Hi,

Our Westie bitch has recently taken a liking to Frankfurter sausages. We
feed them to her as a supplement to her Cesar dog food.

Apart from anything else, they encourage her to eat her dog food.
Without some sort of supplement added, like the sausages or cheese or
something, she often turns her nose up at dog food. (Picky little
bugger, really...)

Anyway, she has up to three small meals a day, each comprising half a
small tray of Cesar mixed with half a Frankfurter sliced up. (So her
_maximum_ daily Frankfurter intake is one and a half.)

I'm just a bit concerned that the Frankfurters might be harmful, perhaps
thinking mainly in terms of her salt intake.

Anyone have any observations regarding whether it is safe to continue
feeding her her sausages please?

Cheers,
Robin McInnes
Cheshire, UK

-Si non confectus, non reficiat-

Robin McInnes said in
rec.pets.dogs.health:

Anyone have any observations regarding whether it is safe
to continue feeding her her sausages please?

Wieners contain a lot of sodium and a lot of fat. One and a
half seem like an awful lot for a smaller dog like a Westie.
That much seems like a awful lot for my Border Collie size
dogs.

I look after a friend's CKCS every once in a while - at home,
he won't eat his dry food unless there's chicken, cheese, or
Iams gravy added to it. When he's here, he eats his plain
food right away because he hasn't trained me to add "good"
stuff to it.

If you want your Westie to eat his regular food, give it to
him for 15 minutes or so. If he doesn't eat, pick it up and
give it back at the next meal. Rinse and repeat. I've never
had a dog miss more than 3 meals.

Save your treats for training sessions or as a reward for
eating his regular meal. FWIW, you don't have to give a large
treat if it's stinky like aged cheese or a regular weiner.
With my dogs, I give about as much as fits under my thumbnail.

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.

On Tue, 26 Dec 2006 14:06:59 +0000, Robin McInnes
wrote:

Hi,

Our Westie bitch has recently taken a liking to Frankfurter sausages. We
feed them to her as a supplement to her Cesar dog food.

Apart from anything else, they encourage her to eat her dog food.
Without some sort of supplement added, like the sausages or cheese or
something, she often turns her nose up at dog food. (Picky little
bugger, really...)

Anyway, she has up to three small meals a day, each comprising half a
small tray of Cesar mixed with half a Frankfurter sliced up. (So her
_maximum_ daily Frankfurter intake is one and a half.)

I'm just a bit concerned that the Frankfurters might be harmful, perhaps
thinking mainly in terms of her salt intake.

Anyone have any observations regarding whether it is safe to continue
feeding her her sausages please?

She's getting too much of her daily food intake from junk food, which
is what the frankfurters are. There is nothing wrong with giving the
dog a little bit of something like that periodically, but that is way
too much given her size and what she is also eating. Honestly if she
turns her nose up at the Cesars food, you are going to have a lifetime
of problems getting her proper nutrition. Stop putting frankfurters
in her food and get her used to eating good food for every meal
without junk food mixed in to make it more enticing.

Put her food down, leave it for 10-15 minutes, and then take up
whatever she hasn't eaten. Don't give her anything else to eat until
her next feeding time and then do the same. When she is hungry
enough, she'll eat and she'll learn that it won't kill her not to have
frankfurters mixed into it. After all, if my kids had me trained to
mix french fries, potato chips or chocolate bars into every meal, they
wouldn't eat anything that didn't include those foods either. But
they would be overweight and malnourished so I would be killing them
by not teaching them to eat properly.


--
Paula
"Anyway, other people are weird, but sometimes they have candy,
so it's best to try to get along with them." Joe Bay

on Tue, 26 Dec 2006 17:33:47 GMT, Rocky wrote:

Wieners contain a lot of sodium and a lot of fat.

A high fat diet can lead to pancreatitis, a very painful and sometimes
fatal condition. I'd cease with the hotdogs immediately and follow the
advice you have received about putting food down for 10-15 minutes and then
taking it up. No snacks between meals. The dog won't skip more than a few
meals.

Occasional, small pieces are okay, but use them for training rewards, not
an incentive to eat.

--
Lynne

http://picasaweb.google.com/what.the.hell.is.it/

On Tue, 26 Dec 2006 14:06:59 +0000, Robin McInnes
wrote:

...
Anyone have any observations regarding whether it is safe to continue
feeding her her sausages please?

Well, the verdict is in: no more frankfurters. My Chow Chow, Tang,
weighs 62 pounds, and I'd consider it on the verge of cruelty, to feed
him 1.5 frankfurters per day-------or per week.

Please, do be proud of yourself for making an effort to learn about
providing proper care for your dog! Once upon a time, everyone here had
only questions. Your dog is fortunate to have such an insightful and
caring guardian.


________________________
Experience is something you don't get--until just after you need it.

Okay... thanks everyone for all that advice.

Frankfurters are now definitely off the menu.

Cheers,
Robin McInnes
Cheshire, UK

-Si non confectus, non reficiat-