What should I feed?

Max is a 3-4 year old hound cross (treeing walker hound, mostly, with a beagle face) and weighs about 60 lbs. He is walked multiple times a day (usually 4) and has good energy outdoors, but prefers to relax while inside.

We're having a problem with feeding, though. We brought him home just over a week ago from the spca and bought a bag of Royal Canin, which is what they had been feeding. He's supposed to eat 4 1/2 cups a day, but when I put food down, it lasts for at least 2 days (actually, he rarely finishes it). I bought him some Natural Balance kibble yesterday, to see if that would perk up his appetite, but he just isn't interested in kibble. I've given him some wet food, which he ate with zest. And, the other day, I was making some ground beef spaghetti sauce, so I put aside some ground beef after browning and mixed it with a cut up potato for him, because I had run out of wet food days before and he was just not eating much kibble at all.
I would love to be able to feed him mainly wet food, but I think it will turn out to be too expensive (he would need to eat 2 to 3 cans a day, and at 2.99 a can that's more expensive than feeding both me and my boyfriend). If I mix the wet food in with kibble, he just eats around the kibble, licks off the tasty stuff, etc.
Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do to encourage him to eat the kibble?

Our dogs will eat thier kibble, that is if they have too LOL! But seriously, we get them to eat it by mixing a gravy up with it. You can buy some vitamin-type gravy in the dog food isle. We use our leftover stew,etc... Some brands of wet food are like chopped or sliced pieces of meat. I would opt for these as they already have gravy in them. You can add a little hot water to spread it around good. Have you tried any other brands yet beside royal canin? He might not really like it.

EDIT: If you decide to feed them some leftover or homemade gravy make sure there are NO onions in it!

Originally Posted by Leli

Max is a 3-4 year old hound cross (treeing walker hound, mostly, with a beagle face) and weighs about 60 lbs. He is walked multiple times a day (usually 4) and has good energy outdoors, but prefers to relax while inside.

We're having a problem with feeding, though. We brought him home just over a week ago from the spca and bought a bag of Royal Canin, which is what they had been feeding. He's supposed to eat 4 1/2 cups a day, but when I put food down, it lasts for at least 2 days (actually, he rarely finishes it). I bought him some Natural Balance kibble yesterday, to see if that would perk up his appetite, but he just isn't interested in kibble. I've given him some wet food, which he ate with zest. And, the other day, I was making some ground beef spaghetti sauce, so I put aside some ground beef after browning and mixed it with a cut up potato for him, because I had run out of wet food days before and he was just not eating much kibble at all.
I would love to be able to feed him mainly wet food, but I think it will turn out to be too expensive (he would need to eat 2 to 3 cans a day, and at 2.99 a can that's more expensive than feeding both me and my boyfriend). If I mix the wet food in with kibble, he just eats around the kibble, licks off the tasty stuff, etc.
Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do to encourage him to eat the kibble?

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Try a beef based food..yes they have wheat but dogs assimilate wheat at 75 to 85% to a cats 45-60%

I know many dogs who like the large breed max but I would use the beef and rice formula due to higher protein and fat for an active dog ... Get some gravey based wet foods and only give a tablespoon mixed with the dry...

Also remember when switching foods to do it gradually, not all at once.
Good luck and please keep us posted.

Unless he's already thin and getting thinner (ask your vet for an opinion of his body condition - hounds are usually quite lean), I wouldn't be too concerned that he's eating less than the amount shown on the bag. The amounts shown on the bag are a general guideline - some dogs need considerably more than that amount to maintain their weight, some need considerably less. Age and activity level can make a difference. Our dogs eat more in the winter when it's nice outside and they can be active, and less in the summer when it's too hot to be out.

It's also natural for some dogs to vary their consumption from day to day - some days our dog Petey just isn't hungry and will refuse his food (especially if he's very excited or stressed), some days he'll eat it all and want more. He's very good at maintaining a healthy weight on his own. Of course, if he refuses food for two whole days we take him to the vet for a checkup. Beth, on the other hand, is a true chow hound and would eat cardboard if you told her it was food. We have to carefully monitor her food consumption so she doesn't gain too much weight. If she refused a single meal I'd take her to the vet right away. You'll get to know and become more comfortable with your own dog's food personality over time.

Be careful about offering an ever-increasing variety of foods to tempt his appetite if he refuses his food - you can inadvertently create a super-finicky dog that way. He'll soon figure out that refusing his food will always get him something different, and then you'll find yourself searching endlessly for something new to tempt him.

I would put his food down, leave it out for half an hour, then pick up his bowl and refrigerate anything he hasn't eaten (if you've included canned food and there are still bits of it in the bowl). Offer him his food twice a day (warm the food a bit first if you've refrigerated it), picking up the leftovers after 30 minutes. As long as you're offering a quality food and he doesn't have any dental problems, allergies, or other health issues causing him problems with that food, he should balance out and start eating however much his body tells him he needs to maintain his weight.

Royal Canin is a really good food. We give our dogs dry Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul and they're doing well on it. We also give them a bit of flax oil on their food to make their coats extra-shiny, and they love that.

*edit*
you probably already know this, but I always like to warn people just to be safe - Large breed dogs are at risk of having the stomach turn over on itself, so if you have a large dog, it's better to feed two small meals rather than one big one, and to avoid excessive exercise or wrestling with the dog right after he's eaten.