Liver good enough nutrition?

[sharon]

Cocoa, my 4 month old shih tzu, has been very picky with his food since the time we got a new pug. Before that, he would gobble his food in minutes but now, we literally have to hand feed him just for him to eat something. we have been feeding him eukanuba lamb and rice puppy food. my vet recommended i add chicken liver to his meal and to my satisfaction, he has taken a liking to liver but will only pick off the liver and leave the morsels of dog food in the bowl. my question is...is it ok if i just fed him the liver and eliminated the dog food since he seems to like the liver and im really desperate for his appetite to come back to normal again. He has lost weight from the time he started getting picky and im just so concerned over it. he's not sick coz he's still as playful, its just so nerve wracking! any advice would really be welcomed! thanks!

[lou3]

NO
he must eat the dog food, cut out the liver completely and just leave the dog food out for him. He'll eat it when hes hungry enough he wont starve himself for long.
Lou

[sharon]

lou, why did you say to take out the liver completely? is it bad for him? he's been picky for nearly 2months now and believe me, he will starve himself if we dont force him to eat. well, before i read this post, i gave him his liver and took out the dog food coz i realy felt it was the smell of the dog food that he didnt like anymore...he ate half the bowl but left the other half. my gosh...i have no idea wat else to do!

[erdog3]

I would suggest Lou said to leave it out because then he wouldn't have anything to pick over, (the dog, not Lou)while you are still putting it in he gets a feed and still leaves the rest.
Lou is correct, your dog cannot survive on liver alone, in the wild dogs eat a whole animal, bones etc. berries, grass and other grains and seeds to get full nutrition, as our dogs are not wild we have to give them these valuable nutrients ourselves and liver alone just doesn't contain them. Try cooking the liver, better anyway as it is offal and should be cooked, grate it or mince it and then mix it thouroughly with the other feed.

[sharon]

I tried eliminating the liver and he just wont budge. Just the smell of the dog food repels him to take a bite. I added a bit of canned food just to make it more enticing and he just did the normal sniff then left. I tried having him eat the canned food without his dog food and he ate a bit. Do you think its time i switch to another dog food? Here in manila, aside from eukanuba, we only have holistic, pedigree, alpo, natural balance, hills science diet and optima. Would you knw whats the best among what i have just mentioned? He's currently in eukanuba so leave that out. Thanks!

[lou3]

Try them all until you find one he will eat. You could try adding gravy to make it more appetising.
Yes i did suggest cutting out the liver so he wouldnt have anything to pick over and would be actually hungry therefore more likely to eat the proper puppy food.
Lou

[lou3]

oh and one more thing - if canned food is all you can get him to eat then feed him that, its better for him than liver and at least contains all the necessary nutrients.
Lou

[sharon]

I tried having him eat the canned food again and this time he wouldnt have it. i switched to natural balance and nothing! i was thinking i should just let him starve himself until he gets hungry, buy being that he's just 4months old and such a small breed, weighing only 3.5Kilos now, im afraid starving him to death might just make him worst. If theres one thing he will eat, thats his purina bacon strips which i used to give to him as a treat in aid of training. If i could just give him this instead of dog food, there'd be no prob! but i know thats not good given that it does not have the complete nutrient needed. May i also mention that if i give him food for sitting and staying, he will most likely take a bite but once its eating time, its a whole new ball game! I will stry to starve him for today if he decided not to eat but by tomorow, i guess another visit to the vet will do. Any sugestions would be greatly appreciated! Also, thanks lou for the advice abt liver.

[goombaya]

Ruth

You have to understand that the dog will not starve himself. He will eventually eat what is available for him to eat.

If you free feed, stop. Get him on a schedule. Put down a fraction of his normal portion - than remove it if he doesnt eat it in a reasonable time frame-say 1/2 hour. Ultimately he'll get hungry enough to eat it. Now heres the key... when he ultimately does eat it, keep him on schedule, feed him another reduced portion at his next regular time.. this will keep him hungry. Very slowly increase his portions until he starts leaving it in his bowl- than reduce to that amount.

I know how frustrating this is-train yourself to think...he's not starving himself, he's eating what he needs. If you keep enticing him with liver and canned food, than this cycle of being rewarded for refusing his food will not end.

good luck and dont give in.

[goombaya]

Oh Ruth I forgot..

Make sure you keep him active - and excersized.

And you can buy a paste like Nutrical or something similar- it will supplement as well as encourage appetite.

Good luck.