How To Coax Your Finicky Dog To Eat His Kibbles? – 1

Don’t we just love it when our dogs would eat whatever is presented to them? In a perfect world, yes; but reality is that only a small fiction of these dogs would eat plain kibbles until their last meal.

There are many possible reasons why some dogs are finicky eaters while others aren’t. Lack of palatability, undesirable feeding methods, and too many options and varieties of foods given; these are some of the common causes. Instead of dwelling of the causes and hate yourself for creating them, it’s best to tackle this behavior with effective tips that you can easily implement.

I could just give you straight my secret ammunition in coaxing your finicky dog to eat his kibbles but I won’t do you great service if I don’t share the principles behind the secrets. Metaphorically, it’s like giving you a bicycle with tires that are almost flat. You will, no doubt, reach the destination but how many destinations can that vehicle take you is very much in question.

It’s almost three years since I last wrote on this topic: How To Deal With Dogs Who Are Finicky Eaters?, and I thought it’s a good time to revise a couple points and add a few more tips and requirements. For the completeness of this subject, I divided them into 3 sections/posts: basic requirements, presentation and preparation, and action (this is where my secret ammunition revealed). So bear with me, folks.

Basic Requirements For Eliminating Your Dog’s Finicky Eating Behavior

High Quality Premium Dog Food: I can’t stress enough the importance and benefits of feeding our companion dogs high quality dog food. When we feed our dogs less quality food or food that isn’t agreeable to his stomach, dogs will display all those finicky eating behaviors.

• Quality Ingredients: Ever since the massive dog food recall in 2007, many dog food manufacturers have taken proactive steps to ensure the ingredients used are closely monitored. With this in mind, we still have to be selective given the wide range of food available. I’m not going into details on how to select premium dog food, but the primary rules are 1) Two meat listed in the first two ingredients. 2) Crude proteins should be no less than 22%. Some examples can be found in these brands: Taste of the Wild, Sigma, and Wysong (will be reviewing their product line soon Wysong Introductory Dog Pack reviewed , just received their complimentary Introductory package yesterday) are ones that I highly recommend.
• Stick Too Long: Another common overlook is owners sticking to one brand for way too long (two to five years); and if they do change, they change only the flavor but not the brand. Although I said this before, variety is not as crucial to your dog as it may seem to you, nevertheless, sticking to one brand for years (even if it’s the best of the best dog food in world) will only deprive your dog from many other nutritional values which other brands can offer that the current one lacks.
• Keep Them Fresh: Without question, it’s cheaper when you buy in bigger bulk, but if your dog is not going finish the kibbles within a month then it’s not at all economical just by saving the few bucks because the kibbles already lack freshness. Not forgetting all dog food do travel quite a bit between states or countries, container to truck, and warehouse to retails before the bag of kibbles arrived at your door step. The food is already exposed to various temperatures hence it would be best to buy just enough to feed your dog for three to four weeks.
• Rotate: My philosophy is to rotate two different brands (from different manufacturing plant), not at the same time but one after the other. Should I need to introduce a third brand, one of the current would have to be replaced. You may be quite skeptical on this approach which it’s very understandable because not many owners practice this. I shall leave this option open to you but heed the first three suggestions.

5/8 Filled: One of the best health advices I got during my 6-month stay in Japan, if not thus far, was from an elderly lady. “Always leave 3/8 of the stomach empty after every meal.” She then went on to add, “This will keep your mind alert, less taxing on your digestive tract, and always ready to appreciate your next meal.” I think she missed out two important benefits, trim and longevity! Obaasan died at age 98 at almost the same weight she had during her prime years. Pardon for the tangent.

• Longevity and Trim: Two decades later, I still heed her advice, not just for myself but also use this cardinal rule to feed my dogs—past and present ones. Maybe this is one of the reasons why all my dogs are always at the right weight and live pass their average life span.
• Change of Lifestyle: Unlike wild dogs, our domestic dogs never have to hunt and their meals are always presented in timely manner, so why the need to feed them to the brim like there’s no certainty when their next kill would be.
• Breaking the Rule: This cardinal rule isn’t just for finicky dogs but applicable to all domesticated dogs. The only time you can break this rule is when your dog is in some sort of strenuous activities (i.e. agility class, flyball). Even so, you only need to fill 7/8 of the stomach, a meal before and a meal after the activity.

Skipping A Meal: I’m neutral on the concept of fasting for dogs. I don’t conform to the idea whether it must be done religiously or not at all, to do so will only contradict my points above. Having said, I think it’s a good idea to fast once in awhile (i.e. fortnightly) during warmer months and after a great feast (e.g. dog’s birthday party, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day). The health benefit behind this concept is to give the digestive system a break.

Unlike humans, all healthy dogs can cope very well when fasting without much fuss or any withdrawal syndrome. If your dog is under the weather or ate irregular small amount for past few meals, do not implement this. Otherwise, your dog might vomit yellow foamy liquid just before his next meal is served. There’s no need to be overly concern, it’s the digestive fluid. Should this happen, continue as per normal using the 5/8 filled rule. One common mistake owners make is feeding the dog more than usual as a way of compensation. Just like insufficient amount of sleep, you can’t compensate what was lost during the week. Doing so will only mess up your sleeping pattern and create undesirable behaviors or illness. In addition, you are also making your dog’s digestive system work much harder when you feed more than normal.

To keep my promise, I won’t rehash all the points written in the previous article. If you haven’t read it yet, please do so as there are 9 more tips on eliminating your dog’s finicky behaviors.

Next posts, I will be giving you more tips on how to prepare, present, and incorporate meat into your dog’s kibbles.