[Naturella]

Chris, hi. For my Bruno, I use quite a few things – deer or elk antlers (not the split ones as he can power through them pretty quickly), and stuffed and frozen Kongs and Kong-like toys (like C4C said, they do last a while, and you can stuff them with anything you can think of – from canned food, to wet kibble, to canned pumpkin, yoghurt/kefir, peanut butter, or any mix of the above). Right now I stuff mine with canned green tripe. I have used Himalayan chews when he was a puppy, and even more recently, but the most recent ones would splinter and not last him very long. So I may not get him any more of those, unless I buy a Medium or Large ones (he is a small dog, but the small Himalayan chews don’t put up a fight with him). So for long-lasting, digestible, and beneficial chews, I’d go with antlers.

I think hooves are my second favorites, and they are stuffable too! Bully sticks are my third favorite, as well as fish skins (for the skin and coat benefits), but they don’t last as long. However, all of the natural chews and treats seem to be easily digested by Bruno – tracheas, pig, cow, and lamb ears, tendons, etc. Chicken and duck feet work too but he’s really quick with those. They all seem to digest very well. Tripe swirls and freeze-dried chews/treats work well too.

Also, I think Halo has a pumpkin-based “dental” chew that may be easy on the tummy. Good luck!

• This reply was modified 10 years, 10 months ago by Naturella.

[Naturella]

I also love feeding a variety of foods to my terrier mix Bruno. Since my husband and I have adopted him in 2013, he’s had, in no particular order of dry foods: Nutro Natural Choice Small Breed Puppy, Blue Buffalo Wilderness Puppy, Nutrisca Chicken & Chickpea, Dr. Tim’s Kinesis GF, Holistic Health Extension Original, Blue Allergix, and Lamb & Brown Rice, Earthborn Holisitic Coastal Catch, Primitive Naturals, and Great Plains Feast, Back to Basics Open Range, Wysong Nurture with Quail, Nulo Medal Series Lamb & Lentils, Castor & Pollux Ultramix Duck, Victor Salmon, and samples of Fromm, Victor, NutriSource, TOTW, Wysong, Orijen, Acana, Nature’s Variety Instinct (the Rabbit formula he was supposed to eat but it made him very sick, but other samples he did great with), Hi-Tek, Nature’s Logic, and many other foods I can’t recall ATM. Lined up we have Wellness CORE Ocean and Original, more Earthborn, Canidae Pure SEA, Castor & Pollux Organix GF, and right now he just got on Dogswell LiveFree Salmon.

For toppers we used The Honest Kitchen Embark, Force, Keen, and Love, and Big Dog Naturals Green Tripe (air-dried). I have used various canned foods too, like Weruva, Green Cow by Solid Gold, and Green Tripe from Petkind, and also some more dehydrated/air-dried like Sojo’s. Now I use some small Merrick dog cans and some cat food pouches and cans for some of the toppers along with coconut oil, yoghurt, raw egg, canned sardines, and a RMB for his Sunday dinner. I also almost always add extra water to the food when served with a topper so he eats “soup” most of the time. Sometimes I just give him plain kibble as part of a training routine or from a puzzle toy to stimulate his brain. He likes it just the same!

He gets regular treats (Fromm, Canidae, Yummy Chummies, and Think! Alligator and Crawfish Jerky, and also kibble as treats (a different brand and flavor of the main food he is on at the moment), He also has a few natural chews like cow and lamb ears, beef tracheas, bully sticks, pig snouts, fish skins, antlers, hooves, etc.

Sorry for the rant, lol, but yeah, rotations are awesome, and Bruno loves the daily variety, and I love how he looks and feels (shiny and soft). I used to take 10 days or so to transition from one food to the next at first, then about 7 days, then 3, then 0. Now he switches so quickly because he eats a constant variety of foods and treats.

And LM, I guess you can see the replies of a person, but it will be hard to follow an Editor’s Choice topic reply by reply from individual authors. And some topics are EC exclusive.

[Ellen D]

Hello –

I have a 3 month old labradoodle puppy. He was 20 lbs a week ago, so I’d think he’s between 20 and 25 now. He’ll be about 65 pounds full grown most likely.

I’m currently feeding him Nature’s Variety Instinct Large Puppy kibble, which I’ve now realized is even too high in calcium for him. He gets some Stella & Chewy meal mixer in with breakfast and I always give him either a scrambled egg, cottage cheese, pumpkin, or some plain meat chunks with dinner – lunch is plain kibble, as that’s at the day care most days. He gets a raw chicken wing or thigh as a treat a couple times a week right now.

I’m going to plead ignorance and admit that I thought I was doing a great thing by getting him “fancy” kibble and only realized a week into having him that there’s much, much more to dog food than dry kibble.

So my dilemma:

–I need to provide him with some form of kibble or dry-fed food for various reasons – the day care can’t mix his food, I do travel from time to time on business so he may need to be boarded 3-4 days per month, and I’m afraid if I stop kibble altogether he might refuse it while I’m away and be a very hungry boy when I return. However, this doesn’t have to continue to be a significant portion of his food. I am happy to keep it just to stuff Kongs/food toys so he stays used to it, but I need to have some on hand. I’ve narrowed this down to – Annamaet Salcha, Avoderm Turkey, or Fromm Beef Frittata.

–I am very interested in a raw diet for him, but I can’t decide what to do here. I’d like to have some freeze-dried product on hand (narrowed down to NRG Maxim and THK Love) for convenience. But ultimately, once he’s down to 2 meals per day from 3, I’d like to go as full raw as I can do – whether it be commercial or homemade or a combo. I have found what I am confident is a very good and versatile homemade recipe (from Ottowa Valley Dog Whisperer – are we allowed to post links here?). My one and only issue with this recipe is I need to sit down and do some maths and figure out what to add in terms of calcium – if I need to alter the recommendation in the recipe based on having a largish breed puppy.

–I am also interested in supplementing with raw meaty bones, as my dog really enjoys his chicken wings and chews them very nicely. Is it okay to just use rmbs as a supplement/treat kind of deal? Could/should I give him one daily or just a few times a week or is it better to just replace a whole meal with them? I would vary the meat/bone source often.

I’m trying to do the right and best thing for my puppy, and I’m 100% open to suggestions and criticism about my plans. I welcome any and all advice, as I’m new to this and my head is just spinning. Added to this is that my wife travels 5 days a week, I work full time outside the home, and we have a 4 year old (human) daughter as well as 2 cats and about 200 fish haha! So I’m a single parent 5 days a week. I’m really at the mercy of convenience. However, I can manage an evening cooking session once a week or a couple times a month and can freeze portion sized amounts. It’s just a matter of figuring out that pesky calcium balance. The recipe calls for powdered eggshell or bone meal. OR I can add whole prey meat to the recipe – I assume I would grind this – and omit the eggshell.

If I were to make the homemade diet, I feel like I would probably feed that for 2 meals per day and continue with kibble for 1 meal. And then when pup’s down to 2 meals, perhaps full homemade with kibble in the kong or as hand fed treats so he stays accustomed to it.

Last question – there doesn’t seem to be a lot of question/issue with feeding raw meaty bones or prey model diets to large breed puppies. Does the nature of a raw diet negate the need to watch the calcium levels so closely?

[Sam Koch]

Hello,

I have two Chihuahuas at home, one is four pounds and the other is five. The bigger one, Kiki, has major aggression issues. We did not socialize her at all when she was a puppy. She bites us, other dogs, and chases kids if she gets out. We can’t take her food, toys, or her bed/blanket from her. I really want to resolve this, are there any suggestions?
My smaller one barks barks barks all the time, at any little sound or movement and I believe it’s to be out of fear. How do I control that?

Thanks,
Sam

[merleGDgirl]

The time is almost here, I’m down to the last month before our gorgeous baby pandora comes home. We’ve got almost everything in place. Giant crate? Check. Collar? Check. Toys? Check. Great trainer lined up? Check. Food? umm….. about that…

Okay I’ll cut the melo dramatics. I fell in love with Danes years ago when I first laid eyes on the sleek giant but because of high school then college then grad school then marriage then children I have been unable to commit to what my heart really yearns for a GD fur baby! Well finally, the time is here.

As many pet parents I have done about six months of research on proper dane nutrition found some EXCELLENT information but… It is ALL contradicting. Some say high protein is fine others say it is fatal some say it doesn’t matter, others are more concerned with calcium and phosphorus levels others shun the thought of giving puppy food at all to a dane, to all of you I say….. Your giving me a headache.

Will someone, (preferably with a giant breed dog that can speak from past experience OR factual scientific information) please help me decide.

At the moment raw food diet, albeit good, inaccessible and unaffordable because our family doesn’t have the time or the massive amount of extra money it would take to feed a dane raw.

The plan is wellness CORE puppy. My sister has a Neapolitan Mastiff female who was fed wellness core puppy from the time she could eat kibble and did excellent on it. She has been moved to the adult line and rotates between core flavors.

I wont hear anything about blue buffalo because well…. You know diamond is a joke and I wont even entertain the idea.

I want the best for my new family member. She has the best toys, crate, trainer, the best kinda love but the food is so crutial and im at my witts end with the conflicting information!

Thanks.

[aquariangt]

To double up on what BCN said, it is very hard to crate train when they don’t care that they are making a mess, so you need to make it very positive to NOT have accidents. As Labs said, take the puppy out a ton, and reward them for going outside. Be diligent. Feed, wait 20 minutes, outside. Then pay attention, when she needs to go out, do it. Having a puppy equates to less sleep 🙂 When she is to the point where she isn’t having accidents in the crate-well, then the crying you have to ignore. Give her a toy, or a special blanket, see if it helps calm her down. I would also do her final feeding much, much earlier than bedtime, and go out at least 2 more times. If she is still pooping at that point, I would say something is wrong

Also-part of it may lie in C4C’s question, and is the poop firm? runny? If it’s always runny, i’d switch foods (I would anyway, Diamond is not trustworthy) but I’ve never had a pup have that many issues from deworming.

[Akari_32]

Got all this for $31.15! Stay tuned for a break down 🙂

http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/xx294/Akari53/2014-06/F0C5BF03-2FDB-4B3C-9235-F560AD159F67_zpsyunnf4tx.jpg

I did three total transactions, two at Pet Smart and one at PetCo.

First one at PetSmart:
3x 5lb Purina Pro Plan Savor Salmon and Rice
–Original Price: $13.99 ($14.97 after tax)
–Clearance Price: $8.37 ($7.62 after tax)
1x 5lb Nature’s Variety Prairie Puppy Chicken Meal and Brown Rice
–Original Price: $14.99 ($16.04 after tax)
–Clearance Price: $8.37 ($7.62 after tax)
Coupons:
–3x $2 off any Purina product (found on random Purina products through out the store)
–1x $3 off and Nature’s Variety Instinct, Instinct RAW, or Prairie pet food (received in the mail with samples from Nature’s Variety)
–1x $5 off $25 purchase Pet Supermarket coupon
–1x $3 off any purchase $3 or more PetSmart Coupon

Total after clearance and coupons: $18.27
–Total before clearance and coupons: $60.95
–Total savings: $42.68!

Second transaction at PetSmart:
1x 5lb Nature’s Variety Prairie Puppy Chicken Meal and Brown Rice
–Original Price: $14.99 ($16.04 after tax)
–Clearance Price: $8.37 ($7.62 after tax)
1x 2oz Omega One Algae Wafers
–Original Price: $4.99
Coupons:
–1x $3 off any purchase $3 or more PetSmart Coupon
–1x $2 off $10 purchase for Pet Supermarket
–1x $3 off and Nature’s Variety Instinct, Instinct RAW, or Prairie pet food

Total after clearance and coupons: $5.95
–Total before clearance and coupons: $21.38
–Total savings: $15.43!

And at PetCo:

2x Temptations Cat Treats 2.1 oz (manager approved replacement for Friskies Cat Treats)
–Original Price: $2.13
2x 5.5oz Royal Canin Radiant Shine canned dog food
–Original Price:$1.81
1x PetLinks cat toy
–Original Price: $5.99
Coupons:
–2x Free 2.1oz Friskies cat treat PetCo coupon (manager allowed me to substitute with Temptations because they no longer cary Friskies)
–1x 10% off any PetLinks cat toy PetCo coupon
–2x 15% off any one can of Royal Canin dog or cat food PetCo coupon
–1x $2 off $10 purchase for Pet Supermarket

Total after coupons: $6.93
–Total before clearance and coupons: $14.28
–Total savings: $7.35!

Total savings for my whole trip is $65.46 🙂 Some of this is for donations.

• This reply was modified 11 years ago by Akari_32.

[Dori]

Riley and Molly. If she is your only dog then there is no reason why you could not afford to feed her a good quality commercial raw diet. I have a Maltese, a Maltipoo and a Yorkipoo. They have all been on a rotation of commercial raw diets for the past three years and all are doing phenomenally well. A toy or small breed dog does not need a different diet or food than a regular dog other than a large breed dog puppy that needs less calcium in its growing years.

[Heather H]

I took in a stray yorkie mix just before christmas. She was in heat and running with a pack of large dogs who were fighting over her. I took her in to protect her and she is the sweetest girl. I have been feeding her and my other dog iams healthy naturals chicken and barley recipe which has 4 stars. I am on a fixed income and have low funds. She is about 10 lbs, not a toy dog and she had her puppies last friday. She had 6. Overnight she became skin and bones. She may have been underweight pregnant and I didn’t notice as her stomach was so large. Her coat is long silky and healthy and she is fine on energy but when I pet her she feels like a skeleton under all the fur. I get money on friday and in the meantime I boiled a pork roast with a lb of ground beef fresh green beans and carrots and added lentil and quinoa to try to get her extra calories. What I need to know is what is a good reasonable puppy food to try to put weight on her as she will have to eat a separate food from the other dog and I can’t spend more than $30 for the month on her and puppies, other dog has very sensitive stomach and the iams is the only food where his coat doesn’t get patchy and he doesn’t have poo storms:)

[MariaRobotnik]

Hello all, I’m new to this forum and new to the idea of feeding my dog anything better than the most fancy-healthy looking bag of food Safeway has to offer. It’s strange because I get my own food on the internet most of the time, but I still felt the need to haul 10 pounds in the snow for a limited selection of food for the dog. So any of your advice or experience that could help me pick the best choice for my fuzzball would be so very appreciated.

The hungry pup in question is Laika, a tiny 1 year old, <10lbs pug mix with shiny black fur and a white paw. She seems hungry all the time because she’s always trying to eat every tiny thing that can fit in her mouth. I can’t let her go free on the floor unsupervised. She is super energetic and attached to people. Her favorite chew toys are human fingers and toes. She cries a lot like she wants something but i don’t know what. Does she need more food? Different food? Should she still be eating puppy food? How does one feed such a small creature?

[Dog_Obsessed]

I always joke with my family and friends that Lily is a very “deprived puppy,” because she doesn’t get the turkey sandwhich that she oh-so-sweetly requests each day at noon. 😀 I don’t really know if I spoil her or not, though I do have the constant urge to keep buying her new toys. Basically, a new toy for her is a new toy for me. 🙂 I enjoy “online window shopping” for dog stuff, which means adding all sorts of random fun stuff to my cart that I really don’t need. I usually end up getting her at least on treat/toy per order lol. I don’t know when her actual birthday is, I assume it is sometime around September or October. Her gotcha day is August 13th, 2014, which I will definitely celebrate! I’ll probably feed her a meal of Weruva canned food or something, and then let her run zoomies at the park!

• This reply was modified 11 years, 1 month ago by Dog_Obsessed.
• This reply was modified 11 years, 1 month ago by Dog_Obsessed.

[Naturella]

@Oleanderz, I would probably be the odd man out here, because I don’t see most of what I do for Bruno as “spoiling” although others have told me that he is spoiled, lol. If I feed him good food with good toppers, take him to the dog park, play with him, do his nails, brush and bathe him, get him healthy treats and keep track of what treats he likes (it is pretty easy – he likes everything, lol), get him a new antler when the old one is almost chewed up, get him novel chews/toys, I don’t see any of it as spoiling. Now… we’re not really into dressing him up and probably wouldn’t buy him doggie shoes unless we lived somewhere real hot or real cold most of the year, so he only has one raincoat that he doesn’t like so he never wears, lol. Only clothes we would get him are probably NY Jets gear, lol! 🙂

And we don’t really know his Birthday, but it is probably something like early March… March 1st maybe, IDK. So I can just pick a date, but I am so finicky, I can’t decide when I want to think he was born, lol. But I do know the day we adopted him, July 27th, 2013, so that’s his “gotcha” day and I didn’t celebrate it last year, but I want to from now on. I would probably feed him a balanced all-raw meal or something, go to the park/lake, let him run, play, swim, then wash him up and snuggle him up!

I guess one way we “spoil” him is that during the night he’s not allowed on our bed – he sleeps at the foot of the bed in his favorite bean bag, which used to be my husband’s desk chair, lol. Well, Bruno claimed it and we let him, especially because Brian has an office chair now. So Bruno has the bean bag, and a bed in the bathroom (Costco bed, really nice, washable covers), and a bed on the deck that used to be his bathroom bed till he started eating his RMBs on it, so now it’s an outside bed for that purpose, just to eat RMBs on. Nowadays he has dried chicken or duck feet inside instead of an RMB on Sunday, cause it’s been so cold, but when it warms back up, he will have his RMBs again!
But, back to the spoiling – in the morning, when we start waking up, Bruno wakes up too and sleepily staggers onto the bed and comes over to shower us with puppy kisses, and we snatch him up, put him under the covers with us, and snuggle him for some snooze time. He loves snoozing in our arms in the morning. He is so peaceful and cute when asleep/sleepy! So I guess that’s his daily spoiling. 🙂

[Lyndel M]

Hi Gloria,

Yes, there is certainly a lot of confusion amongst the raw and the cooked dog food camps. I have been reading heaps about it. Those in the raw food camp put forward for the raw food diet. I shall do my best to summarise a few of the key points that are important to me. First, they say that the dog’s metabolism has changed very little from the wolves, the original wild dogs. They suggest that when we provide our dogs with the right proportions of meats, organ meats, vegetables, fruit matter and bones, they’re digestive systems have the best chance of exacting the nutrients they need for shiny coats, healthier skin and teeth, stronger bones, and decreased chances of modern-day ailments and diseases that dogs in the wild rarely if ever have. Some of these ailments include itching, skin irritations, including dryness, fleas, hip dysplasia and arthritis.

In the other camp, there is some criticism of the raw diet saying that giving a dog only food i.e., meats risks feeding contaminated food, that people don’t take enough care in raw food preparation, that dogs today have evolved to adjust to modern (cooked, commercial) food and that dogs are at moderate – high risk of injuries from bone which become lodged in the throat or gut.

I am definitely against using any commercial dog foods. There are some great you-tube documentaries disclosing the shocking truth about the poor quality of nutrition of kibble and canned dog foods and the associated illnesses. In addition, that most Vets receive very little real knowledge of nutrition in their veterinarian studies and are just as influenced by the unregulated marketing and commercial dog food producers as GPs are by drug companies.

Regardless, Jean Hofve & Celeste Yarnall “Paleo Dog” is one book that has been recommended provide excellent information for providing your dog with all of the information needed to provide our dogs with all of the nutrients required and how to do so, if we want to go down the raw food pathway. Also there is the BARF raw foods that you can purchase and other online info about this pathway. And there are heaps of recipes for cooking our dogs food as well. Andi Brown “The Whole Pet Diet: 8 wks to great health for dogs and cats”, which is also excellent for going down the cooked food pathway. They both recommend certain supplements and they both provide enough evidence to suggest that just like for humans, if we give our pets fresh wholesome, organic foods (either raw or cooked) we will be doing our beloved pets a great service.

Given I have been a passionate advocate of healthy, unprocessed foods for more 40years, I certainly want to extend this to my pet. People on this post have just been concerned that I was being cruel to our new puppy for placing his food into chewtoys. However, I made the mistake of saying that we would be putting all of his daily foods into chewtoys, whereas that won’t be the case. But I will definitely using chewtoys together with crate training, self-soothing, stimulation and entertainment as I mentioned in my previous post. I am definitely not an expert, but a concerned pet owner who has done lots and lots of reading in order to do the best by our new puppy in terms of nutrition and training. All the best!! :0)

[Lyndel M]

Hi again,

Thank you for all of your comments. However, can I say that I was responding to another member’s query as to how to stuff chew toys when she is using a raw food diet and I provided with options from my own my own research and provided a link.
However, given some of the confusion that, i) it is cruel to make a puppy work so hard for its food by giving all of its food in a chewtoy, ii) that they can’t get all of their nutritional needs met from a chewtoy due to the difficulty of getting all of food out, especially the raw meat out; iv) the raw food may go off or the chew toy become contaminated with raw food left in there and cleaning difficulties etc. Yes! I agree to most of those responses.
A puppy has very specific needs indeed. He/she needs a balance of 70% protein, 20% carbs !0% veg/fibre. Their protein should also include 10% organ meat, with only 5% of that being organic liver.
I am going on my own research and as most of your know there are many benefits to using stuffable chew toys and food puzzles. Dr Ian Dunbar (a UK vet and one of the first positive dog trainers) recommends that for the first few days to a week only feeding you puppy either by hand or in chew toys to teach them i) bite inhibition;ii) to teach the a chewtoy habit so they only chew on appropriate chew toys. However, in his day in the 80’s kibble was viewed as the best food for all dogs and he did feel his puppy’s chewtoys with kibble.

We do not intend to feed all of my puppy’s meals in a kong and we will not be leaving our puppy unsupervised…ever! We have used chew toys with previous pets and of course know the importance of cleaning. While our puppy is getting positively conditioned to his portable crate, his chew toys will be in there for him to chew on for entertainment and teaching him to self-sooth for those times in the future when he will need to be on his own. Outside of his crate (which by the way, will only be used in this way for the first few weeks), his food will be hand fed and given as treats in his training sessions.

I have found and spoken to a holistic vet in my area and will of course be guided by her expertise. We will also be supplying certain omega -3 & 6 rich oils for a shiny coat and skin health and other vitamin supplements. We love and have always loved dogs, however, this will be the first time that we will be introducing raw food into the diet after our growing awareness of how poor the quality (even premium) commercial dog foods are. Given the controversy around raw vs cooked food, my partner and I have decided to offer a mixture of both home cooked and raw food.

As most of you know that daily physical exercise is essential for a healthy pet, I am a big advocate of not allowing our pet just sit all day with nothing to do except sleep and wait anxiously for us to come home for his walk. So chewtoys are great for reducing anxiety and boredom and providing mental stimulation.

As our pup grows, we will of course be providing some of his meals in bowls and some in puzzles, kongs etc and some still by hand.

It is great to see though that some of you who are concerned about the issue of animal cruelty are being outspoken about this, we are all definitely on the same page there. I am passionate about preventing cruelty to all animals and humans. Have a good day!

[Naturella]

I would have to say that even when Bruno was a little puppy, he received at least one out of 4 meals per day in a puzzle toy of some sort. Either a wobbly tower thing that he had to push around for the kibble to come out (with awesome adjustable levels for varying difficulties and kibble sizes); a treat-dispensing ball; or a small Kong. Normally within just a couple minutes he had figured out the toy and was happily finished with his meal within 5 min or less overall, from serving to the last bite. He also seemed to have a lot of fun and is always excited to see those toys, because they mean fun and food for him.

Nowadays he has about 2 meals per week (randomly chosen, without toppers, just the kibble) come out of toys and he still loves it. We have gotten 2 new puzzlers and use those, and the good ole tower and ball (the Kong got lost in our last move, still need to get a new one). Also, the RMB he gets every Sunday evening he doesn’t get in a puzzle or treat, but spends some extra time working on as it is, well, an RMB.

Personally, I wouldn’t feed ALL meals from a Kong or a treat dispenser/puzzle of any sort because I like to keep using toppers for his kibble and don’t want the mess, but on occasion, I would totally use them for some of his kibble-only meals. 🙂 And I wouldn’t put raw in a Kong or a puzzle toy either.

[Lyndel M]

While I wouldn’t be giving my pup raw food until my holistic vet approved of it, I would encourage you to have a look at Ian Dunbar’s e-book “After you get your puppy”
http://www.dogstardaily.com/files/downloads/AFTER_You_Get_Your_Puppy.pdf. While I can understand that you think putting a certain amount of a puppy’s daily portion of food into a stuffable chew toy is cruel, I thought so too until I began doing my own research about dog training and teaching a pet good manners right from the beginning rather than focusing on what he does wrong (i.e., like ending up chewing things he shouldn’t be). Also, there are many benefits to placing a portion of the pups daily food allowance in chewtoys. For example, it entertains and stimulates them (in the wild, dogs naturally have to work for their food, even chewing the meat off of bones), it is a highly effective means of providing the pup appropriate things to chew on especially when teething, and it offers soothing and teaches them to self-soothe and entertain themselves rather than always expect you to entertain them. By the way, none of these are my own ideas, as I said, this comes from my own extensive research. But what you do and feed your own pups and beloved pets is your own choice. Good luck with it!

[Dori]

As the “mom” to three toy dogs, I do not believe that small breeds need a special diet unless, of course, they are suffering my some sort of illness that would require omitting or adding certain ingredients. At 8 months of age a toy breed no longer needs to be on puppy food. An All Life Stages food would better meet their needs at this point in time. My dogs weigh 5 lbs, 6 lbs, and 7 lbs.

As Marie stated, large breed puppies require less calcium in their diets to avert the quick growth in a large breed that could possibly lead to bone issues once grown. Large breed puppies have specific needs that must be met. I also, like Marie, have never had a large breed dog but I know others that do. My dogs have all been toy dogs with the exception of one dog that I had many years ago (Tibetan Terrier).

[Akari_32]

If this is your first dachshund, you’re in for a treat! They are quite something. Mines a diva and a drama queen to say the least. Two things to keep in mind with them: for one, pay extremely close attention to their oral health. Dachshunds have a bit a different mouth structure than other other dogs do, and are prone to dental problems. I’m fighting with terrible teeth issues with my 14 year old rescue. Make sure, especially if you go with canned food, to get your little guy used to regular teeth brushing and keep a container supply of chews and chew toys in the house, and get dental check ups regularly, and cleanings as needed. The second thing to keep in mind is they cannot take as much strain on their back and joints as other dogs can, so be sure to have doggy steps leading up to any piece of furniture he will be allowed up on. It’ll save you vet bills later 😉

You’ve got some great food suggestions, so I’ll just add a couple more. Nutro Natural Choice and Nutro Ultra are good sort of in between foods when you start to work your puppy up to higher rated brands. I also use Natural Choice in rotation when I can get it for a decent price. I’m also a huge fan of Wellness, and use a lot of it. They have a little bit of everything for everyone, and it’s not too bad of a price, either.

Good luck with your little, and post some pictures! I love the wire haired ones 🙂

[Akari_32]

Oh boy, this’ll be fun lol

Haley and Dweezle: Natural Balance Ultra Small Breed. Only got it because it was $1 a pound after coupons– I’m not very happy with, so after the two bags I have are gone, I’ll not buy it again. However, they like it. But they like anything, regardless of how eatable it is lol They also each get a salmon oil pill in their food. Next will be Wellness Toy Breed Complete Health Senior and Wellness Toy Breed Complete Health Adult, mixed 2:1. These dogs are 60 and 130 lbs, btw LOL after that will probably be Ideal Balance puppy, then Wellness Core Puppy and Small Breed mixed, then who knows. I have a good sized stash to chose from. I try to keep it interesting.

Bentley: SSLL mix, with coconut oil (won’t eat the mix plain, the little brat!) and a nice de-boned raw turkey leg. He gets a random pick of turkey or chicken (bought whole and cut up and separated into white meat, dark meat, and bone-in meat), ground pork, or beef or chicken hearts every day.

Ginger: half Wellness Small Breed Simple Salmon and Potato, and half Wellness Toy Breed Complete Health Healthy Weight. She’ll be moving to Purina Veterinary Diet Joint Mobility when I have the money in my account to order it, her Wellness Simple was running out, so I’ll put it off a bit longer, so she’s not switching arounf too much. Her stomach just can’t handle it. Nothing Purina is my first choice except for a very select few of the canned cat foods due to cost, but I’m at my wits end at what I can do to help her poor old joints, and not break the bank (not that there’s much of a bank to break at this point…). I can get it less than what the same size bag of Wellness is, so it’s worth a shot. Her treats today was a half of an Amoxicillin pill in the morning and tonight. She eats it like it’s the most delicious thing she’s ever tasted, so I just let her think that LOL

Usually they all get some form of Zukes or Pet Botanics treats, but no one got any of those today, except the cat, who did high-fives, shakes, and up’s for his G-Zees treats :p He also got 3oz Wild Kitty raw cat food mix (made with chicken) for breakfast, and a 5.5 oz can of Friskies Ocean Whitefish as a very special treat. I don’t do fish or any other Friskies other than two flavors of Special Diet for him very often, but I’ll grab something fish based every now and then for something that isn’t turkey, chicken or beef. Gotta have something different when your crazy mommy limits you to very specific flavors from very specific brands lol I’ve also been giving Bentley a few pieces of Natures Variety Instinct Raw as a treat a few times a day. He loves to eat the little pieces still frozen. I think he likes the texture, and the fact that it’s red meat, something I can’t afford for his rotation very often. Innova Prime Red Meat used to be his favorite kibble before we realized he had carb allergies and before Innova got bought out.

Just a side note on the Wellness Toy Breed Complete Health forumlas: I’m extremely happy with all of them. Typically, even in the rest of the Wellness line, senior and diet foods are just complete crap, but these are comparable to other puppy and adult grain inclusive foods. They have good protein (close to 30%), and low fat (which is what my three old farts need), and are still high calorie (high 400’s!). Would definitely recommend either of these to anyone with a dog that needs a low fat diet, or to any owner who likes to feed lower fat diet food, small or large breed. It’s pretty decently priced, too, especially if you have coupons 😉

[DogFoodie]

I think Wellness makes great products that are affordable and they have a wide variety of toy and small breed formulas.

When looking for different foods for my adult toy breed, I frequently also take a look at puppy formulas. An affordable, good quality, example of this would be NutriSource small & medium breed puppy.

[Dog_Obsessed]

Lol yeah. It actually had a few treats in it, which I took out and then rinsed the thing. I already gave it back to her with another two treats in it, and she spent a full 20 minutes or so trying to work them out. She got one out and little nibbles of the other. Her Goodie Bone and her regular Kong are both puppy versions, left over from when I was fostering senior dogs and wanted something softer on their teeth. I think the different Kongs for different life stages is purely marketing hype, and Lily has barely made a dent in either toy, so I think this “off-label use” is okay.

[oepth]

So I’m getting a puppy in a week (mini aussie – yay!) and I definitely want to feed a raw diet. I’m close to My Pet Carnivore so getting the meat / triple / grinds isn’t an issue. I also want to feed morning kibble – mostly because I want her to work for her food using food puzzle toys. She’ll be about 25 lbs as an adult so that will mean she’ll get about 12 ounces of food a day. (3% of 25 lbs)

Can someone recommend me a menu? Here’s what I have:
Morning
– Orijen Puppy Kibble (4 ounces)

Lunch
– Chicken neck (4 ounces) OR

Dinner (rotate amongst these options or so)
– Green tripe (starting with grinded version and then moving on to the real thing) 2 ounces + whole grind chicken 2 ounces OR
– Beef liver 1 ounce + whole grind chicken 2 ounces + chicken gizzard 1 ounce OR
– Whole ground duck 2 ounces + Beef gullet 1 ounce + Green tripe 1 ounce + 1 ounce vege puree

Does this menu sound ok? More liver/offals? What kind? Also I’m adding Salmon Oil (Grizzly brand) and Solid Gold Sea Meal Powder.

Thanks for any feedback!
Cheryl

[oepth]

I am definitely a raw food advocate. I did it with my cats and am now going to do it with my new puppy. That said though, I do want my puppy to work for her food for at least one meal a day – through puzzles/kongs/food toys etc and I really can’t imagine how to do that with raw food. With kibble, that would be easy and it would really make her work her noggin to get her meal. Just wondering if anyone had any thoughts on how to make their dogs work for their raw food?

[Constance B]

Thank You for all your suggestions….I will try them and let you know how Teddy is doing.
While looking through the site I read that Wellness Puppy Food has a 5 star rating…Though I will try the chicken and Rice to settle his tummy and intestines..I think that is a good idea, especially with the lethargic behavior of the past couple of days…
On the upside my hubby took him out a little bit ago and Teddy wanted to play in the snow. He let him play for awhile and he seems a bit more alert and is playing on his bed with his toys… 🙂 That is good to see…
Again Thank You I will keep you updated.
Connie

[theBCnut]

Corgies are not known to be very bloat prone, so don’t worry about that. Fromm is a good food, but some of their formulas are a bit low on protein, and if this is a food intolerance problem, they all have a lot of the same ingredients. If the food is an All Life Stages food, then it is a puppy food, as well as every other life stage, so look at the nutritional adequacy statement and relieve that fear too.

If I was you, I would get small bags of a few different foods, like Nature’s Logic, Nature’s Variety Instinct, Victor, Earthborn, Canine Caviar, and try them one after another and take notes on how he does on each of them.

One way to slow a fast eater is to get rid of the bowl all together and just throw a handful of kibble on the flood scattered, so he has to pick up one piece at a time. Or feed him out of a Kong Wobbler or another puzzle toy, so he has to work for his food. For some dogs, adding a good amount of water slows them down, and you have the added bonus of knowing that they are going to be well hydrated.

[Akari_32]

I routinely use puppy foods for my 11, 12, and 14 year old dogs. All that stuff in puppy food is great for them. It’s lower in carbs and higher in protein, which is what senior dogs need. Don’t worry too much about labeling, and go for any food that says its for puppies, all life stages, and adults.

For such a small dog, you may even look into a pre-mix for raw. I have an 8 lb jack russell mix on See Spot Live Longer and a variety of protein sources, and it only costs about $20 a month to feed him.

If you don’t want to go that route, I’m a big fan of Wellness. Their non-small breed formulas have kibbles that your little guy probably can’t chew, but they do have several Small and Toy Breed foods out, and they are releasing more. They come in grain-inclusive and grain free varieties, and they also always $5 off any size bag coupons on their website. Just click the “Check Your Bag” button, and follow the promts.

http://www.wellnesspetfood.com/index.aspx

I also use Nutro Natural Choice LID Lamb and Rice (in the dark green bag), and their Small Breed line looks fantastic as well, but the prices and lack of coupons drive me away (those are in pink bags). Nutro Ultra looks like a great food.

Be careful when selecting foods while trying to stay away from Diamond. They make Blue Buffalo, Taste of the Wild, Canidae, Chicken Soup for the Dog Lovers Soul, Precise, Premium Edge, and many more. And While I used to love Innova and Evo, I can personally no longer recommend them. They are now owned by Mars– the candy company. Since the buy-out of Natura (P&G, then Mars) the protein levels have dropped and more carbs have been added. Mars also owns others brands of pet foods. If they make your candy bars, should they *really* be making pet food?

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101566238#.

Good luck with your little guy! I think I speak for all of us when I say “PICS!!!!” 😉

[pugmomsandy]

You might consider joining Editor’s Choice. It’s an annul membership. The companies listed there have met additional guidelines.

/choosing-dog-food/brand-guidelines/

Horizon Amicus, Nutrisource grain free Lamb, Pro Pac Ultimates Overland Red, Nature’s Logic, Wellness Small/Toy breed, Nutrisource Sm/Med Puppy are all very small/tiny kibbles.

Also check out these articles:

/frequently-asked-questions/diet-rotation-for-dogs/

/choosing-dog-food/canned-or-dry-dog-food/

• This reply was modified 11 years, 4 months ago by pugmomsandy.

[Akari_32]

I did find a shop near by-ish that has it, according to the website. Can’t wait to get it!

So heres a deal I’m hoping to try out soon. Naturella sent me a ton of $10 off $25 a purchase coupons for PetLand. PetCo should take these. I also have a $10 Natural Balance PetSupermarket coupon, which PetCo takes. Then I have two $3 off any size bag 4.5lbs or larger of Natural Balance Ultra manufacturer coupons (one from Naturella!). PetCo has the Small Bites formula for $29.99.

Should this work, I will have a 12.5 lb bag of Natural Balance Ultra for $9.09. Not bad! I would like to see if they’ll price match Pet Supermarket for me, since they have it for $28.99, which would make it $8.02, and me *very* happy. The sale price online for PetCo does say $26.99, but I’m not sure if thats in-store, too, since PetCo is freaking stupid and can’t just have the same sale price in-store and online. That would just be too easy.

http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/xx294/Akari53/D60C9619-BD1A-4BC1-B22F-D2808FAD9238_zps2be9yufo.jpg

http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/xx294/Akari53/7D268BB6-EFA0-4965-945E-1CEF3EF6CF90_zpsnszbungi.jpg

I also scored a 4 lb bag of Wellness Simple Small Breed Salmon and Potato (didn’t even know that was a thing!!) and a 4 lb bag of Wellness CORE Puppy for $2.46 and $2.48 respectively at Pet Supermarket the other day! The Simple was on clearance for $11.97 (they say it was in the wrong spot, because it rang up at $17-something, but the tag on shelf was right– I don’t think it was in their system properly, but they gave it to me anyways), and the CORE was marked down 20% for an upcoming expiration date. Used a $5 off PetSmart coupon and $5 off Wellness Coupon for each of them. The CORE I’m using now, using it to spread out Haley and Dweezle’s other food (also Wellness, but its the Toy Breed kind lol), since the expiration date is in a few weeks. I’ve used it twice, and its half gone already, so no worries there! The Simple I’ll try out for Ginger, since its small kibbles. Yay!

*edit*

So I just looked through PetCo’s flier and the Natural Balance IS on sale for $26.99. That means I could very well get it for $5.88 a bag!!!!!!! Holy geez! I know where I’ll be going in the morning!

• This reply was modified 11 years, 4 months ago by Akari_32.

[Dori]

Oh Kayla. I didn’t realize that you don’t use a crate. As I’ve said, it’s a puppy thing. Just like toddlers have tons of toys but what they’ll reach for to play with are your pots, pans, makeup, you name it but not the toys no matter how many they have. Same thing. He’ll grow out of it but for your own sanity and his safety he should spend time in his crate. Proper crate training is a God send in so many instances. You don’t have to take him to the vet or call the pet place, unless of course he has eaten something dangerous. He’s just doing what puppies do. They all do it. Wait until he starts chewing the legs of your furniture, floor boards, etc. Crate Training!!!!! It’s essential.

[Naturella]

I am so surprised Bruno doesn’t have anything either. He is now a little over 1.5 years… His teeth look great, except for 3 small brown spots on his canines (of all teeth), but that’s about it… The vet said he doesn’t need anything.

We used to brush his teeth weekly as a puppy, then stopped for a few months (lazy us), then started again recently to do them daily, then he got sick… So we haven’t picked it back up yet, but I plan to soon. We use a doggie toothbrush and he’s not a huge fan of the procedure but for the most part lets us do it. He also has a rope toy he chews on a lot, an antler, and I will put him back on RMBs once/week soon again. Does the rope help much? I had the impression that it would a bit when he pushes down on it, and I also have used it to rub on his teeth too, while playing tug – he doesn’t even notice I’m “brushing” his teeth with the rope, lol, he’s so into the game. I guess those have helped keep his teeth ok for now. I will also try the gauze method, may be less stressful than the brush, who knows.

Recently I started using just coconut oil, baking soda, stevia, and a few drops of Dr. Bronner’s peppermint soap as a homemade toothpaste, so I was wondering if something like that (minus the soap and the stevia, but with some other essential oil maybe?) would work for Bruno? Or is it really not necessary?

[Dori]

Glad to hear you like them BC. I’ve recently added the Beef, Tripe and Fish to the girls rotation. Hubby is quite the squeamish one when it comes to feeding raw so this is as close as I can get if he has to feed a meal because I’ve dared to not be home at the girl’s meal time. I wish they didn’t have the freeze dried potato in their ingredients but as you know I feed rotational diet with every meal it really won’t be a big deal. I don’t like to feed Hannah with anything that has white potatoes because of her touch of arthritis.

cindy q. I believe that some of us have stated (not just me) that for an adult or senior dog this is a great food to feed in a rotational diet. Also most of the regulars on this site feed rotational diets so that what they may miss in one meal (if, indeed, that is the case with any food you may feed) they will pick it up in the next meal. Every single meal does not have to be “complete and balanced”. Complete and Balanced has to be met over a period of a week. If you feed a rotation diet then you really should not have any problems when feeding quality foods. If you’ve followed any of my posts on the DFA site I’m a firm believer in both raw and rotational feeding. My three dogs are my proof (for me) that this is the best diet for them.

I’ve never owned a large dog so have never had to research large puppy requirements in a dog food. I believe it has to do with the calcium in a food so as to not have their bones growing quicker than they should. Others would be knowledgeable in that area. I believe this food would also be fine for puppies of medium, small and toy dogs. I would have no issue feeding puppies this food but, again, I don’t feed any food solely.

[Akari_32]

When I put the steps in moms room, I put them to the night stand. They are the same height, but the night stand provides Ginger and Bentley that extra room to get up on to the bed, rather than a shear drop from the bed to the stairs. Moms bed is 31 inches tall, which we couldn’t find any stairs to reach, so we decided the night stand was a good height. It is for Bentley, but just a bit too tall for old Ginger. I’ll be finding a rug and a bit of 4×4 to make an extra step on the night stand, and make the surface non-slip (again, not a problem for Bentley, but a problem for Gingers short little legs and old bones).

I actually bought the Toy Breed for my almost 12-year-old, 60 lb retriever mix, Haley, because it’s high in calories, and she doesn’t like to eat much. Got a bunch if 2 and 4 lb bags free with coupons, along with the Wellness Senior cans :p Having only $10 a week budgeted for now three dogs (12, 60 and 130 lb), a cat, and various fish and reptiles, I’m oportunistic with my pet food coupon deals (but not so much so that I’ll buy food of questionable quality– I still have standards, which works out for me with the great Wellness deals I get). I typically buy puppy foods because of Haley, but the protein and calories on this line were where I wanted them for the most part, and is figured variety is the spice of life LOL

Also, the small kibble size seems to be working well for Ginger because of her teeth. They are just so gross, and I imagine they hurt to some degree. I don’t think this dog has ever seen a bone of any kind in her life. I do plan on seeing how she does on other foods I’ve got stashed away that have larger kibble sizes though. I’ve got one 6lb bag of Pro Plan small breed puppy (only cost my 3 bucks!) and about 15 lbs of Nutro Natural Choice puppy that all have larger kibbles (and of course my bunches of Wellness Toy Breed lol). I’ve got some EVO in the freezer, but those are like as big as her eye, so I think that’s out of the question…

[Akari_32]

I emailed Wellness the other day looking for a low carb kibble to use as treats for Bentley, and they, awesomely, sent me the as fed and dry matter carb values of their entire dog line! Decided I’d post it here, and possibly help someone out in the future 🙂

Wellness® Dry Dog Foods: Carbohydrates

Wellness® Dry Dog
Complete Health Deboned Chicken & Oatmeal Recipe:
As Fed: 49.58%
Dry Matter: 53.89%

Complete Health Whitefish & Sweet Potato Recipe:
As Fed: 45.89%
Dry Matter: 49.84%

Complete Health Lamb & Barley Recipe:
As Fed: 48.15%
Dry Matter: 52.34%

Complete Health Healthy Weight Deboned Chicken & Peas Recipe:
As Fed: 53.11%
Dry Matter: 57.73%

Complete Health Senior Deboned Chicken & Barley Recipe:
As Fed: 52.42%
Dry Matter: 56.98%

Complete Health Puppy Deboned Chicken, Oatmeal & Salmon Meal Recipe:
As Fed: 36.72%
Dry Matter: 39.91%

Large Breed Complete Health Adult Deboned Chicken & Brown Rice Recipe:
As Fed: 44.58%
Dry Matter: 48.46%

Large Breed Complete Health Puppy Deboned Chicken, Brown Rice & Salmon Meal Recipe:
As Fed: 43.56%
Dry Matter: 47.35%

Small Breed Complete Health Adult Turkey & Oatmeal Recipe:
As Fed: 37.67%
Dry Matter: 40.94%

Small Breed Complete Health Adult Whitefish, Salmon Meal, & Peas Recipe:
As Fed: 35.43%
Dry Matter: 38.51%

Small Breed Complete Health Puppy Turkey, Oatmeal & Salmon Meal Recipe:
As Fed: 36.36%
Dry Matter: 39.52%

Small Breed Complete Health Senior:
As Fed: 44.16%
Dry Matter: 48.00%

Small Breed Complete Health Healthy Weight Turkey & Brown Rice Recipe:
As Fed: 43.38%
Dry Matter: 47.16%

Toy Breed Complete Health Adult Deboned Chicken, Brown Rice & Peas Recipe:
As Fed: 32.48%
Dry Matter: 35.30%

Toy Breed Complete Health Healthy Weight Deboned Chicken & Barley Recipe:
As Fed: 41.71%
Dry Matter: 45.34%

Toy Breed Complete Health Senior Deboned Chicken & Oatmeal Recipe:
As Fed: 42.43%
Dry Matter: 46.12%

Wellness® CORE® Dry Dog
CORE® Grain-Free Original:
As Fed: 29.47%
Dry Matter: 32.03%

CORE® Grain-Free Ocean:
As Fed: 28.52%
Dry Matter: 31.00%

CORE® Grain-Free Reduced Fat:
As Fed: 34.19%
Dry Matter: 37.16%

CORE® Grain-Free Puppy:
As Fed: 23.58%
Dry Matter: 25.63%

CORE® Grain-Free Small Breed:
As Fed: 23.79%
Dry Matter: 25.86%

CORE® Grain-Free Large Breed:
As Fed: 31.29%
Dry Matter: 34.01%

CORE® Grain-Free Wild Game:
As Fed: 28.18%
Dry Matter: 30.63%

Simple Limited Ingredient Diet Dry Dog Recipes:
Simple Grain-Free Salmon & Potato Formula:
As Fed: 43.20%
Dry Matter: 46.96%

Simple Grain-Free Turkey & Potato Formula:
As Fed: 41.99%
Dry Matter: 45.64%

Simple Lamb & Oatmeal Formula:
As Fed: 48.11%
Dry Matter: 52.59%

Simple Duck & Oatmeal Formula:
As Fed: 49.26%
Dry Matter: 53.54%

Simple Grain -Free Small Breed Salmon & Potato Formula:
As Fed: 35.13%
Dry Matter: 38.18%

Simple Grain – Free Healthy Weight Salmon & Peas Formula:
As Fed: 42.76%
Dry Matter: 46.48%

[Kimberly T]

Hello!
I currently have a two year old toy schnauzer suffering from the usual allergy symptoms, chewing or licking of paws, pink itchy skin, etc. I started noticing these symptoms at a very early age, so for one of her regular check ups I brought the issues up to my vet. She stated that allergies don’t tend to start showing up until after they are atleast two years old, and that she was probably just doing “puppy” stuff and I was overreacting. After growing up with schnauzers in my life from an early age, I am pretty aware of “most” of there common health concerns. Our last family baby had diabetes, pancreatitis, and finally went completely blind. My parents always fed low grade food (kibbles n bits, pedigree, royal canine) and now knowing this can lead to so many health issues I have kept my little girl (Sophie) on nothing but 4 and 5 star food. Noticing the allergy symptoms I started to rotate foods to see if anything would help or change, and nothing seemed to help. Within the colder months the chewing decreased, but nothing was cured. Now recently she came back from the groomers in massive pain! Skin and ear problems. I went back to the vet and finally after some tests they said she had bacterial and yeast infections due to what they can only guess is seasonal allergies! After the antibiotics and healing process I am desperate for her to never have to endure such pain from something I feel I could of prevented! Any help on food, vitamins, etc. Would be GREATLY appreciated!
Thank you!!

[Naturella]

Vianca, I am not a pro, but from what I know, different breed puppies mature differently – a small or toy breed puppy can be considered an adult and fully-mature at 6 months of age; large and giant breed puppies can continue growing and be considered puppies for up to 2 years! So I don’t know where the 5-month mark came from. I do know that adult dogs just don’t need the extra calories from puppy food, that is why the amount should be reduced, but as with every dog, you need to watch activity levels and overall body condition and adjust accordingly – for example, reduce food if she’s getting chunky or is in general not very active, and increase food if she’s too thin and/or very active. As for the dog being spayed, I don’t know if you have to reduce her food, maybe one of the pros here will jump in on that part. For my Bruno, I only reduced his kibble 1/4 cup from his 1 cup/day allowance after being neutered, but that coincided with him being 6 months old and an “adult” now. Also, now I complement the loss of kibble with various toppers (wish I did that when he was a puppy, but oh well, he got his fair share of bully sticks, fish skins, etc.), so he hasn’t really lost the calories, but he burns them just fine.

My Bruno is 13.5lbs and he’s at moderately high activity level. He is supposed to get 1 cup at most of food, I think, for his weight group. I feed him 3/4 (heaping) cup of dry food plus The Honest Kitchen as a topper and coconut oil/yoghurt every other breakfast, and a raw egg, canned sardines, and a raw meaty bone once/week for each. He is lean, muscular, and in good body condition.

I wouldn’t worry too much about the actual amount – just observe your dog and adjust accordingly, and eventually you will find an amount that works for her.

[aimee]

Hi Liz,

If all you are reading is that Science diet is so horrible then you are not reading everything:). For example when Dr. Remillard, a board certified veterinary nutritionist was asked which dog food she would feed she replied “It’s kind of a race to the top between Royal Canin, Purina and Hill’s for me….” petdietsdotcom/Ask-the-Nutritionist. Dr Wynn, also a board certified veterinary nutritionist gave a nod to Science Diet in her article on large breed puppy nutrition.

Good guide rates Science Diet Adult Toy and Small breed dog food 9.2/10 in the health category.

When zoos choose to use a commercial dog/cat food for the valuable animals in their care you will find Science Diet on the menu.

If open to the idea that veterinary and PhD nutritionists use different criteria to evaluate food vs many internet posters you will find that Science Diet is held in high regard by professionals in nutrition.

I have fed Science Diet products in the past and currently am using one of their products. I’m confident in my choice and in the nutrition it provides.

[Susan]

Hi Liz, your dog shouldn’t have real bad gas… Have you looked at the Wellness Range?? They make “Wellness Toy breed” “Wellness Small Breed” complete health Puppy Turkey Oatmeal & Salmon meal recipe..Here’s a link to have a look, the whole Wellness range should come up, Complete Health, Core Grainfree, Toy Breed & Small Breed & their Simple limited ingredients, what I use, my boy was a walking fart, now I never smell any farts since he’s been on the Wellness Simple…
http://www.wellnesspetfood.com/recipes.aspx?pet=dog&ft=1#Complete Health Dry Dog Recipes I hope this link works if it doesnt just google “Wellness dog food”… good-luck

[Dori]

At four months old your dog is still very much a puppy. Puppies will chew. It’s what they do. I believe it probably starts off with teething and then sometimes continues as a habit. They also entertain themselves with chewing. Unfortunately, usually inappropriate items. If you haven’t already, you need to have a variety of items for your puppy to chew on. Also buy the Kong (size appropriate for your puppy) fill it up with some wonderful treat (preferably soft). Freeze it and then give it to him frozen. He’ll kill hours on end trying to get the good stuff out. Remember though the treat (something soft) has to be something delicious that he only gets in the Kong. Buy two Kongs so that one is always in the freezer ready to go. Most puppies also chew as I said for entertainment. They get bored very quickly. At that age he’s still to young to be left running around the house by himself. He should always be somewhere where he can be watched and gently corrected when acting appropriately. If you can’t keep your eyes on him (showers, shopping, work, etc.) he should be in his appropriate size crate with toys (large with no small parts so he can’t choke). Anyway, that’s my two cents. It’s always how I got through the numerous puppy stages of all my dogs. They also sell all sorts of sprays and such that you can buy to detract him from a certain area.

Also, I agree with Aimee. Nu vet and a lot of similar products is all marketing. They have realized that there is a whole population out there that they can make money off of and has not yet been tapped. Just gimmicks that they market so well and we fall for them until you get some experience (old age for me is what I’m trying to say) and realize that it’s just another marketing ploy.

• This reply was modified 11 years, 7 months ago by Dori.

[USA]

Hi Omayra

A 5 month old puppy chewing carpets can be anything from normal puppy behavior (most common reason) to something nutrient related to a behavioral issue and so on. I would not rush into a nutrient deficiency diagnosis so quickly!

Before anyone can suggest any supplements for your puppy can you please tell us his current diet including treats please be as specific as you can.

What is his day like? Yard, Walks, Toys, People always around? How much time does he spend alone? Does he sleep and spend any other time in a crate?

Can you please also tell us what brand/type of shampoo and conditioner that you use and how often you bathe him.

And can you please tell us any medicine he is currently taking, including flea control. How much and how often and his vaccine history.

And last but not least has he had any blood, urine or fecal tests run and were there any abnormal or out of range results.

Is there anything you would like to add that will help us to know him better?

I don’t mean to pry but you must take into consideration the WHOLE dog to start figuring things out. Looking at a symptom or a behavior without knowing more about a dog usually results in treating a symptom instead of curing the cause of the symptom by returning the dog to complete and overall optimum health. This may not always be possible but starting with the whole dog is the way to go!!!

Keep Up The Good Work!!!

[Suburban Gal]

I’m currently fostering a 2-year-old Phaléne named Dane for PapAdopters. I pulled the puppy from a no-kill shelter in the City of Chicago 6 days ago.

Over the past 6 days, I’ve been working with Dane on basic obedience in the comfort of my own home and building off of what he currently knows like come and sit. Dane understands the “leave it” and “off” commands and generally does what he’s told to do. He also knows that no means no. Dane is highly motivated to learn and will work for food.

One of my main concerns with Dane is what the vet put in her initial report concerning a behavior evaluation from July 30th. She wrote:

When he was first at 26th Street (intake and medical), he was reported to guard toys from other dogs and food from people. They have been managing resources to prevent triggering this. On 7/9 at the shelter, he jumped up to greet a volunteer and when the person went to pet him, he turned and snapped at the hand. He then growled and moved towards the door. The volunteer tried to move towards the door when he then lunged and grabbed their pants. Another incident occurred when a volunteer tried to remove his Weiss walkie after returning from a walk. The volunteer touched his neck, he snarled and the volunteer backed away. He jumped up and snarled. The volunteer backed away again. Only then did he stop reacting. A third incident occurred after a shelter employee had shown him to a potential adopter. Dane was friendly and appropriate with the family at that time. The shelter employee then tried to put an Elizabethan collar on him when he lunged and wouldn’t stop. Shelter volunteers were able to help muzzle him and then place the collar on him. Once the muzzle was removed, Dane lunged again.

The vet gave him a working diagnosis of possessive aggression and suspect conflict related aggression. She says he presents an interesting situation and the triggers for his aggression are very unclear and not predictable. That Dane shows an immediate extreme reaction when he shows aggression.

My mom and I have seen some of this in our home 3 or 4 times since we’ve had him.

I’m hoping that there are more experienced dog people here and more experienced rescuers here who can offer me more insight into this issue and help me fix it. He’s an otherwise great dog and I want to make sure he gets a good forever home.

[matt n]

First off, I’m glad I found this site. If I hadn’t, this puppy would have eventually been given the Cesar’s brand of wet dog food. It’s been interesting to read about rotating foods, calcium levels, grain-free foods and other things. I’ve mainly been looking at the large breed and giant breed thread as it’s very informative but, my dog will not be a large breed. She’s more of a medium breed. By math she’s ~68% golden retriever and the rest is toy poodle. The puppy is now 6 weeks old and the breeder estimated she would end up being 30-35lbs. So, what I’m wondering is, does my puppy not being classified as a large breed change the food she should eat? What about the calcium levels?

Right now she’s eating Life’s Abundance along with Nature’s Variety Raw Medallions for treats(not sure if this info is relevant but here it is nonetheless).

I was eying Earthborn Holistic Coastal Catch or Meadow Feast as they’re pretty high rated and I’ve seen tons of positive reviews.

Any suggestions or information is greatly appreciated! Thanks!

• This topic was modified 11 years, 7 months ago by matt n.
• This topic was modified 11 years, 7 months ago by matt n.

[Akari_32]

He’s definitely doing better. Got a bit of a ways to go, but we’re getting there for sure.

I agree with you on the chemical and such side of that. What I meant by average is brands (like Pro Plan and Hills) that promote themselves to be the best of the best, and have minimal (chemical, etc) additives to them, but also have some thought and research behind them. Not that I think either of these brands are overly good, but they do have their places, and at this point I’m about ready to try anything. But I do know to stay away from certain things. The price point on these two Pro Plans is great. Like $15 a case usually. That’s something we can definitely handle. It’d be good for keeping the cost down and for some variety.

All I said to them (all of them) was that I needed a low carb food. I’m thinking Hill’s response was them thinking they were going to get my money anyways. Silly Hill’s– I’m not that stupid LOL

I know small breed foods typically have more calories per cup, which is great in my case for Haley, my 11 year old 60 lb lab mix. She can’t stomach too much dry food at once, so toy and small breed foods are typically a good choice if I can’t get a puppy or other higher calorie food. And large breed puppy foods, if formulated properly, have certain calcium and phosphorus levels and ratios. Beyond that, I don’t know if makes any difference giving large breed food to small breed dogs lol

[pugmomsandy]

Nutrisource small/med breed puppy kibble and Nature’s Select Hi-Pro/Puppy are tiny. Also, there is Horizon Amicus for toy breeds. These are the smallest kibbles I’ve fed.

• This reply was modified 11 years, 8 months ago by pugmomsandy.

[Lilmonster]

Hi everyone!

Another lurker here eager and (almost) ready to make the switch to raw. Like other newbies, I have so much respect for everyone here for not only committing so much time and effort to their fur babies, but also taking the time to answer endless, potentially stupid questions from nervous dog moms like me! I would never even have known about raw diets, let alone been able to work up the nerve to take the plunge if it weren’t for this forum, so thanks to all of you!

Some background info: My fiancé and I just adopted our little one, Lily, two months ago from a rescue. She’s 41 lbs and the vet estimates her age at around 1, much younger than the rescue thought – her teeth were pretty yellow when we first got her but presumably because she wasn’t given anything to chew on to clean plaque, so they thought she was 2 yrs 8 months (!), which leads me to think she sadly may have been malnourished as a puppy since they were feeding her as an adult. As soon as we gave her bones and chew toys her teeth became pearly white. Anyway, we switched her to Fromm’s Surf and Turf kibble when we got her, but we noticed she started itching more and more. Took her to the vet to ask about the itchiness as well as a suspected UTI, but the diagnosis for the itching was understandably vague. We’re not sure if it’s a food allergy or environmental – she doesn’t have fleas, and we’re pretty sure it’s not a yeast issue. She doesn’t smell yeasty at all and I think the vet would have picked up on that. So after a recent bout of diarrhea due to too many high fat treats after a training session, I figured it would be a good time to begin the transition to raw after her system cleared up. I fasted her for a meal then fed her a mixture of white rice and pumpkin for two meals, which brought her poos back to normal, then began feeding her a 50-50 mix of ground turkey and pumpkin with the See Spot Live Longer mix added in. The vet is holistic and also trained in Chinese medicine, and she suggested that I switch to beef instead of turkey since chicken and turkey is considered “hot” and could be contributing to the itchiness, so yesterday I made the switch to ground beef and her poo was still fine this morning. But then I remembered reading somewhere (I think on preymodelraw) that it’s not recommended to start with beef, but I think for the time being I’ll stick with it just to avoid changing her diet too many times (unless anyone here would strongly advise against starting with beef?). At the moment, her daily food (divided into two meals) is 1 lb 90% lean ground beef + 2 tbsp SSLL + 1/2 tsp hempseed oil + 1 tsp coconut oil (just started adding it) + 1 human probiotic. She is also currently on a one week course of antibiotics for the urinary problem.

I have Steve Brown’s Unlocking the Canine Ancestral Diet, ordered the Dr. Becker’s book, and have read through many of the threads on this forum but like other newbies I’m getting lost in all the information and feeling as overwhelmed as Cyndi was in the thread where she first started, lol. I’m thinking of sticking to the ground boneless meat with the See Spot Live Longer mix for a bit while I figure out all the supplements that are needed and place my meat orders. A few questions that I’d really appreciate if someone could help out with:

– I know you can’t add the See Spot Live Longer dinner mix to bone-in meats, but am I also correct in assuming that if I begin adding RMBs in the PM and continue to feed boneless ground meat + See Spot Live Longer mix in the AM that it would be too much calcium? Ideally I’d like to continue using the SSLL simply because it’s the easiest way for me to not have to worry that her nutrition is unbalanced while I’m still learning to balance her meals myself. I did see the most recent topic mentioning CarnivoreRaw but that’s a bit out of my budget. Hound Dog Mom, do you use the Twinlab Daily One with or without iron? Also, I noticed the Twinlab does have calcium in it, does that not matter because the amount is so low? If I choose to go the multivitamin route, can I then add other things like fruits and veggies and such without worrying about overloading on a specific vitamin/mineral or will I have to be careful with what I add?

– This may be a bit much to ask, but if one of the veterans has the time to respond I would be so grateful. Could someone make a list of the essential vitamins/minerals (or alternatively, foods that will provide those vitamins and minerals) that MUST be added to a diet that consists of boneless meat in the AM and RMBs in the PM, and the approximate amounts? This is the part I’m feeling especially in over my head with. Vitamin D, vitamin E, fish oil, manganese, so many different things I’m seeing that they need, it’s hard to not feel kind of scared to do it all from scratch, which is my eventual goal. I think I’m having a hard time figuring out what is absolutely necessary vs. optional but ideal.

– So from what I’ve read so far it seems to be a good idea to start her on chicken backs and quarters, then begin alternating boneless meat every other meal. How many meals should I feed the backs and quarters before I begin incorporating boneless meals? Also, should I already be giving her supplements during this time, or should I wait until she adjusts then begin adding supplements. As for stuff like organ meats, heart, and green tripe, how long should I wait before beginning to incorporate those? I promise I have read the other threads, but I’ve seen a few different recommendations on timelines so I thought I’d pose the question again just so I can be clear about it.

Thanks in advance to anyone willing to take the time to answer my questions!

[Naturella]

Victor has teeny kibbles, Holistic Health Extension Small/Toy Breed has teeny kibbles too. My dog was 5lbs or so when we adopted him, he was very small, but was able to eat Blue Buffalo Wilderness with no problem. I haven’t ever fed him small breed anything since the first food he was on – Nutro Natural Choice Small Breed Puppy. Since then he’s been on:
Blue Buffalo Wilderness
Nutrisca
Dr. Tim’s (largest kibble he’s ever had)
Holistic Health Extension
Earthborn Holistic
Now! Fresh
Victor (smallest kibble he’s ever had)
Nature’s Variety Instinct
Annamaet samples (good size, close to Victor)
NutriSource samples (close to HHE)
TOTW samples (close to HHE/BBW)
Nulo sample (a bit bigger than BBW)

Overall Bruno has managed to deal with all kibble sizes just fine. But you can check out Victor and other small breed varieties of good 5-star foods. 🙂

[Lisa C]

I’m sure this has been talked about numerous times on here, but there’s no search box to try and find answers in the forum. Sorry!

We have had our Chewy since December of last year. We got him at eight weeks. He is a Pekingese/Chihuahua/Cocker Spaniel/ mix (we did a DNA test!) So he’s not quite a year old yet, but later in the fall he will be. The first month or two we had Chewy, he had no problems. We fed him dry puppy Nutro (the pink bag) that was recommended by someone who claimed to have researched foods. after the first 1-2 months, he started vomiting EVERY day. At least once a day. It’s now mid-July, and yes, he still vomits EVERY single day! I think there’s maybe been six total days since Feb that he hasn’t puked at least once. We’ve had numerous tests done at the vet. Blood tests, X-rays, stool samples. Everything is negative. They have no answers for us! The next step would be putting a camera inside him — which I’m sure is an expensive procedure that I cannot afford. He acts normal – he still loves to go outside and play, gets excited when we come home, plays with toys. But he always acts so hungry. We’ve tried so many different kinds of foods, wet and dry. At the vet’s request, we tried two different brands of prescription food (dry only), (which is expensive) 🙁 first Hills and then the Purina RX. The vet also made me buy the $30 box of RX Purina probiotics. None of that fancy overpriced crap did anything but make him vomit even more, and even worse, all undigested.

This week I’ve started to keep a daily journal of everything he eats, and his daily puking habits. The vomiting occurs in the early mornings. Occasionally at night, but mostly mornings. He seems to do alright on the Nutro Puppy Chiot wet food, last week he went maybe 1-2 days without puking on that alone. But I know he can’t just live on wet food, at least from what I’ve read they also need dry food for their teeth. For a few weeks we tried feeding solely cooked chicken, which is LOVED, but still puked out that, too. The other problem is obviously is switching the foods so many times gives him baaaad diarrhea. Yesterday I decided to try yet another food, Solid Gold wet, and going from the Nutro can to that has made him diarrhea two days in a row. We have to keep him locked up in the kitchen the last two nights because he just won’t stop pooping. Of course most of the time his poops are normal, but every once in a while that one food will tip him off and it’s all downhill from there.

I’m so, SO tired of waking up early every morning to scrub vomit off of our apartment carpet. (It’s already ruined.) but most importantly, I just want Chewy to be a normal, healthy dog, and not have such horrible vomiting problems. and of course because of this, you can feel all his bones. We recently took him to get groomed and they said they noticed he was really skinny. He’s skinny because he vomits every day! My boyfriend says we should try him on a raw diet, but I don’t want to do something too drastic without help first. I guess our next step could be getting a second opinion at a different vet, but we’ve already spent a lot of money. I appreciate ALL comments and suggestions. Please help us and our Chewy 🙁

[Katie J]

So I have went through this entire thread (skimmed a tiny bit) and couldn’t find my answer surprisingly enough. I have been toying with the idea of going raw for my new pup that I mentioned in the Editor’s Choice forum, but worry that I could screw him up if I get the balance off. The puppy stage is too important to screw up. I keep researching raw anyhow because I want to switch to raw eventually for him and my terrier mix. I even recently found a co-op that delivers close by.

My bug question, as I see most people are feeding medium – large dogs, is how I maintain balance for small dogs? My terrier is 15-20 lbs (just guessing but I can weigh him), and my pup is 8-9 lbs (he weighed 7 lbs about two weeks ago at the vet). For those who haven’t read the other thread, he’s almost a 4 months old Shiba Inu/Akita Inu that I purchased secondhand but was a pet store pup. Yes, he is very small for his age, and no, I have no idea how big he’ll be. He seems to be growing like a weed though! Anyhow to maintain the proper balance for the pup, would I have to rely mostly on grinds? I assume I can find a proper balance for my terrier without solely using grinds. I haven’t even looked into the cost of a grinder yet. If I were to use a premix like See Spot Live Longer, do I give these little guys 1 lb of boneless meat? Seems like an awful lot! And on the topic of supplements, I know a lot of puppy foods have added DHA. Would I want to add that in a puppy raw diet? I was also toying with the idea of placing an order with the co-op for a few things to try to add in to the current diet of kibble and wet my pup is getting to help him transition. Is it safe to use raw as a topper on kibble? Or should I feed raw as an exclusive meal?

Thank you for all of this information! I discovered this website about a week ago and have since made it my personal mission to find out how to give my dogs the best!

[Hound Dog Mom]

Hi Qi X –

While I wouldn’t consider standard poodles to be a large breed, however I do know that they are somewhat prone to hip dysplasia so you may want to consider feeding one of the formulas in the list with appropriate calcium levels. You could feed your adult toy poodle the same food as the puppy or check out any of the 4 or 5 star rated foods. If he prefers a smaller kibble, as some small breeds do, some good options are Victor, Amicus, Nature’s Logic, Nature’s Variety and most any formula labeled for “small breeds.”

[Qi X]

Hi Hound Dog Mom
I have a 8 weeks old standard poodle puppy (she is 11 pound now,her dad mom are about 50 pound)and a 4 years old toy poodle(8 pound).Any suggestion of which brand dog dry food good for poodle? Sorry maybe you had wrote about it to somebody eles before, but I didnt read all the 70 pages, english is not my first language, It is kind of hard to read all that pages and it will take a long time to read and do translate at the same time..Thank you so much!

[arwyru24]

Hey guys! So I went to Petco this afternoon, and I got the following:

– 4 cans of Halo Spots Stew 5.5oz cat food
– 1 can Merrick Salmon Pate 5.5oz cat food
– 1 can Wellness Minced Turkey 5.5oz cat food
– 1 bag Worlds Best Cat Litter 7lbs (the small one)
– 1 stuffed talking Chimpanzee toy for the puppy (it screams and I thought it was hysterical)
– 1 bag Canidae Pure (grain free) Sky duck and sweet potato 4lb (smallest bag)

my out the door total came to $21.59 which I thought was not too shabby at all