Ok This is starting to drive me up a wall... Sorry for the long post, I'll try to keep it as to the point as possible.
I've just adopted a 5 year old Saint Bernard, whos overweight and was used to being left out gross amounts of wetted Iams mixed with rice and eating kibbles and bits from the can.
First I tried a little ground beef, she wouldn't eat that... Even from my hand, she'd take it and spit it out. I figured OK, so maybe she doesn't like beef. I tried some ground turkey, same thing. So I fasted her for a couple days, and finally she ate some turkey...
I finally got her to eat some ground up chicken necks and backs on the third day she must have been getting pretty hungry... She RELUCTANTLY ate that out of her bowl. But I managed to feed her pretty well on that over the next few days a couple lbs a day. Till the butcher ran out of that stuff...
So then I bought some whole chicken necks and backs, She wouldn't eat them, turned up her nose and walked off, so not wanting to give up. I fasted her again for a day... Success! She again reluctantly crunched down on one of the chicken backs. I tried giving her another one later that day and she refused... So I froze it overnight and then she ate another one, in the morning yay!
Now I've moved onto whole chicken legs, with part of the back still attached -- hoping I can move her up to eating a whole chicken... And I'm having even more trouble.
I give her one and she goes and tries to bury/hide it in the backyard!!! So still not giving in I froze them, and she finally ate one frozen yesterday. But I tried to give her another one today and she again goes and trys to bury it in the yard again
Now I KNOW she can eat these, I just saw her eat one. But I dont want to keep going through this rigamarole. She's obviously hungry.
Should I keep fasting her? I mean its only been a week. Is she trying to train me to give her more kibbles n bits? I can't keep on going through this, god forbid what's going to happen when I start trying to mix in organ meat, tripe, and blended veggies or whatever into her meals if she doesn't even like meat to begin with?!? I cant afford to throw away half the meals cuz she decides she doesn't like them, and I really don't want to have to grind up ALL her meat & bones. I know her teeth work fine, she just ate a whole chicken leg yesterday...
I've been exercising her well too, to try and work-up an appetite, she's been getting 2-3 walk/jogs a day. She's a very active dog with healthy hips for a large breed.
She has been drinking TONS of water at least... which makes me happy. She has a terrible looking coat and bad allergies right now, she obviously needs a raw diet, but she's just being a picky eater. I've had a dog in the past who was half her size and chowed right through the same frozen chicken, so I know the meat is good, I've been feeding grassfed beef, freerange chicken... and this isnt my first time around the block feeding raw...
I saw some wild salmon on sale for 2.69 a pound yesterday I'm gonna go pick one up and see if she'll eat that.
any suggestions would be appreciated.