Recommendations for products to add to kibble to increase appetite?

[Roy]

Hi everyone,

We're currently feed our 5 month old Goldendoodle Nickie Zignature dry food. She doesn't have any appetite to eat the kibble by itself so sometimes we added fish oil. Even then she won't eat it all unless we watch her.

Does anyone have any recommendations or recipes that we can add to her dry kibble?

[Vivian & Mojo]

I steam green beans, broccoli and or carrots and chop them up to top the kibble as well as leftover turkey, chicken or beef. Sometimes I will boil ground turkey and drain on paper towels. Canned or frozen veggies are also good. Mojo licks the bowl clean with the toppers otherwise he barely will eat the kibble. (Acana)

[Roy]

Sounds like a great idea, Vivian. I have to give that a try!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

There are many, many discussions here in the Food Group about using "toppers" for dogs who are picky eaters or don't like their food. Here's one of my very favorites; please read it, it's funny but there's a lot of wisdom there too.

http://www.doodlekisses.com/group/thefoodgroup/forum/topics/an-ode-...

It's generally a mistake to start adding things to a dog's meals in an attempt to get the dog to eat. It often creates a picky eater, and makes life difficult when you have to board the dogs, or when you are travelling.

A normal, healthy dog will not starve herself. It's harder to accept this with a puppy, who needs to get enough calories and nutrients to support her rapid growth, but I have yet to hear of a puppy who has access to wholesome food starving, developing a nutritional deficiency, or failing to thrive. 

You mention that she won't eat unless you are watching her. In fact, almost all dogs prefer company when they eat. They're pack animals; they never eat alone in the wild, and they didn't eat alone when they were with their litters. It often solves the problem if you just sit down nearby when she's eating and keep her company. You can have a snack or meal of your own. You also want to avoid distractions like kids playing or people coming in and out when the dog is fed.

If you must, you can try adding a couple of tablespoons of plain, unflavored nonfat yogurt to her food. Another healthy option is a spoonful or two of chopped hard boiled eggs mixed with the kibble. These are things that are easy to have on hand.

If she really has no appetite at mealtimes, t's also possible that you're overfeeding her, or that she's getting too many treats or snacks. If you're still feeding her three times a day, cut back to two meals. And if you're free-feeding, stop. Give her 10-15 minutes to eat a meal, then pick up the bowl and don't offer any food until the next scheduled mealtime. She will quickly learn that food is not always available, and that if she wants to eat, she must do it when she has the chance.

Hope this helps. 

[Roy]

Thanks for the feedback, Karen. You're definitely right about the picky eating. We put Nickie in daycare 3-4 days out of the week and the people who feed Nickie says she only eats about 25% of her food.

We currently feed Nickie three times a day because she doesn't have a big appetite that I worry that she won't eat the extra food since she'll only be eating twice a day instead of 3. Right now, Nickie weighs about 23 pounds at 5 months old. We give her roughly 2 1/2 cups a day divided into 3 meals. Do you suggest feeding her once in a morning and once in the early evening instead?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Yes, absolutely. At 5 months, she needs to be fed just twice a day. Going longer between meals will help her to feel hungry for the next one.  Right now she's getting food too often to have an appetite.

[Amy and Annabelle]

Up until Annabelle was about 6 months old she wasn't much of an eater. I can't say that now, though. She will pretty much eat anything put in front of her. But I used to take a spray bottle of water and put a couple of squirts on the top of her food. She would eat it that way. At 6 months I put her on the adult food and quit spraying her food. To my surprise she gobbled it up. I thought she would turn her nose up.

[Roy]

Thanks for the input, Amy. It worried me a bit that Nickie doesn't eat too much. She's doesn't have the appetite that my labrador had.

[Lori, Winnie, Bob and Indie]

Is he a good weight and growing nicely? If so, I wouldn't worry about. Not sure which formula of Zignature that you are feeding, but if she likes the fish oil, maybe try the Trout and Salmon formula?

My parents had a very picky eater, and my mother unknowingly made it worse by "caving in" to his pickiness- handfeeding him, leaving the food out all day "so he won't starve," etc. I can say that it made things very difficult whenever the dog stayed at my house. I didn't have time to sit with him on the floor and feed him 1 kibble piece at a time. :-)

You are much better off getting him on a schedule, like Karen said. A little tough love never hurts in the long run! I do feed Winnie "extras" like cooked meet, eggs, veggies, yogurt, fish oil, etc. for nutritional reasons to replace some of her kibble. But, she knows that she has to eat her kibble first before she gets the extras. :-)

[Roy]

Hi Lori. I'm feeding Nickie the Zessiential formula which is fish, duck, and turkey. I'm going to try to switch to strictly one meat source to see if she'll like that instead. I'll definitely have to follow everyone's advice and not cave in :(

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

LOL, Roy, by switching "to strictly one meat source to see if she'll like that instead", you are caving in !!!!  

You really, really have to stop thinking about or worrying about whether she "likes" her food.  Did you read that discussion I linked for you? It's really important that you read it, I promise it will help. 

Here's the link again. http://www.doodlekisses.com/group/thefoodgroup/forum/topics/an-ode-...

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I'm also confused; in your discussion about her itching, you said you'd already tried an LID food.