Dog food help.

[babymomma]

Hello there, i plan on getting a Yorkie puppy in the near future. I am trying to stay away from commercial dog food, like pedigree, iams, and others that contain alot of grain and biproducts as the first ingrediants. I live in NFLD and i am not near big time petstores (just wal-mart and grocerystores like co-op ect) Its very hard to find the brands that alot of you have mentioned in former posts (EXAMPLE- Wellness and Origen-or is that just for cats?) Do you know of any foods that are good for dogs that i dont have to drive 4 hours to get to? Also, The wet food i have seen is made by the commercial dog food companys.

Another question. How much should a yorkie be eating. Is a cup of food a day to much. Is a half of cup not enough??

Im pretty well cluless when it comes to dog food..

[Purpledomino]

Good for you for wanting the best nutrition for your future puppy!

I found several retailers of Wellness and Innova in your region. I don't know if I am permitted to post the numbers and addresses of them, but some of the names are... Pet City, The Dog House, Critters and Things, and a few other retailers around St. Johns and elsewhere.

All you have to do is do a search on the product website for retailers, and you will get the locations. As for the amount to feed...it varies from animal to animal, activity level, age, size, breed etc. My minpins are toy breeds, and a cup a day of high quality dry a day seems pretty close. I prefer to feed mostly canned though... I like that it isn't as processed as kibble and adding moisture is a good idea.

It is important to feed a quality food whatever you decide is best for your puppy, dry or canned...or both. Remember that especially for a small breed such as a Yorkie, they do best with several feedings a day. On a side note... I have to mention that if you have a toy breed, you must be very cautious if they have diarrhea or vomitting. Dehydration is very scary and dangerous in an animal of this size, as well as hypoglycemia. This is another reason why I prefer many smaller meals for toys and adding canned food in the diet. Good luck in your search, and post pics of your baby when you get him or her!

[babymomma]

Originally Posted by Purpledomino

Good for you for wanting the best nutrition for your future puppy!
Nothing but the best for him/her lol.. I couldn't bare if he/she got unhealthy because of the foo i was feeding:sad:
I found several retailers of Wellness and Innova in your region. I don't know if I am permitted to post the numbers and addresses of them, but some of the names are... Pet City, The Dog House, Critters and Things, and a few other retailers around St. Johns and elsewhere.
Thanks, I didnt realize it before, but there is a Pet city about an hour from where i live.

All you have to do is do a search on the product website for retailers, and you will get the locations. As for the amount to feed...it varies from animal to animal, activity level, age, size, breed etc. My minpins are toy breeds, and a cup a day of high quality dry a day seems pretty close. I prefer to feed mostly canned though... I like that it isn't as processed as kibble and adding moisture is a good idea.
I am leaning towards feeding canned food. I want to feed raw, but my mom says she would prefer just to buy a good quility food

It is important to feed a quality food whatever you decide is best for your puppy, dry or canned...or both. Remember that especially for a small breed such as a Yorkie, they do best with several feedings a day. On a side note... I have to mention that if you have a toy breed, you must be very cautious if they have diarrhea or vomitting. Dehydration is very scary and dangerous in an animal of this size, as well as hypoglycemia. This is another reason why I prefer many smaller meals for toys and adding canned food in the diet. Good luck in your search, and post pics of your baby when you get him or her!

[COLOR="Red" thank you for the information on dehydration/diarrhea.. I will definatly keep a close eye on that! [/COLOR]


I did find wet food that doesnt seem to bad, unfortunatly its made by Pedigree. But compared to the others ive seen, the ingrediants arenttoo bad. If i cannot acess a better quality food, will this one be okay, im posting the ingredaints in the next post.

[babymomma]

SUFFICIENT WATER FOR PROCESSING, MEAT BY-PRODUCTS, POULTRY BY-PRODUCTS, CHICKEN, BEEF, LIVER, DRIED EGG PRODUCT, DRIED TOMATO POMACE, VEGETABLE OIL (SOURCE OF LINOLEIC ACID), DRIED CHICORY PULP (SOURCE OF SOLUBLE FIBRE), CARAMEL COLOURING, TRACE MINERALS (POTASSIUM CHLORIDE, ZINC SULPHATE, CALCIUM CARBONATE, DICALCIUM PHOSPHATE, COPPER SULPHATE, POTASSIUM IODIDE), DRIED YAM, SODIUM TRIPOLYPHOSPHATE, TAURINE, GUAR GUM, VITAMINS (dl-ALPHA TOCOPHEROL ACETATE [SOURCE OF VITAMIN E], L-ASCORBYL-2 POLYPHOSPHATE [SOURCE OF VITAMIN C], d-CALCIUM PANTOTHENATE, VITAMIN A & D SUPPLEMENTS, THIAMIN MONONITRATE [VITAMIN B1], BIOTIN), MARIGOLD MEAL, SODIUM NITRITE (FOR COLOUR RETENTION).


is this one bad? It doesnt have corn as the first ingrediant like most of the others, so i thought that was a plus, but it does have alot of meat by products, is this bad??

[geisha]

It would be better if water wasnot the first ingredient, & the meat was a named meat, such as beef, chicken, or fish. You are right, meat by products (especially if it is not a named meat) is not great.

[rainbow]

If you are going to feed canned food I would suggest either Wellness or Innova.

Compare the ingredients of Wellness Puppy and Innova Puppy with the ingredients you posted for Pedigree and you will see the difference.

[babymomma]

Thanks rainbow.. i think im going to go with the wellness canned..And mix it with a bit of wellness dry(just enough to help clean her teeth)... thanks everybody for your help!!

[jake and oliver]

try to find a brand called holistic blend there are some store is newfoundland that carry their food. go to www.holisticblend.com to find one close to you. my 2 dogs have been eating it for a couple of years now and they like it and i like it's results

[lm9012]

Your best bet is to go to the websites of the food brands you'd like to try and do a search to see who sells it. Higher quality food is never found at a grocery store or wal-mart. But often you'll find smaller shops or even pet boarding or grooming places that carry the good stuff! Worse comes to worse..you can have it shipped.. Your dog is tiny..so you can buy a big ol' bag and have it last!

Definetely check out your local groomers, or doggie daycare...depending on your vet..they may even carry the good stuff. Mine does! Which is very rare! He's against the 'basic commercial' stuff out there! So he carries it because he knows the good stuff can be hard to come by.

Wellness is great...Solid Gold makes a brand for little ones called 'Wee Bits' i think..I have a friend with a yorkie on it..she loves it.
Good luck!

[Chaser]

Originally Posted by babymomma

Thanks rainbow.. i think im going to go with the wellness canned..And mix it with a bit of wellness dry(just enough to help clean her teeth)... thanks everybody for your help!!

That is exactly what Chase eats, and he loves it and looks great (shiny and healthy)!

[Etown_Chick]

Orijen makes two kinds of dog food - single source protein and multi source protein. I use the latter,it smells like fish..eww.

Stores like wal mart and Petsmart don't sell it. I guess a person can always check on the websites of the food mfg companies to see if there is a source near you.

Congrats on your new puppy!

-C