she usually scarfs it right up. I might have to try the egg too for variety. :D

Does anyone think it's a bad idea to continue to put these food items in her food so she'll eat? On occasion she'll eat it plain, but usually she'll turn her nose up at it. I don't want to try to switch the food because the last time I did that, it seemed like her soft BMs came back (and I had done it gradually).

-laura
 
Ok, here's my update.... Went and got Innova. I set out for the Evo, since it got a higher rating, but they only had a HUGE bag. I wasn't ready to commit to that since I didn't know what Little Wrigs would decide. So, I picked up the green bag (the adult dry dog food). The woman said that if he didn't like it, I could bring it back and we could order a small bag of the Evo. I gave the new food to Wrigs and HE SCARFED IT UP!!!! He even lost his breath for a second because he was eating so fast (this was what he did with the Royal Canin, so it told mommy he liked it!) Now, this is only day one. He could decide not to be interested in a few days. What I will NOT miss is the Canidae gas. This 15 lb. dog could clear a room!!!!! I'm a little bummed they didn't have the Evo in a small bag, but i figure after this bag, we could always introduce the Evo slowly since it's the same brand.

Bruce, I did talk to Kris over email and she said to try the Innova. I guess your dogs didn't do so great with the Solid Gold.

I'll let you know what Prince Wrigley decides, but I just felt so relieved to see him scarf up food again!
 
Glad to hear you have found a feed that he has given the "Paw of Approval" too! (y) I hope that he continues to enjoy it.

A thought here, have you thought about emailing the various food manufacturers and asking for samples of the feed to be sent to you? Might save some money long term if you are only wasting a sample single feed sachet rather than shelling out for a 1, 2 or whatever Kilo size bag? Most will be happy to send you a sample and almost certainly will send a list of suppliers in your local area too? Just a thought is all??
 
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