When your dog believes she's 'too good' for raw

Laurelin

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#1
For a lack of a better term. ;) I guess the real thing is Summer has no idea what to do with raw. I've tried switching her over before and since I've moved Trey over to raw for now and he's doing fabulous (no stool problems at all in the first two days and eating well) I'd like to switch Summer. The problem is no matter what I try giving her, she snubs it. I tried winglets recently, thinking those are about as small as you can get and she still sniffs it a few times and looks at me like... 'And what am I supposed to do with this?' or 'You expect me to eat THAT?!'

So any advice? Do you try ground meet or something at first? Trey has been so easy to switch, he loves his new food. I'd like Summer to eat raw mainly because of her teeth. They're getting buildup and it's hard to keep a toy dog's teeth clean. However, she won't chew on bones at all.
 
M

MyHorseMyRules

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#2
I started mine on raw by searing the ground meat in a really hot pan and gradually (over a period of a week or so) moving them on to completely raw ground meat. After they were eating the ground meat fine, I just tried a nice big turkey neck or something. But you may have to slowly add big bits of meat to the ground and work your way up from there if you think she will still snub it. Hope that made sense. :p
 
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bjdobson

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#3
Will she eat pieces of raw chicken if you hand them to her? Some people have said they have to almost cut the meat off the bone so it's hanging so the dog will even try it and slowly, over time, they "get" it. They also don't feed them anything else and a healthy dog will NOT starve itself.
 

Lizmo

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#4
May sound weird, Lizzie's the same way, but have you tried giving it in her normal kibble bowl or on a plate? Lizzie doesn't like raw unless it's on a plate.

Also, I have to cook the outside of her meat/bone for her to eat it.

I'm in the same boat, I'm switching Blaze over to raw, and he's doing great. But Lizzie is harder.
 

Laurelin

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#5
The first time, I tried for over a week. I tried holding it, searing it, etc etc and nothing. She just looked bored. She's in great shape except for teeth. It wouldn't be that bad to leave her on kibble but I wish she'd at least chew on a bone or something.
 

Lizmo

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#6
Weird!

Maybe try withholding food for a day then the next morning feed her raw?
 

BostonBanker

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#7
With Meg, I had to feed her with another dog around for her to 'get it' the first time. I don't know if it was seeing the other dog eating that made her realise it was food, or just not wanting the other dog to get hers, but she ate her first chicken neck that way, and has always been willing to eat anything I'll give her since then.
 

Dekka

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#8
MP's Cider is like that with raw. Eats it better here (could be all the dogs) than she does at home.

Have you tried ground? I know you want it for the teeth benefits but many dogs its too large a change too fast. Kaiden took a while to 'get' raw. He loves it now but he wasn't sure for the first 6 months. We started him with ground. And we tried searing the meat first. Does she like people food? If so sear it with a bit of garlic.
 

Laurelin

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#9
I tried her eating with Trey... that didn't work, Trey ended up with an extra winglet, lol!

MP's Cider is like that with raw. Eats it better here (could be all the dogs) than she does at home.

Have you tried ground? I know you want it for the teeth benefits but many dogs its too large a change too fast. Kaiden took a while to 'get' raw. He loves it now but he wasn't sure for the first 6 months. We started him with ground. And we tried searing the meat first. Does she like people food? If so sear it with a bit of garlic.
She's very picky about people food. A lot of things she won't eat. Actually she's very picky about food. I've tried her on a lot of different kibbles and the only one she'll eat with any interest is EVO RM.
 

xpaeanx

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#10
I'm sorry, but I've only owned little piglets... so unfortunatly I can't give you tried advice.

But, if I were going to try something though... I might make "taco meat" out of the ground and mix it in with her food... then a few days later make the "taco meat" less cooked, then less, then make it raw ground... then take the kibble away... then start added non-ground raw.

It's just and idea though.
 

ihartgonzo

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#11
You crazy Summer! :p

There are lots of options to try... it can be difficult to get a dog into raw who has never eaten it. Gonzo was apprehensive. I started him on little pre-made Raw chunks (Steve's Real Food) mixed in with his kibble. You could also add some raw meat in with cooked meat. Does she have a meat preference? Maybe she just isn't a huge fan of chicken? My boys love duck. Beef might be more tempting to her, or lamb. Try searing, sprinling with garlic salt, ketsup, I've ever heard of people putting peanut butter on a RMB just to get their dog to take the plunge. Usually, after they get their first taste, they don't need any more bribing.
 

Laurelin

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#12
You crazy Summer! :p

There are lots of options to try... it can be difficult to get a dog into raw who has never eaten it. Gonzo was apprehensive. I started him on little pre-made Raw chunks (Steve's Real Food) mixed in with his kibble. You could also add some raw meat in with cooked meat. Does she have a meat preference? Maybe she just isn't a huge fan of chicken? My boys love duck. Beef might be more tempting to her, or lamb. Try searing, sprinling with garlic salt, ketsup, I've ever heard of people putting peanut butter on a RMB just to get their dog to take the plunge. Usually, after they get their first taste, they don't need any more bribing.
Well, peanut butter is something she absolutely WILL NOT touch, so that won't help.

I've never realized how picky she is, lol. She will eat most cooked meats, though. She'll chew bully sticks. Cereal, popcorn, bread, veggies, fruit- she won't eat. She will eat chow mein and orange chicken. I found her in the living room with my room mate and my room mate was feeding her a ton of Chinese food. :yikes: Luckily she wasn't sick.

I'm going to try ground beef and see. The only meat sources I've tried so far are chicken and turkey because I heard it was easier on their systems to transition to a poultry. I'm not sure if that's true or not. Come to think of it though, she won't eat Innova EVO's canned food that is chicken, so maybe she just isn't a fan of chicken. I could also go pick up some pre-made raw meals at the feed store. I'd been thinking about that for some of Trey's meals as well. It's just a drive so I've put it off until we finish the two chickens that were already in the fridge.
 

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