I've tried everything expensive Blue Buffalo,etc. today I bought that stuff that's refrigerated in a tube and he won't eat that either. We rescued him after his owners abandoned him, he's 3 years old and I just want him to get the proper nutrients. He will eat what we eat and the only reason we give that to him is he won't eat anything else. When we don't give him people food he won't eat at all. He's only 5 and a half pounds. Any ideas would be helpful. He loves chicken but I really don't want to have to boil chicken for this dog forever.
heart o' gold2020-07-25T20:45:41Z
Honestly, I suggest you boil chicken for the dog forever. A 5 lb dog eats very little and a $5 package of chicken, poached and then broken into 2-3 days of food at a time and frozen in freezer bags will last a long time.
I would NOT feed the dog most normal human foods. TINY treats of cheese, whole grain bread, cooked veges if the dog will eat them but I mean fingernail sized are ok, but not regular human food, it’s too spicy and too diverse.
I feed my dogs cooked meat and have a meat/vege stew I make specifically for them in large batches and freeze in smaller packages. I usually put this over a high grade kibble, about 1/3 meat to 2/3 kibble.
You could also check out the better quality wet foods. Chi’s, especially the tiny ones like that don’t have very strong jaws and can have trouble with kibble. You could also try soaking the kibble in chicken broth (low or no salt) and adding some chicken to it.
Years ago I had a large dog who came to me very fussy about food, wouldn’t eat regular kibble or canned dog food without some human food on it. It seemed like she had been given human food up to the point when I got her. I had her for over a decade and when she was pretty old she would not eat anything but turkey. So for two years I cooked a turkey every 10 days or so because that was all she would eat. Of course I also ate from the turkey and so did my other dogs, I got very creative with cooking my own food, turkey lasagne, turkey enchiladas, turkey with mac and cheese, stir fried turkey, I also made and used lots of turkey broth and fed lots of that to the dogs as well. I never napped so much in my life... And I got REALLY good at roasting turkeys, a skill that serves me well around the holidays...
All dogs like chicken, but feeding a dog chicken every day is not good. He will gain too much weight and then become sick. Boil chicken very well to remove most fat, also boil various veggies; ie carrots cut in small chucks, but not very soft. You can try other veggies also, cabbage is another good veggie. Give the dog cooked white rice perhaps 3 meals a week. They like rice but too much will cause weight gain. Now, do not feed your dog dry dog food.That crap is cooked and dried under such high heat until there is no nutritional value in it. You can also, feed him boiled beef; dry the most lean, and feed it as you would the chicken. Don't give up.
Just put the food down & make sure he knows where it is. A dog will not starve itself if there is food available. Give him time to adjust to a new environment, new smells, new sounds, new sights. Just leave him alone to investigate his new environment. It may take a few days but he will not starve himself if he has food available.
Some people feed their dogs table scraps. Look at the teeth. If the teeth are in terrible shape with bad smell then that is what happened. You need to let a vet clean up the teeth then start the dog on canned dog food. Gradually switch over to dry dog food.