Feeding question,

[ScreamNdemon]

I soak Apollo & Lex's dog food in warm water each evening. Is this bad or is it ok?

[SnuzerDog]

I add warm water to Deano's kibble both breakfast and dinner. Sometimes a raw egg as well. I don't really soak it, as I stir it up with my hands and then feed right away. I have read that adding fluid can help dogs that 'wolf' their food slow down a bit, which aids digestion FWIW. :)

[tidibole]

When I first got my one of my boys, he had been "free fed" and it was essentially left up to him when to eat. And he preferred not too. When he came to live me he was approx 68#, 28 1/2 in and a relatively big boy. Now he is approximately 87#..He didn't look emaciated just very slender. I tried everything, including the hamburger ball, canned food, cheap food, you name it I tried it. Nothing enticed him to eat. Fourteen months later I am STILL hand feeding him his entire ration of food. Which is either soaked with very warm water and NuPro (a liver flavored supplement) or the chicken broth. He just comes out on the porch, sits in front of me and WAITS, opens his mouth, I deposit the food, he chews, we start over again until the whole bowl is gone. There have been rare occassions where he will in earnest eat by himself but they are not dependable times. As I had mentioned in previous posts, I cook, chicken, etc for all the dogs in the winter and although he will pick out the chicken and sometimes eat the broth, he will leave the rest for me to do! Does this just sound LAZY, spoiled, etc??? I did take him to the vet and had a Thyroid/Liver panel run and that was normal. But I don't think the last 14 months have been normal by anyone's perception. LOL...Would be very interested in knowing if there are others that have this sort of a situation! and if so what they speculate the cause to be!

[Rhiannon]

I always add warm water to our kibble. I don't let the food soak just put it down immediately to feed. My dogs always do very well with this method. And I also have had a dog that had to be fed by hand also. Fortunately for us he has outgrown this method. I finally figured out that he would not starve himself to death so to speak although I was stressed beyond belief for the five or six days it took for him to finally start eating on his own. Sometimes I truly believe that these dobes are pretty smart creatures that are just truly thriving on the attention and special care that they get from us when they know that "mom" will do all it takes to keep them happy. :D

[tidibole]

I think you may have hit on something with the "special time". He dances to the front door while I carry his food and sits like a gentlman waiting for me to scoop it and put it in his mouth..It took so long to get his weight to where it should be, not just in areas but all over that I don't want to take the chance of any regression. Well maybe the next year will bring better results..I even wondered it this was some sort of a heriitary issue or just plain spoiled. If I ever neutered him he would probably blow up like a balloon and look incredibly awesome! LOL...

[ScreamNdemon]

Thanks for the posts. I feel better now.