Summer and raw round 3

[Laurelin]

Okay so we're making steady progress with Summer, I feel. She enjoys eating raw as long as there's no work involved. :rofl1:

She will eat chunks of chicken breast (I cut them up for her), she will eat ground beef, ground turkey, hearts and livers, etc. But if it's got skin and bone, she will not even try to eat it. so I know raw without bone is not a balanced diet. Is there a supplement you can give? I've been still doing raw and kibble for their diets but I would love to switch fully to raw.

 

[Saeleofu]

I've heard of grinding up egg shells and sprinkling it on the food.

 

[Laurelin]

I've tried egg shells but she doesn't like them. She is such a picky dog, I swear!

 

[Bailey08]

Buy powdered calcium and mix it in with her food; 800-1000 mg calcium per pound of food. Ground meat is best for this in my experience. dogaware.com has some good information.

 

[MisssAshby]

Bone ratio supplement from Natures Farmacy.

 

[Ando]

There are bone meal supplements for pets that you can find- I have heard they are effective.

 

[Paige]

When I tried raw with Bandit same thing! At least Summer is a dainty little girl flower. There was me hacking up little pieces for my big manly dog to eat.

 

[Shai]

You could also get a grinder and grind up the bones with the meat, or buy it that way from certain raw dog food outlets (but buying it prefab is pretty expensive...I'm guessing she doesn't eat though).

 

[FoxyWench]

i was going to suggest a grinder and do ground raw...
or a calcium with d supliment.

 

[Maxy24]

Sounds like my cat lol

Though he does eat bone, I have to smash the wing up before hand and cut through the skin a bit so meat is exposed, then he'll work on it from there. luckily he loves skin and fat so he is motivated to eat it.

 

[Saeleofu]

You can also try the freeze-dried raw. With two little dogs they probably don't eat much, so it may be affordable. It's all balanced and freeze dried in patties. You can feed it as is, or add some water to make it more the consistency of ground beef. I don't remember what the brand is, but I have rally class at the place that sells it, so I can check tomorrow.

 

[RawFedDogs]

I suggest you just step up to the plate and become the leader of your pack. You decide what the dog eats and don't relagate that responsibility to him.

 

[Izzy's Valkyrie]

I suggest you just step up to the plate and become the leader of your pack. You decide what the dog eats and don't relagate that responsibility to him.

Seriously? I really hope you're just joking about the whole leader of the pack bullcrap.

Any progress, Laur?

 

[MandyPug]

I suggest you just step up to the plate and become the leader of your pack. You decide what the dog eats and don't relagate that responsibility to him.

Explain how then...

You can't use "tough love" with tiny dogs like Papillons. Do you know how dangerous it is for dogs that small to not eat? They can die very fast due to going hypoglycemic. I know dogs that if they miss even one meal they start going into shock because they so small.

 

[RawFedDogs]

Explain how then...

You can't use "tough love" with tiny dogs like Papillons. Do you know how dangerous it is for dogs that small to not eat?

They can have problems but it's not as dangerous as you think. If you are a worry wart you can feed her half rations. That should be small enough so that she's hungry when meal time comes. Or you can space out the meals further. Or you can feed at irregular intervals. All this will put you in charge of the meals and not her.

They can die very fast due to going hypoglycemic. I know dogs that if they miss even one meal they start going into shock because they so small.

I've heard this for a long time but I'm not sure I buy it. I suspect it's just small dog owners being overprotective of their small dogs. A small dog's body operates the same way a large dog's does. They just operate in smaller amounts. Anyway, if you are concerned, which obviously you are, I suggest you feed her smaller amounts, so she will be real hungry at meal times and more accepting of what she is being fed. You could also feed her very small amount of chopped up boneless meat to get her started and have a wing or something in the bowl for her to finish with. There are many ways to handle this if you just think about it.

 

[RawFedDogs]

Seriously? I really hope you're just joking about the whole leader of the pack bullcrap.

Yes, I am. Don't confuse dominance with leadership, guidance, and being a mentor. I think you suspect I'm talking about the old outdated "alpha" thing. That's not correct.

ETA: The human has the responsibility to make decisions about a lot of things in a dog's life including but not limited to diet.

 

[Crowsfeet]

RFD, it doesn't sound like you read Laurelin's post thoroughly. I read it with the feeling that she is thinking, trying her options, and that her dog(who is female) is getting small portions of cut up meat and ground.

 

[RawFedDogs]

RFD, it doesn't sound like you read Laurelin's post thoroughly. I read it with the feeling that she is thinking, trying her options, and that her dog(who is female) is getting small portions of cut up meat and ground.

I went back and re-read and didn't see anything other than she caters to her dog's every wish to get her to eat which encourages her to be more and more picky. I didn't see anything other than something like, "she won't eat anything that has skin or bone on it." I didn't see where she tried anything other than feeding ground boneless meat and meat chopped into tiny pieces.

 

[Laurelin]

I went back and re-read and didn't see anything other than she caters to her dog's every wish to get her to eat which encourages her to be more and more picky. I didn't see anything other than something like, "she won't eat anything that has skin or bone on it." I didn't see where she tried anything other than feeding ground boneless meat and meat chopped into tiny pieces.

:rofl1::rofl1::rofl1:

That is all.

 

[Laurelin]

I will point out, Summer has starved herself for two days once to the point that she did get shaky and extremely lethargic. Papillons are notoriously picky eaters. Anyone who has been on the forum knows that I've tried a lot of different options with raw to get her started. I will not starve her out because I know she will refuse food to the point hypoglycemia is a worry. And no, it's not because I am 'overprotective' of my small dog.

Now I'll go alpha roll my dogs some. Maybe that will help.