[Puppygirlsmom]

We have a female Yorkie, who was 9 years old this past May. At her heaviest weight she weighed 4 1/2 lbs. She is a petite little thing. But she had tonsilitis a couple of times and lost some weight. Once she started losing, she continued to lose and now she weighs only 2.5 lbs. She has never gained the weight back. She eats, she eliminates fine. She just does not gain any weight.
We have had her teeth cleaned, even though it was a high risk to have it done. She came through it and she had no loose teeth nor any cavities. So that is not the problem. All of her extensive and expensive blood work has come back fine. She checks out fine at her physical. She is just skinny. She is a picky eater. We have tried to get her to eat high calorie soft food, but she will not. We have tried many many kinds and flavors and have wasted a lot of money on soft food, but she will not eat it. We have tried mixing a little with her Taste of the Wild dry kibble, but she still will not eat it. We had her and her Puppy sisters on Blue Buffalo, but they all started refusing to eat it, so I did a lot of research for a good grain free food and asked our Vet and “Taste of the Wild” has been what they have been eating for at least a year or more now.
Our 3 1/2 yr. old Yorkie, Abbie, is around the same height and she weighs close to 5 lbs. Our 3 yr. old Biewer Terrier, Zoie, is also around the same height and she weighs around 4.12 lbs. So it is only our older tiny Ellie who is skinny and underweight. She loves chicken and bacon from the table, but they do not put any weight on her either. And our Vet says that the bacon is not good for her. Does anyone have any suggestions? She looks like an anorexic dog and we are concerned that she will start having a lot of health issues due to malnutrition. We just spent close to $200 on tests and they found nothing wrong with her! Her stool was tested, too, and no parasites. The Vet says that she is healthy, but too skinner.
He suggested putting her on Royal Canin Puppy Food dry and wet. But it has grain in it and not sure how she will do on that. Plus we cannot feed her separate from our other two. We have tried that and she barks not wanting to be away from them to eat. It is a big problem!
Any suggestions that anyone has, I am willing to try!
Thanks!

[theBCnut]

Don’t hesitate to ask for free samples when you go to pet food stores. That way you can get an idea about what she would like without trying to buy twenty bags of food. Ask around to find out what is available to you that is a high calorie food. You could try adding a little yogurt, canned sardines, fresh eggs, and other fresh foods that will increase the palatability of the food. You could try boiling some liver and putting it through the blender to top the food with.

[Puppygirlsmom]

First of all thanks for the replies and suggestions. When I said in my first e-mail that Ellie is a picky eater, I meant an extremely picky eater. We have tried adding eggs, liver, and other things to her food. She will not eat the eggs. She will not eat any fish, such as sardines. She will eat liver. I boil chicken livers and after they are cooked and cooled, I wrap each one in plastic wrap and then drop them into a freezer bag. That way I can thaw out one at a time for her. I slightly warm them and then chop them and mix with her food. She will eat those, but so far they have not put any weight on her. She does have an unusually small mouth and teeth. She is also very small boned. So the Vet said that if it takes her a long time to eat her kibble, it is most likely too large for her and therefore, she may not be getting enough of it. Yes, Taste of the Wild is not tiny kibble like Blue Buffalo. So I think due to that, I need to switch her to a smaller kibble that is for tiny dogs and puppies. I am looking into that. Does anyone know of a Grain Free Puppy Kibble that is also a very small kibble, around the size of a pea or smaller? The TOTW is around the size of a dime, so a big large for her. It does take her a long time to eat just one piece. She works and works at it. So this may be one of her problems.

[theBCnut]

I know that Earthborn Holistic Grain Free has at least one that is tiny kibble and it isn’t the Great Plains Feast, but I don’t know which one it is. Nature’s Variety Instinct is good sized too.

Try putting the chicken livers in a blender with some water so you have a “gravy” then freeze small portions in an ice cube tray and use that to coat the kibble.

[Puppygirlsmom]

Good idea, Patty Vaughn, to blend the chicken livers in the blender and making them into a gravy to freeze. I will try that. She may get more of it that way. She has such a tiny little mouth and tiny tiny teeth, we can see her struggling to eat the TOTW kibble. So we do think that she needs a kibble that is smaller. So my search is on for a grain free Puppy kibble that is tiny. If anyone knows of one for sure, please, let me know. Even though Orijen has been recommended, I do not know the size of the Puppy Kibble. I would hate to have to buy too many bags of food in order to find a small Puppy Kibble. We adore Ellie, but we also live on a pretty strict budget and cannot afford to do that.
So anyone out there…do you know of a grain free puppy kibble that is high in fat that is also a tiny dry kibble for our 2.5 lb. Yorkie, Ellie??????????????????????????????????????????
She needs to gain some weight and get healthy again.
Thanks!

[theBCnut]

You should go over to the review side and post a request for small kibbles in the Off Topic area. Melissaandcrew has a bunch of tiny dogs and would know who has small kibbles. Betsy Greer should have some ideas too. On this side Sandy should have some good ideas, but she hasn’t been around today.

BTW, you can pinch the kibble through the bag to get an idea of its size.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 8 months ago by theBCnut.
• This reply was modified 10 years, 8 months ago by theBCnut.

[Hound Dog Mom]

Have you tried Tripett? It’s canned green tripe. Most dogs go nuts for it – you can mash it up in a little warm water and use it to make a gravy and coat the kibble.

Some brands with small kibbles that I can think of off the top of my head would be Nature’s Logic, Horizon Amicus, Wysong Epigen, Fromm, Addiction, EVO Small Bites, Merrick and Victor.

Something else I’d suggest is Abady. It’s a granular food that’s super calorie dense (800+ per cup) and very palatable. It’s not GF, but it only contains a small amount of rice and >94% of the protein is from meat.

You could also try looking up recipes for satin balls.

[DogFoodie]

Hi guys!

I feel like Sandy would recommend Nutri Source Small & Medium Breed Puppy at 513 kcals/cup. I haven’t personally used it, but I know she’s mentioned before that the kibble size is very tiny. Since I haven’t used it, I can’t speak for the kibble size personally, but I trust Sandy’s advice. It’s not grain free, but it’s well tolerated and I trust the brand and I know Sandy and Patty do as well. Nutri Source is also a very budget friendly food. They always offer coupons (text “source” to 55678 for a chance to win a free bag and a $2.00 coupon if you’re not a winner) and have a loyalty program (buy 12, get one free on dry and cans).

Nature’s Logic and Amicus are very small and when I last used Canine Caviar, that seemed small as well if memory serves. Orijen Puppy is the only Orijen formula I haven’t used, but all of the Orijens that I have used are some of the largest kibbles I’ve used. Abady granular would be easy for her to eat and is very nutrient dense (over 800 kcal/cup) ~ it’s grainy like brown sugar and the philosophy behind the food takes some getting used to. Abady isn’t rated here and gets a bad rap from lots of folks, but I tried it and had no issues with it whatsoever. My Cavalier is currently eating Castor & Pollux Ultramix right now and she loves it ~ they’re small kibbles and they’re really cute…, if that matters! They’re little hearts. : )

Solid Gold Just a Wee Bit is tiny, but is one of their products that’s made by Diamond, so I wouldn’t recommend it for that reason. I’ve used Wellness Small Breed, which is tiny, but my pup wasn’t thrilled with it, same with Artemis Fresh Mix.

What about giving her kibble a whirl in the blender, coffee grinder or hand held food chopper?

I still need to start the card file I keep saying I’m going to start and take pictures of all my kibbles when I open something different. : )~

[pugmomsandy]

Yes, the Nutrisource Small/Med Breed Puppy food is very tiny (triangle) as is Nature’s Select Hi-Pro (tiny triangle as well). I have a picture of it. Let me go look…

This is Nutrisource Small/Med Puppy on the left:

http://i1326.photobucket.com/albums/u651/pugmomsandy/pictures%20for%20posting/nutrisourcepupandgflamb_zpse9d9aadf.jpg

And the next smallest would be Nature’s Logic and Amicus and Epigen. Some dogs are just light weight. Do you have pictures of her? Are her ribs/spine showing? There are alot of high calorie canned foods too. Have you tried using coconut oil on her food? It smells really good and adds calories.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 8 months ago by pugmomsandy.
• This reply was modified 10 years, 8 months ago by pugmomsandy.

[chartoll]

Hi, Don’t know where to post this, but I would like to hear what people are thinking about dry-food AUTARKY.
And if it’s so healthy as they say….

I’m very thankfull for all answers!

[pugmomsandy]

chartoll,

You can start a sub-topic in one of the main topics under “forum” like in the “dog food ingredients” one. Your question might get lost in this thread.

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