Dog Community

Would you feed Science Diet if your picky eater loved it?

Posted : 8/29/2006 12:50:41 PM

I have an 8 1/2 month old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.

She's always been a very picky eater. She was on Eukanuba when I got her and I wanted to switch her to a better food. I first tried Solid Gold puppy food, which she ate pretty decently, but she started scratching right after we started feeding it and it continued for over a month.. We went to the vet and she had a full course of antibiotics, was on an antihistamine, and has been on Revolution ever since. She was still scratching throughout all this, so I decided to try a different food since it had started right after we switched her. We then tried California Natural Lamb & Rice puppy food, which she never liked! We have since tried Wellness, Chicken Soup for the Puppy Lover's Soul, Nutro, and Innova all with no success.

We have also tried mixing can food (Neuro 95% meat, Nutro packets, Solid Gold canned, Merrick) with dry food and feeding just plain canned. When the canned is mixed with dry kibble, she picks up the kibbles and sucks the canned food off and drops the kibble on the floor, when we feed plain canned she ignores it completely (same as if we mix canned and dry with warm water). We do do meal times where the food is down for 20-30 minutes and then picked up. I got very tired of throwing away an entire bowl of untouched food.

She was spayed 3 weeks ago, and she got very dehydrated afterwards and was quite sick. She lost 1 1/2 pounds (she only weighs 10 1/2) and refused to eat anything. I had to give her fluids at home, and we had to do anything to get her to eat. What we discovered during that time is that she loves Science Diet small bites puppy - she will eat an entire bowl of just plain kibble at one time, which she never did before with any food. I'm so thrilled to see her eating and putting on weight again!

I know Science Diet is definitely not a premium food, and that there are much better ones out there. I just don't know if I should just be glad to see her finally eating and keep feeding her Science Diet as long as she continues to do well, or if now that she's over the major scare of being so sick if I should try to find a better food that she will eat as well.

Krista DeBellis

Posted : 8/29/2006 12:53:50 PM

There may be better foods than Science Diet but there are also worse ones. IMO, if you found something your puppy will finally eat and she's doing well on it, then stick with it.

Just remember, though, there are numerous high-quality foods out there. If Science Diet ends up not working, there are many others to try.

brookcove

Posted : 8/29/2006 1:05:56 PM

I'd try a couple more foods once she was settled down, and then, to answer your questin directly, no, I'd make my own food before I fed Science Diet.

Solid Gold's Just a Wee Bit is formulated to appeal to picky eaters, I've heard. Once she's done growing, EVO is very appealing to picky eaters and has a couple formulas to try now if she gets to itching again. Have you evaluated the ingredients in the foods she's refusing and itching on? My cat refused to eat raw after I first got her and it turned out she was allergic (REALLY allergic) to chicken. It even made her mouth itch, apparently! It's been a year since I figured that out and now she'll eat anything (as long as it's not chicken, of course).

Royal Canin is not as great as some of the above foods, but I REALLY like their dedication to meeting special needs. They have a couple of formulas for different sizes and activity levels of dogs (I think they even go by breeds).

If Science Diet is what your dog does best on, then go for it. But keep an open mind - new products are coming out all the time!

Good luck.

tony

Posted : 8/29/2006 1:40:42 PM

If he likes it and it works, don't worry about it, you've already tried several "premium foods" with no luck, there is always a "better food" no matter what you feed, you can constantly keep switching in search of the perfect food, or you can try several foods and decide which one works the best, which you've already done, in this case it seems to be Science Diet.

Elizabeth

Posted : 8/29/2006 1:48:33 PM

Thanks for the help!

ORIGINAL: brookcove
Solid Gold's Just a Wee Bit is formulated to appeal to picky eaters, I've heard. Once she's done growing, EVO is very appealing to picky eaters and has a couple formulas to try now if she gets to itching again. Have you evaluated the ingredients in the foods she's refusing and itching on? My cat refused to eat raw after I first got her and it turned out she was allergic (REALLY allergic) to chicken. It even made her mouth itch, apparently! It's been a year since I figured that out and now she'll eat anything (as long as it's not chicken, of course).

Royal Canin is not as great as some of the above foods, but I REALLY like their dedication to meeting special needs. They have a couple of formulas for different sizes and activity levels of dogs (I think they even go by breeds).
Good luck.

Solid Gold's Just a Wee Bit is what I had originally planned on switching her over to after she was a year old, which is why I started on Solid Gold puppy food. I actually tried Evo while we were trying to get her to start eating again, since I had read it was very appealing. She wouldn't even touch it, and I never pushed it too much with that one since she's still too young to eat it full time anyway. I looked into Royal Canine, but I was almost overwhelmed by all the choices. I am tempted by the one that has the Cavalier on the front, although it's not a breed specific food! In some ways, time is flying by, but in other ways it seems like forever until she's a year old and doesn't need puppy/all life stages food anymore. There are foods I was interested in trying, but she's still so young.

I haven't really been able to narrow down yet what she might be allergic to (assuming that it is allergies) since she never ate any other foods well enough or long enough to get an idea of how she reacted to them. She seems to really dislike lamb. I tried giving her 2 different lamb & rice formulas, and 95% meat canned lamb, and she never ate any of them. She definitely seems to like chicken based foods the best - of all the foods we tried before Science Diet she liked Chicken Soup for the Puppy Lover's Soul the best, although even that she didn't eat very well.

This is why I tell my husband I'm not ready for human kids - I have enough with our furry kids between the puppy and our cat with multiple issues. I'd never make it if I had to worry about what to feed a baby too! [

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Luvntzus

Posted : 8/29/2006 1:58:41 PM

Honestly, I would keep trying other foods before settling on Science Diet.

I wonder if part of what she likes is the small kibble size? In that case I would probably try Solid Gold Just a Wee Bit. It's a very small kibble size... Other possibilities: Timberwolf Organics and Nature's Variety.

The bolded ingredients are why I wouldn't feed Science Diet:

Corn meal, chicken by-product meal (including white meat, dark meat, liver and other internal organs), soybean meal, animal fat (preserved with BHA, propyl gallate and citric acid), dried beet pulp, brewers rice, vegetable oil, natural flavor, preserved with BHT and BHA, minerals (dicalcium phosphate, iodized salt, ferrous sulfate, zinc oxide, copper sulfate, manganous oxide, calcium iodate, sodium selenite), vitamins (choline chloride, vitamin A supplement, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin E supplement, niacin, thiamine, calcium pantothenate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin, folic acid, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement).

Twin

Posted : 8/29/2006 2:37:17 PM

I've dealt with the pickiest of poo's let me tell you! Thank God he wouldn't touch Science Diet...because that was my 1st choice! [:'(] He also loved Beneful...even though I love seeing him eat...I could not feed my baby crap food. But, once again this is just ME and my opinion.

If your dog does well on Science Diet and you are fine with the ingredients, feed it. Although my advice would be to try Canidae (can be very bland)...and so I add the Innova EVO 95% Canned...smells kinda like Cat Food so maybe thats why my boy loves it! [

] Anyway, he goes nuts for it and scarfs down every single meal.

If you can get those foods, maybe give that a try...[sm=2cents.gif]

sandra_slayton

Posted : 8/29/2006 3:21:03 PM

Yes, I did, do, and would feed Science Diet if needed. My 7 yer old golden retriever had issues with her knees--luxating patellas--and had to have surgery on each one 14 months apart. Between the before, during and after stages, she went up to 85 pounds. Nothing seemed to take the weight off her. I was so concerned I had her tested twice in a two m onth period for thyroid problems as I had dealt with that in another dog. Finally my vet said put her on Science Diet (which he feeds to his champion English Setter) only her's was the weight reduction prescription one, r/d. Well it worked and the weight came off and in the years since she has not put it back on.

Then when my 11 1/2 year old golden got his old man physical (complete with almost $200 blood work), his CBC came back low red count, high white count, and his SMAC 12 showed something amisss with his kidneys. They did a urinalysis and it showed kidney infection and "trash" in the urine. My vet put him on 2 weeks suply of antibitics and also 3 months on Science Diet k/d for kidneys. He goes in next week to have CBC and urinalysis done again and if all is okay, I guess he will go back to his regular dog food. but if my vet says keep him on the SD prescription k/d, I will and never get it another thought.

meilani

Posted : 8/29/2006 3:29:02 PM

I would not feed Science Diet. There are lots of higher quality feed out there that I would rather try another higher quality food instead of settling for Science Diet.

sooner

Posted : 8/29/2006 3:48:35 PM

I would, if it were a necessary prescription formula, but I would also look at Royal Canin#%92s vet diets or home-cooking to manage a condition. I would not use it for just a picky dog.

DeAnna Haase

Posted : 8/29/2006 4:33:29 PM

No, I wouldn't feed SD. There are too many options out there.

tony

Posted : 8/29/2006 4:37:56 PM

Lets see the OP has tried about 10 foods of which only SD has worked, lets all pick a number of how many she should try, I say try 25.

papillon806

Posted : 8/29/2006 4:41:27 PM

Have you tried Royal Canin (www.royalcanin.us) or Bil-Jac (www.biljac.com)? They are better than Science Diet ingredient wise, and these two are the only foods my INCREDIBLY picky pup will eat. Bil-Jac will send you a free 1.5 lb sample bag if you would rather try it before you buy it.

Edie

Posted : 8/29/2006 5:08:53 PM

lets all pick a number of how many she should try, I say try 25.

I say as many as it takes!Until she finds a food with healthy ingredients that her dog will eat.I've never thought it was a good idea to "settle" for a food simply because "the dog will eat it".

Vetrik i would not feed science diet,it has too many unhealthy ingredients,and i'm paranoid about feeding some things to my dogs [&:] and what will you do if she evwentually stops eating that?
Have you looked into natures variety,especially the raw instincts kibble? It may be worth a tryhttp://www.naturevariety.com

You have a long way to go before you give up and feed science diet,there are loads of great foods out there for you to try. You could try other kibbles or you could go the pre-made raw diet route which is very,very hard for dogs to resist [

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papillon806

Posted : 8/29/2006 5:11:15 PM

I love how people who have never experienced a picky eater can say so easily "gee, just try them all." Do you know how stressful it is for the person when the dog will not eat? And I will say from experience that if they don't like one premium kibble, it is very rare they will like a comparable one.