# Loss of interest in chicken?



## Cain (Feb 14, 2011)

Recently Cain has had no interest in chicken, or turkey. He use to eat Chicken quarters and Turkey necks regularly for bone in meals. Now he will not touch anything turkey or chicken related. This is a slight dilemma because chicken is so easily obtained and cheap to boot. Has anyone else encountered this problem?


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## Kat (Jul 12, 2011)

I have a pug, so she will pretty much eat anything. What other protein sources are you feeding? What if you mixed the chicken with something else, maybe it would throw him off?


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## SpooOwner (Oct 1, 2010)

My female doesn't care for chicken, which is one of our staples. She's only slightly better with turkey. For these meals, I add fish/emu/salmon oil to make it more interesting. I also tend to make these meals smaller and feed them later in the day so I know she's hungry.


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

both of my dogs went through that phase, so we stopped feeding chicken and turkey for a while.

when we went back to it, they were fine.

i guess the difference being chicken is no longer a staple for them....so they'll eat it....we try to rotate their foods....as much as we can.


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## kennyk (Sep 17, 2011)

I have a lab and he litterally eats everything i give him but try cooking it for 20 seconds on a stove with a tong. that smell usually makes him go crazy and devours it like it's something new lol


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## Cain (Feb 14, 2011)

The thing is he has become very picky with his food. I feed beef, pork, venison, turkey, chicken, and mostly organs from beef/pork/chicken. I've been giving him beef/venison and pork ribs instead of chicken quarters. I haven't given him turkey in a while, and decided to try some drumsticks/wings and necks. He won't touch any of those either. 

About the fish oil on top of the food. The other night's dinner included venison, beef liver and kidney, and chicken gizzards. I poured fish oil over the gizzards. Well after Cain was done eating, I go outside to get his bowl to clean, and lo' and behold, EVERYTHING is gone, including the fish oil, except the gizzards are left in his bowl and on the ground. He picked everything up, and even the gizzards to get the fish oil off of them. It's getting frustrating because he has become so picky, when before he was so happy to get anything.


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## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

Leo goes off of his poultry some times....at that point he ONLY gets poultry until he eats well for 3 days in a row....then HEY LOOK, what a good boy, now you get some pork, or lamb, or whatever!!:thumb: :wink:


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## eternalstudent (Jul 22, 2010)

Becka went of turkey last christmas, but due to the time of year I had just bought loads of turkey. So she got nothing but turkey until it was all gone, now she eats the drumsticks when I put them down for her.

I would tough love him. He will eat, if he is really stubborn he might las a couple of days


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

Get another dog! The competition for their vittles will make him eat...Lol Seriously, how long has it been since you fasted Cain?


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## naturalfeddogs (Jan 6, 2011)

Scarlett_O' said:


> Leo goes off of his poultry some times....at that point he ONLY gets poultry until he eats well for 3 days in a row....then HEY LOOK, what a good boy, now you get some pork, or lamb, or whatever!!:thumb: :wink:


I agree with Scarlett. Tough love is sometimes just what you have to do. I have to mine on accasion as well. I offer and they don't eat for a meal or two. Their choice. Then all of a sudden they get good and hungry and "man, thats some good chicken!" We are the ones who make them picky by giving them what they want when they want it.


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## IslandPaws4Raw (Sep 7, 2011)

I ran into this little problem with Kai....she is a piglet, but all of a sudden decided she didn't want her chicken gizzards. What ended up working for me...hand feeding the gizzards. And I didn't just pass them to her....she literally had to tear small pieces off to eat it ( probably won't work with a big dog LOL) Maybe just making a big deal of giving a special treat while you're preparing his meal?

Good luck. I know I use gizzards to help bulk up the boneless meals, so I hope they never get tired of them.


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## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

whiteleo said:


> Get another dog! The competition for their vittles will make him eat...Lol Seriously, how long has it been since you fasted Cain?


HAHAHA, Speaking from experience this doesnt always work!:tongue: 
Leo, when he decides to go off of chicken, will TAKE his food to someone else(sadly enough normally porky-boy, Brody) and watch them eat it....hoping that I dont notice!!LOL :lol: (But then again Leo LOVES "his puppies" of all breeds!!!LOL)



naturalfeddogs said:


> I agree with Scarlett. Tough love is sometimes just what you have to do. I have to mine on accasion as well. I offer and they don't eat for a meal or two. Their choice. Then all of a sudden they get good and hungry and "man, thats some good chicken!" We are the ones who make them picky by giving them what they want when they want it.


LOL, EXACTLY.....on the 2nd or 3rd day Leo normally is with everyone else waiting for food..when I put his chicken on his towel he digs right in wagging his tail, seemingly forgetting his former aversion to it!LOL

NOW...one thing I DID notice, is that Leo noticed when I accidentally got the enhanced stuff, and would NOT touch it....so make sure that isnt an issue!:wink:


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## leilaquinn (Sep 7, 2011)

I have a hard time with the tough love thing, which is silly because my dog still has a few pounds to lose and certainly won't starve to death over night. He always likes chicken, but after the first time won't eat any pork, this is a good reminder not to give in and give him something else


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## MollyWoppy (Mar 19, 2010)

Yep, when Mollie gets fussy, I just wait 30 minutes then put the food back in the fridge and tell her how the poor street dogs in Mexico would die to have a free meal like that. She doesn't seem to care too much about the street dogs, so we just keep putting the food out and putting it away until she is eventually hungry enough to eat it.


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## Tobi (Mar 18, 2011)

Cain said:


> The thing is he has become very picky with his food. I feed beef, pork, venison, turkey, chicken, and mostly organs from beef/pork/chicken. I've been giving him beef/venison and pork ribs instead of chicken quarters. I haven't given him turkey in a while, and decided to try some drumsticks/wings and necks. He won't touch any of those either.
> 
> About the fish oil on top of the food. The other night's dinner included venison, beef liver and kidney, and chicken gizzards. I poured fish oil over the gizzards. Well after Cain was done eating, I go outside to get his bowl to clean, and lo' and behold, EVERYTHING is gone, including the fish oil, except the gizzards are left in his bowl and on the ground. He picked everything up, and even the gizzards to get the fish oil off of them. It's getting frustrating because he has become so picky, when before he was so happy to get anything.


We've been going through this with Tobi as well, it just takes some patience and being as hard headed as they can be. Is he getting a lot of exercise? This seems to be what will make Tobi eat absolutely anything, since my leg is healed up we can start working out again, and he's now eating again... he snuffed every bit of Venison that we gave him for about a week, i started to sear it, and he would eat it that way (go figure). But nothing can compare to how much he wants to eat when he's worked hard, and is hungry!


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## Dude and Bucks Mamma (May 14, 2011)

I do the tough love thing too. We got an overload of beef when we ended up with two whole bull calves so they got beef every day for quite a while until we weren't overloaded on it anymore and Dude, at one point, decided he didn't want beef anymore. He got that peice of beef for 3 days before he finally ate it. We haven't had a problem with beef (or any meat) since. Buck is an absolute hog and will eat ANYTHING so we don't have to worry about that with Buck. Haha.


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

Cain said:


> The thing is he has become very picky with his food. I feed beef, pork, venison, turkey, chicken, and mostly organs from beef/pork/chicken. I've been giving him beef/venison and pork ribs instead of chicken quarters. I haven't given him turkey in a while, and decided to try some drumsticks/wings and necks. He won't touch any of those either.
> 
> About the fish oil on top of the food. The other night's dinner included venison, beef liver and kidney, and chicken gizzards. I poured fish oil over the gizzards. Well after Cain was done eating, I go outside to get his bowl to clean, and lo' and behold, EVERYTHING is gone, including the fish oil, except the gizzards are left in his bowl and on the ground. He picked everything up, and even the gizzards to get the fish oil off of them. It's getting frustrating because he has become so picky, when before he was so happy to get anything.


i have found that variety is the spice of life...

when we fed kibble, they ate the same thing day in day out....we never gave it a thought. they should be GRATEFUL we deigned to feed and clothe and house them....

but we were wrong.

they like variety. chicken day in, day out..and i get that...if i had to eat a certain food every single day, i'd tire of it too....

thing is, our dogs are not in the wild and the closest hunting ground is the freezer from which we choose their food....optimally, they should get variety because each animal has a whole network of nutrition...

on the other hand, we cannot allow for picky dogs...bad enough to have picky children and husbands....

so we did the tough love when we had chicken for them to eat.....and we also try to give them a rotation of foods. 

if malia doesn't eat her drumstick, then it gets put away.....and the look on her face...it's just agonising...she cries and stomps her feet, but she had her chance.

now....almost two years in.....food is put down, and they thank the Lord above that we deigned to feed them. 

those gizzards would become the meal...if these were my dogs....


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## Cain (Feb 14, 2011)

I've only fasted Cain for a day, before giving in. I just purchased 40lbs of quarters, so there is no way I'm letting it go to waste. He has been obviously spoiled and will wait for another food instead of chicken, when most all other dogs would be tearing that quarter apart. Tomorrow I'm going to try to administer some of that tough love for more then a day and see if this addresses the issue.


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## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

Remember, and this is how I have to think about it to allow my self, and husband to get thru it....you dont need to fast(or "starve" as some say!:tonguethem....you ARE offering them food, THEY are deciding not to eat it...then you are putting it up after it's allotted time.....not your fault AT ALL!!!:thumb:
(He WILL get over it...and that look that he gives you thanking you for that AMAZING chicken quarter will make your heart flutter!!!)


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## DoglovingSenior (Jun 26, 2011)

magicre said:


> i have found that variety is the spice of life...
> 
> 
> on the other hand, we cannot allow for picky dogs...bad enough to have picky children and husbands....
> ...


Ok, maybe you can help me. I had never fed my crew pork liver and was delighted when I found it. I had no worries about anyone eating it-pork neck bones/ribs were favorites. They also devoured beef liver. Only KO refused chicken liver. Long story short,he went 8 meals (@2 a day) and still would not eat the pork, he actually, would pick some up then drop it on the floor. I was almost in tears by this time. Finally there were 6pieces of pork liver on the floor & he actually got one down before walking away-I praised him,cleaned up the floor & I will NEVEWR buy pork liver again! I made that night a meaty recreational bones night. What should I have done differently?


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## JoeynZoey (Apr 25, 2011)

If Zoey decided to convert herself to anti chicken, we'll have a major problem  chicken is her primary source for now.


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## JayJayisme (Aug 2, 2009)

My dogs prefer their chicken "ripe". If it's straight out of the fridge, they will let it sit for hours sometimes before they eat it. If I have time, I will sometimes take it out and let it reach room temp before feeding them. But most of the time, I just feed it out of the fridge and let them drag it to wherever they want in order to keep an eye on it, and they eventually eat it after it starts looking like something out of a Chinese restaurant dumpster. 

My mom's dog takes it to a whole different level by burying her chicken and letting it sit at least a whole day before digging it up and eating it. That is, if some wild critter didn't find it overnight and help themselves. She gets very confused when she starts digging for her food and can't find it because some critter snatched it. But when she locates it, she loves feasting on the smelly mess. Go figure.


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

JoeynZoey said:


> If Zoey decided to convert herself to anti chicken, we'll have a major problem  chicken is her primary source for now.


if zoey wants to eat, then zoey needs to unconvert herself


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## JoeynZoey (Apr 25, 2011)

magicre said:


> if zoey wants to eat, then zoey needs to unconvert herself


Oh no, I meant if she ever did become anti chicken and refused to consume anything from a chicken haha, than I will have a problem :tongue:. She's far from a picky eater towards anything given to her these days, it's to the point that she's usually a gulper during meal times because well, I suppose she's fearful that she'll never have another meal again


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