Well, CindyLu has been eating her Eukanuba Small Breed Adult Dog kibble for a week now. We’ve seen some definite changes in her. She still loves the food, thoroughly enjoying her mealtimes.
The first change to notice was her teeth. I had intended on snapping some photos of her lovely choppers the day after she started with Eukanuba, so I could compare later. Not smart, Kim; her teeth already had lost the nasty-looking spots! She had tartar buildup on her front lower teeth. She’d been regularly chewing on treats that are specially formulated for improving a dog’s dental health, along with her usual chew bone. Her front teeth were missing out on that action, though.
Prior to starting the Challenge, I took a look at her teeth and was horrified. She had tartar along the gumlines, and a bit of greyish areas on the surfaces of teeth near the gums – but her front lower teeth had some really awful-looking areas of dark, nasty tartar. Probably thanks to her penchant for the cat’s canned food, not to mention snagging the goodies from the litter boxes, have only hastened any tartar activity. All the more reason to find a dog food CindyLu will want to eat.
As partly Shih Tzu, she has an under-bite, which also might not be helpful for those front, bottom teeth. In any event, I felt the full load of pet parental guilt weighing heavy. I’ve neglected her teeth, not doing a thorough check. The “tops” of her teeth, the ones we usually see, have looked great. So much for thinking I was doing enough with the chews and the bones, in-between vet visits.
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| Hit me with your best shot. Ew. Tartar along gumline. |
In less than 24 hours after her first Eukanuba meal, CindyLu’s teeth were dramatically improved. She still has tartar along the gumline, but those big ugly spots on her teeth were gone quickly.(You can clearly see it along the gumline in the photo – even though it’s a blur. Apologies, CindyLu was a wiggle-butt!) I’m not a vet, so I don’t know the status of her gums and any calculus, but it looks, at least, like this food can make a big difference for a dog’s dental condition!
CindyLu is a finicky eater. In part, her personality gets in the way of just enjoying her own food. She’s a girl who just has to have what everyone else has. It doesn’t matter if it’s a toy, a treat, an activity, attention – or a food. She’s a serial beggar, and a thief with whatever belongs to one of the other pets in the household. “Mine!” could be her middle name. So when it comes to feeding her, it’s always a challenge.
The novelty of a first-time taste might go great, but after that she quickly figures out if the cats or Chester are getting something different – and stubbornly wants THAT. She’ll refuse to eat, sneak snackies from the litter boxes to curb her growing hunger, anything to avoid eating the food she’s supposed to. Needless to say, I usually do a lot of handstands just trying to get her to eat.
Twice every day now, I’ve poured the Eukanuba into her bowl – and she’s eaten it. No complaints, no refusals, no hesitation. I haven’t had to doctor it up by putting a dab of cat food on top of it, adding chicken broth, mixing in pumpkin or peanutbutter or…well, you get the idea. Just the kibble in her bowl, and she still gobbles it down. That is huge. What makes this food taste that good?!
I haven’t noticed any other significant changes in her so far. Her energy level is down and she’s been sleeping more (and more soundly). That, however, is probably due to the change in weather here. Temperatures have plummeted, the sky’s been grey and overcast, and we got our first bit of snow to stick on the ground. Perfect weather for sleeping (I can personally attest to that!) Chester’s been the same, and he’s eating his usual food. So the jury’s out yet on whether her new food has an impact on activity.
After our initial post about this food I heard from my cousin, whose Shih Tzu, Oreo, is very much like CindyLu. They’ve been feeding Eukanuba to Oreo for some time now. She said that Oreo prefers a different formula, the Adult Small Bite, and that they also feed the Senior formula to their senior dog. It was encouraging to hear they’ve found great results with Eukanuba.
It’s been exciting to be able to dish up meals for CindyLu this past week. Watching her look intently as I pour them, her apparent enjoyment while eating them, and her satisfied, full tummy afterward are a wonderful result. And life is certainly more peaceful when CindyLu is happy!
Eukanuba 28-Day Challenge: The Beginning
It’s such a relief when a finicky one finally finds one that pushes the right buttons! I used to have to do all sorts of things (hand feed, warm his food, add cat food) to get JF to eat, too. Not fun. 🙁
Sounds like you might have a winner here. I hope so!
Thanks Elizabeth, it’s so nice to hear someone else has been through this. We want them to eat well – but we need them to eat it! We’ll see how it goes in the next couple of weeks…
Ty was also ridiculously picky … until Buster came along. The first time Ty saw Buster eat his own food and then polish off Ty’s, he got a lot less picky. 😀
Ha! Ty’s so funny – and so sweet. You’d think that would work with CindyLu, too; but nope, she just looks at the cats. She could care less what Chester’s eating (unless of course it’s treats. I’ll bet if I fed the cats Chester’s food, she’d suddenly want to eat it!