# Can kibble get boring?



## Frida010 (Apr 24, 2020)

2 month ago I posted a question on what to do when your pup frequently skips a meal (here). With your help (and time / growing up) I turned my pup Fred into a pretty reliable kibble eater. We feed her Edgar and Cooper, puppy kibble twice a day. She eats it because she is hungry, but she doesn’t really chew (just swallows most of it whole) nor takes it as a treat (during training). She sometimes sniffs it and goes “meh, I’ll wait till I’m hungry enough” and a few hours later she’ll eat.

I know, I’m probably just humanizing my dog, but don’t they ever get tired of kibble? Do you mix it up with other ingredients to keep it a bit more interesting for your dog? If yes, what ingredients do you recommend for a growing 6 month old? We are vegetarians, I don’t mind boiling chicken and I have no issues giving her bones or rawhide chews, but raw meat I try to avoid.


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## PhilipL (Sep 28, 2018)

My two years old Rafa grew tired of just kibbles at about 6 months old, we started mixing it with chicken, or vegetables, scrambled egg, and often sardines. He eats the lot. Plain kibbles on their own he won't touch, too boring and doesn't taste as good.

Once you start mixing the kibbles with something tastier, there's no going back though.

Our breeder told us this was likely to happen and suggested sardines at first.


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## Gabica (Jan 20, 2018)

Their food was meant to be produced with all of their nutritional needs. If you see that she is `off` due to growth spurt or extensive exercise, a little addition here and there won`t hurt. Otherwise if you think that their kibble / or whatever food you feed is providing them all the nutrition, i would not. That can cause imbalance even with the best intents behind them. Sardines are a good example: they are a great source of nutrition if your pup needs extra, like after hunting, or other strenuous physical activity. But they also contain a lot of calcium which can interfere with your pup`s bone and joint growth, just as can cause kidney problems if their kibble already has the required level of calcium and if they would have not needed that extra boost. My point is about balance, there are certain items they need, but they are meant to be already in their quality kibble under normal circumstances.
You can add home made bone broth and lukewarm water to their kibble, that usually entices them to eat better and makes it easier on their stomach to digest. I found an easy recipe for bone broth, i don`t eat meat either, but this one i make regularly for my boys and they love it.
If you need training treats and she does not like her kibble for that, try a freeze dried meat source, like fish, duck or beef etc without any fillers, they are easy to carry with you. And again they tend to be easy on their stomach since they have no fillers.


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

I bake salmon for mine on a regular basis. Cut it into 2 to 3 ounce serving sizes, and vacuum seal for the freezer.
Then I can thaw, and add it to their food 2 or 3 times a week. 
But PhillipL is correct, you can set yourself up to them not wanting to eat without it. Sometimes it's best to give it to them separately, after their meal.

If you dog is already at a good weight. Be sure to give a little less kibble, if your adding other food to their diet. I don't worry about a little extra calories for growing pups, it's the adults you watch calorie intake.


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

I fully agree with Gabica on being careful on what you add to your dogs food. I had a long discussion, with the vet over Shine's hip therapy.
Shine is not on a food that is specifically designed for dogs with HD. This is because she is so active, and it would not be enough protein, and calories to keep weight on her. So we had two options, and mixing her food with a different one, was not a option. Because she would not be getting a balanced diet.
The options were to keep her on the food she is already on for now, or he could consult with a dietary nutritionist from Purina, and come up with a food designed to fit her needs. We chose to keep her on the same food, and if needed we would do a consult in the future.

He said the small amount of salmon she gets is fine. As it only adds roughly 16mg of calcium per week. So it's not something she can have daily, or in larger amounts.
I seriously doubt it even helps her hips, but does keep her coat shiny.


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## Frida010 (Apr 24, 2020)

Thanks, great info! The salmon is a great idea for adding about extra. I now sometimes mix pumpkin when her stool is not firm enough. She gets a drop of salmon oil daily through her kibble. She loves fish, I don’t know why I didn’t thought of salmon before.

Looking at her physique and stool, I’m going to stick with kibble for now and just surprise her with a tasty additional every once in a while. She is very lean but certainly not skinny.

Thanks for the recommendation on treats. For treats I already give her a mix of dried duck and chicken cut into very small pieces for easy training sessions. For bigger challenges / bigger rewards I use dried small fishies. Specialty for leash training the smell really makes her work harder to stay next to me. It took me a while to figure out what she would take outside, but fishies always work. Unless she is hyper focused. But that is wat they need for, so can’t blame her.


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## gunnr (Aug 14, 2009)

I was constantly switching dry food for my girls. They would get about 2/3rds of the way through a bag and mutiny. I would switch back to the flavor they stopped eating a few weeks before, and they thought everything was great.
I always had about 3, sometimes 4, open bags of dog food in the house for years. I also ended up with quite the assortment of sealable food container.


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## Jasmik (Nov 27, 2020)

texasred said:


> I bake salmon for mine on a regular basis. Cut it into 2 to 3 ounce serving sizes, and vacuum seal for the freezer.
> Then I can thaw, and add it to their food 2 or 3 times a week.
> But PhillipL is correct, you can set yourself up to them not wanting to eat without it. Sometimes it's best to give it to them separately, after their meal.
> 
> If you dog is already at a good weight. Be sure to give a little less kibble, if your adding other food to their diet. I don't worry about a little extra calories for growing pups, it's the adults you watch calorie intake.



good call on the adding after! so simple, I was thinking to offer raw egg as we have chickens but I knew if I started mixing it in I would have trouble going back. I can't handle the raw diet from the get go with my first dog in 40 years!! Maybe someday we will transition but like humn food as treats I am sure it is a slipper slope and no going back right? Thanks for the wisdom, t minus 2 weeks before we get our lil guy


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## slim (Oct 27, 2019)

Our guy has started to throw tantrums at kibble (Orijen large puppy) so we cooked some sweet potato, spinach, salmon and chicken and blended it up, and mix it with water with the kibble to make a kind of lumpy slush. So he eats the kibble with the extras.


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## slim (Oct 27, 2019)

slim said:


> Our guy has started to throw tantrums at kibble (Orijen large puppy) so we cooked some sweet potato, spinach, salmon and chicken and blended it up, and mix it with water with the kibble to make a kind of lumpy slush. So he eats the kibble with the extras.


UPDATE: that stopped working now, so we are trying new kibble. Wolfsblut Cold River (mainly fish), he doesn't like that either. We steamed some pork, pumpkin and spinach and he liked that, but left most of the spinach 🤦‍♂️


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## Frida010 (Apr 24, 2020)

slim said:


> UPDATE: that stopped working now, so we are trying new kibble. Wolfsblut Cold River (mainly fish), he doesn't like that either. We steamed some pork, pumpkin and spinach and he liked that, but left most of the spinach 🤦‍♂️



Fred is now 10 months old and I have realized that there are days when she can't eat fast enough, and does not need any toppings. Other days, such as today shew won't touch her food. I stopped worrying and just give her extra on days she wants to eat a lot.


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