# Weird! What's Up With This?



## nifty (Aug 2, 2013)

Hi All,

Dulcie eats 100% raw. One of the staples of her diet is a whole coarse ground chicken grind which I feed several times a week. I alternate this with other protein grinds and of course RMBs. The chicken is important because it is the least expensive of the meats and I use both it and whole ground pork for about 1/2 her ground meals each month (she eats a grind with HK base mix for one meal each day and a RMB meal at the other meal).

Last week, for the first time ever, Dulcie did not go eagerly to eat her breakfast - it was a whole chicken grind meal - and even later int he day, when I offered the refrigerated portion she rejected it. 

I didn't offer it for about a week, but this morning, I mixed up her breakfast (raw coarse chicken and 1/4 C HK Kindly). Dulcie sniffed it and then started trying to cover the feeding bowl with her towel! 

I added a chicken foot, which I pushed deep into the wet food, and she picked it out, ate it on her towel and then again picked up the towel and covered the untouched ground food. She even tried to shove the bowl off her mat!

What's up with this? She has enjoyed the chicken for months until this. Could it be a coincidence on two mornings with little appetite? Maybe the food is off? (I semi-thaw and then repackage the 2lb tubs into meal-sized portions, but the food is never fully thawed -- and even so, MPC says it is safe to thaw once and refreeze).

Any ideas? I sure hope she hasn't gone off chicken because it makes a huge difference to the food budget -- the 2 lb tubs cost less than half of what most other proteins cost. I buy at least 5 different meats each month and I alternate them using about 50% pork and chicken with 50% beef, lamb, muskrat, emu, duck etc. Not sure I can afford feeding all of the expensive meats -- and although she is still eating the pork with gusto, I don't want to go to a full 50% pork diet.

Argh!


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## Poodlebeguiled (May 27, 2013)

Oh that is weird! Maybe the food is off...maybe she's trying to tell you something. If you try again with another batch...and she still does it, hmmm, maybe she just doesn't like chicken anymore. lol. I guess if you're sure it's okay, not spoiled, (I think you can tell by the smell) I'd just keep offering it and not put up with any shenanigans. I wonder if you add something that tastes better to her, if she'd change her tune.

I eliminated grinds except on the rare occasion that I use the store bought raw because for one, I think it lessens the risk for bacteria and two, I think they like having to work a little harder at eating their meat and it sort of slows them down. (in theory, lol) Would she eat some chicken meat that is just plain...like cut off of a breast or thigh? (on those times where you're not feeding a bone) I hope things will change. Let us know how this plays out. It is a curious thing.


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

Sophy did this with a batch of turkey that proved to be decidedly iffy. I would try a fresh batch.


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## nifty (Aug 2, 2013)

Thanks PB and fjm! The meat smells perfectly fine - almost odorless, in fact. However, I trust Dulcie's nose better than my own. Like last week, I binned the offending mix. There are two more from that container in the freezer and unfortunately I don't know which two because I bagged them all up on the same day with 3 other tubs and all have the same date. So I guess I will find out through trial and error.

Yes, PB, she seems to still be A-OK with raw chicken pieces - with or without bone. So I will give it a few days of other meats and then try again with another grind taken from deeper inside the freezer. Tonight, I have a chicken breast (bone in) for her supper so we will see how that goes.

P.S. She doesn't seem to be hungry, mind you. Even before I put down her food this morning, she had gone into the sitting room and was lying down -- different from usual mornings. That was the same last week when she turned up her nose at breakfast. Maybe it is not the food/chicken per se -- maybe she is tapering off the need for two meals each day. Hmmmm.


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

Mine both needed less food around 8 - 9 months, when they finished growing - I still feed them twice a day, but smaller portions. Sophy also has a few days of not wanting breakfast a week or two after each heat, when she goes through a sort of phantom morning sickness. But if Dulcie is enjoying all the other food I would suspect something in that batch of chicken.


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## Poodlebeguiled (May 27, 2013)

Well, not being hungry just might be it. On the raw diet forum I go on, it is suggested that one meal a day is optimum because it gives the digestion system a chance to rest, to gear up for the next meal...something resembling in nature when they may not get food every time they're looking for it. Even fasting a day, which I can't bring myself to do. But I'm gradually transitioning them to once a day...in the late afternoon, but a light snack in the morning. I'm not sure I'll stick with this, but thought I'd try it out. Maybe Duclie really isn't that hungry. Is she still playful, energetic and seeming to feel fine?


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## nifty (Aug 2, 2013)

Yes, she is perfectly well. I think it was probably the food itself, although I am going to pay attention to her level of interest in breakfast bit more.


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## nifty (Aug 2, 2013)

*Update...*

Hi Everyone, 

I am relieved to say that it looks like the grinds last week must have been "off" in some undefinable way. I gave it a week or so and today I dug to the bottom of the freezer to find a whole chicken grind from (I hoped!) one of the other containers. Dulcie chowed down as usual with none of the hesitation or disinterest of last week with the chicken. 

It is also definitely (or more than likely at least) NOT a lack of appetite in the mornings. Every other day, she has eagerly awaited her breakfast.

So I think the mystery is solved. There are probably two other packets from that one "off" container and I guess I will find out which when I try to serve them to her. I am glad that Dulcie has a fine tuned nose for this sort of thing, because as I mentioned earlier, the grinds last week looked and smelled perfectly fine.

What a relief that Dulcie still likes her chicken! I rely on that for about a quarter of her diet because it is so reasonably priced. Of course, I also feed her many other protein sources but each day one meal will be chicken or pork and the second meal will be the more expensive meat (beef, lamb, emu, muskrat, mutton, bison, lake trout, etc).


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## Poodlebeguiled (May 27, 2013)

Isn't that amazing how_ well_ they _smell_? I am steering away from grinds because they are more apt to have more pathogens in them than the outside cuts or parts, though I'll still use up the last bit of mixture I fixed up and froze, which includes ground turkey, organ meat and veggies, egg I think. But I'm glad you figured it out...that it was that one batch probably that was off. Or rather, Dulcie figured it out. :alberteinstein:


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## nifty (Aug 2, 2013)

Poodlebeguiled, I wish I could feel confident about providing her with food locally that is not ground. However, the chicken and other meats I see here seem to be of two types -- mass market farmed, loaded with fat and grain fed OR organically grown and prohibitively expensive. 

The quality of the MPC grinds is fantastic -- except now I have to be concerned about this recent chicken issue ( and I am now wondering about the rabbit grind Dulcie rejected, too).

Ugh. It is not easy.


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

When I overpersuaded Sophy to eat some of the dodgy turkey (Poppy wolfed it down immediately) both dogs had several days of severe diarrhoea. I contacted the producers, who admitted to a problem with fat content and gave me a refund - I thought they could have been a bit more generous, given the mess, but I have simply not bought from them since. I would get in touch with the company and ask if there is a possibility that there was an issue at that particular point - perhaps a new supplier or a different way of processing. If they are customer (and dog) focussed they will welcome the information!


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## Poodlebeguiled (May 27, 2013)

Oh gosh, I'm getting senile. I just noticed I already said something about the grinds in an earlier post....that I'm not using them. lol. AND I also forgot that this was a commercial grind you're feeding. I'm beginning to wonder not only about commercial dry or cooked/processed food, but commercial anything food. I realize that even our human food can have something wrong with it, but it seems less likely. And too, unless it's grass fed, organic, free range etc, it may be lacking in omega 3's. So a fish oil supplement is a good idea I think. That's what I'm going to be on the hunt for here when I get time...better food than what's in the grocery stores. Some pretty good stuff I find at Here Today, Gone tomorrow. Yes, it is expensive and I hear ya about the better food in stores...that isn't loaded with sh!!. It is definitely a problem. I do find some good deals though sometimes at the regular stores. I found grass fed organic beef and lamb that was about to expire. It's perfect. You could ask your local grocer if they'd set aside good stuff that's about to expire for you if they don't have a special section for it. 

I'm sure this has been posted before. But I'll just stick it here.

Eat Wild - Washington

You can find your state.


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