Diet Change - Your Opinion?
We have always fed Frosty Pedigree dog food. It is what his breeder fed him and I just kept him on it after we brought him home because it seemed to be working just fine. I have noticed over the last several months that Frosty has become less and less enthusiastic about eating his dog food at meal times. He gets one cup in the morning and one cup at night. At first I thought it was because my bag of dog food was getting stale and the stuff at the bottom of the bag tasted gross to him or something. However, we are on our third bag since I noticed his indifference, and it doesn't seem to matter if the bag is freshly opened or not.
My question for you is this: Should I switch Frosty to a new dog food that he might like better so he will be more excited to eat it or would it be better for him if I just left him on the old food and insisted he get over it and eat that? He will still eat his regular food, he just always gives me the "seriously, its this AGAIN?" look and we have to tell him 3-4 times to eat before he'll actually do it.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Rebecca Marie O'Bryan on
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In this situation I would put my self in his shoes, would u wanna eat the same thing day after day? I mean I love pizza but if I had it everyday, I wouldn't like it much anymore lol maybe u should buy some canned food or gravy mixes for food(made for dogs of course ) and that would spice it up. I do that for Teddy every now again.
My cats started doing that a few months ago so I bought some canned food and since I mix it up its more interesting for them.
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Permalink Reply by Rachael & Waffle on
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Well... yes. Food is such a huge part of our pets' lives, and if they are getting bored with it, that sucks a lot of enjoyment out of daily life, imo. I normally feed whole prey model raw but because of a shortage of trusted meat in my area right now, I've had to put him on EVO kibble. I fed it to him for 2 days before he started being reluctant about eating when he was used to alternating beef, pork, chicken, and organs and stuff. I feel so guilty that I need to feed him relatively tasteless kibble that I am adding spices and stuff to it. He had pumpkin, cinnamon, and nutmeg last night. He will probably have an egg, curry, and chili powder tonight. But I am a crazy dog food person.
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Permalink Reply by John Wolff on
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"What's for dinner tonight?"
You could try what we did: develop a menu of 18 different entrees, perhaps a dozen different side dishes and a few dozen desserts (rotate servings, or we worked on a touch-screen menu allowing the dog to chose by licking the screen). Things like organic free-range pheasant pate with a side dish of organic free-range dead earthworm and a dessert of fresh organic free-range cat poop served on a lavender-scented linen napkin....
But when we realized it all disappeared within 50 seconds, no matter what it was, we went back to SOS -- Same Old Slop -- every night. :)
Really -- a corgi diffident about dinner? That would make me wonder about some health problem...
For treats/variety, maybe find a butcher where you can buy organ meats or something? Somebody's blog mentioned tripe -- inexpensive, cut it into pieces and freeze them.
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Permalink Reply by Jane on
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I don't think it could hurt to try something new. I feed Fromms Four Star Nutritionals which comes in several different flavors that are meant to be rotated. I think the dogs enjoy having something new once in a while.
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Permalink Reply by Chris West on
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I guess my biggest concern is really that everyone has always told me that changing your dog's food is not good for them, and gives them an upset stomach, and you have to do it slowly transitioning to the new food, etc, etc, etc. I also feel I should point out that he used to get 3 cups of food a day, but we usually give him dinner scraps on his kibble at night (only the good stuff like meat and veggies and rice), so that's why I cut him down to 2 cups (he was getting chunky lol), but until recently, he never cared about whether the kibble had people food on it or not, he would just wolf down whatever was in his bowl.
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if u dont want to change his food u can always add some veggies or boiled meat to it. i know i spoil the heck out of teddy but i have always put my self in his shoes and thought what he might thnk, ya know? but always add an egg (cooked) boiled chicken, veggies of all sorts and some fruits. just google what u can and cant give frosty.
i even add cheese wiz to his food and he LOVES it! the best part about adding all diffrent kinds of food is, u dont need to put so much kibble in it. even a table spoon of peanut butter will add some flavor :)
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Permalink Reply by Melissa and Franklin! on
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I"m guessing the new behavior change may be due to the addition of table scraps. Dogs generally start getting more picky the more different yummy stuff you add to their food. However, it really shouldn't matter if you switch his food. Since you are feeding Pedigree now, stick with a similar protein/carb content and switch slowly over the course of a week or two and he will be fine. Also, since he does get some variety in his diet he will likely adjust better than a dog who has only ever had one type of kibble and no treats. You can switch to a similar food like Purina One or Iams. My chihuahua, who has always been a super piggy, just recently quit eating and her food would sit for 2 or 3 days. We switched her kibble and now she gobbles down the food and licks the bowl clean.
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Permalink Reply by Alison Prasavath on
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Up until recently, Noodles would get the same thing to eat...dry food in the morning and then dry food mixed with green beans in the evening for dinner. I cooked my first pumpkin this year and Noods loves it! I have ice cube trays with frozen pumpkin in the freezer just for him. I now rotate for his dinner. He gets dry for breakfast (in his toy) and then we switch between green beans and pumpkin mixed with dry for dinner. He gets so excited when he sees he gets pumpkin for dinner. I still have another pumpkin to cook and I need to do that this weekend because we are almost out of pumpkin. I don't think he would be too happy with me if he didn't get his pumpkin anymore. We also switch up giving him rice from time to time because we eat a lot of rice and always have extra.
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Permalink Reply by Beth on
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If he's normally a good eater and now he doesn't like it, I'd change. All I can ever remember when people say their dog or child or whatever doesn't like something is that when I was a kid I HATED milk. My mom let me skip it but my grandmother made me drink it. Anyway, I couldn't stand it and years later I finally discovered I'm lactose intolerant. Similarly, my husband never "liked" red fish and the last time he tried it he said it made his tongue immediately start to feel furry and he spit it out--- I think he's allergic. So when normally non-picky eaters don't like something, I often wonder if it's bothering their systems at some level and their "dislike" is their body's way of saying "This isn't the best thing for me."
If you switch him gradually over about 2 weeks or so he should be fine.
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Permalink Reply by Bev Levy on
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Both of my corgis will eat whatever is put in front of them at the speed of light but our Doberman has such a delicate stomach that even though she will eat anything she will then have severe diarrhea so I do not ever change her diet. Anyway, my point is I think it is possible for each dog to be different. You could try gradually switching. As long as it is a quality food and his weight is stable it should be fine. I just do not think that variety is a must for them.
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Permalink Reply by Vee Luther on
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I agree that variety isn't a must for dogs. It might be for the humans that feed them! I dont' change the food but I will add something-- a spoonful or yougurt or some veggies at their breakfast. Dinner stays the same no matter what. they get 15 minutes to finish and then I take it away. Never EVER has any of the 3 been reluctant to eat. They get .5 cup a.m. and the same p.m. I feed a little less in kibble so that I can add something to the morning bowl. All 3 are at a very good weight.
Maybe some dogs get picky when they don't get enough exercise, I just don't know..
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It is a long-recognized feature of the Standard Model of physics that nothing with mass can travel at the speed of light except a corgi approaching food.
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