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My dog refuses dry kibble for raw chicken. How can I fix this?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Collie | Female | unspayed | 1 year old

We feed our dogs half raw chicken and half dry food. We want half dry food to make sure they get enough nutrition. Delilah refuses to eat dry food. She will starve herself all day until I cave and feed her raw chicken. What can I do about this?

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Jessica Keay, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on June 2nd, 2017

You may need to be a tough owner and not cave in to her desires. I would not recommend feeding any raw meat, particularly raw chicken, as the risk to her (and to you living in the house/preparing her food) for salmonella and e.coli infection is too great. You could try soaking her dry food in water or low sodium chicken broth to make it more appealing, or getting a canned food and mixing it with the dry dog kibble to make it more appetizing, or initially putting chunks of cooked chicken in with the canned food. Info from the Centers for Disease Control on raw pet food can be found here: https://www.cdc.gov/features/raw-pet-food/

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    Answered By Jennifer Summerfield, DVM CPDT-KA

    Veterinarian, Certified Dog Trainer

    Published on December 8th, 2019

    Hi there. You could get some canned food and mix a small amount with her dry food to give it more flavor, and encourage her to eat it - this works well for many dogs who don't always like kibble by itself. Alternatively, you can soak her kibble in a small amount of low-sodium chicken or beef broth before feeding, to soften it a bit and make it taste better.

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