Eating dry food

Hi Everyone: It seems by reading this great Maltese page that we all have or will have at some time, the same problems along with the same joys! My little Biscuit seems to have the same attitude toward dry dog food as many of the rest of your puppies--not very interested. I have started something, which I probably should not have started, by giving her a small aount of white meat chicken which I have cooked in her dish with her dry Iams kibbles to "entice" her to eat the dry stuff. However, she usually quits after the chicken is gone even though I don't think it is enough to fill her up (which I do purposely). Awhile back, one of you addressed this problem and named a dry dog food which your Maltese even did a little doggy dance while eating. The name was something like Natures Blend, Natures Variety, but I cannot remember it. I would love to find out the name if any of you remember it--I'm ready to try anything.
Claire

• There are a few things you can try if your puppy will not eat dry food. You can soak the food in a little warm water, pouring off the excess and then mix a little Gerber baby chicken or baby beef in with it. Or if they are still not interested, puree the dry food with a blender then mix with goat's milk (diluted with water) and mix in baby food. The latter is for younger puppies as the goat's milk will probably give an older dog a loose stool but if you do the latter without the goat's milk, this might work too. I feed my dog kibble that is soaked with a tablespoon of Kal-Kan Pedigree and then I leave a dry food down for her during the day to snack on as she gets hungry.
  Taram

• My puppy also had this problem. I went through several brands of dog food to no avail. I tried mixing baby food with the dry and she would eat the baby food off of the dry food and also this caused her to have runny stools. (Which is most unpleasant when housetraining!) What finally worked for me was Pedigree dry kibbles with a spoonful of Pedigree Puppy canned mixed in. The Pedigree Puppy canned food is drier than most canned dog foods I've tried and her stools hardened up. I left the dry down for her during the day and she started eating it by itself. Now she doesn't even need the canned, she eats the dry just fine. Hope this helps!
  Lori, Bella's mom

• Oh I don't know if you've really started something so terrible. I think our sweeties are very much like ourselves, each one's taste is unique. The important thing is that your Biscuit is getting the proper nutrition in a balanced form.

  My Splitter vacillates between being a canine disposal that would eat everything and anything put in front of her to being a stubborn, finicky picky eater. We seem to have come to an amicable solution to our problem.

  Although I would like to feed her nothing but dry kibble, Hills Brand Science Diet prescription for adults, she seems to like, no demand, some kind of variety in her eating regimen. In the morning I feed her 1/4 C of kibble softened with some warm water and I throw in a teaspoon or so of boiled chicken or tuna. Since it's wet and I mix in the chicken real good, she can't eat her way around her kibble. She usually devours it and licks the bowl clean within 5-10 minutes. I give her a milk bone to help clean her teeth before I leave in the morning and again at lunch. I give her another 1/4 C of dry kibble at dinner. She usually sniffs and picks at it as if she's being punished. I usually give her about 15-20 minutes and then take it away. If she hasn't eaten most of it, I put it in her crate right before bedtime. If I'm not sleeping too hard, I can hear her munching away at it during the night and it's usually gone in the morning.

  This works for us and your mileage may vary. To me, the important thing is to make sure she's getting the proper nutrition and the dry kibble is the best form of that nutrition for her teeth. Splitter is 5 1/2 years old, weighs 5.8 lbs (as of yesterday) and the vet and vet technician both commented on how nicely her muscle tone is. Although you did not say how old your Biscuit is, you may have to adopt a different feeding regimen if she is but a wee puppy.
  Tonya

• I think the brand of food you were thinking of is called, Nutro Natural Choice. This has worked very well for my dogs and even my fincky female dog will eat this. She doesn't dance but she is happy ha!
  Pug