With all due respect but, excuse me....who is in charge here?
You put down suitable food, dogs turn noses up, you leave food down and offer not a morsel of anything else, dogs get hungry and eat food. Simple
It'll be a long day coming when my dogs dictate to me what they eat.
I've had spoiled little rescue dogs in who refused to eat what was put down. One in particular took 5 days to decide that he was the one who had to give in as I obviously wouldn't.
No healthy animal will starve to death with a source of food available. Humans make their dogs fussy, they aren't born that way.
Be firm,'do a fenny' on them and they'll learn to eat what they get given.
Hmmmm I wonder if that can be used to scare recalcitrant kids and animals into behaving "you behave or I'll do a Fenny".

__________________
My facebook
http://www.new.facebook.com/profile....05&ref=profile

Well, my staffie (who has always been a fussy moo when it comes to food) has gone 3 days now with no food as she is refusing point blank to eat anything thats raw... if i seal it slightly on the outside she will nibble the outside and leave anything that hasnt cooked Im starting to think shes being too clever for her own good lol trouble is the pup wont eat it either, and its not like shes so stuck in her ways that she dont understand that its food! after all she will go into the back garden and eat snails!! Escargo(sp) anyone?
Im not to keen on letting the pup go without food completely so have been sealing the meat on the outside which she will eat no probs, so question is do I continue searing the meat and slowly try and get it more and more raw? or just let the pair of them go hungry till they decide that it actually is food and that it tastes yummy!

__________________

I had a dog that I tried to BARF convert and she ate nothing for 4 days, I fed her no treats and took her bones away too! I then got a tray of minced beef out to cook our dinner and she went potty over it, and ate the whole tray straight from the fridge so would highly recommend trying that.
Trouble is if they know you will feed them something else then they will play on it and make you feel guilty, my mums dogs do it to her and she cant for the life of her work it out!

__________________


1.1 hermanns tortoise Hermann and Harriet
2.2 bernese mountain dogs Yogi, Midge, Melody and Harmony
6.3 ferrets Razzle, Blaze, Bean, Guinness, Smurf, Bisto, Celeste, Venus and Gemini

So if I understand you, you know that your dogs will simply starve themselves to death if you don't feed them what they want to be fed?
What about the veggies, rice, pasta, kibble etc. Are they eating that? What meat exactly are you offering them? Are you giving whole rabbits with fur and bones etc as they should be getting or simply plain raw lumps of muscle meat?
Incidentally, it would take around 10 days for a dog to be in danger of starving if they ate not one thing. 3 days is nothing. It's a case of who is the one in charge, wither you, or the dogs, unless you are saying that yours are the only dogs in the world who would actually starve themselves to death?
Either you can make the decisions, or just leave them as they are eating what they want to eat, and calling the shots.

__________________
My facebook
http://www.new.facebook.com/profile....05&ref=profile

Okay Okay, I get the point.... I AM BOSS!! grrr (or I should be anyway)

Thank you for the kick up the bum Fenwoman Im going to stick to my guns! If they dont eat it they'll go hungry till they do.

Ive been giving them a couple of whole carrots which the pup was been having a good knaw on Faith isnt all that interested but she likes apples, grapes, banana and various other fruits anyway, They have been offered pasta and rice which they have eaten, also some hard bread which they had some fun ripping up... and they will eat any meat i offer so long as the outside is slightly cooked, Ive not found anywhere to get any fresh kill whole rabbits from yet, been asking round for local ferriters and lampers but come up empty handed so far, my OH is planning to go do some lamping himself down my old yard where the owner has given us the permission to shoot on her land as they are overrun atm. Ive also offered them chicken wings, lamb shoulder, liver (which they will eat so long as its cooked completely)

__________________

Phew. Metaphorical kick up the bum was what I was doing. I did think afterwards "what if she is a little wilting lily who will now call me mean and rude and nasty"
My lot don't like liver unless it's cooked either but that's fine cos it gives them the squits in any case.
I also get meat, offal, tripe, and the like from Landywoods which, despite all the people who say they are dear, not nice etc etc, I have personally never had a problem with in 2 years and believe me, if any business I deal with gets it wrong, they have one chance, then get kicked into touch. So if I'm happy with them, they have met my high expectations.
Your butcher should be able to help with ox tail,pigs trotters, breast and neck of lamb (cheap)try also ox heart,'lights' (means lungs etc), beef skirt. But to my way of tinking, nothing beats a whle rabbits, skin , fur, head, ears,bones and all. They get muscle meat, calcium and fibre and roughage from the fur. Think wolf. They eat the lot, not pure clean muscle meat.
Be tough, be firm, be alpha bitch and don't worry. They aren't going to starve if they are eating the bread, veg, pasta etc are they? You could always jus nuke the meat for no more than a minute to warm it. Many dogs don't like it straight out of the fridge. Unlike my wild things which eat frozen rabbit carcases and frozen day old chicks.
Yes, my dogs also get frozen chicks as fed to snakes etc.
Also try cutting the raw meat up into bite sized chunks initially as it may take them a little while to get used to using their teeth as they were designed to be used.
Here, lookit my sweet dainty liddle chihuahuas.

__________________
My facebook
http://www.new.facebook.com/profile....05&ref=profile

Lol, im no shrinking violet but I do sometimes need a HUGE kick up the backside!! which im very thankful for btw!

Ive been in contact with landywoods to see if they deliver in my area which Ive found out they do so will be getting a huge chest freezer and filling it up!! It seems my pup will eat frozen rats little bugger ran off with me last rat the other night when I got it out the freezer for a snake lol I will try them with some chicks, as ive got a freezer full of the blooming things lol
My local butcher is a bit of a plank and charges the earth for his trotters, ox tail etc so Im going to try a little village butcher near me that we hope may be a bit more reasonable

__________________

There ya go then.She's read about BARF meaining fur and all, so she helped herself lol.
Might be worth looking in your yellow pages for your nearest abbatoir too as a useful source of food, but with only 2 dogs (as opposed to my 1 you'll probably manage fine with a chest freezer, landywoods and whole rabbits etc.
It beats me how butchers can be silly about their pricing on ox tail and pigs trotters since most people don't buy them and wouldn't know what to do with them and they end up getting chucked out in any case.Depends if he buys his meat as carcases and cuts them himself or if they arrive all ready jointed in which case, he'll have to order tail or trotters in especially and perhaps pay more for them. An abbatoir would be more use there. I also get pigs ears from mine to roast in the oven as treats. I get them for pennies as opposed to the 65p each from the pet shop.
BARF feeding is interesting.
Ask relatives for amazon vouchers for Xmas so you can buy one of Ian Billinghurst's books. He is a vet who wrote 'Give your dog a bone' all about BARF feeding.

__________________
My facebook
http://www.new.facebook.com/profile....05&ref=profile

Lol!, well Ive even managed to get two out of 3 of my cats over to barf too, but they took to it really well as they catch mice, rats, birds on a daily basis anyway, think they must have been telling me something lol. The house cat is being a little more fussier but she does eat little tidbits of raw so shes coming round to the idea.

When I spoke to the butcher he said 'well id rather sell it or throw it away I wont give you it for free or any cheaper' and was pretty snotty about it so I told him where he could put it Id rather buy them food elsewhere.

Ill have to go on amazon and have a look for that book, make interesting reading

__________________

Grapes are supposed to be a 'No No' if you beleive what you are told from the vets etc etc as they are supposed to be toxic - I aint vet qualified so aren't saying either way, just ask many people and read up and from your findings make up you own mind