Any Vets or Animal Nutrition Experts?
Discussion
I have a 10 month old Springer Lab cross and she is a very fussy eater! Her mum and siblings are also fussy!
I have been toying with the idea of giving her a diet of 50:50 good quality dried food mixed with cooked meat such as liver, hearts, and cheap lean cuts of meat.
Will this be ok from a nutrional point of view as she wont eat dried food on its own and wet food is expensive?
And before anyone says, I know she will eventually eat the dried food when shes hungry, but I dont really want to starve her untill she will eat!
I have been toying with the idea of giving her a diet of 50:50 good quality dried food mixed with cooked meat such as liver, hearts, and cheap lean cuts of meat.
Will this be ok from a nutrional point of view as she wont eat dried food on its own and wet food is expensive?
And before anyone says, I know she will eventually eat the dried food when shes hungry, but I dont really want to starve her untill she will eat!
Robwhite said:
I'm surprised, we've had 3 springers and they'd eat anything. We've used the dried suff for years with no problem, but why not mix it with gravy instead of water for a while?
She was eating adult wet food when we got her! she just isnt interested in dried! tried gravy! she licks the gravy off and leaves the biscuits!Dogs will not starve themselves to death unless they are ill. Just give her good quality dry stuff (Hills or similar) and she'll eat when she's hungry. If you pander to their fussiness you'll just make it worse.
One of our labs did the same. Vet and Dog trainer just told us to keep putting the food down and taking it back up if he left it. It took about three days and he started eating normally again.
One of our labs did the same. Vet and Dog trainer just told us to keep putting the food down and taking it back up if he left it. It took about three days and he started eating normally again.
rhinochopig said:
Vet and Dog trainer just told us to keep putting the food down and taking it back up if he left it. It took about three days and he started eating normally again.
Exactly! You put the food down when you decide. If the dog doesn't eat, you remove the food till the next mealtime. And repeat. Apart from anything else, it reinforces the dog's view that you are the pack leader. Always assuming your dog doesn't have a dietary intolerance or whatnot 
rhinochopig said:
Dogs will not starve themselves to death unless they are ill. Just give her good quality dry stuff (Hills or similar) and she'll eat when she's hungry. If you pander to their fussiness you'll just make it worse.
One of our labs did the same. Vet and Dog trainer just told us to keep putting the food down and taking it back up if he left it. It took about three days and he started eating normally again.
sounds good advice, and don't worry "starvation" is a long way off, it's more a case of not giving a kid a bar of chocolate when they refuse their dinner....eventually kid/dog realises hunger ain't so great. As for the 50/50 question, you can certainly try this but bear in mind what dogs are meant to eat according to nature, not many will get 50% meat. It is my experience that some of the stuff mentioned above [hills, royal canin, iams] will give your dog a shinier coat, less wind,less crap and longer life. Our dogs have always been fed on such diets and when you compare how they look and age compared to their litter mates who are generally fed less specifically [cheap, rich or just off the plate] the difference in appearance is quite staggering. But to balance that, all animals are different and your springer may do fine on what you suggest.One of our labs did the same. Vet and Dog trainer just told us to keep putting the food down and taking it back up if he left it. It took about three days and he started eating normally again.
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