Help, Raw Diet for a Stubborn Dog

[Saredances]

I recently, about 2 months ago, put my toy poodle on a raw diet. He was doing great up until the last two weeks or so, he now won't eat anything but ground beef. I can't get him to eat any other type of meat, he won't eat the meat off of a drumstick or eat the bone, and I can't get him to eat any organ meat. He used to love having a little bit of apple as a snack and I can't get him to eat that anymore either! I have tried to be stern and give him the impression that what I put in his dish is what he gets, but he will go all day without eating and the next day until I break down and give him ground beef. Today I put out some cut up apple, ground beef mixed with pureed organ meat (just to see if I could get him to eat the organ meat that way), chicken, and his old kibble. . .he's choosing to eat the kibble. I don't want to feed him processed dog kibble, what should I do? Why is he turning down meat!!??

[ramama]

Looking for answers too. My dog is on a new raw diet and absolutely won't eat organ meat and very strongly protests anything other than drumsticks.

[Arduinna]

Stop feeding him kibble and ground beef. He needs raw meaty bones. The bones are important. Basically he is spoiled right now.

[Saredances]

He won't eat the bones, and actually never would. Also I did mention I give him food other than the ground beef and will not give him anything else for over a days time, thinking if he has no other choice he will eat it and I still have no luck. I put down a bit of kibble (the first time since starting this new diet) because he refuses to eat anything else and he just picked at it a bit. The reason I posted this on here was for advice on how to get him to eat the food he needs.

[Ola_]

What other foods have you tried, besides the ground beef and chicken drumsticks? How much are you giving him and how much does he weigh? How are his teeth?

Refusing organs is not at all unusual in new-to-raw dogs, especially liver and kidney. I normally recommend to sear the meat a little bit (literally a few seconds in a hot frying pan). You can also try sprinkling it with a bit of garlic powder or parmesan cheese. For my dogs I did both the garlic and the searing. The idea is to sear it less the following times until you are offering it raw. Another option is to give it frozen or mostly frozen - the texture seems not to bother them as much then. I did this for a few times after the initial sear/garlic trick. Since then my dogs have been just gobbling it up without issues.

[Saredances]

Ola, thank you. I will try the searing and freezing with the organ meats and see how he does with that. I've given him chicken, tuna, salmon, sardines, beef, drumsticks, liver, carrots, and apple. I give him about a cup of meat three times a day and apples, or carrots in between his meals. He is about 9lbs. Last time I had him weighed, he was barely over ten, but since he has been refusing food I can see him losing weight and thinning out quite fast which worries me. His teeth look good, white and pink gums, his breath isn't bad either.

[daisymama12]

I am only in the research part of raw-feeding, but my understanding is that dogs need 2 to 3% of their body weight in raw food.

My 50 lb dog would eat 1 lb of raw food a day (at 2%). So I think you are offering your 9 lb dog way more than he could eat a day, at 1 cup x 3 a day.

But that still doesn't answer the question about why he isn't eating at all - or barely at all. Maybe he needs to go to the vet to find out why he was doing great, to now, with such a decreased appetite.
Hope he is feeling better soon!

[Saredances]

yeah when he was eating he would eat a whole cup and I wanted him to put on some weight, he's quite bony, and at only 1 1/2 years he's extremely active. I figured once he wasn't so bony I'd cut back a bit, but he decided to cut back all the way. I gave him some sweet potato today uncooked and he gnawed on that like he would a bone and seemed very pleased with it while the meat is still sitting in his dish. I kind of feel like he is bored with his food choices, I try to keep it varied to prevent that though.

[Ola_]

Hmm, a cup of meat - any idea how much that weighs? I know for my 35 lb dog she only gets about 3/4 of a lb or so per day. So if we're talking chicken that might be a chicken leg quarter (thigh and drumstick attached). Based on this 3 cups of meat for a 10 lb dog sounds like too much to me.

I feel your frustration, I have one dog that "self-regulates" his food intake. If he thinks I've fed him too much over the last few days, he'll just not eat his food - actually he did this just yesterday. He is lean but well muscled and I figure as long as he's eating healthy food I'll let him choose what to eat. Your guy will likely fill out more as he matures. Is he neutered?

Also, try other proteins. The dog I described above will not eat any fish unless he's starving (that's just him though, YMMV!). Try some pork, lamb, other cuts of beef, turkey. If you can find quails or cornish hens for a reasonable price those will be nice and small for him, and the bones may be softer.

[Saredances]

Thanks for all your advice. I have very little idea of how much a lb weighs. I never count calories or weigh food myself, I just eat healthy and listen to my body, and I've treated my dogs the same way leaving food out for them all day long, they eat as much as they want leave what they don't want and may come back to it later. Ola, he is not neutered. Reading what you said about your dog cutting back made me think if I might be overwhelming him with the food choices/amount. I have just always wanted to make sure he has food to eat if he wants, but maybe having food out for him all the time is the problem?

[Ola_]

Yeah, you don't need to weigh his food. But when you buy it the package/label probably says how much is in there. You can just use that to guesstimate how much to feed him. Assuming he should weigh about 10 lbs, he should eat probably around a quarter of a pound per day (I'm talking meat/bone/organs, don't count any veggies in that).

The fact that he's not neutered may mean that he's burning extra calories too. I'm not sure if you meant that you're leaving raw food out during the day but I wouldn't do that. I'd give him 15 minutes to decide if he wants to eat or not, and then pick it up and pop it back in the fridge. If it sits out the bacteria will grow and he may like it even less (some dogs prefer their meat "aged" but others won't go for stuff that's not fresh).