Hi everyone
Joined this site about 10 mins ago so I hope you can offer me some advice.
My 9 year old collie x has recently been diagnosed with diabetes. I seem to be permantly down the vets or on the phone to him but he is very very good with me !. The thing I was dreading the most is giving the injections but I have no problem with that. My problem is that no matter what i give him to eat he will not touch it.
I started him off on chappie as the vet recommended it if i wasnt going to buy the vets food. He ate this the first night and since refused it, The vet then suggested cooked chicken which i bought and he love it. In the morning I gave him some scrambled eggs which he also loves.
Obviously my dog cannot live on chicken and eggs so i started introducing some dry dog food (the science one from the vets) and what happens??? ,.....he picks out the pieces of chicken and spits out the dry food.
Then the vet suggest that I put some gravy with the dry food and leave it for 20mins to soak up.....This I tried tonight...he refused to eat it.
I am at my wits end with what to do. He is losing weight fast and so am i to be honest !!
Can anyone please recommend anything that i can do?

thank you
x

Naturediet, Natures Harvest, Wainwrights from PAH, Natures Menu - these are all around 70% meat, rice and vegetable wet tray foods with no artificial additives in them - all available from Pets at Home. I would be very surprised if he refused these - you can buy them singly if you want to try them. They are complete foods and have all the vitamins and minerals in them your dog needs. Good Luck! Claire

claire ...thank you so much.
I am glad you can buy them singlurly as the tinned vet food you had to buy in cases. When i asked if what happens if he didnt like it , what was i sposed to do with the other tins i was told ..throw it away !! Like i'm going to throw £30 down the drain !!
I have made a list of what you suggested and will go out tomorrow and buy some of it
thank you
x

You're welcome! What I would do is maybe buy 1 of each (they are around 80p each). I would recommend:

Naturediet Lamb, Rabbit & Turkey

Natures Harvest Chicken or the Natures Harvest Tripe is very well-liked.

Natures Menu do tins and pouches (pouches are smaller - tins are very good)

Wainwrights is PAH own make - Lamb, Turkey and Duck flavours (you can buy singles for around 80p or boxes of 12).

If you buy Wainwrights and your dog doesn't like it, PAH will refund/replace.

Try warming the tray in the microwave slightly to make the meat more "smelly".

Let us know how you get on. Try a couple first to see what he prefers.

Use the water from the boiled chicken, pour it over the dry dog food while its still hot.... as the dog food soaks it up, leave it to cool also.

It will smell like delicious chicken and be lovely and moist too... might be worth trying to feed it to your pooch, while the food is warm too,as warm food always smells soo much nicer than cold

( feel the bottom of the bowl from under, for any hot spots and mix up the food as it cools, to make sure it all has an even warm temp and theres no hot spots )

Have you tried the 15 minute trick? Put the food down, if it's not gone in 15 mins take it up and feed nothing else at all until next meal, and do the same again.

You've taught your dog that by not eating what you put down, he'll get something else tastier. You need to teach him that if he doesn't eat when you put down, he gets nothing. Or you will end up shelling out god knows on dog food that will go to waste. And with his condition you really need to have him on a good diet.

Obviously you'll need to check with you vet if this will be okay first, as he's diabetic.

If he says yes, pick of of the above wet foods, they're all good quality. And do the above.

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Our lurcher pup was picky over everything, we tried putting it down, picking it up etc for days and she just wouldn't eat the different dry foods we tried.

Then we tried her on Wainwright's trays and have never looked back, she loves them and so does our foxhound pup.

We will now always feed wet with some mixer for texture (Burns mixer as it appears to be the only really good quality mixer on the market).

hi marley is a bit of a fussy eater but i really reccomend weinwrights and naturediet. if i were a dog i would eat these foods

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So why don't you stay for the night? Or maybe a bite?
I could show you my favourite obsession.
I've been making a man with blond hair and a tan
And he's good for relieving my tension[/COLOR][/B][/COLOR]

Have you ever fed raw food? I'd be tempted to try a chicken leg, see if he'll eat it.

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Transplanted Geordie
RIP Jake, my best dog. 10.8.10
RIP Boomerang, beautiful horse. 27.5.08

Please consider looking into a raw diet for your dog. Its probably one of the best things you will ever do for him!
My Logan loves every single meal even tho he is not food motivated, each meal is different, irresistable smelling to your dog. Your dog already picks out the real chicken and leaves the kibble doesnt he? He's trying to tell you something!

Its really not difficult to feed your dog a raw diet. Its cheaper to feed than a premium kibble, and the nutrition and benefits to your dog are immense.

If you would like to know more there is a Raw Diet sticky in this area or please just ask.