WHAT CAN WE DO TO GET OUR DOGS TO EAT?

Many canned human foods are way too high in sodium. You need to be careful about adding V-8 or any canned human food as a diet additive.  As it is sold, V-8 nearly COMPLETES the daily requirement of an 130-pound adult for sodium.

If your dogs are fussy eaters, try adding:

• A raw egg, shell and all. Just break it open, scrunch it up and mix it with the food.
• Ground or pulverized (food processor) raw veggies or lightly cooked raw veggies or even bottled baby food (low sodium). If you choose veggies, leafy greens are better than carrots and sweet potatoes, which are high glycemic (high in sugars).
• Home-made broths from soups and stews can jazz up a meal for the uninterested.
• The raw juices that dripped from the meat you made for dinner are also good for them. Just be sure that there is very little fat in the juices: either skim it off or put it into the freezer for awhile so that the fat congeals on top and then you can just lift it off.
• Yoghurt and cottage cheese are always good, recommend the low fat varieties.
• If you are really ambitious, grind up some beef heart and add some raw to their meal. Or make a mince of any ground meat by cooking it in a frying pan until every grain of meat is individually cooked (doesn't take long).
• Some like canned pumpkin, the kind you make pumpkin pie with but not the kind that is already pre-mixed for a pie.
• Berries: I have yet to meet the dog that does not like fresh berries. And they really like the berries that are a little over-ripe but not mildewed.
• You can also pulverize fruit (like apples or pears or peaches, etc.) in a blender
• Avocado (especially if over-ripe): dogs like the fruit of the avocado, but DO NOT feed them the skin or the seed.
• Canned Jack Mackerel and canned sardines, liquid and all, provide EFAs that dogs need, and dogs like the smelly fish (you might not, but boy, will they think dinner is special)! Canned salmon is also good: you can get the chub salmon much cheaper than the red or pink, and it provides both EFAs and calcium.
• Healthy leftovers: these can be added to your dog's meal. Just use common sense and steer away from things with a lot of salt or sugars or cooked fat. But leftover veggies, fruits, and meats can all be diced/chopped up or pulverized in a food processor and used to entice the picky eaters.
• All of these things can be mushed up or are already spreadable so that they cling to every piece of kibble.

WARNING ABOUT COOKED FAT: don't treat your dogs to the cooked fat from steaks or other meats -- these are apt to lead to pancreatitis and other potentially life-threatening internal problems. Raw fat is good for them, but like many good things, not in high quantities.

Jubilee