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Originally Posted by capt_noonie  First thing, very good job on your part for admitting he and you have a problem. It is not good for his health and will significantly shorten his life span if you do not change his diet. He has been spoiled his whole life. This change will not be easy, nor will it come about overnight.
My MIL was given a 4 yr old yorkie by her friend's daughter who could no longer care for her since she had one kid and a baby on the way. We hear this situation all the time. They were only feeding her human food. Table scraps/leftovers. Her teeth her horrid, breath is so bad. I told my MIL to slowly change her food over.
Immediately, stop feeding table scraps (if that is what you are doing). Get a chicken breast from the butcher and boil it in plain water until cooked. Keep the chicken broth. (Keep the rest in the fridge and keep the broth too! It will be already on hand for the next meal.) Shred the chicken in small bits and mix with kibble and chicken broth. At first do 75% chicken/25% kibble. Every day decrease the amount of chicken. Keep the chicken broth if you wish. My MIL's dog would not drink water so I told her to keep giving the chicken broth so she is getting some water at least.
You can also mix in carrot, green beans, cucumber, tomatoes, etc but do not give onion, garlic, grapes or raisins.
Also stop with the treats at this time and use the veggies as treats.
If he doesn't eat for at first don't fret. If he's not sick a dog should be ok to go without food for a day or two. Make sure he drinks water though! |
Great plan....you MAY have to go several days before you change the ratio of chicken to dog food, but hopefully, you can get baby weaned over to a
good dog food.....
But from another angle, I HAVE had pets in the past that lived an entire life of 10 and 12 years on boiled chicken with peas and carrots.....they looked so darn pitiful when I tried to give them dog food, and my mother would tell me she could not understand how in the world I could let that pitiful little darling, continue to go to her bowl, then walk away, head down, ears hanging to the side, clearly "starving" if it had dog food in it.....so after a day or so, usually SHE would cave in and revert to boiled chicken and rice, with peas and carrots in it. She said what she was feeding those little dogs was "just as good or better nutritionally, than a can of left over guts dog food". She may very well have been right..... You know, we never had issues with our dogs teeth back then......cancer was not rampant like it is now.....I have NO idea why....then I thought maybe it is something in....or maybe missing from.... the dog food they make today that destroys dog's teeth.....my suspicious mind goes right to "collaborative misdeeds" between dog food companies and vets.....you scratch my back and I will scratch yours....
Sorry, I am getting way off track!....the Devil made me do it!!!!