If your dog is not eating and is fussy in front of the food bowl, there could be a number of reasons for this. After all, switching from the usual food to BARF involves changes for everyone involved. If your four-legged friend has previously eaten a lot of dry food, he may be surprised by the wet, moist muscle meat . To ensure that your dog eats regularly instead of looking up at you fussily, we will give you a few tips below that you can use to make fresh meat interesting for dogs at first.
The switch to BARF
When you start switching to BARF dog food , you can basically start from scratch. Therefore, a classic tip is to plan a fasting day for your loyal companion. The day without food allows the dog's intestines to empty and make room for the biologically appropriate raw meat. At the same time, the four-legged friend will of course be hungry the next day, which is why the dog is more likely to eat than to sniff around the bowl pickily. This means you can prepare a nice BARF menu for your dog straight away, which he will then ideally eat with joy. Easily digestible meats such as turkey or chicken are recommended for this. Add a little pureed vegetables and fruit. You can do without oils and fats for the first meal and only add bones and offal little by little. Feel free to use one of our starter sets , with which we make BARF easier for beginners .
How the dog eats instead of waiting pickily
If your dog does not want to eat a bite despite the fasting day or if a fasting day would simply be too unhealthy for your four-legged friend, we recommend a gradual transition to BARF. This means that you offer the dog the usual food and gradually replace individual foods with pureed fruit and vegetables, offal and fresh meat for dogs.
If your dog still doesn't eat and looks picky at the small piece of raw meat, you can also fry it lightly. Depending on how well the dog responds to BARF , increase the amount of BARF regularly until the change is successful. You can also soak the dry food so that your loyal companion gets used to the consistency of a BARF menu. For dogs, there are also small appetite stimulants that you can use to replace the artificial flavors of industrial food. These include juice from fried meat, chicken broth, cottage cheese and yogurt. Just make sure that these appetite stimulants don't become a habit.
When switching from industrial food to BARF, the digestive tract can sometimes react with some irritation. Therefore, close communication with experts or a veterinary practice is also recommended. This way, you can keep an eye on whether you are still within the range of normal reactions or whether an illness has possibly developed in the background.
