What puppy food to feed my Angel?

[mandy15]

Hi, I am new to this website. I got a question. I got Angel at 8 weeks old. She was on Purina puppy food from the breeder. She didn't want to eat this too well. Then I tried Wellness Super5mix puppy. She got diarrea from this. My vet suggested science diet. She didn't care for this. I didn't know what to do because she didn't care for kibble. A pet nutrional place talked me into feeding her the ground up raw diet. She liked this for awhile but then started getting constipated an her coat wasn't as shiny. My vet said to get her off this. I went to a different pet health store and they told me to give her amicus for small and mini breed puppies from Horizon. I gave it to her and now her belly is gurgling. What does anybody else feed their shorkies. I need help Is this a good dog food. And does anybody else feed ground raw to their shorkies. I would appreciate any help. mandy15

[Ann]

I feed Toby natures Gift and purina but when toby was little I used to give him the science diet. What ever you do try not to change it too much as you will upset Angels tummy. What ever you introduce must be done slowly for example give angel 1 meal out of the week the new type and slowly increase it each week. To settle Angels tummy give her boiled chicken and rice for a week but make sure it is mince up well for her to digest and only give her small amounts ( 2 tablespoons of each) 3 times a day. I hope that helps.

[mandy15]

Thanks. I'll do what you said and take it slow. I'm just going let her get used to this one and keep her on it.

[shorkiejem]

Hi Mandy a couple of questions for you.  You got the pup at 8 weeks.  How old is she now? Changing foods often and not slowly will really cause some digestive problems and when pups don't feel well, they don't eat.  So it may not be that the dog doesn't like the food, it may be because she doesn't feel well.  Raw diet is great but I feel she is a wee bit young for it yet. Right now I have started to mix a little dog food in with the raw food my two eat now. I have quite of bit of experience with the Raw diet.  I give them this dog food called Chicken Soup For the Dog Lovers Soul.  It is rated 5 stars.  I mix some of it with my dogs raw chicken.
Wellness is a decent dog food but again she was probably changed on the food too quickly which called her digestive upset which causes loose, runny bowels.
I am not at all a fan of Purina dog food.  It is a nasty food that is full of fillers and corn.  Dogs don't eat corn, it was never in their diet in the wild.  The first 3 ingredients in a dog food are the most important.  If you see corn at all in a dog food or wheat, run the other way with your puppy.
Here is the General Rule when changing a dog from one food to the other.  Being we are talking puppy here we are going to do this change a little longer.
First, choose a dog food that you want to put her on.

On Day 1 you will give her 3/4 of the food she eats now mixed with 1/4 of the new food.  Do this for 4 days for a pup.
Day 2, 3 and four, same thing.  3/4 old food...1/4 new food.

Day 5... 1/2 old food and 1/2 new food.  Do this for another 4 days. 

Then 1/4 old food to 3/4 new food for 4 days.

Then 100 percent new food.

If this schedule is difficult to understand please let me know and I will draw it up a different way.  By the way Science Diet is not good either.  Corn corn corn in it. 
We need to remember the breed me have.  They are small dogs and Yorkies do not tolerate high protein foods, nor do Shih Tzu.  We need to watch fat content as well.  Six star dog foods are much too high in protein and fat content for our dogs.  h
However here is a excellent web site on dog reviews.  Read and educate, the best way to help your pup as he is growing.
Feel free to ask questions, just fire away here at everybody, lol

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/

[shorkiejem]

ooppss forgot.  When I say 3/4 of the old with 1/4 of the new I don't mean 3/4 CUP.  If your pup get 1/2 cup a food, it is 3/4 of that with 1/4 of new.  Hope this makes sense, haha

[mandy15]

Yes, This helps me alot. Angel is now 14 weeks old. She beens getting enough food I quess. She was 1pd 6oz. when we got her and now she's 3pds 2oz and doubled her size. She's an active little thing I just love her. Before her we just had outside dogs Mandy and Spike. We fed them meat of different kinds and dog food. Mandy didn't like the dog food. Since we got Angel we switched them to Evo ancestrial dog food and they really like it. I was scared to put Angel on a raw meet diet but the nutrional place for pets we went to talked me into it. I am changing her food slow now to Amicus small and mini feed dog food and she likes it. I am doing it slow. Her poop is starting to get normal and she seems happy. It helps to ask other people with shorkies. I'm new with small puppies and I worry about her. Thanks alot for the help. I would put a picture of her on here but neither my  husband, son or me know how. We're computer savvy. Ha Ha!

[Mai Tai]

Mandy, good luck, you will get your footing.  I was not used to these small ones either, and it is quite different from having a big dog.  I am used to dogs who want to eat all the time instead of this picky fussy little eater I have now.  Keep posting and best of luck to you.

[mandy15]

Thanks for the support. Angel is a picky little eater. Guess I'll get used to it.

[Ann]

It's not just Angel they all seem to be that way. I hope you for give me for not being that informative. My problem is that I live in Australia and our choice of dog food is different to what you have over there. I hope it all works out.

[Jenny]

I'm into more natural foods, so we feed Zelda Nutra Naturals for small dog.  We use the dry food typically and get wet food (they sell perfect serving sizes for $1.00 each) and mix in dry food for special occasions.  She loves it all.

[Ann]

Sorry to go off the subject but Jenny your Zelda looks so much like my Toby it's incredible. LOL

[ellietoo]

There is a forum that I have learned a lot about small dog food on. It is called Yorkie Talk. It has a lot of ideas about the right food. One that many seem to have a lot of support for is called Now. It is a grain free food that finicky eaters seem to love. I am looking for another option for my baby. She hates d-o-g food. I have been making her food and it is touch and go with that as well. She seems to only like what she is not supposed to have. I have to buy dog food online because no one close buy sells the better brands. I'm thinking of buying Now. The trouble is that my cats love these grain free foods and they gobble up the food that Gracie turns her nose up to.

[mandy15]

Ellietoo I think I might have answered you on a different forum. I don't know if you read on the other one but I started feeding Angel Horizon Amicus small and mini breed puppy food. And roast beef sometimes. She loves the roastbeef. The woman who works at the place I get her food said pot roast is good for her. I didn't know because its people food. I hope she's right about this. That NOW dogfood sounds good. As long as they eat it some because they sure are picky eaters. Angels don't like dog food too much either. I don"t know if I really blame them. It don't look to appetizing does it.

[ellietoo]

Yes, I just answered on the other thread. I was torn between the Amicus and Now. There were only two reviews that I could find on Amicus while everyone on the other forum are raving about Now. I think I will send for samples and see what she if she will eat either.
Meat is good for your dog. Just make sure you don't give her so much that she does not eat her dog food. I have never had a dog that refused to eat dog food before. Honestly, I was never very informed about dog food before. I purchased the better brands but never realized about the fillers that they put in the food. My Shih Tzu was on Science Diet and did pretty well on it but now that I have read more I prefer the more natural brands. Though not everyone that calls its self natural is actually good for the dog.

[raleysmom]

I am a Blue Buffalo fan!  Raley loves it.  I buy the small breed adult mix and I also buy a bag of Wellness Small Breed food--I mix them at feeding time.