% protein?

stanton

I think what the last poster was trying to say, is if he refuses a meal of say ground beef, don't automatically drop everything to cook him turkey.

That IS what I meant -- sorry! :)

Thank you all for your advice and suggestions.  I went out and got two trial bags of Orijen (all breed puppy formula and all breed adult formula) and three sample size packets of The honest kitchen (and they were free!)  I got these formulas:  Keen, Verve, and Preference.  I think I should start a new thread to find out what people add to it.  It says to add your own ingredients if you wish.  Just by reading about it online, I think Verve is the one I might go with because its for moderate to low activity levels and he has hes playful times but he mostly lays around.  And Preference for when I feel like adding my own meat.

Didn't you recently adopt a shih tzu pup?  What are you feeding her?  I would think that would be fine to feed your chihuahua, as well.

Our recent rescue had horrible teeth/gums----I actually opted for the dental cleaning---turns out she needed to have a few teeth pulled.  We did wait a few months, before the dental surgery, though.  Your vet may have a better idea as to whether a good cleaning is necessary.

jaye

  is there a reason you buy the kind without the meat in it?

Yes, because I feed 3 dogs, one of which is still a growing puppy at 53# and 26" tall, feeding the Preference allows me to rotate my own meat sources and to add higher or lower fat percentage to the whole diet based off the kind of meat I cook; i..e chicken, turkey, beef heart, etc.

To try and feed their other formula's to my gang of 3, I'd surely go broke. Preference goes a lot further and is cheaper, and I can get chicken leg quarters for .48/pound, which makes feeding them very affordable.

jaye

 

...  I just thought it was strange that hes all for eating kibble but won't eat tasty piece cheese or hamburger, or a tasty gourmet dog food dish...

My guess would be that he's only eaten dry food for his whole life at the puppymill and doesn't know what to make of the "people" food. The same thing happened with my guinea pigs when I started introducing fruits and vegetables. At first they don't really get that's it's food.

Try Eagle Pack Holistic Small Breed puppy formula.  It's 30% protein and has very tiny kibbles. 

From the studies I've seen a diet that is less than 30% protein dry weight contributes to the development of all kinds of troubling health problems, minor and major, that people usually don't attribute to their dog's diet.

For a small dog, if you don't want to go the home prepared route, premium canned foods are usually much healthier and affordable than any kibble. Also he may be more willing to eat a soft diet with his teeth in such poor shape.

mudpuppy

From the studies I've seen a diet that is less than 30% protein dry weight contributes to the development of all kinds of troubling health problems, minor and major, that people usually don't attribute to their dog's diet.

 I must've missed those studies, because that is absolutely not true---where did you find this information?
 

He hates the Honest kitchen food more than anything else.  He sniffs it, turns up his nose, and tries to bury it.  I have to admit that I don't blame him, it smells awful.  I have tried canned food also, he won't touch it.  He is eating the Orijen kibble though. 

Hmmm...my dogs go crazy for the stuff. But they'll eat anything.

Keep him on the Orijen, just don't overfeed him, it's a very rich food.