food?

[jbee]

Our 5 month old female boxer, was switched to Nutro large breed puppy food about a month ago and seemed to like it okay.
But to date she doesn't go directly to it in the morning when it is poured. She doesn't seem to like it or something. But I don't want to switch her back to pedigree .
she is healthy and eats puppy snacks.She likes dog biscuits. So I know her stomach is not troubling her. It is just her food she appears to have an aversion to.
Is it not exciting enough for her.
I don't want to put extra stuff on it just so she will eat it.
Do your dogs love the nutro and my puppy just has a different palate or what????
Joni

 

[alisonCO]

Hi. I have 2, 18 month old boxers. They eat the Nutro large breed adult and love it. When my dogs were as young as yours, I was advised by my vet to soak the food in a little warm water. That always worked really well because it makes it a bit mushy. Now my guys get yogurt or canned food at their evening meal - they are very spoiled Good Luck

Mom to Tucker and Luna

 

[jbee]

wow Colorado! Thanks for the tip. The warm water really made her go after it. Not only is it warm and softer but it also brings out the odor of the food more. However I had her on some pedigree canned earlier in her life and she had a negative reaction to it --loose( you know what)so the vet at that time said she didn't need wet food. We will see how just a little water on dry food does her stools.
anyway thanks for the advice I really feel like she was satisfied after her dinner tonight.
Joni

 

[Nicklos]

well i have a Boxer of unknown age and i got him from my brother-in-law but he dors'nt know where he came from. i feed him ol' roy bargain brand dry dog food mixed with canned food of the same variety and he seems to fair it well and i think the problem is that your dog is getting older and she no longer needs the energy she needed as a pup and so she eats less it's nature, when she stops eating is when you have a problem. DO NOT CHANGE HER DOG FOOD BECAUSE IT WILL SERIOUSLY UPSET HER STOMACH IF SHE IS USED TO IT IF YOU WANT TO CHANGE HER FOOD GRADUALLY MIX IT LITTLE BY LITTLE WITH THE OLD DOG FOOD, AND HER BODY WILL ADAPT.
lOVE,
A CARING BOXER FREAK

 

[Sabrina Jay]

Whenever you change foods, you must do so GRADUALLY.

Nicklos: You really need to change to a different brand of dog food. Boxers generally do much better on a premium brand (EUK/IAMS, SCIENCE DIET, PRO-PLAN, NUTRO, etc) of dog food. If you do not want to buy a premium brand, then stay with your WELL KNOWN brands.....Pedigree, Purina. They DO NOT vary the QUALITY of ingredients like others do. Also, the AMOUNTS you feed of the premium foods is HALF of what it takes to feed the cheaper foods, and their stool waste is MUCH less.



------------------
Sabrina Jay JeSaJay's Boxers

 

[kitten]

JBee dont worry mine dont like it either and not even with water mine was on the pedagree and loved it but didnt gain weight but now were are on pruina puppy they like the beef flavor mine wont touch Iams I've mixed Iams with other dry to slowly change over and he picks the other out and leaves the Iams. my Dartagnan is picky always has been since i got him the water trick dont work he'll look at you like "its soggy mom!" and wont eat it I weaned him off of the canned couse he was too loose and also couse once it started to sofen the dry and it looses the crunch( i guess) he wouldnt eat it.

I just figured I dont like me cereal soggy so maybe he dont like his dog food soggy either but he likes the purina puppy beef and seens to be gaining weight I use the free access to food method I put out 9 cups in the morning for my two boxers and the cat and it seems to be working.


------------------
mom of....
D'artagnan: semi-flashy fawn male croped and docked 12/4/99
Aramis: flashy brindal docked not croped yet 7/8/00

 

[Sabrina Jay]

Most people do not recommend free choice feeding. Some of the reasons are:

1) can make *picky* eaters.
2) its harder to house-break.
3) if you have more than one animal, its harder to monitor how much each one is eating.
4) at some point, you could have *food fights*.

I feed my boxers twice a day. Their food is given to them and whatever they don't eat after 20 minutes, is picked up. Mine eat when they *suppose* to, and if they don't, then I know they usually have an upset stomach or something is causing them not to want to eat.



------------------
Sabrina Jay JeSaJay's Boxers

 

[Mary-Anne]

Chow-Lee and his brother and sister were never happy with their food until changed to Science diet
four years ago.Then I had to keap the food away or they would not stop eating.