Feeding Canidae

[Peggy]

Originally Posted by IslandGirl

i started feeding him 1.5 cups a day and he's definately not eating all. he's actually not as interested in eating anymore. when we first got him he would eat all his food in one sitting, he would even lick the bowl. now i have to crate him to eat. he'd rather play and have brief moments to eat which sometimes end up with him playing w/ the kibble.
his schedule is: 0.5cup breakfast, .25cup stuffed in a kong for lunch, and .75cup for dinner.

any thoughts? i really want to keep him on canidae.

How old is he now? I'd keep feeding the same food. Maybe adjust the amout. If he's a puppy you need to decrease his food as he grows.

How much I feed depends on my dogs. I have some that get a scant cup a day and some that get two cups a day. Depends on their ages and activity levels. Every dog is different. Go by how they feel not what the dog food bag says or what someone else feeds their dogs.

Peggy

[ShannonRD]

I would just like to reiterate what Michael mentioned about not giving large amounts of "supplements" in the food. Our Pembroke decided he liked the taste of rabbit dung and acquired a few parasites when he was 3 mo. old. He had really bad diarrhea and we were told by the vet to d/c dog food and give only rice and cooked fresh meat. Soon after that, we thought was a bladder infection d/t very frequent urination was actually him having a very high urine pH level.

Your dog should get used to a limited amount of exposure to food (i.e., one hour each meal). 30 min. might be too short of a time frame; our trainer recommended one hour and our dogs are good about eating what they want within that time. They don't beg for additional food (unless they smell something yummy from the kitchen)!

[LaRogue]

There very well can be a change in ingredients. A company can change the formula and they have 6 mos. to change the wording on the bag. So the ingredients on the bag may not be exactly what's in the bag. Keep an eye on things and read your bags to see if there has been a change.

My fingers are crossed hoping this isn't the case. There aren't that many foods left for me to try, if Pip starts doing poorly on the Canidae or they add an ingredient he's allergic to.

There's been some pickiness going on here the last few days, but I've had a temporary work schedule change and I think the change in routine is the culprit.

[Michael Romanos]

Shannon - dogs can get too much red meat just like humans. One of the drawbacks from too much red meat is cancer; another is an inbalance of vitamins and minerals.

[IslandGirl]

hes 10 wks. when we first got him we mixed the canidae with pro plan and gave him 1/3 cups three times a day. He ate all and looked like he needed more food. I slowly switched him over to canidae with 1.5 cups a day.
the only thing i can think of since someone brought up activity..he eats when he just wakes up and when i get home. so i assume hes sleeping b4 each meal. i'll switch things around and give him a walk b4 he eats.

[MyPemCharlie]

Well I looked up calories in Pro Plan (not sure which formula you were feeding) and Canidae ALS. They look about the same in kcals/cup, so he's not eating less due to calories.

Charlie has always eaten 2 cups a day of the puppy foods I tried him on, and still eats almost 2 cups a day of Canidae. He is very active though. If your pup is sleeping all night and most of the day, he wouldn't need to eat as much. Is he gaining about a pound a week and looking healthy? If he's not looking thin, I wouldn't worry too much.

[Peggy]

Originally Posted by ShannonRD

Your dog should get used to a limited amount of exposure to food (i.e., one hour each meal). 30 min. might be too short of a time frame; our trainer recommended one hour and our dogs are good about eating what they want within that time. They don't beg for additional food (unless they smell something yummy from the kitchen)!

One hour is more than long enough. Even with puppies it's recommened that they can eat all they want in 20 min.

20 min is usually enough time for most dogs to eat. If they are still eating I would not take the food away, but if they are not eating after 20 min. you can take the food away and no food/treats till the next meal time. Again for 20 min. The dog will learn to eat when they get the food.

Peggy

[Peggy]

Originally Posted by LaRogue

My fingers are crossed hoping this isn't the case. There aren't that many foods left for me to try, if Pip starts doing poorly on the Canidae or they add an ingredient he's allergic to.

There's been some pickiness going on here the last few days, but I've had a temporary work schedule change and I think the change in routine is the culprit.

I hope not too and a change in routine could very well be the cause.

Peggy

[IslandGirl]

he weighed in at 9.3 lbs today and hes 10wks. he was actually at the vet today since he has a cold and was given antibotics. he vet believes this maybe one of the reasons hes lost his appetite.
ive been using a teaspoon of yogurt to give his food more flavor and he seems to like that but still not getting in 1.5 cups. i'll decrease this to 1.25 this week and see how it goes. once we're home he gets lots of play time. hes usually tired by 8pm. after his playtime is when he usually wants to eat his dinner and thats way too late.

[Peggy]

Originally Posted by IslandGirl

he weighed in at 9.3 lbs today and hes 10wks. he was actually at the vet today since he has a cold and was given antibotics. he vet believes this maybe one of the reasons hes lost his appetite.
ive been using a teaspoon of yogurt to give his food more flavor and he seems to like that but still not getting in 1.5 cups. i'll decrease this to 1.25 this week and see how it goes. once we're home he gets lots of play time. hes usually tired by 8pm. after his playtime is when he usually wants to eat his dinner and thats way too late.

Not feeling well will decrease his appetite. And not being able to smell the food well will also (a cold, upper respiratory infection will do that.)

Just get him to eat what he will and when he's better his appetite should pick up.

Maybe 1.5 cups is too much for him right now. That's quite a bit for a puppy. Esp. if he's not feeling well.

Peggy

[MyPemCharlie]

Update on Charlie and the new bag of Canidae. It's been two weeks since I opened the new bag, and he is still sniffing and walking away. If I hand feed him a couple of pieces, he usually gets going and eats the whole bowl like normal.

Today I put his food down and when I went to check on him 20 minutes later, he hadn't eaten a bite. I picked it up and acted like I was eating and enjoying it and put it back down. Then he ate all of it with me standing there watching him.

This just seems very strange. He is still pooping, playing, peeing and everthing else normally (though he has gone into a heavier than normal coat shedding the last few days). Anyway, this huge bag of food should last another 4-5 weeks, then I'm going to rotate him through one bag of either Artemis or Innova.

[Michael Romanos]

Chris - I had a Pem who was a reluctant eater until at age three he was in a perceived food competition with his son.

[LaRogue]

Update on Charlie and the new bag of Canidae. It's been two weeks since I opened the new bag, and he is still sniffing and walking away. If I hand feed him a couple of pieces, he usually gets going and eats the whole bowl like normal.

Today I put his food down and when I went to check on him 20 minutes later, he hadn't eaten a bite. I picked it up and acted like I was eating and enjoying it and put it back down. Then he ate all of it with me standing there watching him.

Chris, could Charlie be testing you to see if he can persuade you to give him something better? What you're describing sounds a lot like some the behaviors of my picky eater. Just a thought.

[MyPemCharlie]

Originally Posted by LaRogue

Chris, could Charlie be testing you to see if he can persuade you to give him something better? What you're describing sounds a lot like some the behaviors of my picky eater. Just a thought.

No, he doesn't get too many treats except for training new commands, and even then he is usually happy to work for one piece of Canidae as a treat instead of other food.

This change coincided directly with opening the new bag of Canidae. He had eaten the 2 five-pound "test bags" when I switched him from puppy food to Canidae. Plus he has eaten 2 forty-pound bags since the switch. So 90 pounds of Canidae he really dove into and ate with great relish and gusto. I open the new bag, and poof, doesn't seem to taste right to him.

I did find several Canidae users (across web forums) who have found inconsistencies in opening a new bag after successfully feeding Canidae for months (either the dog getting sick, or losing interested in it). One reasonable explanation I read in a Dogster post was from a woman who called Canidae when her dog got sick on a new bag. They apparently told her that the fats/vitamins/minerals are sprayed onto the kibble after it is baked. During the bagging process, these fats and supplements flake or fall off. When their "quality contol" people notice a lot of this "grit" or dust going into the bags, they stop that batch and dump the rest to start a new run.

That explanation indicates that bags at the start of a run have less fat/vitamins/minerals than bags at the end of the run which may have a lot of extra fats/supplement particles. I'm sure a dog would be able to pick up on a difference like that by scent.

The people who have noticed this type of difference are not a large enough population at this point for me to have tremendous concern over quality controls at Canidae. I will be interested to see how much "grit" is in the bottom of this current bag of food when we near the end. It would be nice though if Charlie weren't still turning up his nose after 2 weeks on the new bag.

Link to Dogster discussion of Canidae batch inconsistency:
Dogster Forums - Food & Nutrition - Canidae

[LaRogue]

No, he doesn't get too many treats except for training new commands, and even then he is usually happy to work for one piece of Canidae as a treat instead of other food.

Mine would do that too. He had decided he deserved to be hand fed!! It was an early step toward progressing to hunger strikes.

I did find several Canidae users (across web forums) who have found inconsistencies in opening a new bag after successfully feeding Canidae for months (either the dog getting sick, or losing interested in it).

I've been seeing these too, but to be honest I see them for almost every food. I really, really hope there is no real problem with the food. As I posted before, I'm running out of options. I did refrain from trying California Natural, though, to keep it as my (hopefully) Ace in the hole.

I will be interested to see how much "grit" is in the bottom of this current bag of food when we near the end.

I've always wondered about the lack of crumbs at the bottom of the bag. Thanks to your hard research, now I know!