Thanks, Carol.

Yeah, I haven't seen (read?) Connie around much lately either.

I know this is not posted in the nutrition thread because she came into heat at about the same time all this started going bad, so I don't know if it's part of that or what.

I got her to eat part of a chicken back tonight after I had browned it in the oven. She ate that pretty good. I think I read where Connie said to lightly brown food sometimes.

Friday will be at least two weeks since the heat started so, hopefully, she will only have another week after that and maybe get back to normal. Her pottying outside is going better the past couple of days, so maybe that is a good sign that things are getting better.

I just feel that all of this is tied together somehow but don't know how.

I really want to do the best by her so far as food, vaccinations and training, but this past week has been really dis-heartening.

So far, tho, I haven't gone for the alpo.

Thanks for the help and encouragement.

A quick ps:

Do you feed yogurt and if so, how ofter? I finally found plain yogurt at the store although the only size container they had was a quart. Do you know if it freezes well?

Yep, I feed plain yogurt daily in meals or I mix it with blueberries or watermelon as a treat (frozen in a kong) that the dogs love.

There is a discussion about freezing yogurt and I believe it is okay as it does not kill the live cultures. I freeze mine and the dogs do well with it.....it seems.

 Quote: Nora Ferrell

Please pardon my stupidity at the moment. It's getting worse, too. I fee like my grandmother. I just don't understand as well anymore.

Nora, I can't tell you how hard I laughed at this comment. I feel the same way!!

You seem to have your hands full and I can't comment on a dog being in heat, but I can tell you that your descriptions of the food consumption sound very similar to my GSD. I eventually realized he was simply a picky eater. For instance, if I give him the same food say 3 times in a row, he'll thumb his nose at it and walk away . So I learned to mix it up. Now he happily eats what I put in front of him as long as it's not the same as his last 2 or 3 meals .

Oh and before I neutered him at 24 months he was even pickier .

Regarding the calcium, the powder supplement I'm now adding to his diet (Animal Essentials Natural Calcium) calls for 1 teaspoon to each pound of home prepared food.

Hope you and your baby are back to normal soon!

Judy, thanks for the reply. Now if I can just remember what the question was.

I fed her chicken wing this am(this was after the partially cooked chicken back last night that she ate) and she sniffed and sniffed and flat out turned it down. I also had put a little garlic powder on it and very slightly warmed the top of it. No go.

I gave her super limited treats today and offered her chicken wing with almost no skin and only the larger part of the wing.

She at about half of it but doesn't seem nearly as interested as she was when I first started her on bone in chicken. She also ate most of the skin that was on it and left most of the meat, also ate most of the bone. It would be just my luck to have a picky eater dog.

She's in standing heat now and still crazy. Goes around in circles. Because of her present condition, she doesn't get to go on as many walks(stray/unattended dogs) but even at that I had her outside for several hours this afternoon in the yard to play and sniff - still going crazy tho. I hope this is over soon.

I think I'll just have to feed her ground whatever until she is over this and then try again with boned meat.

I'm also starting to think she doesn't like chicken, but finding RMB's that are small enough for a little dog are difficult to find. I'm going to give her more mackerel since that has small bones.

Thanks again.

Nora

 Quote: Nora Ferrell

I'm also starting to think she doesn't like chicken, but finding RMB's that are small enough for a little dog are difficult to find. I'm going to give her more mackerel since that has small bones.

You can feed big food to a small dog. Any bones other than the weight bearing bones of BIG animals are fair game around here.:wink: I hate to see you limit what might be available to you.

Who knows, the challenge of something bigger might spark her hunger.:smile:

Michael,what kind of Wise advice would you have for the bones? (Sorry for the play on words, I can't help it.)

A few weeks ago I got her some pork neck bones and she liked them but they turned out to be a recreational bone since she couldn't chew it up.

She is only 7 - 8 pounds, about the size of a large chi.

Her breed is a vermin chaser so mice and rats would probably be her prey type food, but I can't see me feeding her a mouse. I need something wrapped in celophane at the grocers.

Thanks for any ideas.

I can't remember how long shes been eating raw. If not very long, definately continue what you are doing for a while so as not to cause any digestive upset.

After she gets used to raw I don't see why she couldn't handle every bone in a chicken. She could probably handle every bone in a rabbit, too. Rabbits can be more difficult to find, but never give up looking for new things.

She'll gain more jaw strength as she gets older and more experienced with raw.

I wouldn't count out things even if she can only consume a wittle bitty amount of the bone.

 Quote: Nora Ferrell

Her breed is a vermin chaser so mice and rats would probably be her prey type food, but I can't see me feeding her a mouse. I need something wrapped in celophane at the grocers.

Thanks for any ideas.

Give it time. We all start out conservatively and then somewhere along the way get warped.

Seriously though, it might seem like too much to stomach now, but may feel more natural later on. I can't believe all the things that I use to discourage my dog from that I now encourage him to eat.

Put this in your favorites. *Just* in case you change your mind.

http://www.rodentpro.com/products.asp

Shipping is ungodly, but it will give you an idea whats out there to feed if you ever want to.

They come in plastic bags. Is that close enough to cellophane?

Thanks,Mike. I looked back on my posts and it looks like she has been on raw about a month.

When you wrote about the jaw strength, that kinda rung a bell. When she was eating tonight, she seemed to tire, now that I think of it, and ate in several different episodes.

I try to keep it to the 15 minute rule but for her I usually leave it up to 30 minutes just in case and especially with her not eating those couple of days.

When I first gave her the chicken wing (weeks ago) she was thrilled with the new food. Enough to stay with it until she had eaten it all. It may be a matter of jar strength. Good point.

I'm thinking maybe rib tips? or something like that may have a smaller easier bone. I really would like to keep her on raw with minimal supplements because I don't think in the long run that I would be diligent to having to mix up a lot of potions and pills on a daily basis. I hate the thought of going back to dog food because I know eventually it will lead to health issues.

After coming to this site and reading about dog nutrition, I would feel guilty putting any dog on commercial dog food. And not just because it is on this site,but because it simply makes sense that animals should consume what they are designed to eat.

I never fully agreed with the dog food people but with experts (?) telling you that the best is to put them on dog chow, it was difficult to disagree.

My last dog (boxer, died of old age) had no teeth when she died. She had to have dental work every three months for the last 3 or 4 years just to keep her alive and I feel it is all because of the dog food. So, now I know better.

Nora, I forgot something in my post to you . Sorry.

The 1 teaspoon of calcium I give to Gunnar in his food is given when he eats a non-bone meal. For example, when he gets venison, there are no bones so he'll get a teaspoon in that meal. When he gets Rabbit, there are bones so I don't add the 1 teaspoon of calcium.

By the way, can you get Bravo where you are? It's raw, clean, neat, and they offer everything you could ask for:

ostrich
quail
goat
rabbit
venison
green tripe
venison
elk
buffalo
chicken
lamb
turkey, etc.

Some have bones and some don't. I buy it all and mix it up for him.

http://www.bravorawdiet.com

Another thing I do with Gunnar that might get your little pumpkin to eat, I sprinkle treat dust on top sometimes. Every bag of treats I buy ends up with crumbs and dust/powder at the bottom of the bag. Well I take whatever amount that is and put it into a container. After several months, I usually have a whole new bag of "Treats" from saving this powder. Anyway, it's this mixture of treat dust that I sprinkle on the food now and then.