chihuahua

[BROKER1650]

Just adopted a new chihuahua mix. Mostly Chi...any recommendations regarding her food? Thanks

[mamakitkat]

Nutro has a great puppy food and the pieces are just the right size for our lil chi's. This dog food is what we have fed our dogs for many years. They guarantee your dogs coat & skin will be fantastic and I can tell you first hand it really works! They also have an adult small piece one. Hope this helps.
Carol

[amabsher]

I totally agree with the Nutro Brand response and would like to add as another option to consider... Dick Van Patton's Natural Ballance Formulas... I have been breeding Chihuahuas for a long time and have used both brands with great Satisfaction. I reccomend shopping for a good brand of dog food at a livestock farm and feed type store. Farm and feed store employees generally have a better understanding of animal husbandry and the nutritional requirements needed for the propper functioning of the systems of the body, and they are less likely to steer you toward a name brand based on what their employers tell them to sell.
I also do not believe that any one brand of dog food is likely to contain every essencial nutrient required to maintain propper health over the long term. I reccomend slight alterations once or twice a year... like if you regularly feed a beef based product... stay with the same brand of food but, try some chicken, lamb or salmon based food. Or if you want to change brands... and you are feeding a lamb and rice product... find another high quality food but, stay with the same type of lamb and rice formula.
If you decide to try a new formula, try to mix your old food with your new food for 1 to 4 weeks (depending on if your Chi has a sensitive stomach). This allows your dog the time to build an ample supply of digestive enzymes for propper nutritional uptake and use of the body. Changing foods radically from one brand to another or one formula to another is not reccomended unless your dog is diagnosed with a food type allergy or any other medical conditions such as for a liver diet or maybe extreem obesity.
Making propper "Treat" Choices is just as important for your Chihuahua as is chosing a quality dog food. Do not feed your Chihuahua anything which can be classified as "Junk Food". Chihuahua Treats should not exceed 10% of your Chihuahua's diet. So... If your Chihuahua eats 1 cup of total volume each day, most of it should be of high quality dry kibble, the one tenth would be a little more than 1 tablespoon of consumable treats. Chihuahuas love amost all vegetables and can safely eat some fruits. There are many human foods that dogs shouldn't eat but the top on my mind right now are of course, chocolate, grapes (raisens), onlions, more than a light taste of garlic, meat fat, tuna "juice", tomato skins, and many more you should take some time to research on the internet. Good Choices would be... 1 teaspoon of yogurt. 1 teaspoon of cottage cheese. 1 broccilli head. 2 or 3 green beans. 1 human sized bite of the best part of your dinner meat (cut into very small pieces.) 1 tiny slice of a mango or apple. 1 tablespoon of mashed sweet potatoes.... I think you can get the picture *smiles*.
The point is... Chihuahuas are very small... small = not much room for error.
The more you spend on a high quality diet for tiny little Chihuahua who can't eat that much anyways? The less you will spend at the veterinarians office to try to recover from making poor choices with cheap (poor sources of nutrition) grocery store brand foods like "Pedigree" (for example.) Avoid dog food that contains dyes and corn (and anything you can from China right now with all the food recalls). The main ingredient should be meat. It can be a "meat meal" or "processed meat" but, avoid any kind of "animal by-products" as these are pure garbage ingredients processed out of diseased dead animal remnants (makes you want to kiss your dog, huh?) and it includes the parts that were filled with feces and/or infection at the time of death (and we wonder why dogs are "poop-eaters"?) ... You can research more shocking evidence about this topic for yourself but, Quality food = Quality Dog whereas, Cheap food = Very Expensive Vet Bills.
It sounds like you are well on your way to having a great new companion, there *smiles*
I hope all goes well with both of your life transitions. Good luck and let me know if I can help you with any other Chihuahua related topic... I love to talk Chihuahuas!

[WagNBragShane]

Mamakitkat and amabsher's responses show why I love WagNBrag so much. It's great to see WagNBrag community members helping each other out.