Gone off raw food

[Jokat]

Hi. We have a 3 year old rescue and it took us a while to find food that she both likes and tolerates well. We started her off on dry food, which her tummy coped with very well, but we tried various different brands and she liked none of them and ate very very little. We then tried various brands of wet food, which she liked, and a combination of both, all of which gave her diarrhoea. We finally tried her on raw food (fresh frozen minced meat with bone and cartilage in it) 2 months ago and she loved it and her poos have been great. But over the last week or so, she seems to have gone off it. She has a little sniff and leaves it. Sometimes she'll eat some or all of it later on.
2 days ago, we decided to cook the meat first, so we put it in the frying pan, and once it had cooled down, she wolfed it down.
I don't want to have to cook the food every time, she gets fed twice a day. Where do we go from here? Shall I just skip her breakfast for a couple of days? Or try more different types of meat? She currently gets chicken and lamb. Any advice would be much appreciated.

I would make both meal sizes much smaller and see if she eats it then.

Cooked food smells better more, so that might be why she prefers it cooked You might find just adding in a bit of warm water helps increase the smell.

Generally it is a good idea to vary the meat flavours but first I would give her smaller portions.

Thank you, I'll give that a go.

Just to let you know I'm not sure all raw food is suitable for cooking because of the bone in it.

I have a fussy eater and contacted the raw food company we were trying to ask if I could cook their food to see if it would encourage my puppy to eat. They advised not to. Apparently the bits of bone that are part of the food can become brittle when cooked and can break up in their stomachs.

Instead they advised dividing into individual meatball sized balls and flash frying for a couple for seconds on each side. Brings out the smell a bit but is still raw in the middle so reduces the risk of the bones being an issue.

I'm not sure how long you have had her but maybe contact the rescue to see what they fed her. Some dogs are fussy. I know mine are fishy dogs they love fish.
I tend to get the fish based kibble and feed them a tin of sardines now and again. I also buy sprats. I dont feed raw though they are not wolves.

Pistachio - that is very useful to know, thank you!
Sitdown - we got her in late June. At the rescue, she was on kibble and they advised to us to keep her on it for a few weeks at least, ehile she settles in. We only I produced other brands and other types as she was hardly eating anything, but seemed ravenous especially when we were eating. I did not want to go down the raw food path at first but I ran out of other ideas. I haven't tried her on fish yet, that's another good idea. Thank you.

@jokat you can buy sprats pretty cheap for human consumption. Also fresh sardines in bags cheap if you don't want to used the tinned. Look in Aldi freezer section or if you have a wholesale. Sardines are pretty smelly in tins which most dogs can't resist.

The advice from my trainer and breeder when mine turned fussy was to put the food down, wait 20 mins and take it up. Offer nothing else. No treats. Nothing. After a few skipped meals, dinner should become much more interesting. Most dogs won’t starve themselves.

Trying to make the food more appetising is a never ending job. The dog knows that if he leaves his food something tastier will come along. So next time he fancies a change all he has to do is turn up his nose and you’ll find something better for him.

In terms of meats, it is usually advised to feed at least 5 different proteins on a regular basis to make sure the dog is getting all the right nutrients. Oily fish once a week is good too. I just feed a tin of sprats or mackerel once a week. I also add in fruits and veggies. My pup also likes a raw egg from time to time.

Thecapital that makes sense. I really don't want to have to keep coming up with ever changing food options, outdoing myself in the process.
I'll change things up within reason and if need be take the food away after a certain amount of time. Thanks for sharing that tip.