Jett's eating is frustrating me

Hi all just wanted to tell you all how much of a major pain in the butt Jett is with his eating. As you all have read in the many posts I have made about jett's lack of eating. He started to improve about a month ago and the best amount he has ever ate is 2 chicken wings and later in the day 250g of chicken mince with 1 cup of kibble. Over the last week it has dwindled. Today it was 2 chicken necks (small) and for dinner tonight he had amount 100g of chicken mince. I have noticed recently he will not eat his kibble. The naughty thing is he is hungry but he is only interested in our food - and no I didn't give him any.

Some of you may think that surely he likes something but I can not stress enough that he will not eat what all dogs eat - FOOD!

He does not look under weight but his coat isn't as shiny as it used to be. However that could be because he likes to dig in the dirt under the house. He is going to the vet tomorrow as he may have a grass seed or foreign object in his cheek.

I have never ever meet a dog with so many bloody issues before in my entire life. So FRUSTRATING.

I am thinking tomorrow about only feeding him kibble hopefully this will make him relize how good he has it. Is this mean??????

I know it's really frustrating when they won't eat.

I know you're feeding kibble have you put any water on it or mixed it with a bit milk?

How old is Jett now, he must be older than 7 month now? Has he be weighed recently?

it may be that he doenst ike chicken1 my friend had five dogs, all fed raw, one of them refuses to eat chicken, so it may be worth trying him with beef or tripe

No i haven't mixed it with milk or water usually just the chicken mince. Yes he is 7 months now and i will have him weighed tomorrow but on my scales he is approx 15kg. Yes he is a little but stocky lad.

Here I am winging about Jett not eating and I just read about poor Harley in pain - so sorry to hear and I hope that he gets better soon.

it may be that he doenst ike chicken1 my friend had five dogs, all fed raw, one of them refuses to eat chicken, so it may be worth trying him with beef or tripe

Yep....tried beef (not tripe), roo, BARF, egg, tuna so many more things over his short life span and chicken is the only thing that he has touched until now. Tried cooked and raw on all the above.

how long do you leave with with one type of food before changing it?
and how long between him refusing and you changing it?

In the early days a couple of days. But he has been on chicken for at least the past month. The problem I find is he finally eats and I get excited keep him on this until he stops then after days of basically not eating I try something else. Before the last month of raw chicken I was giving cooked mince and rice with his kibble. But way before this it was chicken mince raw again.

I know he may have been given way too many choices in the begining because he was so fussy (my fault i know).

So do you reckon give just kibble?

i certainly wouldnt tell you which to feed (though IMO raw would the way to go )
But it sounds to me like he's playing you for a bit of a fool lol, decide what you think is best for your dog, be it raw or kibble and just stick to it, when my dogs were ill i had to starve them for 3 days! and it didnt kill them, not even close lol so as long as you make sure he has water i would put his food down, leave it for 20 mins and if not eaten take it away until his next feeding time. as said if he misses a few meals it wont kill him (though i wouldnt recommend starving for more than four days lol!

Yeah I am a fool and I am sure Jett is aware of this.

Really i don't care if he gets raw or kibble I would prefer both this way I feel he is getting everything required for growth (not that it has helped much in his case). Most vets here really push kibble all I do know is that it will not be tin food.

Cassie was a fussy eater, watts had a great idea, put a little bit of cooked meat chicken beef or lamb into the food processor and ziiizzz it, it breaks down to a fine powder, then coat the kibble in it making sure each peice is coated, because the meat it almost like powder they cant pick the meat out and leave the kibble, it worked a treat for cassie and she hasnt missed a meal since and just to say at the moment cassie is only fed a small amount of kibble as she is mainly on a raw food diet. good luck

put a little bit of cooked meat chicken beef or lamb into the food processor and ziiizzz it, it breaks down to a fine powder

No harm in trying.

i think the problem is though that you keep enticing him with different foods, so as soon as he fancies something knew he knows just to refuse and mummy gives in
personally i dont recommend mixing raw and kibble, though i know a few people that do without problem, better for the dogs digestion to just stick with one
as for vets not liking raw.... most dont!

shellstaff wrote:

put a little bit of cooked meat chicken beef or lamb into the food processor and ziiizzz it, it breaks down to a fine powder

No harm in trying.

no and as I said it worked a treat for cassie, good luck and please keep us posted

Hi vix, I thought it was okay to feed raw and kibble so long as you didnt feed it at the same meal ie give raw chicken wings for morning feed and a bowl of kibble perhaps with cooked meat in the evening ??

allie wrote:Hi vix, I thought it was okay to feed raw and kibble so long as you didnt feed it at the same meal ie give raw chicken wings for morning feed and a bowl of kibble perhaps with cooked meat in the evening ??

as far as i know, and im NOT an expert, the PH levels needed in the dogs stomach are different for either raw or kibble, therefore mixing them regularly can cause an imbalance

Vix wrote:i think the problem is though that you keep enticing him with different foods, so as soon as he fancies something knew he knows just to refuse and mummy gives in

That's my theory too. Variety is great for humans but with dogs it just encourages fussyness. If you have a balanced complete food or meat and kibble mix, stick to it - scientists have worked on the formula night and day to ensure they don't need anything else.

ok, this ive stolen from a friend, who i would deem to be an expert on feeding raw: (although appreciate her opinions may not be shared by all )

Kibble contains sometimes more than half its weight in carbohydrates, carbohydrates is not by nature on the menu of carnivores.

Carbohydrates can only be digested in the dogs stomach by enzymes that only function well at pH levels that are close to neutral (pH6-7) whilst a natural raw diet for carnivores requires a strong acidity (pH 1-2) for the enzymes to digest raw food.

When a dog has been programmed to expect a meal mainly of carbohydrates at 8am the pancreas will produce the enzymes that can do the job of digesting carbohydrates and the stomach will adjust the pH level to around 6. This happens shortly before 8am every day.

If you suddenly start to feed an adult dog a raw meaty bone diet it will be a shock to the dogs digestive system as the stomach is programmed to digest Carbohydrates. The enzymes produced by the pancreas and other glands are wrong and the pH level in the stomach is wrong hence the dogs may vomit the food to deal with the problem. Most enzymes are extremely sensitive to pH and if the pH is off what they need they will not function this is why feeding both raw with biscuit or kibble is a contradiction a stomach's ph must be one or the other.

The problem is not the food but the past feeding program and biologically wrong food.

thank you vix, i feed mainly raw but am stuck with the feeling that i may not get it quite right for my girl, so am still giving her a small bowl of kibble daily mmmmmm will give this some more thought thank you again cheers

there aint nothing your dog needs that cant be found in raw natural diets

if you feed raw and do all your research everything you feed them should contain all the supplements vits etc.. that they need so additional ones shouldnt be necessary

allie wrote:thank you vix, i feed mainly raw but am stuck with the feeling that i may not get it quite right for my girl, so am still giving her a small bowl of kibble daily mmmmmm will give this some more thought thank you again cheers

A multi vitamin should sort that Allie. Remember humans don't eat a balanced meal every mealtime and your girl doesn't have to either. It's a bit of a myth that everything has to be totally balanced.

thank you MBK

P3nT4gR4m wrote:

Vix wrote:i think the problem is though that you keep enticing him with different foods, so as soon as he fancies something knew he knows just to refuse and mummy gives in

That's my theory too. Variety is great for humans but with dogs it just encourages fussyness. If you have a balanced complete food or meat and kibble mix, stick to it - scientists have worked on the formula night and day to ensure they don't need anything else.

They've also thrown together a limit that humans should drink, but it's been proven that it was a desire of the Government to come up with virtually any figures to give to the public back in the 80's with no scientific merit as every 'body' is different.

Same goes for the pet food industry. Dog's did well enough 60 years ago for thousands of years on a non-kibble/commercial diet.

My old mutt Caesar was fed chocolate, crisps, iced-cream and table scraps. He lived until 14 after 2 years living on the streets. He was a very healthy dog that we took to the vets twice, once for his anal glands and once when his heart enlarged which lead to his death.

allie wrote:thank you MBK

BTW she looks great, any chance of some more recent pictures?

Send em over allie x

staffylover70 wrote:Send em over allie x

thank you

I agree with you all.............. I do give in as I do not like to see him not eat (mother in me). So I will stop with the variety.

However, the little bugger (to put it polietly) does not eat alot of raw (anything really) so how do I choose what Raw is best. As he does eat chicken wings and necks what else do I feed him? He can not live off chicken wings and necks alone.

Suggestions??????

On another note: at the vet today it turns out the lump on the side of his cheek is some benign tumor (apparently common is staffs around his age - never heard of it myself). If it hasn't cleared up in six weeks then he has to get it removed just encase it is nasty. What Tha!!! I went to see if he had a grass seed. God this dog has some serious issues the only thing he has going for him is his good looks.

oh bless him!
as for the raw no he cantlive on chicken alone, if you know he point blank refuses the other meats i would find a decent kible and stick with that. I know its naughty but i give mine the odd chicken wing as a treat too and mine are on kibble at the mo

oh bless him!
as for the raw no he cantlive on chicken alone, if you know he point blank refuses the other meats i would find a decent kible and stick with that. I know its naughty but i give mine the odd chicken wing as a treat too and mine are on kibble at the mo

Problem is he wont eat kibble either - remember he is a pain.

However I just made some rice and cooked beef mince added a little kibble and he scoffed the lot. Go figure.

no what i meant was YOU decide which food you want him to eat and thats all he gets, do the routine i suggested before and see how it goes

shellstaff wrote:

oh bless him!
as for the raw no he cantlive on chicken alone, if you know he point blank refuses the other meats i would find a decent kible and stick with that. I know its naughty but i give mine the odd chicken wing as a treat too and mine are on kibble at the mo

Problem is he wont eat kibble either - remember he is a pain.

However I just made some rice and cooked beef mince added a little kibble and he scoffed the lot. Go figure.

Few ideas here.

http://staffy-bull-terrier.niceboard.com/staffordshire-bull-terriers-feeding-time-diets-f28/barf-raw-food-natural-diet-qa-s-all-in-here-please-t12719.htm

I feed Harley pretty much 60-70 percent chicken based diet.

Hes playing you.
And if he IS 15kg at SEVEN MONTH OLD, then hes just fine.
Obviously he isnt hungry for the kibble, and he KNOWS it irks you, so he just waits around for something better...

Get his kibble, put it in a bowl and he gets ten minutes to eat it.
Feed him somewhere that you dont have to watch. Attention is not what he needs when he is eating.
If the food is uneaten, pick it up, and try again in a few hours.
Still not eaten? Then he gets nothing until the next day.

If you can see or easily feel all his ribs then he obviously IS underweight and your vet would have told you this when you took him.
Only give him chicken necks and wings after he has eaten the kibble. If you really cant bear giving it to him plain, then pour a little boiling water on it, to bring out the smell of the food.
Dont keep offering him lots of different foods, its not necessary and I suspect that this is why he isnt eating his kibble.
If you have made a mince stew, then mix a tablespoon with the kibble and he will either eat it or he wont.
Dogs dont starve themselves if there is food available, but they are opportunists who will wait to see if something better comes along....

I know exactly what you mean!
Mine wont eat dog mince cold- it must be warm as in blood temperature.

I brought him a lambs heart and bag of raw dog bones as thought I would attempt the Barf, but turned his nose up at it all!

So gonna stick with the pet mince as he wil eat that so long as they are all mixed with a bit of tripe. He just cant get enough of the tripe for some reason.