This little Nelly has had food left down all day, to graze upon, in her previous home, but with a greedy Labrador around , that's not going to work ! The owner gave me some kibble she had been feeding her on but it is huge , far too big for a 3 kilo dog , so I got her a bag of small breed salmon and potato kibble, hummm ! She eats at breakfast time but only if I put a wee bit of sardine on the kibble but trying to get her to eat her tea is an issue, she just isn't food orientated at all . So , any recommendations for a good canned wet food of a fishy nature would be gratefully received please , so that she has her kibble in the morning and the wet food at tea time , thank you x
That sounds similar to Jess's diet: she gets wainwrights salmon & potato with a little bit of sardine. She won't eat it without the sardine but she gets the same meal twice a day. I used to give her a wet food from Pets at Home called fishmonger's friend, which seems quite good as a food but I got a bad tray once that was so revoltingly mouldy that it put me off the brand altogether. I realised that Jess was just as happy with the dry food + sardine, and as the dry food is supposed to be a complete food, it seemed better to give her that for both meals. But I did test drive a few fishy wet foods so: Fishmonger's Friend, Wainwrights and Evolution are all available at pets at home. Jess liked the Evolution stuff best but it was very expensive - about £2 a can I think. Chappie also has a surprisingly high fish content though with chicken and other meats as well. Fish 4 Dogs have a couple of different wet foods, and Arden Grange do a fish wet food, but I've not tried those.
For fussy labradoodles, usually mixing in a bit of tuna and the oil works well, but I know some dogs will pick out the tuna and leave the kibble (apparently!)
This is exactly what she does , unless its sardines ! She picks out pieces of her kibble , licks the best off it and then spits it out ! Thanks for the suggestions , looks like being sardines and her fishy kibble at every meal then ! x
Yes, Jess only likes sardines too - I've tried mackerel and tuna and pilchards, but sardines are the clear winner!! I stockpile them and rotate sardines in oil, tomato sauce and brine. One small can usually does for 3 meals, and she's about 11kg. She seems to be thriving on it, her coat is fantastically glossy and it's a lot cheaper than feeding cans of dog food.
I also use sardines in olive oil, and will mix a little water in with it and give it a good stir with the kibble. It seems to help distribute that sardiney goodness, otherwise the sardine just gets picked out.
The little tyke has just make a liar of me and scoffed her bowl of food , her fishmongers finest salmon and potato with half a sardine mixed well in , gone ! I think Sam is quite disappointed x
I was going to say, perhaps she is not eating because she is getting used to being in a new home and maybe she had been overfed in her last home and just wasn't sufficiently hungry yet! Edited to say and she wasn't going to let Sam have it, a little competition is a good thing!
I think her whole regime was somewhat haphazard in her previous home . Her muscle tone is rubbish so I`m slowly, very slowly trying to build that up with good food and gentle but regular exercise ! She was being fed on a certain kibble beginning with B , just the pits really ! Thankfully , with different food and all the changes, her poo is firm and normal so she must have a reasonably strong constitution , despite weighing in at 3 kilos ! She will never ( I don't think ) be able to go for the walks that Sam enjoys every so often , but when Sam and I go off for our five milers , she can have shorter ones with my husband who cant walk far himself ! All things considered , she has been amazing , not a peep at night , no accidents and nothing chewed , and she loves the large garden too , bless her x
I use Millie's Wolfheart. They do a nice Salmon wet meat but it is a 395g tin which might be a bit big for little Nelly and only in packs of 12 .I also use Naturo trays available from supermarkets and they have a salmon and rice recipe. I haven't researched them at all but a reasonable price and eaten very happily by my rather discerning Lab
This is our weekend guest Rusty demonstrating how to remove the big grown up kibble from the little puppy kibble which was all mixed with yoghurt. Thankfully we have a Lilly hoover
This looks like my kitchen ! Bits of kibble everywhere ! Madam Nell has turned her nose up at breakfast , she ate well yesterday so she isn't going to starve , I picked it up, cling film and into the fridge, much to Sams disgust !
I use Millie's Wolfheart tins and Fortglade trays for one of my dogs who can't have kibble. Both very good.
We used to have a collie who was very pernickety about food, he was a working sheep dog who was often worryingly thin. We used to put a few drops of Worcestershire sauce on his food and then pour boiling water on it which releases the smell of the anchovies. It was very effective when we needed to get him to eat.
Nell has eaten like a horse this afternoon , even the kibble ! She isn't bothered about breakfast , but oh my goodness, she scoffed her tea , a sight for sore eyes ! Thanks for all the suggestions xx
