I am tired of wasting so much food on my 3...need suggestions

[cinnamonmon]

I am currently feeding Canidae wet food. In the past (before Yorkie talk made me a smarter dog owner), I used to feed Little Cesar and dry Kibbles and Bits. They didnt always eat their food then but more often than now. When I got my Yorkie (I have Maltese and a Yorke mix also), she seemed to have allergies problems so I started researching food and made some switches. I tried Merricks...dry and wet (they wouldnt touch it), Innova, again both dry and wet....only ate it about 1/4 of the time, then I switched to Canidae. Along they way I also experimented with a couple other high end foods with the same result. Usually they have a few bites of the Canidae and I throw the rest away the next morning. I usually leave dry kibble out all day butthey dont touch that either. The only thing they ever ate well was when I home cooked for about 3 months. However, that is not the best plan for my family...dh will not cook for them when Im gone, nor do I expect him to do so.
I love my babies but I work full time and still have a child at home...I do not have time to cook for 3 dogs,nor do I want to, so please dont judge me for this.
Anyways I am tired of wasting my money. I am wondering if I am feeding them too many snacks. I also forgot to add I usually put a few pieces of boiled chicken or some other plain meat mixed in with their wet food. I did that because when I switched from home feeding at first they wouldnt eat at all, so I have just stuck with that. Its only a few pieces, but they pick it out of the wet food and dont touch the rest of it. I recently have stopped giving the kibble also because they werent eating it anyways. Each morning I do give them several small snacks...I usually give a piece of low fat cheese stick,(about a third of the stick) and a piece of deli meat (usually some organic chicken or turkey) to each of them. Am I over feeding them with the snacks? The Yorkie is over weight by about 2 lbs...but the other two are fine and thin.

What in the world can I feed them that they will eat? I am so frustrated. They range in weight from 7lbs to 9lbs...how much food should they have a day? How many snacks can be added to that? It seems so simple...I never worried so much about what i was feeding a dog before but I never had dogs that were so picky either.

[Thorsmomma]

This may sound harsh (but that's not my intention). Maybe you should cut the snacks completely. Give them kibble (it's better for their teeth anyways) and if they are hungry they will eventually eat it. I think it's easy to create a picky eater, but you can break the habit.

I hope some else has some great suggestions for you and hopefully you'll find the perfect solution soon!

[Gracie2006]

I would find one food and stick to it, no treats until they eat. No dog will let himself starve. They will eat eventually. I was told that changing food all the time only makes them pickier eaters. I think that is true as I went through a phase with Gracie when she would not eat anything. I finally just kept putting the same thing out every meal, and within a couple of days she started eating. She has been a good eater ever since. Evanger is about as close to home cooked as it gets, especially the chicken drumettes, chicken thighs and hunk of beef.

[Ellie May]

I would stick with canned because I think it's healthier than kibble.
Have you tried not just putting the boiled chicken on top of the canned but actually blending it in? If you can't get them to eat canned, there isn't a good chance that they will eat a good amount of kibble. I don't think you can just leave the food down and expect them to eat because they eat just enough to stay alive which isn't healthy... Just my opinion

Then again, I am on the dog's side on this one.
I see no reason to not add at least a little bit of human food to their food to make it taste better. I'm not saying you should homecook... Just that while feeding a dog a little bit of human food could make them picky, as long as they are happy and enjoy their food, there is no reason not to.

[jenn4yorkies]

Have you considered feeding them a raw diet? I just started Nature's Variety Chicken Medallions yesterday morning and my dogs LOVE it! I was feeding Nutro Natural and they weren't too crazy about it and I also read a post on here that said some dogs were getting sick from Nutro.

There's a lot of good information here on YT about feeding a raw diet. YT and its wonderful members are the reason I decided to make the switch.

[jeanietoo]

I totally disagree that canned is healthier than dry. I would cut out snacks and leave a good quality dry food down for them. I breed yorkies for 10 years and always have owned 4-5 at a time and they have been very healthy with this diet. When they start eating the food well then give them very small quantities of whatever as a treat

[eaglez28]

[quote=Thorsmomma;1940900]This may sound harsh (but that's not my intention). Maybe you should cut the snacks completely. Give them kibble (it's better for their teeth anyways) and if they are hungry they will eventually eat it. I think it's easy to create a picky eater, but you can break the habit. =quote]

Ditto

[cinnamonmon]

Thanks for the suggestions. I think it may just have to be "tough love" in my house till they start eating again. My dh said when I was gone for a few days they barely ate anything at first but by the third day, all three of them cleaned their plates. But, he gave them no snacks at all and waited to feed them (accidently) till about 7 pm. I usually give snacks, as I said every morning and then leave kibble too (or used to)and then feed them their main meal after I get home from work, around 4:30. I still think though that they need to have something in the morning as well as the evening, dont they? Should they be fed only once a day or is twice better given their weight? I would love to keep giving them the treats mixed in with their food, if they ate their food too, but all they do is pick the treat out. They really dont eat alot at all, not sure why the Yorkie is overweight.

[cockerduchess]

I don't have any problems with my yorkies eating but when we got our schnauzer last year who was almost 2 the previous owners had been feeding her beniful I didn't know any better so that's what I bought her then I got Emma and found YT so I changed her food over Nutro she wouldn't touch it she would pick out the beniful and leave the Nutro then all the food recalls came along and we found Canidae she still wouldn't eat it. She is so picky but she finally came around to eating it now if I could just get her to eat every day.