What Do I Do?!!?

[Campbell Corso]

Hello Everyone,
I just received my food from the local raw food coop. And of course, I over ordered. That's not the problem. I've taken over 1/2 of the wife's freezer for raw food. The problem is getting Dharma to eat something besides chicken (all parts), duck and usually turkey legs and pre-made beef "pellets". We're at the point where everything should be on the menu. Poops have been fine. Is there an effective way to introduce new items to her? Last nite i tried Llahma thinking it's similar to beef. No luck. Tried mixing in treats. No luck. This morning, I tried turkey wings. No luck. And she has skipped 2 meals at this point. I'll give her some chicken in a bit but.... I'm sure she would be fine eating 3 or 4 things but I'm sure she would be better with a wider diet. Also, it's too late in the year to BBQ a case of turkey wings.

Help!
Please!

 

[DDSK]

What do you mean too late I see you live in California as do I.
We BBQ 12 monts a year.
We do live in so Cal so it is not an issue for us.
I would assume since it is November that Turkey wings should be easy to get now.

 

[Campbell Corso]

Poetic license. I'm frustrated that I have a case of turkey wings, a full freezer, and a picky dog. And I wonder what else is off her menu. Just looking for some " tricks" to introducing new raw things to a dog.

 

[musicdeb]

Trying lightly browning the meat. Titan refuses to eat ANY raw meat unless I lightly brown it. Also try adding coconut or olive oil to the meat.

The pup will eat when she's hungry. She's training well to feed her what she prefers, like Titan trained me to brown his meat.

 

[DennasMom]

Denna has refused items if the pieces are too big... she doesn't like to touch her food (so no foot-on-pulling/ripping/tearing... what a princess!). Just today I saw her finally eat a whole sardine (~8" frozen whole fish) - that's a first. Up until today, I've had to cut them in half for her to eat them - previously given whole, she'd either walk away, or take it and go bury it in the yard.

If you chop it up a little does that help?
Or, put a dollop of coconut oil on it... Or some people sprinkle some Parmesan cheese.
Searing a little, just to up the scent, might help get her started, too.
I see Deb suggested those, too...

Mix some of the new stuff with the old stuff? Once she's started eating, it might be harder to leave stuff in the bowl.

Don't let her work you! Skipping a few meals (as long as she's healthy to start with) isn't the end of the world.

 

[DDSK]

Trying lightly browning the meat. Titan refuses to eat ANY raw meat unless I lightly brown it. Also try adding coconut or olive oil to the meat.

The pup will eat when she's hungry. She's training well to feed her what she prefers, like Titan trained me to brown his meat.

Zoey is the same way she refuses to eat any raw meat, but cook it in the microwave or brown it and she gobbles it down.

 

[BlackShadowCaneCorso]

The biggest thing to remember is dogs are about survival, if she is health then it is her instinct to eat so she will never starve to death as her instinct will not let her.

We had a couple meals missed when introducing "wild" game to the menu and again with whole mackeral, but used the same rules for kibble... what you don't eat in 15 minutes gets picked up and we try again next meal. It takes them a few meals to figure out that either they eat what is put in front of them or starve. Sometimes I think we are our own worst enemy with them, catering to them when they decide they don't want something... a lot like my kids when they don't want to eat their broccoli

 

[Campbell Corso]

Does the browning(?cooking?) lower the benefits of raw food? Do you compensate in any way? And for BSCC, I like the 15minute rule. Thanks, for the ideas. I'm gonna go brown some duck now and see what happens.

 

[Campbell Corso]

Well, the browning with olive and sprinkle of parmesean cheese was a hit. Once again members to the rescue. Thanks!

 

[DennasMom]

Duck browned in olive oil and sprinkled with parm?? Can I come to your house for dinner??

 

[Campbell Corso]

I thought about that. The dog does eat better than I do!