What are you feeding your puppy? dry vs.wet?

Moody

Member
Jan 7, 2007
143
7
hello,
I have a chihuahua thats 1 1/2 yrs old. Ive been feeding her white rice w.ground beef ever since the food scare. She gotten very thin and has developed a real bad case of tear marks.[Im assuming its from the food and lack of vitamins]

My question to.....
what are you feeding your puppy[brand]?dry food vs. wet?

please help. -=[
 
I have pretty much fed my dogs (all three of them) dry food. Our great dane and oldest Jack Russell get Nutro dog food and our Jack Russell puppy gets Iams puppy food. Hubby and I used to feed the dane Alpo canned food until the scare as well. Most dry dog foods are pretty good. They just all have different amounts of protein and such. We try to make sure all our dogs don't get too much protein or fat.
 
Some of the best foods out there right now are Artemis, Timberwolf, Fromms, etc. I've also heard Wysong and Orijen are good. I feed the first three and rotate them and the flavors. I do this in addition to a cooked diet.

If you're going to feed a home-made diet, it needs to be balanced. Try finely chopping steak, lamb, veal, or chicken, cooking it, and combined with a semi-cooked veggie mix. You can make your own by chopping a combination of veggies, but I've learned Dr. Harvey's Veg-to-Bowl is much easier and faster, it just has to be cooked up. If you see digestion problems, add a powdered probiotic (I do this at every meal, because one of my Chihuahuas has a sensitive belly). You need the veggies in there, and brown rice, barley, and oatmeal, though if they are eating both the cooked diet and kibble, I don't think the grains are absolutely necessary. Lately I've seen a lot of grain-less food due to the fact that grain is said to not be a natural part of a dog's diet. This might be true, but to me it falls along the same lines of the barf diet theory, which I think is illogical anyway, so who knows. I'm sure grainless kibble is great though, as a growing number of reputable brands carry it now. Ground meats are fine, but I like the peace of mind of chopping my own up, because I know what is in there.

If you feed them cooked food twice a day, I'd mix the kibble in with it so they have something to crunch on, and provide them with a good chewing supply of healthy bones (like n-bones and dental bones and such). I feed mine their cooked food once a day, and the rest of the day they are free to nibble on their kibble supply, which they do.

Here's an extra tip: Check the first couple of ingredients on the back of the kibble bag. They should be named meats. You'll see some meal products, like chicken meal too. A lot of meats at the top of the list is good! Avoid products with corn if you can, as far as I know corn isn't that great for dogs.
 
Oh, and to add on...

Tear stains are kinda one of those Chihuahua things; no matter how well fed mine are, they are still prone to them, particularly in winter when they get as close to the heating vents as possible, causing their eyes to run. A good solution to that is a tear stain removing product, like Angel Eyes or something similar.

I thought I might also add that if are you ever in a bind and have to feed a cooked/soft food quickly with no made up batch on hand, then it's a good idea to have something extra lying around. Canned foods aren't very good, but Wellness now makes an entirely meat canned food that can be added to kibble if you're in a bind/rush. But that is the only canned food I would ever feed mine, personally :yes:

If you want to make your own veggie combo, absolutely avoid garlic, onions, raisins, grapes, and macadamia nuts. All are very toxic to dogs.

Switch any foods, like kibbles, out slowly by mixing them together and gradually increasing the proportion of new and decreasing the proportion of the former kibble. If you see any ill effects and you're being careful, and this happens any time you switch kibble, find a dog probiotic powder to add to their food, which solved the problem for my babies!

These are probably all obvious things, so I apologize if I seem like a know it all, lol! But I know it can be hard to feed a finicky Chihuahua healthfully.
 
Thanks for all the great info! I feed my dog cooked food 2 times a day because he refuses to eat any dry food...I need to find a way to change that. Problem is that my parents spoil him like crazy!
 
You should get your odg to a vet asap. It could be an underlying condition!

My puppy Chloe gets all natural canned and dry food. She starting to be weened off the canned food. And I cant remember the name of it, I get it from my vets office. Its pricey. I pay about $40 for a case of canned and the 20lb bag is about the same. Worth the money since its 100% natural no chemicals or preservatives. NO wheat gluten!
 
Moody-
The CDC website is the best one for guides to the recall. I sell only Purina Veterinary; I was lucky-as someone pointed out, Purina was spared. HOWEVER-as a precaution I took all the cans off of the clinic's shelves.

Tiny dogs need some "Crunch," as you probably know, they run to bad teeth! Many manufacturers make "small bites" for little mouths. Most dog food manufacturers put a lot of money into balancing the ration; a good quality food is probably all a healthy dog needs!
 
I have chi's also. We have been using NutroMaxx for our dogs and they have been looking soooo healthy. This is a wonderful dog food for any breed dog. All the ingredients are wholesome. I also have a Mastiff and her fur and skin looks very healthy. The Chi's fur looks great also. Not to mention they don't have nasty breath like they used to. Lol. Good luck with your dog....
 
I prefer the natural approach after being introduced to it, and was a bit skeptic. I used to feed wysong, but have been on the raw food/bones diet that my dog and generations before her have been. I've never seen healthier dogs since the enzymes and probiotics are not destroyed by heat, and will continue with it, after having done a ton of research before determining it's the best for my dog and an optimum bill of health from her vet. Expensive and inconventient, but worth it. They now make a dehydrated raw food where you just add water for times she travels called Honest Kitchen. I leave kibble out 24/7 if she wants to much (Karma Organic by which is one of two USDA certified organic dry foods available) and is always there for her to munch on, although she rarely touches it.

A wonderful book to pick up is "Whole Health for Happy Dogs" by Jill Elliot, DVM & Kim Bloomer. It's excellent and gives the pros & cons of different feeding programs among other things. It guides you to the best program you can decide for your dog since they're all different like we are. What may work for one, may not for the other. The one thing she does discourage is cheap commercial food you get at the grocery store since it has so many fillers that doesn't encourage a healthy immune system and can be responsible for major health problems down the road.