my dogs eating habits

Question
Dear Sharon,
  I have lab mix who has the strangest eating habit. I feed him 2 cups of dry Eukanuba dog food twice a day. He will push his food around with his nose like he his looking for something else in it. Alot of times, he'll do that and ignore his food untill he is really hungry and he'll eat it. We have been mixing half of a small can of wet food with the dry and he'll eat the dry food as long as the wet is mixed in, but leave what ever dry food that didn't mix. He even takes his time "nosing" that food around too, but he'll eat it. My problem is that he does this with all brands of dry food and the wet food can get too expensive. How do we break this habit? We've had him for a year and he is about 2 years old. We rescued him from the animal shelter and he is happy and in very good health. Thank you.


Answer
Dear Alison -

This all to common of a problem with pets, you are not alone.

It is understandable that wet food is too expensive, I agree. He just seems to be a picky eater. Here's a few things you can try.

He likes the texture of wet food, so try adding water or beef/chicken juice or gravy to the dry food and mush it up. Don't make it real watery, just enough to give it the wet food consistancy. Most dogs will eat it up right away. The chicken/beef juice is great for them too. Use 1/2 can chicken/beef juice and the other half water. Keep your leftover "drippings" from your dinner and use that in his food too. If there's not enough dripping juice add water. You could even add a raw egg on occassion, dogs loves eggs! They will give the dog a shiny coat and help alleviate dry skin problems. You could even try a little spaghetti sauce with water in the food. This seems to work well especially with puppies that do not take well to weaning.

Some dogs are not big eaters, maybe he is not hungry. Have you tried cutting back to feeding him once a day? Our Golden eats once a day, if you give him a second helping he will leave it there. I could put a big juicy steak on top and he will walk away, he's just not hungry.

You can also spinkle garlic on top of the dry food. Garlic is excellent for dogs, it helps build up their immune system, will clear the body of bacteria and infection, and they love it. The only draw back, well, the flatulence is a little, well, stinky. Overtime, their bodies adapt and the odor will subside but for a good month best keep a few clothes pins handy!

I hope these suggestions have helped. Please contact me if you have any other questions.

If you are interested in Natural Medicine and Herbal remedies for humans and animals alike, please email me at wintersaurora@yahoo.com and I will send a catalog out to you.

Best wishes to you and your pet.

Sincerely,
Sharon Hubbs, AHG
Certified Natural Health Consultant & Herbalist