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May 24, 2011

I can't get my dog to eat the chicken with bones, what should I do?

Full Question:
I recently just started my 7 yr old Gordon Setter mix on the raw diet, haven't had any problems with runny stool, my trainer/boss introduced me to raw I had never heard of it before, she gave me a chicken back to try, told me not to feed him for 24 hrs to get the dry food out of his system and that would decrease the chances of diarrhea. well, I did that and then offered him the chicken back but he wouldn't eat it, tried it that night and the next morning. still nothing. so I wondered if maybe it was because he has no front teeth, they are all worn down in front and his top canine teeth are broken so i thought maybe he couldn't eat it. I adopted him, that's why his teeth are bad he was running as a stray. He loves the ground turkey, she told me that maybe he just hasn't acquired the taste of raw yet and feed ground turkey for a few days. Well I've fed him that for a week, and then another friend who feeds raw gave me some ground chicken back to try. I tried that this morning, he sniffs it and walks away. I tried giving him a spoonful of it with some plain yogurt, but he just ate the yogurt and spit the meat back out. I don't know what to do, do you have any suggestions? I'm worried about him getting bad rotten teeth if he only eats soft food like ground turkey.
Cindy
Cindy Cindy's Answer:
Some dogs just don’t realize that chicken pieces are actually food. You may need to smash the chicken back up with a hammer or something, to get the dog to try it. Once they taste it and realized it’s ok to eat, they typically do just fine. You can also try holding the chicken and letting him gnaw on it while you hold it. I find that most dogs do better with a bone in chicken breast at first, instead of backs or necks.

I would also recommend these books, Natural Nutrition for Dogs & Cats and Raw Dog Food.

You can also go to our Feeding Dogs Page for a list of articles and books that will be helpful to you.

I wouldn’t worry about his teeth at this point, eating ground foods only is not ideal but it’s better than kibble. I would make sure you are balancing his diet. If you are only feeding ground meat with no calcium source, you can cause health problems for this dog long term. The books will help you with that.

Good luck! I hope this helps.

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Expert Dog Trainer Cindy Rhodes
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