# Picky puppy



## cowpony (Dec 30, 2009)

Dry kibble exists as a convenience for humans. It's relatively cheap, it stores well, and (assuming you get a good brand) it delivers the appropriate nutrients in the appropriate balance. Canned food should provide the same balanced nutrients, but it will probably cost a bit more. Cooked meat alone tends not to be an ideal diet. A lot of nutrients are concentrated in organ meat and bone marrow, which most Americans would never think to buy and eat. Dogs survived and thrived for thousands of years on whatever we fed them or what they found for themselves. A dog confined to the house doesn't have a lot of options to go scavenge any missing parts of his diet, so you will need to put some thought into balanced diet of you feed him people food.


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## For Want of Poodle (Feb 25, 2019)

Some say canned food leads to bad teeth. Also the price of canned to feed a spoo would be wild, I checked because Annie loves it too. Other than that, so long as it's one of the nutritionally balanced cans it should be fine. Or you could do home cooked, but that gets more complicated to balance the nutrients. 

Could you try getting his kibble and mixing it well with a tablespoon or two of wet food? Or yoghurt or chicken or...


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## Teddy’s mom (May 20, 2020)

I’ve tried mixing he basically eats around kibble. I’ve tried dividing so not to mix. He get a bone with bone marrow several times a week. It’s a fav of his. I don’t mind the wet food or the cost just want to do what’s right for him. So maybe he’s a wet food kinda guy. I can use the kibble for training and his busy boxes. He will eat kibble out of my hand. I don’t get cheap food. The ones I have tried have ben middle of the road to higher. He likes then slowly dislikes. If I keep kibble in his bowl he will graze off and on which I don’t mind. It’s not enough to mess up potty training. So I’ll just do wet food and get the kibble in thru training and play. Think that’s a good plan? Just want him to b happy and healthy. 🥰


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

He sounds very like Sophy - she liked kibble till the bag had been open for a week or so, then decided the fats had gone rancid and hated it. I ended up home cooking as a more economical alternative to the expensive wet food I was buying - if you can find a supplier of complete meats (80% muscle, 10% offal, 10% bone) it is not difficult. If Teddy is already happily eating bones then that part is probably taken care of, and you just need to source the meats. The other big advantage is that by controlling the amount and type of vegetables and carbs the poos are usually small, firm and non-smelly.

Good advice on different diets here: DogAware.com: Diet Options for Dogs


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## VanessaC (Feb 24, 2020)

BalanceIt is a great resource if you’re looking to switch to a home cooked diet. I would be wary of not using a supplement or doing additional research for preparing meals for a growing puppy.

That being said, if you can afford it, canned food should be just fine as far as nutrients go. Costco sells some canned food that’s reasonably priced and gets good reviews on DogFoodAdvisor.


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

Very true, Vanessa - I did not switch to home made until mine were young adults and fully grown, and even then I did a huge amount of research.


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## JimD (Mar 20, 2020)

Maybe look into stella and chewys raw coated kibble, it has freeze dried chunks of meat in it. We are looking into trying it on our next bag.


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## Olive Love (Jul 22, 2020)

Do not change the brand, it only tells your poodle that if she rejects the food she will get a different food, reduce treats and stop giving her table food. Leave the food out for 20 minutes and then take it away, she will learn that if she does not eat she will still get the same food after a few hours. Only feed her once in the morning and once in the evening. Try adding K9 Natural toppers or a different brand of toppers you know to entice her to eat.


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