After reading through this site and ordering a couple books on the subject, this past weekend I finally decided to switch my dog to a raw diet. I skipped his morning kibble meal on Friday. Later that evening, after a long walk I offered him a raw chicken wing. He just sort of gently picked it up out of his bowl and put it on the floor and pretty much left it alone after that. I sprinkeled some freeze dried raw liver dust over the chicken to see if that would get him to eat it and he just licked the liver off.

I repeated these steps the rest of the weekend, without feeding him his regular kibble and he still didn't take to the raw chicken at all. I tried sprinkling cheese over it, I even heat the chicken up just a little bit to bring out the aroma. He just didn't get it. I broke down Sunday night and filled his bowl up with kibble so he could finally eat something.

What should I try next??

Hi Trevor. Be patient, because I KNOW Connie will be along soon with much better advice!! <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

We had one of our dogs in training away from home - and just got her back home one week ago. She was on kibble while away, and we switched her to raw when she got here. She too was a bit "HUH?" about the raw chicken at first. Wish I could have read her mind, but here's what we did.

1) For a few days, we cut up the chicken parts into smaller pieces. That seemed to help.

2) We supplement with Grizzly Salmon Oil (among other things recommended and purchased here) and that seemed to clear up any "pickiness" about particular diet elements that any of our dogs have displayed since we started raw in Jan 2006.

3) We included live culture, unflavored yogurt for the first several days which seems to aid in the digestive process changes going from kibble to raw.

The first chicken quarter presented to Kimba (dog just home) was like you described - removed from the bowl and left on the crate floor. She ate it after we cut it up. After a few days of cutting it up, we can now feed the big chunks and she eats them with vigor.

Hope this helps (but it won't help as much as Connie will help!!) <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Beth

First of all, how old is your dog? Assuming he is older than a young pup, I would try some raw hamburger or ground turkey - either alone or with the chicken wings. You might even have to skip the bones entirely until you get him interested, although it shouldn't take too long. Cut up a chicken breast or thigh and let him get used to the raw taste and texture. Add a little non-fat yogurt for flavoring if you must, but I would skip the cheese, ketchup and whipped cream for now. <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> A lot of dogs do like liver, so sprinkle some of your dust on the hamburger. You may have to work your way up to actual bones, but, again, it shouldn't take too long IMO.

Great that you have made the decision to go raw - you will get a lot of support here!

 Quote:

......We had one of our dogs in training away from home - and just got her back home one week ago. She was on kibble while away, and we switched her to raw when she got here. She too was a bit "HUH?" about the raw chicken at first. Wish I could have read her mind, but here's what we did.

1) For a few days, we cut up the chicken parts into smaller pieces. That seemed to help.

2) We supplement with Grizzly Salmon Oil (among other things recommended and purchased here) and that seemed to clear up any "pickiness" about particular diet elements that any of our dogs have displayed since we started raw in Jan 2006.

3) We included live culture, unflavored yogurt for the first several days which seems to aid in the digestive process changes going from kibble to raw.

The first chicken quarter presented to Kimba (dog just home) was like you described - removed from the bowl and left on the crate floor. She ate it after we cut it up. After a few days of cutting it up, we can now feed the big chunks and she eats them with vigor.

Hope this helps (but it won't help as much as Connie will help!!) <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Beth

Great advice!

I have a recent adoptee who looked at his raw food with what I guess what confusion at first. I did just what you did: I cut it up at first, giving him a little more muscle meat than usual and even cutting that up.

PITA, yes, but it was only a couple of days before he caught on.

He was on kibble for 7+ years, so of course fresh food looked unusual at first (I guess).

Like Beth, I preferred working with the fresh food to make it easier at first, rather than continuing to give kibble. I have never met a dog who didn't end up looooooving real fresh food, no matter how they might look at it in confusion after being used to kibble.

 Quote:

........Great that you have made the decision to go raw - you will get a lot of support here!

I sure do second that!

Thanks for the support and advice everyone. My dog is just over 3 years old. He's a 45 lb hound mix. I was thinking about maybe eliminating his kibble all together and feeding him Honest Kitchen until he gets used to the RBM's. Then, once he's used to the bones and raw meat, I thought I'd start mixing up my own vegie mix and stop with the dehydrated food. I've fed him the samples of HK that Leerburg has sent with my orders and he took to them fine.

 Quote:

Thanks for the support and advice everyone. My dog is just over 3 years old. He's a 45 lb hound mix. I was thinking about maybe eliminating his kibble all together and feeding him Honest Kitchen until he gets used to the RBM's. Then, once he's used to the bones and raw meat, I thought I'd start mixing up my own vegie mix and stop with the dehydrated food. I've fed him the samples of HK that Leerburg has sent with my orders and he took to them fine.

Heck, yeah, if you want to do that. You can't go wrong with THK and RMBs, and it would be a great break-in.

Plus you would have THK left for empty-freezer syndrome or travel.

Well, after another week, my dog is still not going for the raw chicken wings. I've been mixing them in with Honest Kitchen and he's still taking them out and putting them on the floor. He likes Honest Kitchen fine. I tried cutting up some of the chicken and he ate a few tiny pieces, but any of the bite size pieces he treated the same as the bigger part of the wing, taking it out and putting it to the side.

 Quote:

Well, after another week, my dog is still not going for the raw chicken wings. I've been mixing them in with Honest Kitchen and he's still taking them out and putting them on the floor. He likes Honest Kitchen fine. I tried cutting up some of the chicken and he ate a few tiny pieces, but any of the bite size pieces he treated the same as the bigger part of the wing, taking it out and putting it to the side.

Even with ground chicken or turkey meat?

How about necks and backs?

Hi Trevor. Wow - that sounds unusual. This is complete and total wild speculation on my part, but is there a possibility of teeth problems or something? (i.e. soreness or something when trying to chew up the bones) Assuming there are still bones with the meat even when you cut it up into smaller chunks....

I'm stumped... and as always, interested in the very experienced faw feeder input!

Beth