Top 5 Tips for Picky Eaters During Their 10-Day Transition
Changing your dog’s food routine can be a bit of a learning curve — for both their gastrointestinal system/ microbiome and their taste buds — especially if they tend to be a Picky Eater.
Not to worry, this phenomenon is quite common. Good news: there are a few key ways to successfully introduce new sources of nutrition — like raw — to their digestive system (and still celebrate their unique tastes). In fact, we formulated our Raw Food with challenging dog palates in mind.
Overall Reminder: During your 10-Day Transition to Raw, be patient with your dog, practice positive reinforcement, and stay open to experimentation.
Problem: My dog doesn’t seem to like the frozen texture.
Solution: Try letting the food thaw in the bowl slightly (3-5 minutes at room temp) before feeding. When the food is slightly softer, most dogs will tend to eat it all at once, instead of being selective about colors/textures.
Tip 1: You can also try mixing their old food with Maev again, and adding a liquid (water, greek yogurt, melted Bone Broth) to mix the two foods a little more.
Problem: My dog won’t eat the kale and/or zucchini.
Solution: Skipping their greens is not super concerning if it’s occasional (once or twice a week), but if they skip them regularly then it’s important to find an alternative.
Tip 2:
We recommend spinach or even a green bell pepper. The key is to not feed more than about 15% of the diet dark leafy greens (It’s best not to go overboard even if your dog loves it), because eating more than 15% leafy greens can overdo it. This would mean that they're getting too much calcium oxalate.
Problem: My dog won’t eat the blueberries.
Solution: Skipping the blueberries is okay! Not all raw feeders include berries and fruits, and since kale and zucchini are included in our formula, your dog will be getting plenty of produce.
Tip 3:
If you do want to substitute the berries out, you can try another berry or even some apple or pumpkin to get more alphabet vitamins and produce into the diet.
Problem: My dog’s only interested in eating the meat.
Solution: If you’ve got a picky eater, they may just need a little more time to acclimate.
Tip 4: If your dog is struggling with the transition to raw, we recommend extending that transition to up to 20 days. Continue to mix their old food with Maev again, and add a liquid (water, melted Bone Broth) to combine the two foods a little more.
Problem: My dog tends to get bored with their food easily.
Solution: Give variety to their raw food diet by adding their favorite toppers to mealtime.
Tip 5: A lot of Maev community members have also had success by adding their dogs’ favorite treats as a topper — we recommend single-ingredient, freeze-dried treats or other whole fruits, vegetables, or meat scraps whenever possible.