Picky eater
Kota, my AA, has been picky ever since we brought him home. I currently have him on Taste of the Wild kibble and I try to mix it with a high quality canned food once a day. Now that it's summer--it's even worse than usual. I was outside brushing him and was appalled to see that his hip bones seem to be jutting out a bit! I know that when he turned one year old, he was between 80-85 pounds. We recently had him weighed and he is between 72-75 pounds now. :-( Today I thought maybe I need to try the canned food more often in the day and I mixed some in, and he picked out just the canned food. So a couple hours later I added more canned food and this time he didn't even eat more than a few bites.
He is otherwise acting normal...like I said, he's been picky since he was a puppy...and he does love treats and he loves to run at the dog park and things. He does keep his tail down most of the time but again, I think that's just normal behavior for him (although when he goes in August for rabies shot, I will just run this all by the vet to make sure.)
One time I tried to do that thing where you just give them kibble and nothing else and supposedly they "eat when they're hungry" but after two days of him barely touching food I was like...um no....I'm adding canned food back again!
He doesn't like emanciated or anything but I don't get how a dog just doesn't care about food?! I remember taking him to obedience classes and knowing that when they say to mix good treats with kibble...yeah right. I had to bring out the GOOD stuff for Kota to make him want to do the commands! Ain't NO way Kota is going to obey for a piece of mere dog food. LOL.
He is otherwise acting normal...like I said, he's been picky since he was a puppy...and he does love treats and he loves to run at the dog park and things. He does keep his tail down most of the time but again, I think that's just normal behavior for him (although when he goes in August for rabies shot, I will just run this all by the vet to make sure.)
One time I tried to do that thing where you just give them kibble and nothing else and supposedly they "eat when they're hungry" but after two days of him barely touching food I was like...um no....I'm adding canned food back again!
He doesn't like emanciated or anything but I don't get how a dog just doesn't care about food?! I remember taking him to obedience classes and knowing that when they say to mix good treats with kibble...yeah right. I had to bring out the GOOD stuff for Kota to make him want to do the commands! Ain't NO way Kota is going to obey for a piece of mere dog food. LOL.
Comments
I've noticed that during the summer months, my AA eats less and sometimes skips entire meals. Last year, he hit 93 lbs then went down to 86 lbs. He's back up now @ around 100lbs.
I also had to bring very high value treats for training class. When people offer "inferior" treats, he will walk away disgusted...sometimes even huff!
How tall is your akita? Mine is on the short side, about 25.5" at 14 months.
He didn't start to fill out until after 18 months. So I wouldn't worry about your young akita being on the lean side. Better slightly underweight than overweight.
Bear will not eat hot dogs...only chicken apple sausage, what a snob!
Did yours gain any height after a year old or do you think 25.5" is about what mine will remain?
Conker currently eats homemade raw food.
Have you tried mixing in a raw egg? How about sardines? My dogs all love canned fish.
Does he like meaty bones? Turkey necks (raw) would work with helping to keep those anal glands clear. One or two a week would be good and would help keep his teeth clean if he is fed more canned food than you already do.
BTW... Not all groomers know what a dog's proper weight should be. When Sasha was 20 pounds overweight, everyone except my Vet (who is awesome) thought she was perfect while the other two, who are in fantastic shape, were believed to be emaciated. It's obnoxious how little people know about a dog's proper body condition.
You can also try a cracked egg on top of kibble? Maybe even some greek yogurt? Just something healthy and treat-like to go along with his kibble?
Also, set times doesn't really work for her because sometimes she'll skip meals, but we left it out a few times and we noticed that she grazes at odd hours. Usually she gets midnight munchies and since she doesn't overeat, now when she doesn't eat her breakfast or dinner at set times, we just leave it out and she'll graze whenever she feels like it. That seems to work for her.
I have also heard that changing food too often will enable their picky-ness. I know you're still trying to find what works for him, but it's just something to keep in mind. The less options we gave Hana, the less picky she was able to be.
If you're going to do raw meat, you should do your research on it first.
I also celebrate when Bear has hard stools. I hate when his anal glands leak! Usually, my mother is the cause, she loves giving him lots of boiled tendon which results in softer stools.
@kgima, cooking big batches and then freezing the rice is a great idea. I used to buy the microwave rice to have on hand when I didn't have the rice cooker going but that got expensive.
I gave him a bit of cooked turkey with his food today and it made him throw up. Sigh. See, sensitive tummy!!!!! I have to be careful what canned food brand I buy too...if I buy a cheaper brand, he gasses us out of house and home. So I have to make sure the canned food is just as "natural" as the kibble.
Sometimes i'll buy a little extra of what we're having for dinner and that'll be Saigo's portion.
Not trying to get you to convert to raw or anything, but sometimes people think it's a lot of work when it can be done relatively fast
EDIT: But i do think BB is better then the TOTW you were feeding, as thats manufactured by diamond, i am assuming you are feeding the wilderness since you were feeding TOTW. as someone on another board has said, BB is a lot of marketing and you pay for that marketing...
I have given him raw food in the past as a treat and he makes a mess of it. Lol. And we have four kids....not for us, not for now. :-)
I think feeding is a very personal choice and there's no right answer as long as the dog is healthy and thriving with a healthy coat and body. I don't like getting involved in debates about things like food or training techniques. Information is good....but I've been burned with wayyyyy too much drama in the past by adults who can't seem to agree to disagree. Lol.
I know you guys aren't like that here though.
Agreed. Feeding is a personal choice because it depends on your dog's palate, your budget your time. Speaking of Picky eaters, I just introduced my little picky one to Honest Kitchen and it has not been successful
My Kai girl, Shelby, has been a picky eater for some time now. I've tried everything I can except for canned food mixed in. She has no interest in typical "people food" and most dog foods. I am now feeding her natural choice lamb and rice. She seems to like this food best, but she is so skinny! I add salmon oil to her food. Do you guys think canned food mixed in will help her gain weight? Or should I try putting her back on puppy food?
Shelby is VERY active and, though she eats well now and has been for the past 6 months (took me forever to figure out she was hiding her food and my Shiba was eating it later), she is under weight. She isn't hungry between feedings and won't touch any extra food I try to give her, she just hides it under her blanket.
Shelby was eating all of her food (venison and something else kibble) at every meal, but we got a kitten who eats all the time and Shelby started sneaking cat food. She was almost at a healthy weight before, but now she won't eat her morning food because she's wanting cat food all the time. What should I do? I don't want her to be hungry, but cat food isn't formulated for what dogs need. My Chihuahua follows whatever Shelby does, and now she won't eat her morning food either! The chi is usually a little piggy at meal times, so I'm really stumped. I've tried fish oil, but only my Shiba likes it, the other 2 hate it and just push the food out of their bowls. Should I maybe try the sesame seed oil? Or is there something else I can do? I've been much better about watching the kitten eat and picking up his bowl when he's finished so they aren't able to sneak cat food anymore, but they still won't eat during the day.
It'll tough but your dogs may have to go a day or so to figure out they're getting what you give them and that's that.
Jesse
I didn't give Shelby any extra food last night, I just left what she didn't eat in the bowl. I normally dump what she doesn't eat back in the bag and give her the normal scoop from there. The ladies eat in about half an hour, so we'll see how it goes today.
In the mornings she gets just her Acana Duck & Bartlett Pear food. At night I crumble a third of a Stella & Chewy pheasant patty with warm water and mix that with her food. She loves it! Some mornings if I cook myself breakfast she gets some scrambled eggs mixed with her food and inhales it!