Okay so here is my question, Does anyone have a Prissy Shiba and feeds a Raw diet or even just RMBs as treats?
I've been having issues with Saru. He has become too good to touch a RMB. I don't feed raw but I do try to give RMB and meat scraps as treats on a regular basis. However, Saru won't touch anything with his paws. For example I had bought Salmon steaks last night for dinner, and after preparing them I had the skins and spine sections intact for the dogs to eat. Saru would take and readily eat the skin by itself, and any meat portions but when I gave him the spine section he would not touch it. He would only touch it if I was holding it for him and then he would just lick it. The same goes if I give him a RMB, he will wonder the house holding it and crying, but he won't chew or even lick it unless I hold the bone for him! And when I do this he splays his paws so far away from the item it's almost comical! It's also becoming frustrating to me because we have Hime, our second Shiba, who is a hunter and killer of birds who has no qualms about getting her feet messy. She scarfs down the food so fast sometimes that I have to make sure they are separate when giving these treats as she will take Sarus because he won't touch it. So any advice on how to deal with this? Should I just not give him RMB anymore and say it's a lost cause?
LoL, my Tetsu does something like that. I'll give him a chicken part and he gets so frustrated because he wants to eat it but the minute he tries to hold it steady with his paws he reacts as if he stepped in something disgusting. Tetsu also will wander around the house with the part in his mouth, crying and confused looking.
I've found what helped my guy (more like my sanity) was to crate him when I give him something that he reacts like that with. The crate keeps him from wondering around the house, getting germs everywhere, but he settles down a lot quicker and eat the part, though often in a comical way since he still refuses to touch it with his paws.
You may also want to try making the pieces smaller and somewhat bite-sized. I've found that Tetsu is more willing to eat it when he can fit the whole thing in his mouth.
I have used kenneling before and he will just plain refuse to eat it. However I do like your idea on making the pieces smaller, but how do you to that with a RMB? I really feel bad that I have about 2lbs of RMB ribs in the freezer that I can't use right now because he won't touch them and there fore won't eat it.
Haha! I loved this: "he will wonder the house holding it and crying" Sorry, I just think that sounds hilarious XD
And to be a bit more helpful... Conker is very prissy. Can't touch ANYTHING foreign with his feet. Stuff on the floor (clothes, paper, etc.) and puddles are huge. If the bed isn't made a certain way, he won't get on it. He won't hold a bone with his paws unless all the meat (or most of it) has been stripped off. If not, he will only daintily touch it then retract his paw super fast like it was molten lead.
Cutting into smaller pieces (but not too small!) might work. What kind of bones are they? I've hacked through pork rib things before with an old cleaver and a mallet. In the garage, just in case I broke something, but I still did it. If it's chicken bones then it can easily be cut with a couple good whacks. A lot of the time I just break chicken bones apart with my hands. If they are bigger than chicken you can do what I did with the cleaver and mallet or use a hacksaw. Also, was he fed recently before you gave the bone? If so, you might try giving the bone first. If you feed in the morning, give the bone instead and his regular food later.
I have beef ribs, and I've been using a small hack saw to divide them in half so I split one rib between my 2 shibas. But the hack saw takes freaking forever to get thru the bone.
Usually when I want to give them a RMB I make sure that they haven't eaten for a while somtimes for a day, example we go to church on Sundays and they don't get food in the morning so if it's a lazy Sunday I would give them a RMB since they hadn't had any food since the night before. But the same thing happens, wondering, crying and if kenneled refusal to touch and therefore refusal to eat it.
However if I sit on the floor and hold it for him, it's gone with in an hour. Go figure.
Saya will refuse to use her paws for raw things even for something big and complicated like pork shoulder roast she'd be tugging and since she doesn't use her paws the roast gets moved on the towel she feeds on. lol I gotta be sure she doesn't drag it on the carpet.
Even with a whole feather on quail she won't..
She will with bully sticks, dehydrated trachea deer antler and stuff like that.
Also I been recently been giving her beef ribs I cut the ribs with a normal knife so she gets them one rib at a time. I hold the beef rib for her easier for her to use her front teeth to pull meat off or side to chew the meat off.
Hard to do tug since it's so slippery! lol
Once it's almost bare bone she then uses her paws must be because the wetness of the meat.. She freaks out if the meat touches her paw. One time she was enthusiastically eating it and she dropped it on her she then refused to eat it she would try to bury it and act like it was yucky.
How does he act with it in the backyard? does he do this with things like chicken drumsticks or thighs?
here's her with lamb neck she gnaws on it with it being on the ground she never lays down and use her paws.
Before we got our second shiba, I would let him wander and he would eventually eat it. However that really isn't an option right now because of the potential for a fight. And the back yard becomes a fight zone if one had a raw treat out there. I guess I may be stuck with holding bones and such for him. I hope that we can get past this though.
