I have 20 chicken carcasses in the freezer and my dog doesn't want to eat them. Please help me raw feed.

[Beachcomber]

As the title says really!

Dog is a rescue collie cross, weighs about 12 kilos is probably a little underweight. She was on kibble in rescue and we have been feeding her it whilst she has been settling in. She eats it, but just kind of grazes without any enthusiasm and I would like to feed her something more nourishing. Last week I gave her a bone from the butchers and she was very pleased with it and ran off into a corner of the garden and crunched it up.

Brilliant thought I and then ordered a box of chicken carcasses from a poultry farm that we are lucky enough to have nearby. Picked them up yesterday and gave her a nice meaty part of one yesterday for dinner. She sniffed around it but didn't eat any. So to encourage her I fried it off a bit just to get the fat melting. She did then pick it up and took it off to her bed and there was a bit of crunching and licking but she hardly ate any and it is still in her bowl this morning.

Should I start with something different?

We have given her kibble for breakfast and she has eaten a bit so is hungry (she is not terribly food motivated in general). I will be careful not to mix raw and kibble to avoid stomach upsets.

I really thought she would love the chicken. I gave her some cooked chicken on her first day with us as she wasn't eating (due to anxiety) and she loved it.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Am I being stupid here? I didn't think you could give chicken bones to dogs?

I think you should persevere a bit longer with the chicken without offering an alternative. I know it makes us feel bad but dogs eat at their usual times out of routine rather than actual hunger. Unless ill they are fine for a few days not eating . She's unlikely to try new things if she knows that something else will appear soon enough.

How long have you had her? If she's new to your home the stress of the move might be affecting her appetite. If it's not long then I would scrap what I said above and focus on making her feel safe and settled. You may find her appetite increases. My girl didn't eat much at all for the first month.

You can give them raw but not cooked. Cooked they are liable to splinter.

Tough love is the key. She won't let herself starve honestly. It is a common problem with raw to start as it is rasically different to previous food

I have just posted on abother thread that my record for a bone stand off was 2 and 1/2 days in and out of the fridge. Mine is skinny too but don't let your own anxiety in there and trust me...healthier a touch skinny than overweight, and it can be hard to keep perspective of normal as there are so many overweight dogs around. You should be able to feel ribs easily.

Maybe try chicken mince to start and then carcasses?

You just need to take things a bit slower, it'll take a month or so before she's ready for chicken carcasses. There's a good Facebook group on raw feeding, also info on switching to a raw diet here.
My GSD rescue dog didn't have a clue at first, now eats a chicken carcass in 15 minutes and looks round for more .
His first raw meal was a small chicken breast and he sat with his paws on it guarding it for 2 hours, I don't think he realised it was food. Then he gave a few licks and started nibbling and eventually ate it but took most of the afternoon.

Perhaps as a starter you could get some "chicken wings" our dogs get the last joint of the wing which isn't used for people generally. The chicken farm may be bake to sell you them. By havering the wings they are small enough that they don't need to manipulate them to eat them.

Our dogs do really well on a raw food plus kibble diet. Our vet thinks we brush their teeth daily.

I started off with dog mince then introduced skinny little chicken wings, broken a bit with a tenderiser. now amongst other things my girl enjoys a carcass, fish eggs the odd whole carrot or apple. Variety is the key.

Thank you so much for replies. Have been out all day, will read once DC are in bed!

Yes I probably am taking things too fast. I think I was lulled into thinking she would go for the carcass by the way she went at the butchers bone the other day. She has only been with us for 2 weeks and I hadn't planned on going raw so early, I only thought I would try because she doesn't eat her kibble much. No doubt nerves and anxiety at being in a new place are affecting her appetite.

She is a dear wee thing but quite timid and we suspect has been mistreated. It is definitely going to be quite some time before she settles and trusts us. We'll just take it easy and see how we go. DH gave her a chicken neck this morning in the garden (she is more comfortable eating outside) and she went off and hid with it in a corner of the garden. We came inside and left her to it, at first we thought she was burying it but when I checked later I could see no sign of digging. Hmmmm quite a mystery as it has disappeared so either she ate it or is a very discrete digger!

Thank you so much for your replies, I think we will keep offering various bits of meat/fish/eggs and see how we go. It helps to know that some of your dogs took a while to reach carcass stage....they are in the freezer so won't come to any harm over the next few weeks. If she doesn't eat the meat I'll give her kibble and hope she eats some of that and try meat again in a while when she is more settled.

Thanks all.

Instead of kibble you could try nutriment raw. This is complete raw and we've found it excellent. We have 2 rescues, one very nervous, who were clearly not used to much using of their teeth!
We have now progressed to the occasional chicken neck.
The first time I offered it, both dogs looked at me as if I had taken complete leave of my senses. One took 10 mimutes or so, the other just looked at it and occasionally licked it for about 2 hours before finally attempting it. We will move on to wings and then carcasses but I don't think they would cope yet.
It's a big jump from kibble. Ours came kibble fed and with terrible bowels but now have lovely firm poo so it's worth persevering. The nutrment worked well for us.

if you're on FB, join raw feeding UK, they're a helpful bunch, lots of newbies on there all the time, so you won't be the only one asking questions! It helped me be confident about trying things when I fed my foster dog raw.

Good luck

Sometimes when our lot turn their noses up at their raw food we heat it slightly in the microwave, not enough to cook it but enough to warm it a little and they wolf it down. It's not like our food that should be cooked right through, dog's digestive acids think nothing of rotten meat so a bit of a heat up will do no harm. NOT enough to cook bones!

Thanks again for all the tips. Will check out the FB group and try microwave trick. Not sure if I can get nutriment raw as am not in the UK. She is definitely burying the food as I watched her from an upstairs window yesterday. She is very good at it, and hardly leaves a trace! It would be great to think that she is going to dig it up and eat it and some point but I somehow doubt it.

I went to a good pet shop yesterday and got some good quality kibble that doesn't contain any wheat, maize, GMFs, additives, etc. It is fish based and stinks so she seems to like it and it can only be better than the Royal Canin that the rescue sent us home with. I just want her to eat something decent and put a bit of weight on. I agree it is better for a dog to be on the thin side rather than heavy, but she really is a bit too skinny. Will keep offering various raw things for one of her meals. Don't want to go tough love at the moment as she is still settling in.

Thanks everybody.

Hah, little update.

She is burying the meat and then goes and digs it up a couple of days later and eats it. She obviously likes it a bit hung! I gave her the neck (including head) the other day and she ran off with it, buried it and then ate it after a day or two. Gave her half a carcass with the heart and kidneys still in it today and she ate the organ meat, had a wee chew of the rest if it and then dug a hole and hid it. Funny dog!