Tuesday 26 February 2008

Help, My Dog Won't Eat !

I've just been feeding my two greyhounds.
One of them is on tablets, which I hide in a lump of Chappie. It works a treat.

This got me to thinking about dogs who are finnicky or have a poor appetite. (Lab owners will probably be puzzled at this point!)

Adding something tasty to a dog's dinner can work wonders.

Things you can try are:
- Tinned Chappie (the fish one)
- Tins of sardines in tomato juice
- Tinned tuna
Are you getting the idea that fish-based food is attractive to dogs? Too right!

Adding any kind of meat to a dry food can help a dog with appetite problems.
Remember not to overdo it. You are just adding flavour and smell.

Brown bread is a good appetite stimulant. I think it's due to vitamin B6.

One of the old greyhound trainers tricks is to feed cornflakes with full-cream milk. I've heard enough anecdotal evidence to believe it really works. This is only used to get the dog eating again. It isn't a proper diet.
The drawback is that it can make your dog loose.

Another thing to try is feeding at a set time. Leave the food down for half-an-hour then remove it. Your dog soon gets the idea and eats straight away.

Try feeding at a completely different time than when you eat. And no tit-bits off your plate either!

What we are trying to do is to establish a feeding pattern which hopefully will get our dogs eating correctly.

Please let me know any of your own tips.

Ti

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