What to do with them?

Well, my mom blames this on the Raw, but of course it's not. Lily has practically STOPPED eating her kibble. She ate her Raw, but at the time being, we just honestly can't feed Raw. Don't ask why it's a long story. Roxy used to eat great. She stopped eating her Raw, and now she's not seeming to like her kibble as much as she used to. I know I could buy a higher quality kibble or something, but my mom just won't go for that. When we can we WILL switch back to raw, but at the moment, not an option. Is there anything you recommend feeding them that's not going to be too expensive? I'm really worried about them, and afraid they aren't eating enough :(.

At the kennel we have can food. We put some can food in a blender and some water and blend it together. Then we put it on there food. They love it. T.j is a picky eater and he goes crazy for it.

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Originally Posted by Flatcoatluver

At the kennel we have can food. We put some can food in a blender and some water and blend it together. Then we put it on there food. They love it. T.j is a picky eater and he goes crazy for it.

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We used to feed canned food, but since it's so expensive we stopped. We've never fed Lily canned food, and I really don't want to start.. :/

I used to add chicken to Snowy's kibble. She absolutely loves it :)

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Originally Posted by Roxyluvsme13

We used to feed canned food, but since it's so expensive we stopped. We've never fed Lily canned food, and I really don't want to start.. :/

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you wouldn't even use a half a can for both dogs in a week. At our kennel we call it gravy, because it liquified and gravy look-a-like. You just put like 3 tablespoon in there food and mix it all around.

a cheap way is to mix a raw egg on the kibble, they´ll love it and they´ll eat the kibble.........tha worse that can happen they could just lick the egg off but i´m pretty sure they´ll eat........

Well I have to work hard to keep Casey's weight down but most of the time I hand feed Bubba to make sure he eats. I feed him innova now and he seems to like it but won't take the time to eat unless I make him.

This is going to sound mean, but I'd ignore it. An otherwise healthy dog will not starve itself to death. Around my house, they eat what is offered or they wait until the next meal time. Only Paxil gets special offerings to entice her to eat and only because she is not an otherwise healthy dog. She has major health problems.

Also many dogs eat much less in warm weather. If it's hot where you are, they may just not feel like eating. Just make sure they have water available at all times and are drinking it.

I was thinking the same thing that Glacier said. The only reason I hand feed bubba is I am thinking sometimes he is afraid of casey when he eats...if I am not around I know she will stand near him and growl when he eats so even if I am there and the food is in the dish I think he is afraid to eat it.

Well, Lily gets fed other things, too. I can't blame her about not eating her dog food since it's poop. It's time to switch hers anyways since she's not really a puppy anymore. Roxy eats hers, but I don't see why she didn't eat her Raw.. :confused:

Put their kibble down for 15 minutes if there is any food left it goes back in the bag. They don't get more food until dinner, same thing as the first meal, put it down for 15 minutes and take away whats left over. Don't watch them or add anything to the kibble. They will learn quickly that if they want food they better eat it when it is there. A healthy dog will not strave themselves! It may take a few days but they WILL catch on. My dogs inhale their food in about 30 seconds. When we got Toby he had been free fed. A few days of strict meal time and he gobbled all him food down.
Adding stuff to their food will just make the picky eaters, it is just a quick fix and doesn't help you in the long run.

Good Luck

Well, Lily knows if she doesn't eat her food that she'll get people food. :rolleyes: Mainly my mom's doing, NOT mine. So of course she's not going to eat.. Roxy's doing a bit better though, but I want to go back to Raw, and she won't eat it..

I'm not sure what to say. Roxy refusing to eat could be the result of a number of issues... =/ is she eating even a little bit or totally refusing?

My advice would definitely be to entice her to eat. Because you've expressed concern about her weight, she shouldn't be fasting too much. Mix in canned food or meat or soak her kibble in chicken/beef broth or warm water.

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Originally Posted by bckrazy

I'm not sure what to say. Roxy refusing to eat could be the result of a number of issues... =/ is she eating even a little bit or totally refusing?

My advice would definitely be to entice her to eat. Because you've expressed concern about her weight, she shouldn't be fasting too much. Mix in canned food or meat or soak her kibble in chicken/beef broth or warm water.

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Well, she's eating her kibble fine. I just hate to feed it to her cuz it's crap. But now she won't let me watch her eat. :confused: I would have continued with the Raw, but if one dog's not going to eat it.. :(

Ok... so, Roxy IS eating but she's just being picky? Or does she actually refuse? How are her poops, and is she acting ill at all? Honestly, I think you should do much more research on raw and get to a point where you can give them a good variety of meats & supplements before switching them cold-turkey. That is how I feel. Raw feeding is great when it is given in a well-thought-out manner, but it sounds like they went from their kibble to just chicken for one week, so it's understandable that their systems might be unsettled right now. It IS better to feed a good quality kibble than to feed raw without knowing what you're doing.

I feel that Roxy & Lily, right now, would do much better on a good quality kibble with raw bones on occasion for recreational chewing. Going from all raw chicken one week to all (poor quality :/ ) kibble the next week is not a healthy diet, IMHO. My advice would be to get Roxy & Lily eating the best brand that you can afford (Nutro Natural Choice, Canidae, etc) and supplement that with occasional RMB's (for Lily chicken legs, for Roxy beef femur/knuckle or pork ribs) for their teeth.

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Originally Posted by bckrazy

Ok... so, Roxy IS eating but she's just being picky? Or does she actually refuse? How are her poops, and is she acting ill at all? Honestly, I think you should do much more research on raw and get to a point where you can give them a good variety of meats & supplements before switching them cold-turkey. That is how I feel. Raw feeding is great when it is given in a well-thought-out manner, but it sounds like they went from their kibble to just chicken for one week, so it's understandable that their systems might be unsettled right now. It IS better to feed a good quality kibble than to feed raw without knowing what you're doing.

I feel that Roxy & Lily, right now, would do much better on a good quality kibble with raw bones on occasion for recreational chewing. Going from all raw chicken one week to all (poor quality :/ ) kibble the next week is not a healthy diet, IMHO. My advice would be to get Roxy & Lily eating the best brand that you can afford (Nutro Natural Choice, Canidae, etc) and supplement that with occasional RMB's (for Lily chicken legs, for Roxy beef femur/knuckle or pork ribs) for their teeth.

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Yeah she's just being picky. She was eating her Raw fine for about the first week, and then she just stopped. She seemed to absolutely love it, and I was getting ready to add in a new meat since her and Lily weren't vomiting, and their poop was normal. But then, she decided to stop eating the chicken..so.. :confused:. The highest quality kibble my mom would buy is Kibbles & Bits :rolleyes: and that's why I hate feeding her kibble. There's not a single way in the world I can convince her to buy something higher. She buys Lily Pro-Plan, but still bleh.

Humhp... my dogs are doing the same thing. Maybe she just isn't being hungry at the time? I just leave the dogs food out and they usually eat it later in the day. How much are you feeding? Maybe you are feeding too much?

Sometimes I add a raw egg to my dogs' food and they eat it, plus, it helps prevent the goop that comes out of their eyes.

I really don't know what to say or how to help...

maybe it's the heat? or has it been like this for awhile?? I know my dogs don't like to eat as much when it's hot out..of course it's not always hot out being in Montana and all..

Roxy may not be feeling well. It could be the heat.

I think it's absolutely ridiculous that Roxy gets Kibbles & Bits while Lily eats Pro Plan. *shakes head in disgust*

Canned is way cheaper than kibble.

Does your mom shop at costco. The kirkland brand is pretty good and it is really cheap.

We don't have a Costco. There's seriously nothing wrong with Roxy :rolleyes:. She just wouldn't eat her Raw.

is she eating now, though?

She's been eating. I just said she hadn't eaten her Raw, and I don't like feeding her kibble because it's crap.

well crap is better than nothing...

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Originally Posted by Roxyluvsme13

She's been eating. I just said she hadn't eaten her Raw, and I don't like feeding her kibble because it's crap.

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Didn't you say that you can not feed her raw anyways?

If you can't feed her raw & you can't afford better food than I don't know what else to tell you. Sorry. Any food is better than no food.

Maybe if you saved your money for better dog food instead of more bettas she would be able to have better food?

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Originally Posted by caseysmom

well crap is better than nothing...

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yes, it is better than nothing. :)

I just have to ask, since you guys seem to be able to afford hundred dollar programs for you, and you mentioned getting a nintendo DS in the future, how is it that you can't afford better food for Roxy? I'm not trying to be rude but it seems to me you should ask your mom about buying YOU less stuff and buying your dog better stuff, rather than constantly asking her for things you want, and more bettas, and hamsters and all that other stuff. If you stopped getting all that stuff, you could afford to care for the animals you already have better. I really am not trying to be rude, but it seems silly to feed one dog better quality food, one dog crap, and buy a bunch of other stuff you don't really need. You earn money for all this other stuff, so save up your money and buy her the good food yourself if she won't eat the raw. You once said your mom spends 40 dollars a month on Roxy's food, but store brand Kibbles and Bits is just not going to cost 40 bucks unless she's eating 4 bags a month. She just isn't that big and I know she's not eating that much or she wouldn't be as thin as she was. A bag of 40 dollar (probably less than) top quality dog food would last her a whole month, so I don't see the difference in the money spent, unless of course she really doesn't spend that much per month on Roxy's food.

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Originally Posted by lv4dogs

Didn't you say that you can not feed her raw anyways?

If you can't feed her raw & you can't afford better food than I don't know what else to tell you. Sorry. Any food is better than no food.

Maybe if you saved your money for better dog food instead of more bettas she would be able to have better food?

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I could feed her Raw in the near future as soon as my mom gets another job, but she won't eat it.

I bought my own bettas with my own money. I bought my hamster with my own money. I bought most of my recent pets with my own money since my mom is broke. She would let me feed Raw. She just won't because Roxy's not eating it. I don't see why she doesn't like it more than her kibble anyways. I know I can't make her eat it, but I can try. I haven't asked for much of anything in a long time because my mom can't afford it. I would buy the kibble myself, but I don't make enough money to do so. I'm barely even allowed to stay home alone, so how am I supposed to make money? Sure I could clean, but that's not going to help anything, because my mom wouldn't pay me.

I'm sorry if that's all confusing, I'm just upset at the moment because Roxy won't eat what's better for her and one of my bettas is sick.

-sigh- Not another one of these threads. :rolleyes:


Ever heard of saving money? A bag of Nutro (which isn't great, but for the price it's okay) is around $25. Easily, the money you spent on getting more animals could have been saved to take better care of the ones you have now.

Just a suggestion and something you'll learn as you mature.

Do you have a Pet Smart? I have a coupon for $3.00 off any purchase from them. I would be glad to send it to you if it would help you to get a bag of Nutro. The bag would probably last Roxy at least a month, if not a little longer. PM me with your address if you would like the coupon.

I still think its horrible that the cute, little inside dog has a better quality food than the big outside dog :(

I feed my five Nutro and a 44lb bag lasts us 3 weeks, so I'm sure it would last you much longer.

First off, I'll say this. I'm not saying this stuff to bash you, I'm just awfully confussed.
You say your mum spends $40 a month? Thats insane. Right now, we're feeding four dogs. Skylar eats like crazy, and he is a big dog (probably bigger than Roxy). He's over 50 lbs and growing. We buy our dogfood from a wholesale store, and we only spend around $30. That lasts us over a month. With your dogs, it should last around two months (seeing as you have 2 dogs and we have 4.)
Maybe go to a store that sells stuff in bulk, and buy enough to last you longer. Usually if you buy it in bigger packages, you save money in the long run.
And I agree with whats been said. I know you want to "help" the bettas in need, but they'll get homes. Just because you don't "save" them doesn't automatically mean they'll die a slow horrible death. I know I don't have too much room to talk, since I've taken in bettas in need, but lets keep in mind that I have enough money to pay for food for every single one of my rodents and the cats. Hey, you're just one year younger than me, I believe, so you can make enough money also. If you have to, have a yard sale or something. I'm sure you have alot of junk laying around that you don't need anymore (we all do!).

Part of being a pet owner is having to sacrifice. I say stop buying most anything for yourself unless you absolutely need it (and that includes bettas). Save your money. If you don't have enough money to feed your dogs good food, then that means you wouldn't have enough money to pay vet bills if your dog got some kind of life-threatening illness.
Anyway...
Good luck with your dogs^^!

Well, I'm sorry I'm not as perfect as some of you :rolleyes:. I'm sorry I "waste" my money on animals in need, when I could have saved it to buy some stupid dog food Roxy probably wouldn't eat. I'm almost 14. I do the best I can for my dogs at the moment. YEAH I could switch them to a higher food, but I don't have 100% control over my dogs. I had them on Raw, they were loving it, then all of a sudden one of them stopped eating it. I TRIED. It was cheaper for us, it was great, but Roxy stopped eating it. We're broke. My mom's been out of work for the past 3 months due to something that's NONE of your business. We've done the best we can feeding ourselves. I've had to give alot up for myself, and I spent my own allowance on Raw. Then, I find some extra money and want to get another 3 bettas. My own reward to myself, and I can't even be happy about it, because my dogs aren't perfect like the rest of your dogs. Roxy's eating, and Lily's eating, and at the moment I don't frapping give a care of the kibble is a piece of CRAP! They had the choice to eat better, but they wouldn't. I'm tired of every single thread I post asking for a bit of advice turning into something like this.

Edit: Jadapit, yes I have a Petsmart.

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Originally Posted by Roxyluvsme13

Well, I'm sorry I'm not as perfect as some of you :rolleyes:. I'm sorry I "waste" my money on animals in need, when I could have saved it to buy some stupid dog food Roxy probably wouldn't eat. I'm almost 14. I do the best I can for my dogs at the moment. YEAH I could switch them to a higher food, but I don't have 100% control over my dogs. I had them on Raw, they were loving it, then all of a sudden one of them stopped eating it. I TRIED. It was cheaper for us, it was great, but Roxy stopped eating it. We're broke. My mom's been out of work for the past 3 months due to something that's NONE of your business. We've done the best we can feeding ourselves. I've had to give alot up for myself, and I spent my own allowance on Raw. Then, I find some extra money and want to get another 3 bettas. My own reward to myself, and I can't even be happy about it, because my dogs aren't perfect like the rest of your dogs. Roxy's eating, and Lily's eating, and at the moment I don't frapping give a care of the kibble is a piece of CRAP! They had the choice to eat better, but they wouldn't. I'm tired of every single thread I post asking for a bit of advice turning into something like this.

Edit: Jadapit, yes I have a Petsmart.

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Kid, you're the one who turns it into "something like this."

Every single person here has given you well intentioned advice BUT YOU DON'T LISTEN. That's why I rolled my eyes when I saw yet another one of your threads. It's just like a record playing over, over, over and over again.

We give you advice.... and 99.9% of the time it goes in one ear and right out the other. If you don't care then why is this thread here?!

Fine, no problem, but if you don't care, please stop coming here and bit*hing about it and asking us what you can do differently. People tell you what you can do differently when you ask and you get all defensive and start yelling at people for the choices YOU make. Also, nobody asked you about income or why your mother isn't working or aything else so I don't konw why you are getting mad at anyone about that. You come and ask for advice, don't like it, so turn around and act extremely rudely to anyone who gave you advice.

I also want to mention that comment about the dogs "could have eaten better but chose not to" is just simply silly. They are dogs, they have no idea about money or anything else like that and they can't make choices like, "oh I know this is better for me so I'm not going to eat it". You also said you couldn't afford it anyway, which is fine, but I don't know why you are blaming the dog when you wouldn't have been feeding it anyway right now.

I'm sorry you are having a hard time but you bring a lot of this on yourself as well with the choices you make. You could buy their food yoruself if you have extra money and used your own money to buy the other stuff. I do hope your mom get a new job soon and I don't really want to know the details of why she is or isn't working and never asked. Good luck to you.

I agree with Kay as well.

not intending to sound rude, Bri, could it be posible to tell your mom to take the 40 she spends monthly on food and go buy the biggest bag of better food you can with it, then you can serve both dogs from same bag and it would be cheaper since they´ll need less food as with other less quality food, and you would be saving more than buying two different brand bags, the bigger the cheaper it turns..........i´m sure it´ll last them longer

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Originally Posted by Husky_mom

not intending to sound rude, Bri, could it be posible to tell your mom to take the 40 she spends monthly on food and go buy the biggest bag of better food you can with it, then you can serve both dogs from same bag and it would be cheaper since they´ll need less food as with other less quality food, and you would be saving more than buying two different brand bags, the bigger the cheaper it turns..........i´m sure it´ll last them longer

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But Roxy and Lily eat different formulas of food.. Lily has to have smaller bites than Roxy, and I prefer to feed her small breed formulas. Roxy, large or medium breed formulas.

This is the thanks for all the good we do huh? :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by lv4dogs

This is the thanks for all the good we do huh? :rolleyes:

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I wasn't trying to sound rude, and I wasn't trying to not accept the advice, but I just seriously can't buy their food myself. It's a long story, and I guess it doesn't matter, because it would be considered an "excuse".

Didn't you say you were going to buy a new Canon Powershot S2IS? Those are $400 or so. That money can go to your dogs. I don't get an allowence, but the money I do have, I spend on my dogs. If you save your allowence, then you can buy them better food. Just a thought...

Edit: Nevermind, just saw your post.