Okami just turned 6 months. She has a sensitive stomach where any commercial kibbles she eats will give her diarrhea. Of course, we've already took her to the vet many times and her tests were always healthy. After a lot of food-testing, hard work, and stress, we finally found raw diet is the only thing she can eat.

The Honest Kitchen (not really a raw diet) was the first raw diet we fed her, and it really helped her. It cured her diarrhea of 2 months in a single day! However, she started to become less and less interested in it. So we switched to other commercial raw diets, such as Sojos and Nature's Valley Raw Bites, but with the same result; she'd back away from it fearfully as if it was going to bite her. Then we tried actual raw food, like chicken breasts and chicken wings. Well, guess what? She won't eat that either UNLESS it's frozen solid. We didn't mean to feed her completely frozen food at first, but now we realize it's the texture of slimy food that she doesn't like.

We've tried to starve her and feed her on a schedule so she can maybe not be so picky, but she's more stubborn than we realize! What can we do? She's still a puppy and she needs to eat and grow! Can she continue eating FROZEN raw food? I'm thinking about freezing her Honest kitchen in the ice cube trays, but then I'm worried that eating frozen food on the long run will be bad for her health. She seems to not have any problems after eating frozen food though. Is there any suggestions to cure this picky eating of hers? Or a recommendation of another raw diet? HELP!

jen1107 wrote:

We've tried to starve her and feed her on a schedule so she can maybe not be so picky, but she's more stubborn than we realize!

Can you give us an idea of just how stubborn that is?

Have you tried searing her raw meat just a tad to give it a more enticing aroma and texture?

We've tried searing the meat. She'll bite off all the cooked part, as little as it may be. Then she'll spit out the raw parts. The past 4 days, she's been fed the Honest Kitchen only. She went from eating 4 cups a day to half a cup a day now. She will only eat after she comes home from running around in the park.

Yesterday, after fasting her for 12 hours, I put in front of her 3 bowls of NEW food flavors and brands, all which were slimy so you can imagine how well that turned out... As expected, she'd skip the meal. Comes the next meal time, she'll eat a fourth of one thing and leave the rest. We don't normally give her this many choices; it's usually take it or leave it, but we were trying to find another food for her with these samples that a really good store gave us. We were excited at first! With so many choices, she's got to like one of them, right !? We were wrong -_-. Then I finally gave her pre-frozen chicken bits, but I accidentally defrosted it too long and some parts of it became really mushy. She ate the frozen parts and spat out the mushy parts. Grrrr, dang it...!

I'm really worried, and a little sad. Genetics may have something to do with the size of a dog, but ours had been having diarrhea and taking antibiotics for almost half her life. When I take her to the dog park, she's about 10+ lbs less than what other huskies her own age (and younger) weigh. The vet says she's healthy though, so I am a bit relieved for now.

How long is she holding out without eating anything? 12 hrs is not very long, my picky chi would easily go for 3 days of not eating anything at all (she was offered her raw meals twice a day) before she caved.

As long as she's healthy I wouldn't worry too much. I am the type that doesn't cater to my pets' whims, they eat what I give period, or they don't eat. If they choose to skip meals or not eat their entire meal that's up to them if they want to go hungry. If the dog is sick then that's a different story. Sensitive stomachs are something they can't help that you have to work around, but picky eaters are created especially when you're talking about something they liked one day and won't touch the next. That's when I say tough love is in order.

Weight is relative, I wouldn't go off of everyone else's huskies. How much does she weigh? As you can see just on this forum alone the weights of various 6 month old sibe pups can vary substantially. You could just have a smaller sibe. You should be able to easily feel your dog's ribs but not see them.

Wow 3 days! Lol. I sure hope it doesn't become this way for for my pup. If it comes down to it though, I hope she will finally learn to not be picky.

You're right about not going off of everybody else's weight. She is 34 lbs at 6 months right now. She's always been fluffy, so it's hard to see her ribs even if I tried, but her ribs feel about right whenever I do try to feel for them. So I think she is normal. It's probably her constant diarrhea in the past that is in the back of my mind whenever I go to weigh her.

Oh her weight sounds perfectly fine and the fact that her vet said she's healthy is even further confirmation that you don't have anything serious to worry about. Sometimes a little tough love in the beginning can go a long way in the long run.

My tough love needs to get a lot tougher :p. Thanks for the help and reassurance. I appreciate it .