Introducing dry food...
 

Hello Everyone...

I have a wonderful yet stubborn ;) shih-tzu named Stella. She was a neglect/abuse case when I got her about three years ago. At that time, she was eating dry food but was seriously malnourished due to a gum infection (she still had both sets of teeth). After I got her, she underwent surgery to remove her set of baby teeth. After that, I began feeding her canned food to make it easier on her mouth. Now, three years later, I'd like her to start eating dry food again. However, everytime I try she turns her nose up at it. She's been having loose stools with no apparent reason, so my vet suggested that I put her on dry food...easier said than done! I only leave it down for a day before giving her canned food, I don't like the thoughts of waiting it out as suggested by the vet. I've tried mixing in the dry food with the canned, however the little stinker just makes a mess picking all the dry food bits out :) She's currently eating wellness canned venison and i'm attempting to get her to eat nutro little bites (lamb and rice). So, I guess I have two questions...

-How do I get her to eat dry food again?
-What brand of dry food that comes in little bites is best? I'll spend whatever I have to, my dog is like my child :)

Thank you!

I don't know if this may help...but when Winnie(LAb) was a pup she too had a hard time with the transition from wet to dry. What I did was put in some warm water in with the dry and let it sit for a while until it looked almost like a gravyand in turn soften the food. I did this for awhile and then started reducing the water until I didn't have to add anymore. I still add water now once in a while just for the gravy effect which she likes. Good luck. There are so many brilliant ideas that come out of this panel of people that I am sure you will be getting a handful of advice.

Personally, I would give her the canned food. There is a top-quality brand called Merrick's that dogs adore and it's all human grade ingredients.:)

[QUOTE]Personally, I would give her the canned food. There is a top-quality brand called Merrick's that dogs adore and it's all human grade ingredients.[/QUOTE]

I love Merrick. All three of my dogs are on it and they could not be happier. I also have an extremely picky Shih tzu X, and she'll even eat it! When I initially introduced it to her, she wouldn't touch it (as usual), but my other dog loved it so much I decided to keep feeding it to her. A week or two later she decided that she liked it, and now she'll even turn up her special birthday cake for it (this dog will even turn up homemade meals, such as rice and extra lean ground meat :p).

Some of the canned foods have a lot of gravy in it, so you could try soaking the dry food in that so it absorbs the flavour. Also, you can add some warm water to the dry food and it makes a gravy that my dogs go crazy for. You could try that and see how she likes it.

Good luck, Stella sounds like a cutie!

My little Sophie (Shih Tzhu) ( her real name is Thaibok Painting the Roses Red) is a fussy little bugger also. I blend up the crunchies and mix the powder with canned food. I gradually added bigger chunks and now she eats her kibbles with a teaspoon of canned mixed in. She is so food focused she seldome chews her food. She swallows the little bits whole. I have her on Natural Balnce Duck and potato.