I assumed it was the texture because if I lightly boil it and have chunks of chicken that are half white (boiled) and half raw, he'll eat the white part and leave the rest, I could be wrong, just my assumption <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Like my friend Lou always says... "there's that word 'ASSUME' again!".

Went to Publix today and ordered 5lbs of chicken necks, they'll be here Friday, interesting to see if he likes those or if its more wasted money on experimental dog foods <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> Nobody carries Soup Bones because there's no "real" butchers in Orlando that anyone knows of, so nobody has any of that kinda stuff. I did grab some lamb rib thingies, they're relatively small n there's like 4 in a pack for $3.

Right now I'm more concerned about getting him to like his honest kitchen food, I bought some broth, both chicken and beef. The beef has "<1% salt" and the chicken broth has "33% less sodium than our regular product", it's the lowest salt content I could find in the store, does anyone have any brand reccomendations for the broth that may contain less sodium? Or is this fine?

Just another one with her two cents worth! If you are going to continue feeding your dog Honest Kitchen, I don't think adding another 1/2 or 1 cup of cooked chicken will really hurt. But if you decide in the future to go all raw (preparing it yourself), you may want to be careful getting your dog used to cooked chicken now - this does not have the same nutritional value as you will need later. And, in my opinion, once you go all raw, you don't want to cook anything on the menu with the exception of blanching your veggies if you decide to use them. Also, on all raw, be careful to add in your organ meat every day.

You may also want to try washing your raw chicken really well before "serving" it. In my experience, chicken does vary from order to order, and when my guys start to turn up their noses, I rinse the chicken first and then don't have any problems.

Just another opinion for you, but I think when you get it all sorted out, you and your dog will really be happy you switched.

OK so the broth didn't make any difference, I dunno if I should have diluted it with water (I realized this after I made myself a bowl of chicken broth and thought "gee, this is way strong"), but what did work was chop up a hotdog into tiny lil pieces (lengthways twice then small slices creating tiny lil triangular pieces) and mix it with the honest kitchen food. But I don't want to have to do stuff like that every day to get him to eat his food, I'll go buy ground beef later, he totally ignores the lamb ribs and any other non-ground/on the bone type meats so I'm sure the chicken necks are gonna be a waste of money too. If my dutch shepherd pup is gonna be as picky as he is, she's gonna drive me insane! Now I know what I put my parents through when I was a kid. Yeesh.

I'm at the point where I just wanna starve him for 2 days and then put down the green mush they call food n hope he eats then. I didn't pick up his food last night after dinner just to see if he'd maybe eat something during the night, n he did, but he didn't lick out the bowl or anything.

The first time I gave him ground beef (it was my own filet mignon grade ground beef) he went CRAZY for it like it was the best thing in the world, then I started buying lower grade ground beef for him for meals n his interest slowly dissipated to the point where he was doing better on the kibble/cans than he was on the ground beef or ground turkey, so I just stopped the raw thing altogether. If it wasn't for the unhealthyness and stinky poop of the Pedigree cans I'd put him on that stuff because it's the only food he's ever wanted to lick out his bowl with.

Can I come to your house to eat? I have tons of things I like and I know I won't have to eat anything I don't! Seriously, "junk food" usually tastes better than healthy food, and what has more "junk" in it than canned food? Honestly, in my opinion, stick with the raw, don't cater to him, and I'm sure you can get the better of him - without him even knowing he's getting super healthy!

 Quote:

OK so the broth didn't make any difference, ...

I'd stick it out. If you want to add little bites of something attractive to him, then slowly ease off on that, that might work.

Just an anecdote: I had a dog who was a real food-girl, but also loaded with allergies. It turned out that one of the best proteins for her was fish. She wasn't fond of fish. She trotted to the dish, all happy, stared at the fish, and looked up at me with the most pathetic face you ever saw. It was painful. *However* -- after a few weeks of getting used to it (and leaving part of her food -- which she had NEVER done in her lifw), and with me adding things she liked in little bits, she did get used to fish and ended up eating it as eagerly as she had eaten the chicken and beef she was allergic to.

I'm not saying this would be true of all dogs. I'm just saying that I learned from that that a dog can dislike a brand-new food at first no matter how great for him it might be, if it's very different from the old food.

Just a thought........

Phew. Luckily my dog isn't so picky, and so far likes both 'Force' and 'Embark'. I've never known a picky eating dog. Usually I've always been more concerned that 'inhaling' food would cause a dog to choke to death. Anyway, I had some ideas you might try, as these increase my own pup's 'enthusiasm' for eating the Honest Kitchen. I get canned salmon for cheap over at CostCo. I'll give her half a can at a time and use the packing juice to help re-hydrate the HK mix. Even though she's mostly raw now, I don't personally think it's gonna kill her to add a little canned dog food - I use the Merrick canned stuff maybe once a week. She loves them all but 'Grammy's Pot Pie', 'Cowboy Cook-out' and 'Working Dog Stew' are her favorites. I also add ground chicken, ground beef, ground turkey, chicken backs/necks, beef heart. Maybe just a small amount of that canned food he loves would help him like the HK a little more...just a thought.

BTW, my dog is not eating the expected amount of food for her weight either, but she's maintaining and even still putting on weight anyway (she's only 9 months old). She's up to about 1 3/4 cup of HK even though the labeling recommends 2 1/4 per day. I don't think she's picky - she just eats only what she needs, and i just give her as much as she seems to want.

Good luck!

 Quote:

She's up to about 1 3/4 cup of HK even though the labeling recommends 2 1/4 per day. I don't think she's picky - she just eats only what she needs, and i just give her as much as she seems to want.

How much does your pup weigh? Cujo's usually at around 65-66lbs, I haven't had him weighed in a while, people say he looks like he's putting on muscle mass now that he's nearing 2 years old, so he might be approaching or at 70lbs. He's small for a male GSD, but it's his build that's small because his height is over the average 24" n he's naturally lean. He always seems to eat "enough to stay alive", I was doing good about not worrying how much he ate as long as he looked healthy, but now I'm in the food changing phase again which adds stress about "what if he doesn't like it and will starve himself" (which I know is unlikely). I'll relax a bit and let him adjust over the next week. He's on the Embark formula and I have another 20lbs that shipped today.

She's 65 lbs. and about 26" tall. For a ridgeback, she's at the right height - I expect her to eventually be 80+ lbs, as both parents are about 85 lbs. I think most of the growth is there but she's skinny and her muscle mass is nothing like an adult yet. Who knows...the breeder has a 137lb male and another female that just weighed in at 114lb (both unrelated to my puppy). I also seem to spend a fair amount of time worrying about how much she eats and her growth, but I'm learning to relax. Like I said, I've figured out that she's not picky, just 'dainty' in how much she eats.

When Cujo was a young pup I was always worried about food intake and growth, then I finally accepted that he's not gonna be an 85lb big german shepherd n that he's eating enough to maintain his weight so quit worrying about it, but when you're anticipating a dog that's 80+ lbs and he's only 65lbs at almost a year old you start getting worried.

At 65 (give or take) pounds, necks and wings are *way* too small for him--he runs the risk of gulping them down and choking on them. Minimum I'd give to dog his size is a leg quarter.

And if your dog doesn't like chicken, try beef or pork ribs, brisket, pork shoulder/picnics/butts--dogs are more designed to eat red meat than poultry, so there are dogs out there that don't like it. Or see if he'll eat fish! My GSD pup loves his whole fish--mackeral, indian mackeral, sardines, tilapia...

*note* I don't feed mixes--no telling what went into them, no matter how good the supplier seems, and ground doesn't do a thing for dogs mentally--and I don't feed veggies--dogs don't digest them. FWIW