# RAW diet: dog refusing to eat



## nainai0585 (Jan 30, 2010)

On Thursday of this past week, I switched my dog cold tukey to the RAW diet. She had not had any kibble since Wednesday at around 8pm, and I waiting until Thursday evening to feed her. She ate all her chicken with gusto and ate an entire chicken leg without it needing to be cut up into smaller pieces (she's a JRT). Since then she has been turning her nose up to the diet and has refused to eat. I have put the bowl down for only 15-20 minute time periods, once in the mid morning, the next in the early evening. She has recieve no other treats or food items and we have been really excercising her, hoping to enhance her hunger.
I read online today (Saturday) about adding luke warm water to the meat to give it a more room like temp. She appeared interested but didn't take a bite (sniffing and drinking some of the water). I finally broke down and hand fed her 3-4 pieces of chicken meat, she did turn up her nose to the chicken with bone, but with coaxing did eat 1 piece. She is not eating enough though (I pre-weighed all of her food and she's recieving 210 grams of meat, meat with bone, and a few pieces of organs. She didn't touch the entire chicken leg, and the majority of the meat with bones) and she is already skinny at 12 lbs. 

My question is this, should I wait it out? I know she won't starve herself, but it had already been over 48 hrs before I broke down and added the water and hand fed. I don't want to keep altering her food and will not hand feed her again, but what other options are there as I refuse to go back to the kibble.

Any help is greatly appreciated.


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## Bordermom (Apr 28, 2010)

Are you just feeding chicken?

If so, I would try some other meats, to see if she likes them better. Green tripe, if you can get some, is AWESOME for getting picky dogs to eat and not many will turn it down (just to warn you, it does stink. a lot. Really stinky stuff). Chicken may not 'agree' with her or she may be allergic to it on some level. I know lots of people, including myself, who can't stand the taste of milk and oddly enough also get sick from it. I didn't get sick from drinking milk for years but couldn't handle the taste (I think I would rather drink raw eggs than milk!). A strong second is liver, some slices of liver might be good enough to convince her to eat.

Two days is not a long time, so I wouldn't panic. You can try lightly searing the outside of some meat chunks, adding soy sauce or grated cheese to it, garlic, or if you have any kibble left pound it into powder and sprinkle it on to get her started. I wouldn't, but I'm 'mean' 

Keep in mind she may be 'detoxing' where her body is craving the stuff in the kibble that she's used to, so she may not feel great just yet too. If you drink more than a small cup of coffee each day, go totally caffine free and see how hot you feel after a day or so if you can make it that long. Give her time, offer lots of water, some broth if you want to make it (I wouldn't do canned broth but you can simmer some mean and bones with some veggies and offer it) and see how she does in a few days.

Just remember that the more 'fussing' you do now, the more 'fussing' she may expect long term. 

Lana


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## pamperedpups (Dec 7, 2006)

That's a long time without food IMO. Although a healthy dog won't starve itself, a dog may not eat long enough to cause some serious problems. I would feed the dog something bland that she will like (ex. boiled deboned chicken and rice) and work on introducing raw a bit more slowly, or look into home cooking healthy meals for her.


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## Michiyo-Fir (Jul 25, 2009)

That is exactly what happened with my dog and that's the reason we can't have raw in this house. She didn't eat for almost 3 days because I was giving her only chicken every meal. If I added new meat, she would eat it the first 2-3 days and then turn her nose up at it as well. She got no treats at all. After about a week of fighting with her I just switched her back to kibble since I can't exactly leave raw chicken lying around the house for her to eat when she's ready...

Is your dog a picky eater? Mine is super picky. Honestly, for some dogs kibble just works better. Is there any particular reason you don't want your dog on kibble?

You can try ground chicken. The more you try to fuss and entice her, the pickier she will become. You might just want to stick it out or this diet just might not work for you.


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## nainai0585 (Jan 30, 2010)

Do you think I may be giving her too much food at 210 grams? 2% of her body weight is 109 (or so) grams, should that be all she's getting for an entire day, or just for 1 meal? Could this be part of a behavioural thing with her (not just the texture or taste thing)? When she was being fed kibble, it would take her almost 2 days to finish off only 1 cup of food, and we where leaving it out for her to free feed herself.
The reason for switching to RAW and taking her off kibble, was that she was on the RAW diet several months before and I needed to switch her back to kibble b/c I could no longer handle being around and handling the meat (morning sickness). Since switching her to kibble, her coat is rough, her teeth already began to build a lot of plaque, and she smelled AWFUL, her energy level had also diminished and she wasn't as "perky" as she was when she was on the RAW diet.
Now she absolutely LOVES ground beef and goes bonkers for it, would it be alright to ground up the RAW chicken with the bones, and mixing in ground beef with it too? I can get her bones into her another way (such as offering recreational raw bones to her to chew on throughout the day), so would this be a better option until she is better able to handle it?


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## MagicRe (Jan 8, 2010)

nainai0585 said:


> On Thursday of this past week, I switched my dog cold tukey to the RAW diet. She had not had any kibble since Wednesday at around 8pm, and I waiting until Thursday evening to feed her. She ate all her chicken with gusto and ate an entire chicken leg without it needing to be cut up into smaller pieces (she's a JRT). Since then she has been turning her nose up to the diet and has refused to eat. I have put the bowl down for only 15-20 minute time periods, once in the mid morning, the next in the early evening. She has recieve no other treats or food items and we have been really excercising her, hoping to enhance her hunger.
> I read online today (Saturday) about adding luke warm water to the meat to give it a more room like temp. She appeared interested but didn't take a bite (sniffing and drinking some of the water). I finally broke down and hand fed her 3-4 pieces of chicken meat, she did turn up her nose to the chicken with bone, but with coaxing did eat 1 piece. She is not eating enough though (I pre-weighed all of her food and she's recieving 210 grams of meat, meat with bone, and a few pieces of organs. She didn't touch the entire chicken leg, and the majority of the meat with bones) and she is already skinny at 12 lbs.
> 
> My question is this, should I wait it out? I know she won't starve herself, but it had already been over 48 hrs before I broke down and added the water and hand fed. I don't want to keep altering her food and will not hand feed her again, but what other options are there as I refuse to go back to the kibble.
> ...


i think so much of this food thing with dogs depends entirely on you and what you want to commit to.

i have read that chicken is the source to start with....i've read it on many forums, groups and books (dr. tom lonsdale --- and articles by lew olson and shirle rogers)...

but...i've also read that organs should probably wait for a few months...the smell might be off putting to your dog....

i would recommend not cutting the meat up...but start with chicken backs and chicken leg quarters....

depending on the consistency of the poop, that would decide you on whether or not to remove the skin and excess fat....

dogs are not humans...they won't starve unless you contribute to their 'pickiness'....and as long as they have water to drink....dogs can go for a week without eating....i'm the one who has trouble with that....

at the end of the day, you have to decide if you can do this....it's a true pain in the neck in the beginning....for those of us who don't have the dogs who transition easily...

and it may well be the chicken your dog doesn't like...try a turkey neck and see how that goes....if you're feeding 210 grams, that's approximately 7.5 oz, yes? a nice juicy turkey neck might be just the thing....and don't cut it up.

do what you're doing. put it down on a towel or in a bowl and give your dog up to 30 minutes...and then try again in a few hours...my older dog had no idea what to do with raw food, so all she would do the first week is circle it and not touch it, unless i held it for her...

i stopped that after the second day...and we went round and round until she realised that was her food.

also, they can feel our tension and anxiety....so i had to learn to step back and pretend to read a book...and let her do her thing...


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## nainai0585 (Jan 30, 2010)

MagicRe said:


> i think so much of this food thing with dogs depends entirely on you and what you want to commit to.
> 
> i have read that chicken is the source to start with....i've read it on many forums, groups and books (dr. tom lonsdale --- and articles by lew olson and shirle rogers)...
> 
> ...


I do step away from her when she is eating, and since its warmer outside, I have been feeding her outside. I do "hide" where she can't see me while she is outside, and I can clearly see her when I'm inside. 

could you possibly go into more details with your dog who would only circle his meal, I'd really like to know the steps you took into helping him realize its his meal.

Thanks again to everyone!


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## Kathyy (Jun 15, 2008)

I completely understand not wanting to feed kibble. What about a slower transition by cooking for her first? Right now stew the chicken, bone it, sprinkle a little powdered egg shell [only 1/2 tsp per pound of meat] on for calcium and add 25% well cooked veggies for bowel comfort.

She may be a smart one who doesn't want to eat food that gives her a tummy ache. Good as it is for them it still is quite the shock to the system to go from kibble to raw. I also think less is more. 4% might be the amount she will need but start with 2% her body weight.

If cooked food works then you can start chopping raw chicken and putting it with the veggies and ground egg shell. The cartilage cap on the leg long bones is a huge favorite around here, could try breaking it out and offering it as a treat to get some chomping going on then leaving a lot of meat on it then offering the whole bit. The back has the tasty kidney tucked in. Try using the raw heart and gizzards as treats.

Max started pretty much this way for MY comfort. I am sure it just prolonged the icky poo situation but he never refused food and there were no actual urgent gotta get outside NOW moments.


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## MagicRe (Jan 8, 2010)

ah, my malia....she's a corgi mix of Lord knows what....and doesn't care for change. 

we went from kibble to cooked because she had giardia. this is a ten year old dog who should not have gotten giardia, so her stools were just awful...especially while she was on the antibiotics....and she had to get three rounds of antibiotic treatment....

keep in mind, she is ten years old and was raised on kibble. she was suspicious of MY cooking, if that can be believed....and she was getting cooked hamburger/bison/turkey/chicken + brown rice + quinoa + broccoli/cauliflower/yellow and orange carrots --- all nicely cuisinarted..and she turned her nose up at that.

i have been researching raw now for about a year and i finally decided, once she got better....to switch to raw.

so we fasted both dogs for a day and then started......we didn't do it very well....she had horrid horrid gas and explosive diarrhea....we stopped after a week......

i then spoke to a raw feeder friend of mine online and told him the problem...that malia has always been hard with change...what was odd was that bubba the food driven pug had the same diarrhea and gas....

so this is what he advised me to do.

take chicken backs and clean them...get the organs off of them and skin them and any excess fat....feed her 10 ounces which is a little less than 2% of her body weight....a little bit of underfeeding is okay for a while...it's balance over time, not balance for every meal (but that is an individual's preference)

i spread a huge towel in the kitchen....which you don't have to do..

made them both sit, because i believe in working for food...and then i put their food down.

for the first two weeks....for breakfast, malia got a wild alaskan salmon cap, which she eats like candy....and the a chicken back.

bubba got a half of a chicken back as he is half of her size.

he would ravage his food....he'd regurgitate, eat it again, regurgitate, eat it again...dance the pug dance....he'd need a bath after every meal....he was disgusting but he loved it from the start. of course, you could feed him just about anything...although he is more enthusiastic about this food than anything i have ever fed him.

but i digress.

malia, on the other hand, would watch bubba eat...and she'd just sit there and eye him, then look at this thing on the floor and look away. she'd leave the room...then come back....and do it maybe three times.....she'd lick whatever was on the floor...then she'd back off....

it took about a week before she figured out that no one was going to help her because i stopped.....i felt as if i were enabling her....i know dogs won't starve....she did go two days without eating.....and i would have let her go up to five.....she drank...she looked fine....but she'd never known anything but kibble or home cooked in all of her life...

now she eats very methodically...still hasn't learned how to use her paws...but it's only been going on four weeks....so i really think she is coming along. there's so much adjusting they and i have to do with raw.

the biggest difference is her enthusiasm....she now looks forward to meal time and i really think it's because we did everything we could to stay away from any transitional distress in their stools and we're taking it very slowly.

they get nothing cooked anymore nor do they get treats.....we'll reasess once the transition is over.


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## Kathyy (Jun 15, 2008)

Max has been raw fed for over two years and just now will put his feet on his food. Part of that is the food. He didn't need to do it with easy chicken - chomp a few times and down the hatch is all that takes. I can now trust him with hard venison bone and he rips the meat off them using his feet to anchor it.

Wow MagicRe, you are very persistant! That is a long transition. A lot of people underestimate the extreme difference in residue between raw and kibble and it can be difficult for a dog's gut to change. A skinned back would be a good amount of fat, about 18%. I will have to remember this, good idea. Sort of worried about all that bone though.


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## MagicRe (Jan 8, 2010)

Kathyy said:


> Max has been raw fed for over two years and just now will put his feet on his food. Part of that is the food. He didn't need to do it with easy chicken - chomp a few times and down the hatch is all that takes. I can now trust him with hard venison bone and he rips the meat off them using his feet to anchor it.
> 
> Wow MagicRe, you are very persistant! That is a long transition. A lot of people underestimate the extreme difference in residue between raw and kibble and it can be difficult for a dog's gut to change. A skinned back would be a good amount of fat, about 18%. I will have to remember this, good idea. Sort of worried about all that bone though.


we are determined...reason being is we think it's the best chance we have with teeth health and body health for both dogs....while it has been a challenge, we are now getting to the hump and pretty soon, we'll be over it and they will be eating all kinds of raw goodies...like llama...which we have ordered


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