Poor Appetite

Question
I own a 7 1/2 month Black Russian Terrier.  He is very large for his age.  My problem is his poor appetite which I think I caused.  He starves himself and waits for table food to be added to his dog food.  I am falling into the habit of adding either an egg & 2 strips of bacon, or a fistful of cooked beef into his dog food to stimulate eating.  I feed him Natural Choice for large breed puppies.  The bag recommends he gets 5 cups a day.  I am lucky if he eats 3 cups.  If he was shaved he would look very skinny.  I am afraid I might be harming him with adding the extra protein to stimulate his eating.  He looks full grown at 7 months but skinny.  He won't eat if I do not place the extras in his dish.  Can you suggest maybe a good moist food for puppies (large breed) that I could mix in?  This way I can insure that I am providing the proper nutrients. - Thank you for any of your suggestions.

Answer
Hi MaryAnn,
I want to say, up front, that my expertise is strictly from life expertise with sick dogs which forced me into researching and working with animal nutritionists. I will pass along to you what I have been told and what has worked. Just so you know, I also represent a holistic dog food company that many of my customers have said has worked wonders with fussy dogs..so you might want to order a few free samples to see if your boy like this food. It is kibble only but it is amazing how many dogs love this food. I got involved with the company because this food is FRESH from production to his plate with just six weeks intervening. So many of the other dogs foods remain on trucks in hot sun, in lousy weather and god knows what else for months and even years!!!! Here is my link if you'd care to check this food out.

www.healthypetnet.com/YorkieSue

Ok, back to your immediate situation. There are several moist foods that are pretty good and healthy on the market. My personal favorite is Wellness--they have several varieties and dogs usually go ape for the Duck or Turkey. Natural Balance is a great dog food also. There are a couple of organic foods out there too but they are more expensive. You have Evangers, Instinct and Nature's Variety. Stay away from Eukanuba, Sc.Diet and garbage like that--they are full of synthetics. My personal choice would be to try the Wellness first and then the Evanger's COMPLETE MEAL IN A CAN..they have real chicken and veggies and dogs usually go nuts for this.And when you hit on something that your pup likes, STICK WITH IT and don't fool around with constantly trying for variety. Some dogs do not thrive on variety at all. How is his stool? Any stomach upsets?

Ok, now there is the home cooking option. Do NOT feel guilty about having to add things to his food to get him to eat. But, what you are adding is not terrific and that is where I think you must change things.Eggs and bacon are not good choices for additions so why not buy some organic chicken and veggies and try steaming and adding these? Have you considered home cooking totally for him? I know what a pain this is, so this is why I am just asking. This is not an option for everyone.

I feed my dogs a combo of LIfe Abundance (the link I gave you) and Nature's variety organic chicken. Nature's variety is something I would like you to check out...it comes frozen and you are supposed to feed them raw but I could never bring myself to do this. I always lightly steam the medallions and they adore this food. It is really irresistable. For your LARGE DOG they have patties that are way larger than the medallions.

Ok, I have given you some ideas. YOu will have to experiment a little and you may waste some dog food but with a little juggling I am sure you can get your baby on something healthier than eggs and bacon. YOu don't want to create an allergy down the road. I would also suggest that you put him on a good digestive enzyme and probiotic. If you need more info on this, let me know.

What does your vet say about all this? Not that I think most vets are nutrition savvy but I was just curious. Let me hear from you. My direct email is: DazzlinDaawg@aol.com. This skips the middle man of this site. Hope I was helpful, Susan