My Border Terrier Harvey

[tillyh345]

Hi has anyone else got a border and if so what do you feed them Harvey has Classic Cuisine which is biscuits twicw a day and a weetabix for breakfast he is just two, years old . Its just that he doesnt seem to really enjoy the biscuits and just leaves them in the bowl and goes back to them every now and again as if to say oh well im not getting anything else so id better just eat this.

[doglady]

Don't let him go back and think about it. If he walks away from the food, take it away and don't give him anything else until his next mealtime. He'll get the idea when he's hungry enough!!

[tillyh345]

thanks doglady we will give that a go makes sense really doesnt it?

[lankeela]

At two he does not need three meals a day, either drop the breakfast or change it for a biscuit meal. He could even only have one meal a day. If it is a complete dry food, you can measure out the day's ration and leave him to eat it as and when he fancies, this is a more natural way of feeding. Only if it is meat based or he is not eating at all should you remove the food after a little while.

[LoftyLottie]

Terriers are usually not 'piggy' eaters and don't woof (no pun intended) their food down in one go.

I leave dried food down all day for my two terriers and that works very well. They then have a small evening meal of wet dog food (more as a treat because they love it so much).

[tillyh345]

Thankyou lankeela

Do u think it is ok to give him just dried food as I had a comment recently from someone saying it was cruel to not feed meat?

Before this I was just giving him his ration in the bowl in the evening and he was grazing on his until it was all gone which suited but because I had this comment I thought I had better see what is the correct food and correct way of feeding - we dont let him have any titbits throught the day although he is always sat quite close by us with his head down trying not to look but gives you the odd glance with the pitiful eyes every now and again as if to say Dont forget me!!! He is so cute....

[lankeela]

Unless it is a vegetarian complete food it contains meat anyway! Check the contents, most are well balanced and offer a better diet than home made foods.

Apart from tiny puppies who have a variety of foods, mine have always been reared and fed on dry complete food fed adlib, although they do get any leftovers from my meals mixed in if there are any. Mine only get titbits when training or if I leave them for a time, either a couple of markies or a tripe stick. They have knuckle bones every so often which they bring out and chew on when they feel like it.

[tillyh345]

Thank you both for your replies...it makes me feel better about what we r doing I must admit he seems happy enough, we do mix in leftovers like u veg and meat etc...
I am sure his food gives him all the nutrients, Im sure we checked that when we first started to buy it its called Classic Cusiine so with a name like that you would think it was good but will check tonight when I get home to be sure.

[LoftyLottie]

I must admit my dogs small evening meal of wet food does include anything suitable left over from our meal (usually gravy and veg but not potatoes). I do think they appreciate some nice different tastes. However, it is never very much - they get their basic nutrients from dried food.

[LoftyLottie]

I use Eukanuba complete for small dogs. I buy it in a very large pack from an animal feed warehouse (much cheaper that way).

I am sure you are doing just fine Tilly. Harvey sounds like a lovely dog.

[LoftyLottie]

Personally, I would cut out his weetabix for breakfast and just leave the dried food down for grazing. As Lankeela says, it is more natural for dogs to eat when they are hungry. A weetabix will fill him up and he will eat less of his dried, balanced diet.

[tillyh345]

Yes he is lovely and very content, he even was quite good with the fireworks last night although we did let him sleep on our bed just in case he got a bit freaked by it all.

Thank you for all your replies its always good to get someones elses prospective, I was just a bit concerned when someone suggested he should have meat!

[Im a BusyBee]

although i always feed weetabix to puppies by the age of 2 years it would have been phased out. At that age my dogs would either be fed 1 or 2 meals a day - always used to be 1 but i think im getting soft as im getting older! Although i know they get balanced nutrients in dried foods, through experience i would say that the dogs ALWAYS prefer meat. Again im now a bit soft and trying to make them happy and feed mainly meat with a small amount of biscuit mixed in - there is never any meat left in their bowls! Let us know what you decide.

[LoftyLottie]

I would add that smaller dogs require to eat less and more often as they can suffer from dips in blood sugar levels and can become quite ill. This is probably why 'grazing' is a good idea.

It certainly isn't a good idea to give small dogs just one large meal a day whether the dog is young or old.

In fact, a lot of vets are now recommending that one meal a day isn't a good idea for any dogs.

[tillyh345]

Oh No now I am torn....what meat do you feed them and how much, obviously we want the best for him...

[LoftyLottie]

Tilly you are already doing just fine. I give mine (2 of them) half a tin of Butchers dog food a night, sometimes mixed with some of our dinner. Yes the do love it and prefer it to the complete food, but the complete food stays down all day.

No doubt if someone gave me the choice of eating things that were more tasty for me I would eat it and leave the more boring stuff! So I would go with the option of leaving Harvey's dried food for him to eat when he really needs to eat, and give him a little treat of meaty food once a day as well - to make both you and Harvey happy.

It honestly works. One of my dogs now squeaks her squeaky toy at about 6.00pm every evening to remind me to put her wet food down!! Quite funny really!!!

[LoftyLottie]

But quite honestly he doesn't need Weetabix!

[tillyh345]

ok it looks like I shall be stopping off at Sainsburys tonight then...oh bless them they do like their squeaky toys dont they....

No More weetabix!!!

I will let you know how it goes.....

[LoftyLottie]

Just remember, if you change his diet, his tummy might rebel initially. Don't worry too much if that happens it will soon adjust to a new regime.

Good luck.

[snoopdog221]

Id like to agree with Loftylotty.let him graze through the day.this is natural .using a wet food of an evening.can you imagine getting the same food infront of you for for two yrs, Id cut out the w,bix and put his bics down instead.then leave them down.then at tea time give wet.only.their are small individual portions in foil trays you can purchase .just give him variety

[tillyh345]

Thanks snoopdog 221 for taking the time to answer..will let u all know how things go..