Bored

 Let me explain further, I meant bored with her kibble. She gets a variety of different toppers, from beets to yogurt to applesauce and she gets salmon oil and vit.e daily. She also gets a marrow bone once a week. I bought her Natural Balance Ultra Premium Small Bites and eats with gusto now. Thanks everyone.

Edie

Pawsnclaws i agree with everything you have written,but what do you say to die hard kibble only feeders who say the same thing as i highlighted above?? I often say similar things that you have just said on other websites,and there are members who feed ONLY kibble and crap kibble at that!! And they say 'my dogs inhale their food' blah blah blah. I cant argue when they say their dogs act the exact same way as ours do when fed a yummy variety...

Well....all I can conclude is that most of the  "crap" kibbles have so many artificial flavors and things like SUGAR in various forms that get the dogs "addicted". It's like a kid not wanting to eat steak and potatoes but craving Lucky Charms for every meal.   Most dogs that have been fed crap find REAL food unappealing and I'll bet you that most of these kibble feeders are FOS and probably have never given their dogs canned mixers so the dog wouldn't know what it was missing anyways. I can't believe that any dog would be totally satisfied with plain dry kibble if given the opportunity  to have canned or raw food. My dogs won't TOUCH plain kibble, never have eaten it that way, ever.  Don't think I haven't tried giving it to them that way  when I've run out of canned or frozen.  I end up having to break into the people food and opening up anything  from a can of tuna or green beans to making  potatoes or even scrambling up some eggs just so they can have SOMETHING mixed in !

24Pawsnclaws

It really saddens me that the pet food industry has duped everyone into believing that our pets can survive on a single diet. That can't be any further from the truth.  Dogs ( and cats ) need variety in their diets just as we do for optimum health. A sole diet has been proven to be nutritionally DEFICIENT and the "balanced and complete" statement is not only misleading but downright  inaccurate.  If you ate the same thing day in and day out you would eventually suffer from serious health problems and it's only common sense to conclude that your pet will as well.

   I feel the same way and give Jessie a varied diet, but Purina did a study where they fed the same food to Labradors for about 13 years. The purpose of the study was to see if dogs that were kept in ideal body condition lived longer, which of course they did, but all the dogs were fed the same diet and lived fairly long life spans.

http://www.purina.com/science/research/DogMoreYears.aspx;

"When the study began, 48 eight-week-old Labrador Retriever dogs from seven litters were paired within their litters according to gender and body weight and randomly assigned to either a control or restricted-fed group. The control group was allowed to eat an unlimited, or free choice, amount of food during 15-minute daily feedings. Dogs in the restricted, or "lean-fed," group were fed 75 percent of the amount eaten by their paired littermates.

All dogs were fed the same 100 percent nutritionally complete and balanced diets (puppy, then adult) for the entire period of the study, from eight weeks of age until death—only the quantity was different.

Study findings revealed that the median life span of the lean-fed dogs was extended by 15 percent or nearly two years. Median life span (the age at which 50 percent of dogs in the group died) was 11.2 years for the control group versus 13 years for the lean-fed dogs.

By age 10, only three lean-fed dogs had died, compared to seven control group dogs. At the end of the twelfth year, 11 lean-fed dogs were alive with only one control dog surviving. Twenty-five percent of the lean-fed group survived to 13.5 years, while none of the control group dogs lived to 13.5 years."

jessies_mom

The purpose of the study was to see if dogs that were kept in ideal body condition lived longer, which of course they did, but all the dogs were fed the same diet and lived fairly long life spans.

I suppose so if you think of a median of 13 years to be a long life span.  With the number of largish-breed dogs I've known lately living to 15 and 16, I'm not so sure. I do think variety is important and even most people who feed supermarket brand foods are usually supplementing with at least table scraps.

i see Tootsie is a small dog like mine, I wish I could find a canned food or wet food that Bonnie liked, I've tried quite a few and she does not care for them.

I can't imagine my dogs turning down their kibble or being "bored" with their food! I feed high-quality kibble and they are thrilled to get it. I do add things to their diet, an egg here, a bone there, yogurt and some fish occasionally. But that's for my piece of mind and their teeth more than anything.

I'm pretty baffled by some of the responses in this thread... And I'm certainly glad my dogs aren't as particular as some apparently are... Or maybe it's because my dogs get lots of exercise and are pretty hungry when mealtime arrives...

Huskymom-I dont mean to be nosy but why do you feed your guys frozen food? I have never had a dog that liked food cold straight from the fridge,lettalone frozen solid,they wont even touch frozen rmb's,not even marrow bones.

Mine enjoy frozen food quite a lot.  In the summer they get frozen meat muffins (something like Frosty Paws but meatier and not as sweet) when they come in from a hot working session.  I have no idea whether they enjoy it as much as I enjoy my tall glass of iced tea, but they certainly have yet to turn their noses up at it!  

I also feed all meat meals either frozen or straight from the fridge.  I have little kids and no desire to mess around with germs.  In the old days, they both had asthma and therefore by definition were immune compromised - my dogs had no problem accommodating by eating frozen meat.  I see no reason to change now.

On the other hand, they get a warm poached egg over their kibble, along with homemade stew - so it's not like I'm taking shortcuts.  They just plain don't care whether it's frozen or icebox cold or room temperature.

 Glenmar and FourIsCompany,

Dogs can absolutely get bored with their food! My dog does it all the time. No matter how palatable the food is, she will stop eating it for a while until I rotate. I don't like feeding the same thing all the time--the best diet is one with variety.

 
 Little dogs have less taste buds than large-breed dogs, which is probably why you can't understand how a dog can possibly turn their nose up at a kibble.

 Like Becca, I have small kids too, one with athsma.  For me it is more convenient to bring home all their meat for two weeks and portion it out and freeze it.  I freeze it directly on a cookie sheet with layers of wax paper in between and then once its frozen I tranfer it to freezer bags.  I do this with most of my meat in fact.  Its just more convenient. 

My dogs have always had their meat frozen.  When I first started feeding them raw, I was worried about gulping and someone told me to freeze it before they got it, forcing them to chew properly.  Well even after I know they will chew properly, I keep freezing their food.  I can't really say they don't like it thawed, but it confuses them I guess.  They just aren't used to it.  The other thing is that my dogs are northern breeds.  That may or may not have something to do with it, but they are incredibly efficient at eating frozen raw.  An entire 4 pound chicken last Crusher about 12 minutes now, frozen like a rock as my freezer tends to do.  Onyx will finish her's in the same amount of time, though hers are about half the size or a little better.

I have one small dog, and recently lost my other small dog. Neither ever turned their noses up at anything unless they were sick (in fact, the day Teenie died, she ate breakfast, and had some cheese and ice cream, and she was very, very not good that day). When Emma started acting picky about cold stuff recently, she went straight to the vet. She had a bad tooth and had a dental. She's fine, again, about whatever temp food I hand her. If I had a dog that turned it's nose up at plain kibble, or hot food, or cold food, I'd think it was sick and go to a vet. Maybe that's why my dogs scarf their food, LOL. They're afraid of having bloodwork! 

LOL, you guys would go nuts at our house--try a dog who likes variety and is extremely fussy BUT can't eat much variety due to health issues. 

FourIsCompany

I can't imagine my dogs turning down their kibble or being "bored" with their food! I feed high-quality kibble and they are thrilled to get it. I do add things to their diet, an egg here, a bone there, yogurt and some fish occasionally. But that's for my piece of mind and their teeth more than anything.

I'm pretty baffled by some of the responses in this thread... And I'm certainly glad my dogs aren't as particular as some apparently are... Or maybe it's because my dogs get lots of exercise and are pretty hungry when mealtime arrives...

Same here.  I have nver had my dogs refuse food when they were healthy.  Ever.  Sally refused food once when she had a severe kidney infection and Jack has refused it twice--once when he was teething (I just soaked it and he was fine) and when he had the underwear obstruction.

I know people probably don't believe it, but Jack digs into every meal, no matter what it is, with *extreme* enthusiasm.  I have honestly seen no difference between his reactions to different foods.  The *only* thing that makes him more excited is not the KIND of food, but rather the METHOD of serving.  If I put his food into a puzzle toy it becomes about 500x more exciting.  i think he might actually burn off as many calories as he's taking in in his gusto to get the food out of the toy.

We have discovered that Sally does not like pickles or cucumbers.  Jack does not like baby carrots or unflavored Pedialyte.  They both are more than happy to eat just about anything else.  A couple of weeks ago I was eating an orange and Sally literally sat there and drooled a small puddle onto the carpet....

I don't know that i would really want to do different foods every day.  I'm fine with adding stuff into the food, or rotating varieties/brands after a bag has run out, but right now that's about it.  Sally has a sunflower issue (don't know if it is an official "allergy," but she starts itching badly and chewing her hair off if she eats a food with it in it), plus she does not do too well on foods that are very rich, at either extreme of the protien spectrum, etc.  If she is doing well on her current brand I don't see a reason to mix things up too much and risk causing her discomfort.  Jack is currently on Acitve Care and I have seen enough of a positive improvement to his elbow that I don't want to mess with that right now....