I made the food and they gobbled it up!!!

[mistyinca]

Originally Posted by LunasMomma

How's it going Misty? I hope that your girl is loving her special food

It has been a crazy week. The first homemade food I made didn't go over very well. I didn't use the one you posted, I made another version without the legumes. So I just kept feeding her the Royal Canin with the liver powder on it. Then she started just licking off the liver powder. So I decided to only give it to her without it. Chloe went on a hunger strike this whole past week, and I swear went over two days without eating anything. I hate it when she does that. I have a feeling those of you looking to make your own food know what I'm talking about. She wouldn't even take the nutrical!! (I actually had to scrape the nutrical off my finger into her mouth behind her teeth to get her to eat it. She used to love it.

Today, she went back to eating her royal canin with the liver powder, but I know it will be short lived. She'll do the no eating thing again. Once in a while, she just decides: ho hum...food...whatever...I can live without it.

So I tried another one today. I made it so that it has all the percentages according to AAFCO standards. I was afraid she wouldn't eat it either, so I tricked her. I pretended like a clump of it fell off the counter, and she ran over and gobbled it up. However, when I actually handed her a bit for a training treat, she kind of turned her nose up at it. So I kept accidentally dropping clumps off the counter until she ate a full portion!

I don't know what to do next. I'm actually thinking of maybe trying that frozen raw stuff next.

Sorry, but I needed to unload all that. The eating battles are so frustrating. She was doing really well for a while, eating a whole 6 TB of kibble a day for a couple of weeks, and then this. <sigh>

[LunasMomma]

She's a little turd Amazing how stubborn these furkids can be, you must be incredibly frustrated.

I am at the image of you saying OOPS! and dropping the food She's just way too smart!

[mistyinca]

Originally Posted by LunasMomma

She's a little turd Amazing how stubborn these furkids can be, you must be incredibly frustrated.

I am at the image of you saying OOPS! and dropping the food She's just way too smart!

Yes indeed, she's a little Turd. In fact, I sometimes call her Turd Ferguson (SNL Jeopardy) LOL!

This morning, sure enough, she only licked off the liver powder! So I baked some of the food I made yesterday into kibbles (hey, I'm getting desperate here!) She actually seemed to really like them. Then I heated up some of the food I made and mixed it with her royal canin. She ate a full portion, thankfully. I'm baking more kibbles now, but we'll see how that goes.

I have a question for you on the one you made: How much did you process it together? Did you leave it chunky, or mix it up smooth in the food processor?

This stuff came out pretty clumpy. I think I need to find a better way to mix it together.

Thanks,
Misty

[LunasMomma]

I'd love to know how you baked the food into kibbles, that sounds like a great idea!

I left mine pretty choppy. I didn't puree the rice at all, and just chopped up the veggies. The chicken breast I did grind finely, I was afraid that they'd just pick it out Your girl may not like the chunks and might like it better ground more finely, who knows? Keep experimenting, you'll find something that she'll eat

Kisses to Turd Ferguson

[mistyinca]

Originally Posted by LunasMomma

I'd love to know how you baked the food into kibbles, that sounds like a great idea!

Basically, what I did was press the mixture into a flat patty--about 1/4" thick. What I was planning to do was make dog biscuits out of it. I was thinking like a complete meal in dog biscuit form (dog slim fast bar, LOL!), and I have some various dog bone cookie cutters. After cutting 12 small bones out of a day's portion, there was not enough for another bone, so I cut the rest of the patty into little 1/4" cubes. Then I put it all in the oven at 325 for 20, then lowered it to 200 for 20 more. The kibbles came out crispy, but not hard like commercial dog food kibbles.