# Picky eater!!!



## madden (Jan 15, 2009)

Madden has recently stopped eating his usual mixture of food which is the NB duck and potatoes small bites mixed with the wet canned version. I wanted to give him some variety so about a month back I tried the venison and sweet potato wet food and he loved that mixed with his kibble. I was alternating between the 2 cans and he was doing fine. *Is this ok to do or is it to much of a food change?*

The other day I tried the fish and sweet potato and he hated it. I went back to the original formula, but he wouldn't eat it at all. I am now just giving him plain NB duck and potato kibble without any wet food and he gobbles it up. 

*My question is at Madden's age (4months) is it ok to just feed him dry kibble alone? Why isn't he eating the orginal mixture that he loved? *

Thanks in advance :heart:


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## madden (Jan 15, 2009)

*BUMP*

Is everyone taking a vacation? I need one desperately


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## jmm (Nov 23, 2004)

Dry only is fine. The more you switch things around, the more you encourage picky eating.


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## madden (Jan 15, 2009)

Thanks JMM. I was just worried that he wouldn't be getting enough nutrients at his young age by giving him dry only.


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## I found nemo (Feb 23, 2006)

I have always fed dry, never wet.
Nemo eats NB Potato and Duck, I once tried the fish :smheat: :smheat: the smell was horrendous.
I have been with this food for 3 years now and am quit happy/ :biggrin:


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## ThePetKitchen (Feb 12, 2009)

Feeding dry only is fine. Lots of dog owners feed only dry. I would recommend not feeding one type of food exclusively, but rotating between 2 or 3 different brands with different protein sources, and rotate them every few months. Feeding different diets can help fill in nutritional gaps that a particular food or brand might have, and I have also heard rotating foods makes it less likely for your dog to develop food allergies. It is also very important to have a transition period between switching foods. Suddenly stopping one food and switching to a new food can cause serious indigestion in dogs. Hope that helps!


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## ckim111 (Dec 17, 2008)

QUOTE (ThePetKitchen @ Feb 26 2009, 01:00 AM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=734475


> Feeding dry only is fine. Lots of dog owners feed only dry. I would recommend not feeding one type of food exclusively, but rotating between 2 or 3 different brands with different protein sources, and rotate them every few months. Feeding different diets can help fill in nutritional gaps that a particular food or brand might have, and I have also heard rotating foods makes it less likely for your dog to develop food allergies. It is also very important to have a transition period between switching foods. Suddenly stopping one food and switching to a new food can cause serious indigestion in dogs. Hope that helps![/B]


Actually switching proteins makes it less likely to develop allergies. If you rotate between 3 different canned foods all containing chicken it won't help.

As for suddenly changing foods a lot of dogs will require a gradual period for food change. But here is the problem. Most owners wait until their dogs stop eating and then gradually try and change the food. Well if you mix brand A (the one your pet is sick of) with brand B(the one your pet may like), guess what tends to happen. If you are lucky he will eat mostly B. Some really picky eaters will not even go near it because of the smell of brand A - even if they would normally eat brand B by itself. So I guess what I am trying to say is that a lot of this is trial and error. I tried the gradual change with Bella and she was having none of it. So now she eats whatever, whenever and never has any problems with her stool.


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## madden (Jan 15, 2009)

Thanks so much for the info guys. I am feeding Madden his NB kibble mixed with a little veggies such as string beans and carrots. He's doing really well on this diet, so I'm keeping it up.

I am eventually going to try to transition to home cooked meals. Hopefully everything works out.


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