Keyto is a very fussy eater... KIBBLE: have tried her on everything I could get my hands on except for eukanuba / advance etc as they don't carry affordable trial packs.

I have to use trial pack's because I don't have the money to waste on 15kg bags that she won't touch.

Would rather see if she will give it the time of day or not before investing $$.

I found this kibble Acres and she likes it, but you know... won't scoff it down or anything... just nibbles at it throughout the day.

This is the ONLY dog roll she will touch Chunky and is what her breeder fed her but It took a while for me to source it after I adopted her, as I live in a tiny town of 400 or so and yeah, not alot avaliable here, so have to make a special trip out of town when I need more.

She used to eat about 300g of chunky a day and about a 1/4 of a cup of acres.

At the moment She isnt too interested and will only eat about 100g of chunky and most of her 1/4 cup of acres.

It worries me as she is only 16.7kg and I would like to see her at around 17.5 to 18kg as she is slightly underweight on the BCS. But it has been very hot here, around 25-30*C in the last few weeks...this could be a factor?



Digger is on the same diet but he has started eating less too but this worries me again as he needs to eat to grow - and I want him to grow to the best of his ability.
I also have to keep feeding Digger a bit of yoghurt to stiffen his poos up a bit, as they are generally quite runny. But he's is due for the first worming tablet from me today, so this may be contributing.


Have been thinking that maybe they would do well on a home-cooked diet or potentially raw... but don't know where to start with that... as not sure which is better? And don't know wether or not these types of diets will make my problems better or worse.

Please also keep in mind alot of the brands you guys have in the states are not avaliable here - but any advice would be appreciated

OOOOPSS...

Here are some conversions for you....

15kg bag = 13lb 1oz
1/4 cup acres = 2oz

100g chunky = 3.5oz
300g chunky = 10.5oz

Keyto's current weight = 36lb 13oz
would like Keyto to be 38lb 9oz - 39lb 10oz

Temperature daily ranging 77*F to 86*F

Bump... sorry I AM not patient

I'm not quite sure what you are looking for in terms of advice. However, to me it sounds like she is eating plenty for her size. Also, 2 lbs off of your preferred weight is nothing I'd worry about. Your desired weights are quite specific (down to the ounce), where are you coming up with that? Dogs routinely vary their weight on a regular basis...as do people.    And it is quite normal for dogs to eat less during the warmer summer months. Weight and food intake-wise, I don't see an issue worth fussing or changing diets over unless you are not happy with the diet itself.

lol they are down to the ounce because I am in NZ and we use the metric system.. so they are the conversions for 17 1/2 to 18kg... I just googled conversions to make it easier for those of you who use imperial..

Thanks for the advice, just needed reassurance there was nothing to worry about

Hi Carissa, you asked in another thread what I was feeding Orion so I thought I would post it here for you.

Orion is on Acana kibble in the morning - he gets one cup which I add flax seed oil to as his supplement.
His evening meal is raw based on the prey model so includes bone organ etc and he gets about 250gm per portion. He gets all kinds of things, chicken backs, tripe, lamb flaps and shanks, rabbits, wallaby, pork ribs, venison, turkey even salmon lol. Occasionally I will give him an entire raw egg with his raw meal as well.
Treats for him I have started making my own because I was generally unimpressed with what was available. I have a dehydrator so I have dehydrated Liver, hearts, chicken necks (for chews) and beef so far and he loves the lot - he will do almost anything for the liver it has made rally classes such a breeze

I had him on Orijien and the protein was just too high so I changed to the Acana and am really happy with it. If he is overfed he will get soft stools really quickly so I have to be careful about that, also he is on grain free and is really really intolerant of dairy! My mum thought she was doing a nice treat the other day when Orion was round playing with her pup and bought the two boys a little scoop of ice cream each since it was hot (I was not there so he got to eat it) and he honestly had cannon butt for two days after then took another few days to firm back up.

Orion is not quite as fussy as what Keyto sounds but I have noticed as it is getting hotter he is eating less and I refuse to free feed him, if I put down food and 10 mins later he has not touched it I take it away. I know that sounds harsh but he learnt fairly quickly that what is on offer is all he is getting lol

Oh he often gets raw meaty bones to gnaw on as well, recently because it has got so hot I have been giving him cannon bones straight out of the freezer which he just loves lol it's like a giant meaty Popsicle.

There are not stockists of Acana here in my town either so I order it online and have it delivered. The raw food I get from a variety of places.

Also just for your information Orion is sitting at about 25 kg at the moment, although being male he will be quite a bit larger than Keyto

Yeah, Keyto wasnt to fussed on orijen or acana either, which really bumbed me out because I think it is just fantastic! She would only eat it if the cats tried to, other then that she would just guard it.

Maybe I should try a bit of raw with her. She really loves mutton bones etc.
Would Digger be alright with raw at the moment? Or do you think he would end up with the squirts ?

Orion took awhile to come round to the acana (and orijen initially) but he got there eventually. He still won't eat it if I forget his flax oil though, for some reason he just adores that stuff.

There is a whole section on this forum on raw feeding and there are lots of people that feed their young pups raw so he should be fine as long as you do all your research and the meals are balanced
Orion far prefers his raw meals but I have kept up the kibble because we are going over to Aus for christmas so Orion has to go into boarding kennels and I can't expect a full kennels to feed raw, all the other dogs would go nuts lol so kibble is just easier at the mo.

You have to also remember that huskies are very picky and will refuse meals. They aren't like labs where they just eat everything and always act like they're hungry. Now Karli has learned that if she doesn't eat her food, Evee will. AND, I have found she's more likely to eat it if its in her Kong Wobbler then just in her bowl (makes it more fun to get the food I guess.) Just some things I've tried that have worked. Also, switching her food because she doesn't seem super interested in something is a bad idea because she'll learn that if she ignores it you'll get her new food and that makes for a picky dog. Trust me, she will not starve herself and will eventually eat. And her weight sounds perfectly fine, Karli is 37lbs.

Thank you for your advice, just keep in mind that keyto is 5 and I adopted her 6 months ago so this is all a learning curve. only concerned for her weight as the Vet said she could do with another 2lbs. Thank you for referencing to your own dog being picky - I had been observing other threads about food and nutrition and didn't see much about picky eaters - if anything!
So i figured maybe there was a reason for her being picky...

In my opinion changing her food wouldn't make for a fussy dog, because she already is one

Haha yes but she also wouldn't starve herself either if you keep offering the same food. I have found that huskies don't eat food with as much gusto as other dogs (unless its raw, then Karli is scarfing it down) so while it may seem odd to you that she's not eating like other dogs would its a normal husky thing. They occasionally skip meals as well. I think the best thing to do would be to train her that if she doesn't eat her food, its not available for her all day so she needs to eat it. That means that if she doesn't eat it in the first half hour, take it up. Offer it later in the day and see if she eats it then but don't leave it down for long. She will get it eventually. Its tough love for sure but it'll help.

Yes, have always taken the food away if she doesn't want it as otherwise the cats will get it. My cats are confused and think they are pigs. Not even worming seems to control them LOL