My supplies arrived yesterday from Natural Instincts

10KG Working Dog
5KG Puppy Food

plus 5 bones and the liver treats

Beowolf loves the liver treats and devours the bones and has eaten fresh mince ive fed him from supermarket bought beef mince, plus a bowl of heart chunks from BARF UK and also chicken thighs from supermarket raw. loves all those.

Refused his Natural Instincts puppy food last night, although will eat his Beta kibble and today also refused the puppy food and also tried him with the working dog version. licks it a bit but wont tuck in. Compared to supermarket mince ive noticed it is very mushy feeling and not sure he likes the texture.

Any suggestions? SHould I make my own version with mince, carrots, peas and fish oil or stick to kibble and give him raw via heart chunks and chicken thighs and the meaty bones.

I think you have spoilt him on what you have been giving him as the Natural instincts is what he and all of them have been brought up on. Edee is doing fine on it and eating it with relish lol! I would try gradually adding it with your butchers mince until it nearly all Instincts. Are you trying to feed it when he is not hungry enough? if so maybe you should give him that meal first and keep offering it until he does eat it ( hard I know but puppies can be very selective especially if they think that they can get away with it ). I have known pups to refuse everything except meaty bones and the owners panic because they are pups and so give in. I cannot stress enough that a complete food with all the vit, minerals, calcium ( bone ) is most important at this stage in a pups life. Any more probs give me a ring lol! XX

Make sure your puree the veg before you give it to him as dogs can't break down cellulose and it goes straight through them. If they have a raw carrot it is purely recreational (mine love them) but they won't digest it and it comes out the other end in little lumps.

Change of environment ect has to be taken into consideration, stick to what he's used too so you dont have any problems, changing his diet will only give him the runs. imo (not that im any expert) but why change what works

Got him eating his natural instincts again today though with a little messing around. The main problem i think has been he is taking his cues from my other dog who doesnt like raw food and has been copying him with his eating so when reckitt was refusing so was he.

Today mixed the instincts pack in the bowls with the beta kibble mixed in and also a little of reckitts pedigree chum for taste. Made them both wait 8 hours with the bowls removed before i then fed them so both were hungry and they tucked in. Next meal a little less of the chum and a little more of the instincts, Beowolf finished his bowl. reckitt eaten some but left about half of his. Probably eaten as much of the chum and kibble as he could and eaten around the instincts as much as possible lol. I will convert him yet, but at 13 its hard to change his habits. When I first got reckitt all though years ago there was nothing like the raw diets out there or certainly no information that I found so he always had the average diet of kibble and tinned food. This last year been gradually introducing him a little at a time to it. he likes raw beef mince and meaty bones but not raw chicken (loves cooked chicken) Doesnt like heart chunks, although Beowolf and the 3 cats both clean their bowls for that and also raw chicken

Well, if he is 13, I guess you could safely say his diet has not done hime any harm