Secrets To  Preparing Kibble-Meals for Finicky Dogs

I prepare the meals slightly differently. My secret is in the coat; specifically, the meat that coats the kibbles. It’s not that difficult as you think just a little more effort, that’s all. As you will notice in my recipes below, most call for some sort of liquid—be it soup, sauce, or paste.

Another secret I use is that I steam the meat-coated kibbles lightly. This allows the paste, soup, or sauce to work its way into the kibbles. To lightly steam the dish is to pre-steam the pot/wok/streamer, turn off the stove/streamer, and then put in the dish for a minute or 90 seconds. For some kibbles that are as hard as pebbles, you might want to leave it a longer in the streamer. To know if you’ve got the right texture for the streamed kibbles is to test it using your index finger and thumb. You should be able to make a slight indentation; and if you could easily squash them, it’s too soft. Most dogs hate mushy kibbles! Give it a final stir; add in supplement, if any, before you serve.

• Added Tip For Smart Super Finicky Dogs: In most cases, the two secrets are more than enough to trick you dog into eating his kibbles, however, there may come a time when you need to upgrade your scheming skill. If it’s called for, prepare as per suggested, garnish few shredded meat over the meat-coated kibbles, leave some shredded meat behind just in case your dog didn’t finish all the kibbles. If he does finish, good on him then reward him the remaining shredded meat for his good behavior.

How Should the Meat Be Shredded?

Most kibbles for small dogs are usually no bigger than a dime. In order to get the kibbles evenly coated, I shred it finely using a spoon to chop them up or manually shred them into thinly pieces.

As for the toppings, be more generous with the size. Microscopic pieces will be less appealing to your dog.

Please be warned, there is no turning back when these tips are implemented. Once your dog tasted real meat, getting to eat his plain kibbles is practically impossible. The only option is to turn to BARF diet or home cooked meals.

Ways Of Cooking for For Finicky Eaters

Dogs love food with piquant flavor, the more piquant it is, the better it works up your dog’s appetite. Some food maybe fetid to us but to dogs it’s a heavenly scent. So work up a strong piquant meal whenever you can.

Avoid Stew: I’m don’t fancy cooking stew for my dogs. Stew is meant to have curvy, and I don’t like kibbles soaking in it making them very soggy; unless you have a senior dog with no teeth otherwise avoid stew. It’s also a messy meal especially when you have dog with fairly long mustache. Like soup, the most nutritious values lies in the sauce, and it’s waste to throw away the excess curvy.

Chicken: You can have it boiled or stir-fried or grilled. Boiled will be the most easiest and convenient method.

• Boiled Chicken: The amount of water should be just enough to boil the chicken and vegetable (i.e. carrot, pumpkin, potato) with. If there is excess soup left, don’t throw it away as it can be used for the next cooking. If your dog likes it as it is, don’t change; if not, add a tiny pinch of sea salt to the soup (salt stimulate appetite).
• Stir-fried Chicken: It can be a little challenging to work out a decent sauce or paste for the stir-fried chicken if you have no broth to cook it with. I usually cook stir-fry chicken if I’m certain I have leftover chicken soup or sauce.
• Steamed Chicken: It’s not the most appealing dish to dogs, especially very finicky dogs. I rarely cook steamed chicken unless I incorporate it with Chinese herbs to bring the aroma or I need some tonic boost.
• Roasted Chicken: Dog loves roasted chicken because it’s juicy and tender, but it’s very unhealthy to eat it on a daily basis. Of course, you can treat your dogs on certain occasions. Just make sure you don’t coat the chicken with much oil or butter just as you would do for grilled chicken.

Fish: Both my dogs and I love fish. We could have it in every meal and never get sick of eating. Since there are so many types of fish available and many ways of preparing them, it’s rarely a problem to cook up delicious fish dish for your dog. Most dogs love fish because of its smell, all the more it’s easier to cook. Most of times I use sea bass, dory, pomfret (silver and black), sardine, eel, mackerel, red snapper, tuna, anchovy, and some other local fish. If my schedule is tight (which usually the case) or I’m too tired, I serve my dogs steamed sea bass or silver pomfret. The oil that used to steam the fish with makes the best “sauce” to coat the kibbles. But do so sparingly, you don’t want your dog consuming too much fats.

For sardine and tuna, I usually buy them in can (in water or oil) as backups. Anchovies are best eaten when they are deep-fried, however, they don’t coat the kibbles well. Or you can add anchovies (fried or raw) into the vegetable soup.

Beef: Dogs love beef, however, I don’t cook beef much mainly due to environmental factors. I would suggest use beef as your backup meat or special occasion.

Pork: This is one ingredient that you will never find in any dog food and yet many owners would occasionally give bits and pieces of pork to their dogs; me too. The one important thing is that you must thoroughly cook the meat (however way it is cooked) before giving it to your dog otherwise you can place them at greater risk for trichinosis. Please, no barbecue sauce over the pork chop! Pork without any spice or herbs is already very tasty for your dog; but if you want to enhance the flavor use a good premium cooking oil.

Liver: Most commonly used is pig liver because it’s one of the “tastiest” liver dogs love. The best way to cook pig liver is to stir-fry them as it emits the most pungent aroma. Slice it thinly, add some finely chopped garlic prior cooking the liver, and some water between stirs; and you have the best dog food in the world. What you want is to work a slight paste not gravy or sauce as this will retain the strong aroma you dog love. Make sure they are well-cooked but still remain tender.

Broccoli and Cauliflower: They are best eaten when stir-fry. My dogs love broccoli because of its crunchy feel and I believe your dog will love them too.

Carrot and Sweet Potato: Dogs have sweet tooth and most love carrots especially if they’re cooked as part of the soup or stew.

Pumpkin: Since pumpkin are easily cooked, don’t cut them too small when use in soup. Try stir-fry them with chicken, it makes a very delicious meal. Also add them in just a few minutes before everything else in the soup is done.

Potato: However you cook the potato avoid mash potato, very messy job after eating; mostly likely you have to do a thoroughly teeth brushing for your dog.

Special Note: If your dog has hypothyroidism, it’s best to avoid feeding him broccoli, cauliflower, and sweet potato. It’s been known that consuming goitrogenic foods can cause the enlargement of the thyroid gland in human. No study has been done on dogs yet, but never hurts to be too conscientious.

I have many more recipes to entice your dog into eating his kibbles but these tips are more than enough to last a very long while, if not a lifetime. If you need more inspirations, check out my dog food recipes and dog treat recipes categories.

In my honest opinion, I believe every owner is capable of coming up creative ways to prepare his/her dog’s meals given more practice. And who knows, you may come up with your own concoction that is so powerful and in return I have to ask you to share your secret ammunition.

Finally, I would like to leave you this note which my mom once shared, “What makes a great chief great isn’t so much on his culinary skills but also his attention to details and love.” Although we may not be eating every dish we cook for our dogs, it doesn’t mean we should cook substandard meals for them. Cook it just like you would cook to impress your in-laws or dates. When we cook it with love and details, we replace worries (i.e. my dog might not eat this) with absolute certainty that our dogs will enjoy and finish their meal.

Series Posts on Finicky Dogs:

• How To Deal With Dogs Who Are Finicky Eaters?
• How To Coax Your Finicky Dog To Eat His Kibbles? – 1
• How To Coax Your Finicky Dog To Eat His Kibbles? – 2
• How To Coax Your Finicky Dog To Eat His Kibbles? – 3

Now that we have got the fundamental requirements and rules iron out, the next thing is getting you to the presentation and preparation of your dog’s meal.

Basic Rules To Feeding and Cooking For Your Finicky Dog

Meat to Kibbles Ratio: How much meat should be added to the kibbles depends how picky your dog is. You could start with 1/4 to 3/4 ratio and slowly work the way up to 1/3 of meat to 2/3 of kibbles when your dog doesn’t buy into your scheme anymore, however, avoid going up to the 50:50 ratio. If you really must, do it very sparingly. Once you start giving in too often, sooner or later your dog wants nothing to do with kibbles. You either have to cook homemade meals daily or switch to BARF diet.

Pick One: Unless you have all the time in the world to create different recipe for your dog daily, then this advice may not be your fancy. Having said, I strongly advise you stick with one main meat. More varieties, more work for you, hence more finicky your dog will be. It’s a vicious cycle. As you see later in the following post, my main meat is either chicken or fish as they are easily accessible to me and very economical. So decide which main meat is the most comfortable budget for you to lavish your dog, but mostly important he must love it!

No More Than Three: Ideally, one meat and one vegetable! Dog don’t have exquisite palate like we have so avoid introducing too many meat and taste in one meal. Doing so will only result in more finicky behavior in turn jeopardizing your time and effort.

Keep It Fresh: If you have the time and effort, cook daily. If not, cook no more than two-day meals. Overnight foods lack freshness and aroma even when you heat them up well. Less fussy or not-at-all fussy dogs can gobble them up in no time but finicky dogs like their meals “fresh-out-of-the-oven.” The strong aroma that emitted during cooking tantalizes their appetite; as you know digestion begins from smell.

• Storage: This is very much personal preference but I shall say it anyway. I don’t fancy storing leftover in plastic ware (i.e. Tupperware); even if I let it cool completely before the transfer. If you decide to cook for two-day meal, please put the leftover in an aluminum or porcelain container and have it properly covered up before putting in the fridge. You don’t want other food smell travel into your dog’s food.
• Heating It Up: I donated my microwave almost four years ago, and I never regretted a moment of it.  Yes, it’s about personal preference again, however, for health and nutritional reasons, try using the old-fashion way of heating up—steam or reheat through pot.

Supplementation: If your dog loves his daily supplement (especially those tablets form) like he loves his treats, then this can be an easy remedy. Instead of giving him the tablet as it is, crash them and sprinkle onto the kibble-and-meat meal. I’ve written extensively on the importance of supplementing our dogs, here are some of them:

• Dog Supplements: The Importance of Giving Supplements To Our Dogs
• Dog Supplements: Fat-soluble Vitamins
• Dog Supplements: Water-soluble Vitamins
• Dog Supplements: Minerals – Macrominerals
• Dog Supplements: Minerals – Microminerals

This is a rather short post but what’s next is just as long as the first post of this series. The next post is where I revealed my secret ammunition to coaxing finicky dogs to eat their kibbles. Keep your eyes peeled!

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.

There are two issues:

Homemade Dog Food vs. Commercial Premium Dog Food

Whether or not one is better than the other is a matter of preference, you not your dog. And whether or not your dog becomes a demanding “gourmet” is also depending on you; not your dog.

In choosing varied “gourmet” diets for our dogs (diets which are quickly becoming expensive), we fall into an anthropomorphic fallacy – a tendency where human characteristics for animals.

Dogs and all animals are creatures of habit. A pup raised on an ordinary feed (even he’s strictly on commercially packed food) will grow to like it, sometimes shunning rarer delicacies in favor of “the usual”.

Occasionally, your dog may clamor for your steak while his own kibbles awaits in his bowl, he’ll eventually go for his regular meal if other temptations don’t compete. Variety is not as crucial to him as it may seem to you. Didn’t think that was coming, did you?

Dogs are not finicky eaters by nature. We inadvertently create this problem by substituting food for love. We think that every time our dog does something cute, we should give him a treat. Of course, they do deserve a treat but not in terms of food instead reward him with hugs. Otherwise, our dog wants nothing but food treats, especially if they come from our plate or the refrigerator!

If you feed your dog a variety of food in hopes that one will appeal to him, he will demand a greater and greater variety, and you will have created a finicky eater! Choose a high-quality food and stick to it. Do not feed table scraps or give in-between meal snacks to your dog.

Some “gourmet” dog foods (and especially dog “treats”) are designed to appeal more to the human purchasers than the animal consumers. Color-blind canines are indifferent to the pastel hues that beckon the buyer of dog candies. We pay extra for such gimmicks because we consciously or unconsciously equate human tastes and needs with those of our dogs.

What matter most to them is the taste, not the shape, size or color. Dogs don’t know a clue about calories that gamey treat can add to their waistline. So is up to us to be the sensible one to give treats in moderation. If possible, limit it to training and party times. Ok, maybe a few afternoon tea with you!

Dogs become finicky when they are given too great a variety and by overfeeding. I’m not surprise that at this stage, they may already have weight and health issues to add to their existing dilemma. If so, you may want to incorporate some fitness programs into his daily lifestyle.

3 rules to remember on changing and selecting dog food.

• If you do change foods, do it gradually by adding a bit of new food each day to the old food. The reason for this is that the digestive flora gets used to one food and a rapid change can cause diarrhea and digestive upsets. This usually wears off a day or two, so don’t panic. You just end up doing a bit of extra work around the house.
• If you choose a high quality food, there is really no need for vitamin supplementation. You will pay more for premium dog food, but you will use less because a small feeding amount has more nutrients and is more thoroughly digested.
• And if you should decide on home cooked meals instead, just remember that you should depart from a “complete and balanced” dog’s diet in favor of a more specialized program. These reasons may include age, disease, or even stress.

A good rule of thumb to apply to your dog’s diet system is “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” And with this notion, your dog will soon know you are truly the Gourmet aka The Boss.