Bones - Dyl's not eating them...advice please

[Abby]

Okay, so Dylan has gone off his bones 

He's been Raw fed for over 15 months with no probs, though he won't eat mackeral or rabbit. He normally gets chicken wings in the mornings but just the last 2-3 weeks hasn't been eating them. He eats everything else no problems, so he's not unwell in general.

He will eat just the wing tips if they are cut off, but not the rest. He may have sore teeth at the moment, as he's been obsessing with stones recently and has worn them down a little  but the vet says there's nothing else wrong.

My question really is, how can I get bones into him if he won't eat them direct? Am I right in thinking there is mince I can get with bone in it, and does this have the same effect? I know it won't do the same good for keeping his teeth clean, but in terms of consuming them, will it give him the same goodness?

Can't keep him on an imbalanced diet for too long.

Thanks

[CarolineL]

Hurley did this for a while and we just didn't feed him until he ate the chicken wings. We just kept putting the chicken wings in front of him until he ate them. It took about 3 days and he's always eaten them since.

The AMP frozen mince is bone and meat all mixed together. You can get that from P@H

x

[Helen]

you could flash fry them with a bit of garlic to give them a 'smell' and make them interesting again 

[Abby]

Thanks guys. Unfortunatley, Dyl can't stand to loose much weight as he's a skinny beggar, and he's also being very stubborn about these bones    I don't know if its his teef or not.

I will get some of the AMP stuff next time around, but might try the flash fry thing in the mean time. Is it literally to seal the meat? I wouldn't want the bones going brittle.

[Nicola]

Yeah I flash fried chicken wings for Tilly a few times to try to tempt her to eat them and it's literally a couple of seconds on each side, I used the garlic olive oil which adds a bit of flavour to it as well.

[LesleyW]

maybe try smashing the wing up a bit first (with a rolling pin), if its teef giving him some gyp, he might be glad of the easier option?

[bluegirl]

How about lamb ribs, they are tasty, fattier (for his weight!) and soft and the change may encourage him to eat them?

[screamingswifts]

You can also give crushed up egg shell to help with the calcium intake for a while.....

[Abby]

I would definitely do lamb ribs if I could, I just can't get them round here  (Stupid...I lives in Wales  ) I will keep nagging the butchers, though they think I'm mad anyway and are expensive!

Today I tried flash frying but I'm beginning to think he has genuinely gone off chicken  He ate the very wing tips as normal and then just faffed around with the rest so I took them away. Later on, I tried him with just the bones, with the chicken peeled off (I  know, I know) and he ate about half.

He ate one lot of pork ribs a couple of weeks ago, and then has refused them ever since.

He's driving me nuts. I will do the egg thing - thanks, I'd forgotten about that.