Any tips to encourage a young BTS to eat vegetables?

[airasay]

Hi there,

We have a 3 month old Irian Jaya BTS called Jarvis and he never goes to his veg bowl unless there is fruit, chicken or crickets in it....If he accidentally eats some greens or any veg really he will spit it out! How can we encourage him to eat his veg (aside from tricking him into eating it by mashing it up with banana etc?!)

Will he naturally eat more veg as he gets older? Perhaps it's normal for young BTS to ignore veg?

We give him greens and butternut squash on a daily basis, occasionally other vegs like rocket, red pepper.

Any tips? Or is it just trial, error and trickery?!

Thanks very much

[Susann]

If you chop the veggies and greens up small enough before you mix in the protein he won't be able to spit them out. I would stop giving him fruit at all until he eats his "regular" healthy foods well and consistently.

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[StaceyLeigh]

Yes you need to trick them Mash up the veggies with dog food. One of my adult BTS will actually eat veggies with nothing else if she has gone a good week with no food-but she is a little piggy and eats most anything! The rest need it all mashed together or would most likely pick through for the meat.

[Sarikazam]

Yep, I think all your options have already been covered. Either hide in something they like (dog food works really well) or don't offer anything else until they eat their greens and veggies. But hiding it is way easier.

[airasay]

Thanks for the replies, that is all really helpful!

I live in the UK, do you know what dog foods are best for feeding to BTS? I don't want to get one that isn't very healthy

Once again thanks for your help

[lucasrusinak]

i feed mine blue buffalo and my little guy loves it, but there are a bunch of brands that others use as well.

[Scotts1au]

My dog doesn't eat meat - why not? I don't give it any.

My dog has no nose - how does he smell? --- terrible!

Sorry for that they are more adaptable as they get older, but particularly if they are fed less when you are trying to introduce different foods - hunger will take over.

[Seadation]

I put my veggies in the food processor then mash them with the dog food into a blended thick mixture and my little guys love it. Hope this helps.

[bluetonguerocks]

you have to trick these guys to eat veggies (til they know veggies are good for them lol)

[Merriann]

I used to add a few snails to the food processor along with the veg and on top of that I mixed it in with whatever protein I was feeding that week. I don't bother with the snails anymore as he seems to like his veg well enough. Good luck!

[Lea]

I'm trying to get Jade to eat more veggies and greens, but she's a little tike and is getting to that age where she's naturally cutting back her intake to 1 or 2 times a week. If there is raw kangaroo on the plate, she goes bonkers for it, but present her with any greenery or veg, she pretends she's not hungry. I have to sit on my hands and not give in to her by just giving what she wants, so I will wait a week if she's being stubborn.

Jade is a good weight, so I really don't have to worry she hasn't eaten for a week, but if they are quite tiny, it is really hard not to give in and just feed them what they want. Just remember, hunger will drive them to eat whatever is offered, even if you feel it's been an age since they last ate. As long as you have a healthy young thing, you don't have to worry about hunger strike for a week and keep offering the good stuff.

As has been suggested, mushing it in with the meat so they can't be picky does help, but it is good to still leave a little texture in the meal, not just purée everything together, so adding the meat to a veggie-green sauce means they have to eat the saucey stuff to get the meat.

Feel comforted by the fact that I have a shingleback who would live on carrots alone if I didn't trick her into eating her meat! Disguising meat in the veggies is a lot harder than hiding veggies in meat!

[airasay]

Thanks so much everyone, really appreciate the advice :-)