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08-09-2010, 01:27 PM | #1 |
Yorkie Yakker Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Grand Cayman
Posts: 49
| Zoe is being picky!!!!! Zoe is choosing to be picky. She can no longer eat dog food because something in it bothers her and makes her throw up. We had thought we found a dog food she was fine with Natures Variety Instinct (dry chicken) but she started getting sick from that too. It doesnt matter what kind of meat is in the food, grain free or not, just that fact that it is a "dog food" makes her throw up. She is fine with any kind of fresh food (meat, veggies if I can blend them up smalll enought that she cant pick them out) I am very frustrated now as she won't eat "complete" homecooked meals. Her meals that I had recently "concocted" were: pressure cooked chicken, raw foodprocessed veggies and organ meat for 5 days out of the week, and then salmon/sardine, raw foodprocessed veggies and organ meat for 2 days out of the week. I wanted to stay grain free as long as she did okay with it as I had done a nutritional consultation and the vet had said there is no need for grains. I myself had read this previously many times. We were going to incorperate other meats for variety (lamb, beef, etc) once she was used to this but she wont eat real food. She will take a bite or two and then push it away. Sorry for such a long post but she is my baby and I want to give her the best nutrition possible so if anyone has any suggestions on a homecooked diet for a picky eater I would really appreciate it. |
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08-10-2010, 05:40 AM | #2 |
Yorkie Yakker Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Grand Cayman
Posts: 49
| Nothing? |
08-10-2010, 06:11 AM | #3 |
♥ love my girls!! ♥ Donating Member | Let me make sure I understand you first....you're saying she won't eat the homecooked meals you're making anymore?? (The ones you described?) Hopefully there's another reason, but the only thing I can think of is that she may have a liver issue. Yorkies are 38 times more likely than any other breed to have a liver problem (such as liver shunt (LS) or hepatic microvascular dysplasia (HMVD)). My Bella has HMVD, but she's assymptomatic. She's slightly picky too (and I'm told lots of Yorkies are), but I've been told that sometimes liver dogs won't eat because they are getting too much protein and it's making them nauseous, which that could be why she's refusing / throwing up. Organ meat is especially hard on liver dogs, above and beyond red meats and exotic meats. My suggestion (least expensive suggestion) is to just try using only egg white (boiled or scrambled) and/or chicken as your proteins AND not using organ meat. Just see how she does a few times with that combo. Still use veggies, and I think it would be a good idea to use oatmeal or brown rice even though you're not wanting to do grains....if you don't, her meal will most likely be protein heavy. Try this combo for a couple of days and see what happens. If there's no change, then we'll have to figure out something else. [Note: When you're homecooking, it's a good idea to have the diet balanced by a veterinary nutritionist. There are vitamins/minerals/etc... that they need that it would be impossible to get from just veggies. Bella has a veterinary nutritionist at Cornell...we used to homecook too! ] Your other option would be to have her bile acid tested if you haven't already....that helps determine if there is a liver problem. That's actually what I would do!!!
__________________ Tara Bella's & Maya's mommy |
08-10-2010, 03:21 PM | #4 |
Yorkie Yakker Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Grand Cayman
Posts: 49
| Thank you so much for responding!!! Zoe was eating chicken, carrots, broccoli, and a mix of cous cous (her favourite), oats and millet. But after the nutritional consultaion with a vet we stopped the grains as he said they really werent needed about a week ago and did the protein and veggies/fruit diet, which she wont eat as she doesn't love the smell of most veggies. She is not much of an egg eater either. I can scramble an egg, mush it till there is no way to pick it out of her food lol and mix it with chicken and a grain and then she will eat it. But other wise she isnt keen on eating most things apart from chicken (which it better not be processed or she wont touch it as we got lunch from subways and decided to get her there "grilled chicken" which isnt really grilled chicken and she wouldnt touch it. she knows the difference). She ate real chicken and some mashed cooked sweet potatoes last night Her first full meal in days. She has never had much of a dislike toward sweet potatoes or yucca root. In stead of a grain could I stick with these "carbo veggies" instead as the starch? I will look into getting the bile acid test as I had thought about getting it done from before when she started having problems with the dog food but I never did. Thanks again!!! |
08-10-2010, 04:10 PM | #5 | |
♥ love my girls!! ♥ Donating Member | Quote:
I would definitely do the bile acid...if for no other reason than peace of mind. At least if it's normal, you'll know that she's just being picky and there's not something really seriously wrong, you know?! Also, if she likes carrots and broccoli but not others, why not just stick with those?? Are you mixing in a multivitamin or any other supplements too? I say, stick with what works and what she likes (as long as it's balanced)!! A lot of people believe that dogs don't need grains...and a lot of others think it's good to have a variety. It basically boils down to this...if SHE prefers grains over other choices (again, as long as it's balanced), then I don't see a reason to avoid them. Every single dog is different...some do well on grain free, so don't. Some will eat anything you give them, some won't. My personal opinion is that grains are just fine (there are grains I would steer clear of for dogs because I think they really are just filler, e.g. corn). Everything in moderation, right!
__________________ Tara Bella's & Maya's mommy | |
08-10-2010, 04:29 PM | #6 |
♥ love my girls!! ♥ Donating Member | FYI, I was told by our veterinary nutritionist that a dog would have to eat boatloads of veggies to get all the vitamins/minerals they need, which is why supplementing with a multivitamin is important. Yes, they do get some vitamins/minerals from the veggies, but in reality the veggies are just a good source of fiber. When we homecooked, Bella didn't like the veggies, so her nutritionist said we could skip them (he did add some fiber to her meals at that point). That's when I learned that in all honesty the veggies only provide minimal nutritional value. We do give her veggies separately as treats, and she likes that. Strange little critters aren't they?! I know some dogs will eat all the components but they have to be separated...if they're not, they refuse to eat it!! lol (So her diet was chicken, a mix of sweet and white potatoes, egg whites, and then supplements...multivitamin, bone meal, konsyl powder (fiber), fish oil, vegetable oil, vitamin K, vitamin E, and iodized salt (just a few grains for the iodine). Bella has a liver thing, so I'm not suggesting you copy that...I just wanted to give you an idea of what her completely balanced diet consisted of. See, no veggies OR grains!! )
__________________ Tara Bella's & Maya's mommy |
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