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I have a 2-year-old Cocker spaniel who is a bit of a fussy eater. I've tried all sorts of different dry dog foods which he will occasionally eat and I give him a tray of Harrington's wet food every morning. I'm worried hes not getting enough food so any suggestions on what you feed would be great
Dry food only for all my dogs.
Ranging from Beta to Dr Johns
All on Beta working just now.
'Good', wheat-free dry food for our current and previous.
Currently on Canagan lamb.
I’m worried hes not getting enough food
Sweeping generalisation, but, basically, if he's hungry, he'll eat. Put the food down, give him half an hour to eat it, if he doesn't then he doesn't get another chance until the next meal time.
Yora puppy here, which she likes. Don't change straight from one to the other, I'd transition over about a week. Another trick is to crumble a treat of tiny bit of cheese into it to get him going and then gradually reuse.
We got a dog in Feb 2020, and one of the neighbours got his brother from the same litter.
Ours is a happy but picky bag o' bones, and despite the vet's reassurances I worry sometimes that he's too skinny. His brother, on the other hand is a barrel.
On a recent walk with the neighbour I got to talking about the different sizes of the pair and the neighbour said they just stick fatboy's food in the microwave for 10 seconds then he wolfs it down regardless of the content.
I've tried it and can confirm it works for our Cupar.
Raw minced chicken or beef. She loves it and clean up has never been easier.
Oh, and cat crap. Lots of cat crap…
they just stick fatboy’s food in the microwave for 10 seconds then he wolfs it down regardless of the content.
A bit of warm water on dry food can do a similar trick
Have you tried smaller meals but more regular?
My current boxer is a fussy eater but once started he'll eat well. He eats dry food but often needs a little something on top to get him started so I add things like kippers, chicken, tuna, raw tripe etc. Variety also seems to be key
Cyclists.
Sweeping generalisation, but, basically, if he’s hungry, he’ll eat. Put the food down, give him half an hour to eat it, if he doesn’t then he doesn’t get another chance until the next meal time.
Another generalisation, dogs don't eat as a social activity with friends and a nice glass of wine while discussing good fence posts in the area, or what the bitch at 42's back end smells like.
They eat for sustenance and as fuel (and yes - some will also eat because it's there!) and as long as the dog is able to function and exercise and is in good condition, etc., I wouldn't fret about whether it's eating the amount it says on the side of the pack. If it was undernourished quickly that would be evident.
A few potatoes, carrots,peas, broccoli - boiled and mashed, then about 250g of fried beef mince mixed in. Make into meatball sized lumps once cooled
Dry food, again grain free.
Fussy eater? Really, they eat shit at the drop of a hat.
2 and a half year old greyhound. 2 scoops of dry kibble with either raw beef mince, sardines or raw chicken wings on top.
Chum
Have you tried smaller meals but more regular?
Or, indeed, larger meals, but less often? Then you know he's hungry at the time of feeding.
Our Cocker went through a few months of being really fussy, we tried a load of food and have finally settled on the following which she now 'woofs' up (fed when wakes up in the morning and late afternoon);
Kibble - Essential - I think we're using Highland Living at the moment, high meat content and well rated on the comparison site we used. Also direct sales model so cheaper than Canagan etc.
Topper - Forthglade Complimentary
We use a spoonful of topper for taste and microwave with the kibble for about 10 seconds. You can get a box of 12 trays which lasts ages as a tray lasts several days.
Previously she has tried James Welbeloved (breeder kibble), Royal Canin (which she loved but is not nutritionally good), Arden Grange and Canagan. The Essential food has resulted in the best stool consistency by far.
Raw with a lot of variety - rabbit, venison, lamb etc,. with a % of offal and bone mixed in and fruit or veg.
Probably shouldn't own a dog if you think feeding it on dry food is the right thing...
Raw minced chicken beef rabbit turkey what have you.
He prefers the cats food though.
Wife signed up for a trial of something called butternut box. He preferred that. It got cancelled when the intro offer ran out…
Probably shouldn’t own a dog if you think feeding it on dry food is the right thing…
Oh, get in the sea.
Steroids, so she's never not hungry!
Canagan Turkey works for us, but she is the furthest from a fussy eater you could get. Former street dog and now with added 'roids. Only things she won't eat are other dogs poo (but all other types are IN), spinach and banana. She loves raw skin on Butternut squash too!
Active feeding helps too, the food is then a reward for a training/brain stimulating activity, to the point we don't even have a bowl for her.
Oh yeah stool consistency. Major bonus of the raw diet. A couple of dry nuggets instead of a pound of slop to scrape up.
Oh, get in the sea.
Agreed, the sea of cluelessness
Oh yeah stool consistency. Major bonus of the raw diet. A couple of dry nuggets instead of a pound of slop to scrape up.
That (the nuggets), is exactly what we get on Canagan dry.
Probably shouldn’t own a dog if you think feeding it on dry food is the right thing…
Probably should back that up with some veterinary science..
+1 heh, never heard that before but totally agree (sea comment).
Oh yeah stool consistency. Major bonus of the raw diet. A couple of dry nuggets instead of a pound of slop to scrape up.
Absolutely, Essential is the only food we've used which results in consistent solid dog eggs.
We fed my Cocker a mixture of raw and kibble, kibble in the morning and raw for dinner.
She is a fussy bugger, although not when it comes to begging for scraps, and would often leave the kibble as she knew she would get the raw later.
About a month ago she started throwing up the raw, happened 3 or 4 times in a row. We switched to a different raw food and she did it again, for whatever reason her stomach didn't seem to tolerate the raw anymore even though she seem to love it.
Now she is on Royal Canan kibble which we top up with some boiled or roast chicken and a bit of boiled veg.
Probably shouldn’t own a dog if you think feeding it on dry food is the right thing…
Utter crap
14 month old cockapoo here. He has had some stomach problems originating from Giardia as a small pup. All good now but still a bit of a sensitive stomach. He was on Royal Canin gastro high fibre kibble for much of his first year, with a 1/3 tin of Chappie in the morn (recommended by vet as a wet benign mild variation).
He loves the Chappie so have stuck with that, and kibble wise he's now on Scrumbles, which goes down a treat and comes out the other end ok too...
We give our 7m old Spinone dried food, a white label grain free from These guys. we have it on repeat so get a further discount.
We did a lot of research on this site to find a good quality food and am very happy with the results.
We used to give 100% raw, but, needing the freezer space to store what we'd need and how we'd buy it to make it economical wasn't really an option. We do still have a few tubs of Nature's Menu in the freezer which we use as a topper, will sometimes give him some as a whole meal. We do however give him lots of raw 'treats' chicken wings/turkey/chicken carcasses/rabbit ears/fish etc.
We feed our Bella a raw diet. We keep mixing up the proteins but have found too much chicken isn't good for her. She benefits from more bone than the standard mixes. The Utterly Rawsome stuff is lovely big chunks. Actually looks really appetising.
We also supplement with lamb necks, bull pizzles, sardines etc. Things with fur or feathers still attached as it helps clear any parasites. We also do regular stool samples and only worm if required.
She also loves apple cores, slices of cucumber as well as cauliflower and broccoli stems. Those aren't an official part other diet, just what she gets while we're cooking.
Typically, the most cooked thing she gets is some Forthglade in a Kong.
Fittest dog we've ever had and folks are surprised to hear how old she is.
We use a combo of Butternut box, Harringtons kibble & our own mush (sweet potatoes, sausages & carrots roasted & blended with some chicken stock)
We also us puzzle feeders & the aforementioned mush in kongs
Only raw food for our lad, get it online from a place called Natural Instinct. I’ve no personal views or experience between dry food or wet/raw, all I know is our dog loves it and it’s gone in seconds, so he clearly likes the stuff and he’s healthy as a result. Oh and his shits are small and like bullets.
We changed our 2 year old cocker spaniel's diet to raw food about 6 months ago and I would not go back to kibble now.
He used to have Acana or Vetspec kibble which he liked (he eats anything) but he had a few minor skin issues and constantly has ear infections. I was initially against raw but did a lot of research about it and decided to give it a go. His coat and skin are now in great condition and his ear infections have reduced significantly (also helped by keeping his ear hair short on the inside and not too long on the outside). He absolutely loves his raw food and his weight and general health have definitely improved.
We use Nutriment raw food which comes in handy 500g tubs that fit in the freezer easily. We top it up/supplement it with a bit of fruit, veg, sprats, chicken feet etc. We also mix up the flavours for him.
*narrows eyes at Onzadog
Is our Henry masquerading as a girl and living at two houses? That sounds just like what ours eats. And can I just say there's a depressing lack of photo's on this thread.
edit - meh, including me. You'll just have to click the link! Sure Insta posts used to embed somehow.
Despite what they may tell you, not all dogs get on with raw food. We tried over months to transition our dog over and she never took to it, got the runs constantly and lost weight.
We now feed a small scoop of 7 grain free kibble and 5th of a tin of 7 grain free wet food, all mixed up with a drop of water, twice a day. She eats it pretty quick, but can miss a meal without tearing down the walls.
She was a fussy eater, but in the sense that some foods gave her the runs, but that was in her first year whilst trying to work out what food suited her. She settled on Canagan but then moved to 7 as she got on with it and was much cheaper.
Not sure. Is Henry a bull lurcher who's so hench, everyone assumes it couldn't possibly be a girl (even with a selection of pink collars)?
Just clicked the link. Cute as he is, if that's also our Bella, then he's a master of disguise!
Came across a cocker-poo the other day called Chester. Name was inspired by the Goonies.
https://www.millieswolfheart.co.uk/
She gets on best with 60/40 or 50/50 mixes. We bought small bags for her to 'try' until we found a few mixes she likes. Now buy bigger bags and just rotate it round. (Also gets a variety scraps when we are making breakfast/lunch/dinner from cucumber to carrots and bacon to beans.)
Frozen sausages.
Our mutt (75% Cocker, 25% Poodle) has only ever had raw food - usually SouthCliffe or Naturaw - that is 80% meat, 10% bone & 10% offal. It comes in loads of different varieties (chicken, rabbit, lamb, turkey, etc., some with added fish). We regularly give her some raw veg as well. She loves it. Her coat is super glossy and her dog eggs are like bullets.
Feed our Ridgebacks raw like (I’d hazard a guess) 85% of the rest of the owners/breeders in the show world. Yes it is a bit more of a hassle defrosting and storing it but you soon get into a routine. (Although our first Ridgeback would only eat frozen meat which was handy) Like other posters have said the dogs coats are always in great condition and the number 2’s are solid so easy to pick up and help express the anal glands as they push the stools out. Know of several people who’ve had dogs with skin problems, changed over to a raw food diet and it’s disappeared.
The old saying fit as a butcher’s dog rings very true IMO
Hedgehogs
Our two Cockers have kibble and usually a sardine mixed with it, if it's a Sunday and we're having a roast, then they'll have a roast dinner instead. They didn't seem to like the kibble the breeders recommended and we switched to one from a local place that's for working dogs, which they seem to love. It usually gets eaten pretty quickly, they have great coats and vets say ideal weights, they do get a load of exercise too. So all is good.
Raw, we generally stick to the Dougie's stuff - chicken and pork, chicken and salmon, beef, venison, lamb, turkey and duck.
Occasionally we top up with bits of veg we have going spare - carrots, broccoli and courgette she seems to like.
Raw egg complete with shell, it still makes me wince a bit hearing her eat it.
She gets rabbit's ear and chicken feet every now and then as a treat, but by far her favourite is the ostrich bone...
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Both mine are raw fed. I mix up pre-bought for convenience (Paleo Ridge & Natural instinct) and DIY usually from Morrisons butcher counter. DIY is super cheap once you are confident in getting the meat/bone/offal ratio right.
Does he eat the tray of Harringtons? If he's eating that and a little kibble, I really wouldn't worry unless he's really thin or losing weight. One tray a day and some kibble should be enough for a cocker depending on his lifestyle and body condition obviously.
Dogs are far better off being underweight than over. I have been told mine is too thin by a couple of people with fat dogs. Mentioned it to the vet who said people are used to seeing fat dogs now so a dog who is the right weight looks thin. Same with people I guess.
If you think he needs more, try splitting the meals into two or more. And mix a little kibble in with the wet food. You don't say what kibble you've tried but something with a high meat content like Orijen or Eden might tempt him. Add some fish - sardines, cooked salmon, a bit of cooked meat. Jellified bone broth with the fat removed might tempt him too, easy to make especially if you've got a slow cooker and bones from butchers tend to be free. Salmon oil on top is tasty for dogs and good for joints. Mine likes a bit of kefir mixed in and it's a good probiotic.
Barf diets make a lot of sense to me but only if your dog gets on with it. Mine doesn't sadly. She was ok on it but not now so she's fed wet dog food, cooked fish, a little sweet potato or pumpkin when I can get it, kefir, natural chews (bits of identifiable animal type chews), a little kibble and supplements. No fruit or veg as she doesn't get on with it. And no bone broth as it's too rich for her.
As someone said above, make it into a game. Mine gets fed 4 times a day (for a variety of reasons, I'm not particularly advocating it). One of those times the wet food is cut into pieces and we go into the garden and she had to do things for a chunk of meat (sit, stay, basic training) or other chunks she has to go to find. 'Tis very exciting for her and more fun than eating from a bowl. She also has a treat dispenser (it's a cardboard tube that a bottle of whisky came in that I have cut holes in) and she has to push that round to get the treats out. Again, very exciting. She doesn't need tempting but it's fun for her but it might tempt your dog if it's fun.
About a third of kibble from each meal is fed via one of these, helps stop her eating it too quickly too.
Nature's Menu Raw Complete for both of ours (7yo Staff X Boxer and 6mo Staff X Boxer X Lab). Both have seemingly endless energy but not manic with it IYSWIM. Well, the pup is, but he's 6 months old so they're all crazy at that age!
I used to have a boxer with IBS and wasted an absolute fortune for most of her life because she was a 'fussy eater', once she stopped eating something I would stop feeding that variety and the entire rest of the bag would be wasted in an effort to swap her over to something she would eat. I'm now older and wiser and very much in the club of 'if they're hungry they will eat' camp. Stick it down and if it's not gone in half an hour lift it up and put more down when the next feeding time is due. Adjust portion size according to activity level and hunger level and judge based on ribs as well. My boxer was a right pain because the IBS meant that more often than not she looked skinny as anything but it was hard to keep any weight on her! Thankfully my Ridgeback was an absolute gannet and would eat anything, it was a hard job to get her to slow down and not make herself ill!
We feed Millie's Wolfheart, mixed with a bit of wet food, liver pate, sweet potato, egg, sardines etc. depending on day of the week. She's not hugely enthusiastic about food (must be faulty considering she's a lab) especially straight out the bowl but she looks in good condition on it so we're sticking with it for now.
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Our two dogs have James wellbeloved dry food mixed with which we is on offer 50/50, I change the flavours and mix every order. In a bowl and it's out 24/7 and always full. Oh and one dried raw chicken chew each morning or sometimes fishskin chews.
Never had an issue with over feeding, steeling or begging around food or the dogs fighting over food - they share a single bowl.
Hedgehogs
My Teckel has a thing for them.
I feed mine Barking Heads, but I’m going to try that Essential Foods stuff next time.
We give our Dalmatian 1 bowl of dry in the morning and a can of wet in the afternoon. Currently James wellbeloved grain free dry which she does seem to like a lot and butchers wet, which she gobbles up. I was thinking about replacing a little dry with a can of sardines topper.
She's a greedy bugger though. I doubt she'd stop eating if unlimited supply!
She’s not hugely enthusiastic about food
Definitely broken!
We're about to start down the food change route as Bodie has a bad rash after a year of Skinners food of various types.
Orijen dried food here.
Toby also has quite a sensitive stomach, but this has proven to be brilliant and is really good quality.
Part of our business is involved with pet products and I work with probably 50 distributors of pet products across the world. All of what I would consider to be our best 10 distributor also happen to distribute Orijen, which was kind of what led us to the brand.
Not cheap, but you don't need as much, so actually value for money is pretty good.
I fed my lab on raw for a year but she lost too much weight and it didn't seem to help her arthritis, was a faff and expensive. She has always been super healthy on processed food so she is back on dried grain free wolf of wilderness for breakfast and wet for dinner. Flavours are wild boar, venison, duck etc with herbs and berries. Great marketing but it's meant to mimic the wolf diet. Good value ordered from zooplus. Poos are very firm and dark but not quite as small as on the raw. She's 12 and full of life so raw is not the only answer.
Hedgehogs
I've taken many maimed HHs to by euthanased because dogs have attacked them and left them alive but fatally wounded, quite a few with just a leg torn off. Horrible way to go.
I should clarify I was only being silly, I don't have a dog and I'm a fan of hedgehogs!
Unfortunately I never see them where I live, but I have seen a couple of urban badgers which makes up for it.
My two GSPs are raw fed, changed over from dry as the oldest isn’t food driven and wouldn’t eat dry food. We made the change when he was 9 months old and now scoffs every meal down straight away. The youngest was fed raw after a couple of days of coming from the breeder. Both on paleo ridge completes and in good condition. It isn’t cheap and ~I should really look at doing DIY.
Both our Cockers are on Harringtons lamb or Salmon dry food.
Mix in some roast chicken for them in the morning as the older one can be a bit fussy.
In the evening supplement the dry food with half a tray each of Fishmonger's finest wet food.
Our two greyhounds are on Butternut Box topped up with Akela kibble. They bloody love the butternut box! We tried them on raw for a while. My wife put a lot of effort into making sure they got all they needed nutrition wise. They both went off it after a few months, and their coats looked dull. Put them back on the butternut box and they were sorted within a couple of meals. But we do know folk with greys who get on really well on a raw diet.
I do miss the raw fed poos though!
Our Beagle currently has Acana dried mixed with either Butchers tinned or sardines, gets fed twice a day. If we have any leftover cooked veg that goes in too.
We are trying to change to Akela (because its British and hopefully has a smaller carbon footprint) but it's not so easy to get locally and we have to think ahead and order it in.
He clears the bowl in about a minute so he must think it's good!
Our Karelian Bear Dog had food poisoning from raw despite our best efforts at defrosting and keeping his food bowls clean.
Been on nature's menu tins and lily kitchen dry ever since with additional boiled eggs, cheese, sardines, steak etc.
Abandoned cats.
Standard rice based kibble rehydrated with a little boiling water as I make the morning tea. By dinner he’s hungry enough to eat anything. 220g goes in and about 185g comes out of our 7 month old male show cocker every day.
220g goes in and about 185g comes out
I'm impressed that you measure it. My wife doesn't even like me weighing bike parts on the kitchen scales
Covid bonus. Can’t smell it. Also when I collect multiple at a time from the back garden I get a reasonable average. He does about three to four per day.
Doesn’t anyone else weigh themselves before and after number twos? For the dog, I know I know precisely what goes in. Not so for me (only so much kibble one can manage)
Acorn fed organic vegans - the highest quilaity lean meat 😀
In all seriousness I dont have the freezer space for a raw diet, and we tried several 'good quality' dog food brands.
He seemed to settle on Wainrights wet and kibble, and despite it not being the crappest or poshest food, he seems to do well on it. Supplimented with treats of chicken and cheese, cheese being in strict moderation due to the fat content.
Raw. She gets a variety of minced beef, lamb, chicken, salmon, tripe, lamb flat ribs, whole chicken wings or legs/backs, duck or chicken necks, venison, rabbit, beef heart, beast liver, with the occasional tin of sardines or mackerel. She gets any leftover green veg.
Coat is spectacular, she’s fit as the proverbial, never suffers from anal gland issues, and turds are small, firm and easily picked or flicked.
Get my supplies in bulk, delivered from Yorkshire Raw Feeds
We fed our gsd royal canin for years. She's has been reacting to something recently, which may or may not be food related. we have gone for a locally supplied grain free food now. 50% Salmon/trout and no legumes.
Two portions a day.
If I had one, it would be allowed to feed on the cats that shit all over my garden.
The reality is I would never have a dog, I have neither time nor patience to have one, and being away from the house for twelve hours a day it would be cruel to the animal.
11 year old Lab, always followed the only 'Fish or fowl' rule. Has a cup of Burns chicken & rice first thing and then another at 5, couple of Bonios middle of the day. Devours all ever single time(he is a lab!), and crap is exactly as it should be.
2 weeks into using this. Dogs go mental for it and solid stools all round 🙂
Free range chicken kibble (McAdams), luckily he’s a small-medium dog otherise it would be prohibitively expensive for us. Very good food though. Also some fresh (cooked) meat and the odd plate of microwaved frozen pollock to add variety/change. Began as juve on Royal Canin but things went downhill at some point.
He also likes a few veg snax now and again. Especially baby tomatoes, sweet pepper chunk or boiled pumpkin with rice to calm an upset stomach. We got a ‘lucky’ dog (a runt with IBD+allergies) so have to be careful. He doesn’t fare well at all on tinned dog-foods hence finding McAdams. Still a battle as stated he has IBS/IBD so ym(hopefully should)mv
The (especially cheap end of the scale) pet food industry is vile by the way. although things may change for the better
Amazing - you get paleo/keto zealots for dogs now! LOL
I shouldn't be surprised - my Rabbits are totally raw/vegan - they don't shut up about the benefits.
Their stools are like firm little bullets too - maybe you should try your dogs on a predominately Kale/carrot/banana based diet.
Mine are on Harringtons dry food, if either of them are off their food for any reason a bit or warm water in the food helps.
Amazing – you get paleo/keto zealots for dogs now! LOL
I’ll bite (SWIDT)!
What would you think to be the best and most natural (biologically appropriate) food for ‘normal’ dogs to eat? And why is one diet more ‘zealous’ than another? ie raw vs highly processed?
I’m not aware of anyone recommending keto diets on the thread BTW (I may have missed it?) I have read that keto diet can help control seizures in epileptic dogs (and in humans). Our dog has developed epilepsy in the second half of his life (much increased in last year) and would like to find a natural way to control it, as the anti-seizure drugs are difficult for his liver to manage)
feed our lab raw, we get deer carcasses from a local culler and butcher it ourselves and top it up with stuff from the local raw food place. the dog is in absolutely prime condition, his coat glows. absolutely no chicken or grain