won't eat

[jkinglmt]

We are on day two of raw. Windsor didn't touch breakfast day one. Dinner day one we cut some chicken off the bone and seared it a little on the outside and he ate all of it. Today We tried frozen for breakfast thinking maybe texture was the issue.. Didn't even lick it. So we soaked it in some warm water to thaw it and still nothing. So we put it away till dinner. It's been down for 15 min. I'm gonna take it away and try again in an hour. Don't know what to do. I don't wanna cook it again that defeats the purpose.

[THCdanes]

We had the same issues with our Danes. But we finally decided tough love was best and boy did it pay off.
1 of our Danes decided she was going to hold out as long as possible. She went 6 days without eating. We would put down her food for 10-15 minutes. She would smell it then walk away. So then we would pull it up and wait until the next feed. She did the same thing for 6 days straight. Then finally one day she was hungry enough and decided to eat. Since then she has skipped a meal here and there, but she has learned that if she doesnt eat in the 10-15 minute time frame that she has for each meal, then she doesnt get to eat until the next meal.

I think we feed Raw a little differntly than some people do though, since our Danes are so picky.
We put chicken in their bowls first. This way they get the bone that they need. If they dont eat their chicken, they dont get anything else. If they do eat their chicken, then we give them turkey, lamb, or pork. If they dont eat that part of their meal then they dont get the rest. But if they do eat that portion of their meal then they get their hamburger, organ meat, or sweetbreads or whatever.
And like I said, if they choose not to eat their meal, they dont get anything else until their next meal.

We had tried everything from pan searing, to feeding frozen, to pulling meat off the bone, etc. You name it, we tried it. Then we had enough. We thaw their food, and then we feed. Ever since the "tough love" as we call it, we have had no problems. Everyone now understands. If you dont eat, then you have to wait til their next meal time.

Sometimes our "picky" Dane will try and hold out for the "good stuff". She will turn her nose up at the chicken. But we have pulled the chicken before and placed pork or lamb in her bowl to see what she would do. She would then want to start eating her lamb or pork or whatever, but we would pull it before she got a chance to eat it. I know that sounds mean, but it has taught her that she needs to eat her chicken first (as this is our main source of bone in their diet).

So even though they choose to not eat sometimes, they are either just not hungry or trying to "play" you as we call it. We just dont give in anymore. I dont know if this helps as some people dont feed as we do, but its what has worked for us. And as hard as it was to watch her not eat for 6 days straight, the longest she has gone now without eating is a day. Others will chime in I am sure.

Good luck. My best advice is to just stick with it and dont give in.

[jkinglmt]

tough love it is i guess. he didnt eat dinner either. hopefully tomorrow for breakfast he will be starving and just eat.

we of course had some chicken wings for ourselves while watching the super bowl... he whined at us the whole time because he wanted it... so who the heck knows, i just wanted him to take to it like a champ.

[DebinSD]

I'm with Vanessa & Jason...Murphy's main source of bone is chicken quarters. He gets one at each meal and if he doesn't eat it, I put it back in the fridge for the next meal. Often, he'll skip breakfast because he doesn't want to eat the chicken, but he always eats it when I serve it for dinner.

If he had it his way, he'd eat pork & beef every day. He eats the chicken but its definitely not his favorite. Unfortunately, most of the pork and beef I get is boneless so he doesn't have that option.

[THCdanes]

I just always feel like they will eat when they are hungry enough. Dogs know when they are hungry. But they also know how to "play" you sometimes in order to get what they are actually wanting.

We started off with chicken for 2 weeks.
Then we moved to Chicken + Pork for 2 weeks (but once again, no pork unless they ate their chicken).
Then we moved to Chicken + Pork + Hamburger (no other meats until they ate their chicken).

We did it this way for a couple of reasons.
#1 to make sure they didnt have allergies to anything. (We found out that one of our Danes cannot eat Lamb without her skin getting red and itchy)
#2 it allows us to call the shots about when and what they eat. This made things much easier for us in the long run (15 mins to eat or nothing)

But thats just our opinion.

[Charlene]

ashley has never skipped a meal but pea and bentley have occasionally turned their noses up at leg quarters. they love chicken backs so i always put a few of those in along with the quarters. a couple of times, they have eaten the backs, left the quarters and wandered around the kitchen like they are waiting for something better. i practice the same tough love...if they don't eat their quarters, they get nothing else till the next meal. both of them have gone so far as to skip 2-3 meals before they decide mom isn't gonna give in.

i was surprised the first time this happened because since i started raw almost 2 months ago, they have always been gung-ho at mealtime. i think they got a taste of pork rib tips or boneless pork roast (their favorite) and they figured if they objected to the leg quarters long enough, pork would magically appear in their bowls. ain't gonna happen!

[jkinglmt]

update

Well its morning four of raw, and he's eating everything just fine now, he prefers the chicken backs to the quarters, I think because they are bloody and disgusting. So we just add a little extra meat to those so its not too bonney. Once his Poo levels out i think we will be golden!.... And he eats the backs so gingerly, lays down doesn't touch it with his paws licks and nibbles it for like 20 min, for one and eats everything but the skin. Lol I don't blame him I don't like the skin when I'm eating chicken either.