I didn't read this whole thread- I am way too lazy, haha- but Koda use to be horrible about eating raw. I would have to tear it apart and feed it to him, or throw it and then make him think I was going to get it and eat it myself so he'd snatch it. Sigh. The only thing I didn't have to play around with was little cut up pieces. One day he decided to be a big boy though. Maybe it will just be a time thing.

I definitely haven't given up yet!
I am going to start slipping her some raw chicken whenever I can so she gets used to it and then slowly build up from there.

I'm making an Indian dinner tonight which will have chicken in it so I'll see if she'll take hand fed raw boneless chicken....

Sounds like a plan, some dogs just need baby steps more than others.

Well, still a no go...

I was prepping for dinner, and she was, as usual, curious...becaus when I'm in the kitchen, that usual means I'm fixing something to eat and she gets something...

Anyway, I cutting up the chicken breast, and I took a small piece and hand fed it to her. She took it, put it down, pushed it around with her nose and looked up at me and laid down. I picked it up and hand fed it to her again...and we went in circles about 3 times and finally gave up.

I continued to prep dinner and she acted curious again, so I took another piece and hand fed it to her. This time she chewed a little and put it on the floor. The sniffed my hands, licked it (because it still had chicken on it) and that was that.

(Yes, I washed my hands in between! )

Oh well...may be I'll try a rare piece of beef, and then go less and less cooked from there....?

cmanding wrote:

Oh well...may be I'll try a rare piece of beef, and then go less and less cooked from there....?

That actually sounds like a good idea, kind of similar the seared chicken idea but started with something a little more cooked. I think it's worth a shot at the very least.

I gave Ginger 3 small pieces of medium rare steak yesterday early evening, around 4pm, and I would have thought she'd give me a BM before we went to bed, but she didn't. But this morning, half of BM was soft and mucousy

The last time she had beef was when we were still going through diarreha and getting her to poop. I remember at one point we gave her ground beef which was a little raw (slightly pink) with rice. It could have been the rice or the beef, but after 2 days of no poop on that diet, she threw it all up.

So, I'm thinking....no-go on beef...

Her holistic vet said her main proteins should be 'cool proteins' such as fish, chicken, turkey and duck vs. 'warm proteins' which would be beef, deer/venison, buffalo/bison, lamb.

So, I think I may just stick with trying to give her some chicken to mix up the protien.

My next attempt will be another chicken wing again, but I'll sear the skin for 15 seconds and see if that helps...

I'd stick with your vet's advice for now.

Maybe once Ginger starts eating raw meat then you could try purely raw beef and see how she reacts since the truly raw version is different from the rare/partially cooked version. But of course this won't be anytime soon. Our boy doesn't handle cooked beef well either but he handles raw beef just fine.

Good luck with the chicken wing...round 2.

I figured so on the beef...so for now, beef is out...we'll revisit raw beef later

I'm heading to Arizona this weekend...I get to meet Heather and Koda!

But when I get back, I'll try chicken wing round #2...

Took one chicken wing out this morning to try this again at lunch...
This time, I'm going to sear the wing for 15 seconds and see if that makes it more enticing...

Stay tuned.....

Hope it helps! *fingers crossed* The things we do for our dogs, right?

Thought this was funny. I asked my mom to get me chicken necks for my girls. She got two packs, so she could give some to her dogs. Her dogs, BTW, have only ever eaten kibble and some table scraps. Anyway, most of her dogs had no clue what to do with the necks! lol. They knew they were cool and guarded them from the other dogs, but didn't know if they should eat them or just lick them or what. One of her dogs quickly buried his and then dug it up and buried it again. lol. Her BC swallowed his whole and one of her american eskimos really liked them and kept trying to steel everyone elses.

My girls liked theirs. Elara is in her, "OMG I'm starving all the time!" phase, so I have to watch out and make sure she doesn't swallow things whole. I swear, she'd eat until she's explode right now. I was so happy when Siku outgrew this phase. Siku is much better about chewing.

That is funny!
We're making a little progress!
I'll post a video soon...
I have to clean up first...

cmanding wrote:

We're making a little progress!
I'll post a video soon...
I have to clean up first...

OMG, are you implying that she ate at least some of it?! I really do hope so! Get that video up!!!

Sorry for the shaky video...I had to be discreet and take it across the dining room and zoom in.
That's 'her spot' where she eats all her bones or anything 'stick' or bone like.

I seared the wing first for 15 seconds each side in a dry, hot pan first, and let it cool a little.

I put the wing in her bowl at first, she took it and put it on the hardwood floor and licked it, then left it alone. I picked it up and tore off some meat and hand fed it which she ate, then broke the bones apart and gave it to her where she took it and went to 'her spot' in the video.

So we're making slow progress...

Huskyluv wrote:

cmanding wrote:

We're making a little progress!
I'll post a video soon...
I have to clean up first...

OMG, are you implying that she ate at least some of it?! I really do hope so! Get that video up!!!

Yes, she ate most of the meat on the wing! I had to hand feed half of it, but she at least took the wing and ate most of the remaining meat off the bone herself!\

Woo hoo!

just in case you missed it...video is on previous page at the bottom.

She seems to like it! She was like falling asleep at the end...haha! She's so cute!

She's still not sure unless I hand feed a couple of bites first.
It may take a while, but my hope is we get to the point where she'll take the bone and tear into it with gusto like she does with her dental bones!

She'll get there eventually! =) Which dental bones do you give her btw?

She had 2 different ones:
--Fido Belly Bones (made with yogurt for probiotics) > we started out with this one because it was the only dental bones that she liked that agreed with her belly
--Zuke's Z-Ridge Carrot Bones > we then tried this one because it's a little better at keeping her teeth cleaner and we know she's OK with carrots

At first we gave her more of the Belly Bones because they were cheaper: $2 per Belly Bone vs. $3 per Zuke's bone....but I found a website that carries the Zuke's bones for about $2 per bone (they come in a 6-pack)

Now I give which ever one she wants for the day...I pull out one of each and let her decide which one she wants.

I get a lot of my bones and treats for Ginger at:
NaturalK9Supplies.com

ALL her treats are no more than exactly 2 ingredients! No preservatives and free range...The exception are her cookies which are still limited ingredients! - Those are Natural Balance L.I.T. (which stands for limited ingredient treats).

Aww, she did really good! I kept thinking during the whole video that she eats like a person, eating the meat and leaving the bone! lol That is really great progress, go Ginger! Not only that but it keeps her occupied working at pulling the meat off versus just swallowing her food (like kibble or THK) quickly like most dogs do. Love the video!

On the dental bone note, I am buying the Zukes Z Ridge cranberry dental chews for my girl, Faith, since she has the most dental issues due to her tiny mouth. She loves her Zukes cranberry dental chews and I love that they really make her work at them. She spends a good 15-20 minutes gnawing on her Zukes chew. The biggest plus is that they don't really upset her stomach, I mean she does have softer stool the next day but it's still formed and is not diarrhea. I only give the Zukes dental chew once a week. My only complaint with the Zukes cranberry chew is that it "stains" whatever surface it is on so I have to make sure Faith eats it on a blanket so she doesn't turn the carpet or sofa red. It always washes out of the blanket when I put it in the wash though and when she's done I just take a moist cloth and wipe off her red feet. I don't know if the other flavors have the staining issue or not.

Yes, we are making progress on raw feeding! I don't think her BM will go soft since it was a small amount of raw that she's eating, but we'll keep it to 1 chicken wing for now until she eats it all, including bone! (Maybe that'll be a month from now! HA!)

She eats whatever she can hold between her front paws in that same spot! I think I'll need to give her raw chicken outside...I tried putting a cutting board down in 'her spot' and put the wing on it the first time, and she looked at me with a lot of confusion.

Zuke's Z-Ridge dental bone in carrot flavor does not stain at all.

cmanding wrote:

I tried putting a cutting board down in 'her spot' and put the wing on it the first time, and she looked at me with a lot of confusion.

LOL That's funny, I can just imagine it!

cmanding wrote:

Zuke's Z-Ridge dental bone in carrot flavor does not stain at all.

Good to know, maybe I'll try the carrot flavor next time...at least then I wouldn't have to chase her down if she tries to eat her bone on the carpet.

Cool...thanks! I'll look into these! Carrot flavor =)