I have a 12 month old akita, who through our lack of dog expecerience got herself into some really bad habits. Anyway we have spent the last few months readjusting her behaviour and retraining her, now we want to conquer her awful diet. She will only eat tinned food, supermarkets own (thats the food she came to us eating) we are doing everything to switch her to a high quality dry food. We have tried all the adding dog gravy, peanut butter ect. As well as mixing dry and wet food and increasing the amount of dry. To which she just eat all the wet food and left the dry in the bowl, she did that consistently for about a month so the vet said all we can really do is just have dry food on offer for 30 minutes, twice a day. I'm wondering if anyone else else has experienced a really fussy dog and how they managed it. She has eaten about 3 mouthfuls in 7 days and just keeps crying. I am ready to give up and just give her the tesco tins for life.
Have you tried soaking the kibble in warm water until it softens, then mix in the wet food that she likes, or something strong tasting like sardines in tomato, or grated cheese.
Maybe try raw meat mixed in? Or go to a raw diet completely.You could also try squirting either Salmon oil or some other type of fish oil on top. I finally found a dry kibble my picky girls will eat. Victor Super Supreme Professional. I do still put a SMALL spoonful of canned food on top for a treat. When they are pregnant and nursing they get chicken as well for added protein.
Akitas can be picky eaters, one of mine was, in the end I bought some small terrier meal, (they cant pick out the meat so easily) started off by just mixing a handful of the bisc well into the meat and gradually adding more bisc, eventually I managed to get him onto complete. It looks like this.
This happened with my previous dog. He got parvo as a puppy and was given the bland canned diet afterwards and we mixed it with Pedigree chicken canned food. He mostly refused even other canned foods. He wouldn't eat dry. Even when mixed he wouldn't eat it. He hated raw except sometimes he would eat raw ground beef (sometimes he would not touch it). He hated anything fishy too. For his almost 16 years of life, he ate almost only Pedigree chicken. It was expensive to feed him like that but he was a skinny dog anyway and that's all he would eat. We saw him go four + days without touching food because he refused anything but what he was used to. He would literally starve before he would eat most foods.
I would try a raw diet with her but I really have no idea of the amount to give her and if it would provide everything she needs. I noticed even without any food she is so much more active and playful than normal. We thought we just had a really lazy dog but I think the tins just make her sluggish so definitely want to get her off them. I've tried soaking the food and mixing it, it didn't help. Gave her tins today couldn't starve her any more as she was losing a fair bit of weight so hopefully we can find a dry food she likes and just very slowly increase the amounts. Taking her for a tasting session at the pet shop to see if there are any dry brands she goes for.
I bet the only one she likes will be the most expensive one. Have you tried her on any of the wet tray foods? I get one called Naturo from Tesco, 60% protein source, (my dogs go mad for the salmon and the lamb varieties), 20% brown rice, 15% mixed vegetables, plus oils and minerals. Six 400g trays for £5 in the multipack. There are lots of other makes, but this one really smells good and fresh when you open it.
This is what taught me about raw feeding: http://www.dogsey.com/showthread.php?t=137215 I have tweaked it according to the meat [mainly poultry] that I am able to get, added extra vitamins and supplements according to my angel Pereg's needs [she was epileptic] and once I had weaned little Tikva she went straight on a raw diet. First meal is a bone one - usually a frozen chicken wing or neck/s - sometimes large sardines [I buy fresh from my poulterer and pack and freeze individually] and she has her "wet" meal in the evening, which has her vitamins and supplements, vegetables and meat. As for the amount to give your girl? Try it and see. Offer her a fresh raw chicken wing and see her reaction. I am not in the UK but I believe there are quite a few companies who sell raw food for pets if you decide to go the raw route. Probably someone near you will have some suggestions.
I have to seen that brand, will have a look at it. It is so expensive to feed on tins too I think, for her weight she needs like 6 tins a day and that's still probably not really enough. The information was really helpful about the raw diet. She won't eat any type of vegetable though, so it would have to be all meat. Which then I'd still be a bit lost as too if she is getting the correct nutrition. Really wish my dog just wernt so stubborn!
