What kinds of human food is okay to give dogs? Our dog won't eat dog food!?

Question

My 7 month old Sheltie puppy is too skinny because she only will eat a bit of dog food. We have experimented with different brands both hard and soft. She is in perfect health but is too skinny. She will eat any human food. She got spoiled because we give her tiny pieces of hot dogs or Cheerios as rewards for training. My bf also gave her table scraps which he now stopped. She basically found out that people food is much better than dog food. Is there anything I can mix in with her soft food (we give her Science Diet puppy)? I was thinking cheese or ground beef. It has to be something that really blends in well with the food so she can't just pick it out. I know she needs to eat some dog food for nutrional reasons especially since she's a growing puppy. Any other suggestions? She is super finicky.

Answer 1

Your dog has a very good reason for not wanting to eat her food. Science Diet is not a high quality food. Its full of corn, other fillers, by-products, dyes, and other nasties, including cancer causing preservatives.

You've also taught your puppy that if she hold out long enough she'll get something new by switching foods frequently.

You've got a couple of options. Find a high quality dog food and stick with it. Put her bowl down for meals times, and take it away after 20 mins whether she eats or not. No treats or anything between meals. Put the food down at the next meal time and again take it away after 20 mins. She will learn that she better eat what she is offered when it is offered or she'll be hungry for a few hours. A healthy dog won't starve itself. Keep in mind that at this age she be fed a minimum of 2 meals per day, you can also go with 3 meals a day.

The next option which I find even better than high quality dog food, is a raw diet. This diet can work wonders. I've had dogs that just would not thrive on kibble, no matter the quality. For example one could eat all day long, and still look like we never fed her. After switching to raw she was able to maintain a healthy weight. It has also improved my dogs health, their coats, teeth, and there is less 'dog mess' as well.

Here is some information on finding highing quality foods, and raw diets.

Nothing you find at a grocery store is going to be a good food. High quality foods can be found at large pet store chains, or online. A couple of foods I like are Nutro Natural, Innova, and Cannidae.

There are other high quality dog foods. Here's how to spot them:

A high quality food will have little or no fillers such as corn, wheat or soy. These aren't very digestable for dogs, and are common food related allergens. Since you were seeing corn meal in the first few ingredients, those are not high quality foods. Foods list ingredients by content, with the ingredient it contains most of at the top.

A high quality food will not contain BHT, BHA or Ethoxyquin, these are all chemical preservatives that have been linked to cancer.

A high quality food will not contain by-products of any kind. Meat meals are ok as long as the source of the meat is listed, such as Chicken Meal.

A high quality diet should have meat as at least the first ingredient., and be made from human grade ingredients. Foods that don't use human grade ingredients often get their ingredients from less than desirable sources, such as meat from animals that were diseased, or euthanized.

There is another diet option other than dog food. Some people choose to feed a raw diet. This involves feeding the dog raw meaty bones and organ meat. However it is not as simple as throwing a couple chicken bones in a bowl everyday. If you wish to feed this type of diet, do lots and lots of research first. Switching to this diet without knowing what your doing can lead to nutritional problems for your dog. I'll give you some links as a starting point in research if you are interested in this type of diet.

http://www.willowglen.com/barf.htm

http://www.bestfrisbeedogs.com/diets.html

http://www.rawlearning.com/rawfaq.html

http://www.rawfed.com/myths/index.html

http://www.rawdogranch.com

What's Really In Pet Food
http://www.api4animals.org/facts?p=359&more=1cat=286

Answer 2

There is quite a list of foods known to be toxic to dogs, but as you don't have one I won't bother giving the web addy. As long as you don't use anything on that list, human food is fine, however you need to know the nutritional requirement of the specific dog you are feeding and adhere to it so the dog will be healthy. Feeding table scraps will not do your dog any harm, but it isn't a healthy way to raise a dog either. The web is full of many excellent home-cooked diets that are specifically written with the correct nutrition, so you would need to do some studying to get it right. I do not recommend a first time dog owner feeding anything other than manufactured dog food of a high quality due to the lack of knowledge about correct nutrition requirements.

Answer 3

Variation is not bad for dogs. Do wolves eat the same thing every day? Do you? You just need to make sure that they're getting all nutrients they need. Puppies need more protein than adults do, but they need Calcium too to prevent problems.

Also RAW meats and veggies (not all veggies are okay for dogs) are perfectly fine to give your dogs.

I like to vary Wysong with raw meat, veggies, eggs and oils. Vets are not the best sources for nutrition. I would definitely switch to a better quality food. There are lots to choose from. You want meat as the #1 ingredient (not meal or by-products) and most people will say stay away from corn, though it can be debated that it's okay as long as it isn't one of the top ingredients.

A premium food will cost more, but you won't feed as much so the cost will even out.

Answer 4

Human food is the reason that she will not eat dog food. Human food across the board, if the dog is otherwise healthy, is not good. As you mentioned you are feeding a great quality food and the key is to leave it out and give her NOTHING eles. Dogs by nature will not starve themselves and without the diversion of people food will eventually eat the dog food. It may take a day or two but when she gets hungry she WILL eat. Check with your vet before feeding a diet of people food as sometimes BOILED chicken and or humburger mixed with rice is recommended;however, this is a medically provided diet usually for heart patients. This diet will not provide all of the nutrients that a growing pup needs. Stay away from milk products (cheese), fatty beef and most importatly, pork of any kind. Pork and fatty beef can cause a SERIOUS illness call pancreatitus. This is very expensive to treat and often times can be fatal. Good luck.

Answer 5

Your dog has trained you both very well.
If she holds out long enough something better will come and it does.
You can fix this problem pick a good high quality food that you want to feed her either dry or canned what ever.
Put the food down for 20 minutes pick up anything left over and do not give her ANYTHING until the next feeding time. Repeat this process until she eats the dog food.
It is hard but it wirks very very well. It depends on the owners to be tough and if you cave in a feed her something else you loose she wins and you will have to start all over.

Answer 6

Try mashed potato, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower etc. If you mix these in with tinned dog food she should eat it. Alternatively you could try dry dog food with gravy. Oily fish such as mackerel, sardines etc are good for her, so you could try her with those too. I worked in a pet shop for a few years and found that if people did have fussy dogs I recommended a small bite complete food such as 'red mills star'. If this is mixed with any of the above she should eat it and then you can slowly wean her off human food. Too much dairy is not good for dogs but a small bit occasionally is a much loved treat. While training give small pieces of dry food as a reward instead of any human food. I hope this helps.

Answer 7

First of all you are feeding the wrong food. The food promoted by the vet that makes people think it is the best thing out there because the vet recommends it is totally crap i would not want to eat it either if i was a dog. it is full of fillers and junk that are not good for your dog. Vets are pet doctors NOT nutritionists......
A better all natural quality puppy food is best with all natural ingrediants and not the crap you buy at the grocery store. Innova, canidae, wellness, solid gold, california natural is a few really good nutritional dog foods and puppy foods.

making a gravy and putting into the pups food would probably make it more tasty for it. Mix with a bit of water to soften it some with the gravy also. This has always worked for me.
If you want to feed all meat and natural ingrediants research the barf diet. This is what i feed my dogs.............

Answer 8

I was told that is okay for dogs to have ground beef with rice and mix that with a little of dog food. People food all the time is bad for a dog's health.

Answer 9

get chicken broth and warm it up. Pour it over the hard food and mix it up pretty good. The broth will give the dog food a "human" flavor and will make the hard food a bit softer. I have a 55 pound Pitt Bull and the same thing happened to her. This is what we did and it really works. We still spoil her some with human food but she mainly eats dog food with the added flavoring.

You can also get the little packs of beef flavoring and mix up a quart of it and just heat some at meal time. I also use the flavor packets in oodles of noodles sometimes.

Hope this helps.

Answer 10

I vannot believe some of the things I read here. Give the dog mashed potatoes? Make her a broth? Here is the simple answer to all your problems as far as her eating. Put down the food for 15 minutes, and by that I mean THE DOG FOOD, nothing else in it, no soft food, no people food. Leave it down for 15 minutes, if she is eating during that time leave her alone, if she is picking at it, pick it up, and if she is not eating also pick it up. The food goes away till the next day when it is presented again at the same time and in the same fashion. She eats, fine, she does not again the same ritual. I ASSURE YOU THAT SHE WILL EAT WHEN SHE REALIZES THAT THIS IS THE ONLY FOOD SHE WILL EVER GET.
Do not prolong her misery by giving in to her and her demands and do not feel bad if she does not eat. She will when she is hungry enough.