is he just spoiled

[Deeanlan]

My 2yr old shaddy (shadow) gets dry (nat'l Balance) all day and a can of wet with it at night, sounds easy huh? well he eats the wet for about a week or so and then wants nothing to do with it. he'll go without eating the wet for a night or two. Am I spoiling him? he does eat people food but never for his only meal. Im on euk wet now and he just puts his nose up on that. Is there a failproof wet food? My girlfriend says i feed him the High quality no taste stuff and I should go to the cheeper brands, but when we first got him we gave him pedigree and he had a reaction to it and the vet said to keep him away from the cheep foods.

Is there any hope in sight? Is it okay to switch every month or so. Ive kept his dry the same and he's not crazy about that either.

 

[SammynDqtz]

Having food avaliable for him all day might be the problem.
My boxer and mixed breed eat 2 meals a day, one in the morning and one in the evening. When I got my Bichon Frise 2 months ago, at the age of 5 months, she was use to picking a bite here and there from her food bowl and by the end of the day, she really hardly ate anything. So, I then decided that I was going to make her eat 2 meals per day like the other 2 dogs. I would put down her breakfast and then whatever was left in the bowl after 30 minutes was put away and she couldn't eat again until supper time. Thirty minutes after each meal, the bowl was removed. The first couple days, she only ate a few bites from each meal. And by the third or 4'th day, she was eating both of the meals. I never leave any food out after the 30 minutes is up. It's working really great for my dogs. Maybe you also might want to give Nutro canned a try. Good luck!

 

[basak]

I agree with Sammyndqtz
Don't leave the food in front of him all day long. Krose is not a morning eater but I hate the idea of feeding him once a day so I try everything to make him eat his breakfast. But if he doesn't eat it, then I take the food out of his sight. Exercise during the day and playing etc, he gets hungry by all means and I feed him around 6 or so, with nothing added!!!! And he eats it in no time. I feed him again around 11 or so (if he didn't have his breakfast) because he is very hungry by that time! We go to bed late so he goes to bed late too.


good luck

basak

 

[CC]

I also agree about the free feeding being a bad idea. It helps to control bathroom needs, keep control of the dog, and keep everything on schedule.

I might also suggest a different brand, although I wouldn't suggest going cheaper, just better. Eukanuba (known to some people as Yukkynuba or Puke-anuba ) isn't actually the best food out there. Especially for the price asked for it...it should be a lot better. Why don't you try Wellness, Solid Gold, California Natural, Canidae...I know for a fact that Wellness makes at least 4 different flavours and they were always a big hit with my girl when she used to eat commercial dog food.

 

[martins]

You say you're feeding Natural Balance, they make a good canned food, Roscoe loves it and eats it better than any others we've tried. If you try feeding scheduled breakfast you could add a bit of canned to each meal, maybe half the can since you're feeding the whole can at dinnertime.

It is okay to switch foods, just try doing it gradually each time like you would to switch any other time. We've been rotating Roscoe's dry food every few months or so and he's doing well with it. Seems to keep him from getting too bored with his food. If you try a search here on "rotating food" or "rotating brands" you should be able to find some more info on it.

Good luck!

 

[Deeanlan]

Thanks for all the great advise. Im going to start putting away the bowl when I go to work. We did the nat'l Balance wet for about 6 months or so until he just shunned it. I will go back to that somewhere down the road, I really felt it was a great food. I just bought a bag of the royal canin (i forget the whole name) and I gave him a taste tonite and he loved it.

Thanks again

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