# New 5mo old spoo, switched her to raw, but she's not eating the bones...



## seminolewind (Mar 11, 2016)

I know nothing about eating bones or raw food. I have no tips, just saying Hi


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## Viking Queen (Nov 12, 2014)

" If I ever died in the house, I'm sure there'd be no evidence and I'd be declared a missing person, lol. "

I also don't know anything about raw feeding, but that comment is just about the funniest thing I have seen in a while!

Welcome to the forum.

VIking Queen


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## nifty (Aug 2, 2013)

Haha! That remark about your SPOO made me laugh. Also, yikes!

For your puppy, it sounds like you probably know more about raw feeding than I do, and yet maybe I can help, having transitioned my SPOO puppy to raw meaty bones at about the same age (or maybe a little younger, probably 4 months). 

I think you are on the right track starting with chicken. The first thing I offered Dulcie was a chicken wing - and I offered it to her as a treat when we were spending some time outside. It became a regular (daily) treat for a little while, while she was still eating her kibble for actual meals. I just replaced her "lunch" with the wing and in a different place.

Once she got the hang of it, which was pretty fast because it was a treat and not her actual meal in a bowl, she really started to like the raw and especially crunching the bones. From there, I moved to chicken necks and backs -- and as she got bigger, we transitioned to larger cuts of chicken and replaced the chicken necks with turkey necks. Gradually, I started replacing her morning meal with the raw chicken pieces, still giving her the kibble at night. 

When she was about 15 months old, I decided to go all raw. At that point, she was eagerly eating a variety of raw meals for breakfast each day. So the transition was pretty easy. I add a little Honest Kitchen base mix and now I feed her either raw meaty bones with a little HK or coarse grinds of a variety of proteins from My Pet Carnivore combined with a little HK. I mix it up and she pretty much loves everything I give her -- lake trout, salmon, venison, beef, lamb, pork, chicken, duck and turkey and when I can get it, muskrat, emu and whatever else is available. One thing she doesn't care for is rabbit, but that is obviously a personal preference of hers (she used to love the rabbit kibble from Nature's Variety Instinct, so go figure!)

Good luck!

P.S. Tonight she ate just over half a pound cod fish fillet with a squirt of fish oil omega 3 (from a capsule) mixed with about 1/2 cup of HK kindly. She scarfed it down! That was the first time she had eaten cod, but I guessed she would like it since she loves salmon, lake trout, herring and anchovies.


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## MollyMuiMa (Oct 13, 2012)

My Molly never had raw til she was over a year old and like Nifty I tossed a chicken wing at her and never had a problem........I'm a little different in my raw feeding though, as I don't have freezer space to do it completely. I feed Molly something raw every A.M. ie; a chicken leg, gizzards & hearts, a pork or beef short rib, raw beef chunks, lamb, and goat. But she still gets a 1/4 cup of kibble in her bowl to graze on......I also rotate the raw with dehydrated raw green tripe & canned 95% meat . She even gets 'healthy leftovers' from me! 
I want to add that the first couple times she had chicken legs it took her a few minutes to figure out how to 'crunch' them but now I never find a morsel left!
It was very disconcerting to hear that sound LOL! 
Anyway, I was told to fast my dog 24 hours and then start the raw, cold turkey, but instead I just did it my way and watched to see if she had tummy issues! (she didn't)


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## sidewinder (Feb 3, 2016)

What an unusual problem, not eating the bones! I'm wondering what bones you are feeding..Maybe if you start with small bones like chicken wings and cut them up with some poultry shears to shorter pieces, the pup will eat them, then you can graduate to bigger ones.


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## Streetcar (Apr 13, 2014)

Five months? Could be teething and sore mouth making pup not want to chew bones? Though I usually associate teething *with* chewing, but maybe not bones.


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## Mfmst (Jun 18, 2014)

She would have a hard time eating only the meat on a chicken neck I don't think she was hungry enough or is the most fastidious Poodle on PF.


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## lwm1984 (Apr 15, 2012)

Thanks for the replies everyone. I guess my spoo has been browsing PF and read my post, since she ate her chicken leg bone this morning!


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## nifty (Aug 2, 2013)

lwm1984 said:


> Thanks for the replies everyone. I guess my spoo has been browsing PF and read my post, since she ate her chicken leg bone this morning!


Haha! I wouldn't put it past her! After all, we know poodles are the smartest dogs!  Glad she got the idea!


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## Poodlebeguiled (May 27, 2013)

Haha...gosh, I'm late noticing this thread. And now...success! I was going to say to maybe smash the bone a little with a hammer. I have one dog that doesn't do bones but I think it may be because he's 14 and has had several teeth pulled. But he does chew the fish bones all right. But I might try a small bone like a wing and smash it and see if that helps. 

I'm glad she gave it a go this time. Now I bet she's discovered how good they are and will get right onto it. Whew! I have been feeding egg shells in place of bones to my old dog. 

Let us know how things go with your girl. Best of luck to you!

Yes, your comment about being a missing person was really funny but :ahhhhh: too.


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