Our dogs will eat their kibble but are not that enthusiastic about meal times. What sort of mix-ins do you recommend? Sardines? Low fat cottage cheese? Raw eggs? Raw mince? Yoghurt? I want them to be like woo it's meal time! As an aside, they're currently on Fish4Dogs but I'm thinking to see if they'll like Akela once my Lab's health is back on track. I've ordered some samples. It's supposed to be similar to Orijen and gets good reviews, anyone have any experience with it? I wanted to try Millie's but the kibble looks too large for our other dog.
Sardines would probably do the trick as they're highly flavoured and if you mix it all up they will coat the kibble. Raw mince would be a hit too but it might be easy for your doggie to pick out the mince only.
My dogs are kibble fed on Skinners Salmon & Rice, I add a tin of sardines including the olive oil 3 times a week, raw chicken wings/carcasses, raw meaty bones (totally consumable ones not weight bearing), left over vegetables, they also get raw eggs sometimes. I used to feed Fish4Dogs but don't know anything about Akela. x
We feed Pongo on CSJ Champ. We also get his treats from the CSJ range. Once, they sent us something called "Dinner Bait" by mistake, and they didn't ask for it back so we tried it out. It is intended to make kibble more exciting. Oh. My. Heavens. Whatever is in dinner bait, Pongo would sell his tiny furry soul for it. We didn't get any more because Pongo has never needed any encouragement to eat his dinner! But if he did, I'd use it without hesitation. If you're interested, their website is https://www.csjk9.com/ and here is the Dinner Bait page https://www.csjk9.com/productcart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=138&idcategory=14
Mine are like woo it's meal time even with just their boring kibble There is definitely more excitement for their lunchtime raw, but still massively drooly chops for the kibble.
Sam has Skinners Duck and Rice , Nell has a very small breed salmon and potato kibble . Both have raw meat with it , plus lightly cooked veggies as dogs don't easily break down the cell walls of hard veg , so I cook it for a couple of minutes . They also have sardines a couple of times a week , or low fat cottage cheese which they both love . I just make sure to reduce the amounts of kibble to take the additions into count x
I have to be careful with Mr sensitive but i get tins of millies wolfheart wet food I also use forthglade and any other good wet food that's good just a few spoonfuls add a bit of interest. I can also use sardines tuna etc
I mix a bit of tinned Chappie with the kibble. Have done it with all the dogs once I realised how effective it was for BJ's sensitive tum. Twice a week I change it to a tin of sardines and every week or so I add a bit of lamb's liver or kidney as alternatives to Chappie. Molly loves tucker time and dribbles a treat as she waits for it to be prepared
Jazz up kibble? I have never have felt the need to do so...apart from when I started adding sardines to kibble 'just because' when Charlie was a puppy and rapidly found he wouldn't eat it without the sardines. So I stopped that pretty sharpish! Some dogs just aren't all that enthusiastic about food. Well, if that's how they are, then that's how they are. Otherwise, I would switch to find a food they liked but I wouldn't endlessly switch kibble. And if I really needed them to eat kibble, then I'd leave it plain, and un-jazzed up. I think if you start 'jazzing up' kibble then you will always have to do so. I don't want to feed my dogs raw, I want them to eat kibble, and luckily they do enthusiastically. But if they didn't, I'd try raw (it would definitely not be my first choice to feed, I'm not a 'wish I could feed raw' person - I want to feed kibble).
Oh, just out of interest, Luna wasn't massively into her food when I first got her. It helped when I made it into a game, just by sprinkling it on the floor in her pen to start with, and later, hiding it all around the room. After a while, she was really enthusiastic at meal times, and I just put it in her bowl in front of her. She looked at it, looked at me, then blatted the bowl with her paw to tip it over the floor. She's fine, and very enthusiastic, to eat from a bowl now, although I do still like to hide it around for her sometimes. Maybe doing something like that would enthuse them more?
Stanley's on canagan kibble and he goes mental for it. You'd think he was getting steak and lobster. But to be honest, if he can eat it Stanley goes mental for it. I posted the other day about how he acts as though his antibiotics were treats However, bacon and egg sandwiches seem to be his favourite thing ever. Which OH has helpfully found out
I like to add different things to Hattie & Charlie's kibble for variety and the enjoyment of eating different things whether dogs eat for enjoyment or not it's just what I choose to do Afterall, I wouldn't want to eat steak and chips every night! x
Adding anything different to Rorys food has the added benefit of slowing him down a bit. He actually chews his food which helps with his tummy. I like when they enjoy themselves
Thanks all, lots of good suggestions and...dare I say it...food for thought My lab was raised on raw from the breeder, I don't know if that's made him more fussy towards kibble or completely unrelated, but he's never been wild about it. He does love food and is very motivated by it, but just not kibble. I've tried several good brands and he's always just "meh" about it. The reason why I want to jazz it up is because I want the dogs to enjoy what they're eating, and not just eat it because they're hungry, which is where they're at with kibble.
Some may say I have too much time on my hands , my kitchen is like one on Masterchef at times , but I actually enjoy preparing different foods for the dogs . I like a variety of foods , so I like them to as well . My choice and I enjoy seeing them tucking in
