2.5 Pound Chicuacua

[catco]

My tiny chihuahua, Teeny Weeny, seems to be starving. Her ribs stick out horrible. She is an extremely picky eater and very often throws up her food. I feed her a portion of a cooked egg three times a day, but if I give her more than a tablespoon of food, up it comes. She has science diet food at her leisure and it comes up too. She seems to drink enough water and I also provide her with canned chicken at times. She is 9 months old and always wears some sort of wrap to try to keep warm. I used to giver her peanut butter in an attempt to put on some weight, but she throws that up. She occasionally takes nutra-cal but often refuses it. Can this dog thrive? Any suggestions?
Thanks, folks.

[clm]

Has she been to a vet to see if there's anything wrong medically? I would make sure there is nothing wrong with her first.

Science diet isn't a good food, there are lots of good foods listed here on the food forum.

Cindy

[catco]

Thanks, Cindy for your reply
Yes, she has been to a vet - nothing wrong.
It is interesting that you call Science Diet not a good food. It seems that folks always say something other than "their" food is not good. What food do you recommend?

[aslan]

catco, science diet is one of the 4D cat foods, also is full of grain, seriously it isn't a high quality dog food. Depending on what degree you want to go to, it could be something as simple as a food allergy. If it's grain your little one is having a problem with there is wellness, innova, Evo, etc, etc. You could try raw, home cooking the list goes on. CLM was not pushing a food on you she was pointing out a well known fact. Take a look at the food forum and investigate different foods and see which you like.

[Purpledomino]

Did your vet do a complete blood panel? A liver shunt is a possibility in a dog such as yours which is failing to thrive, and if your vet just did a routine examination, I would get more tests done to rule this out. A symptom of a shunt can be dogs of small stature such as yours, which have problems eating, vomitting, and failure to thrive.

Your dog NEEDS to eat and at 2.5 lbs. does not have the reserve to be refusing food or not keeping it down. Hypoglycemia is a dangerous thing to be risking in a dog of your size....toy breeds can go downhill so fast and you may end up with a dead dog if you aren't extremely vigilant. I am talking from experience unfortunately, and I considered myself on top of it. :sad:

I agree with the others about Science Diet food...there are so many excellent commercial diets out there now, and this one is very poor IMO. If you haven't had more extensive testing done on your dog, please consult your vet about them. If he is underweight, this a very dangerous thing for your dog and I would consider this an emergency for a 2.5 lb. dog. Good luck.

[LavenderRott]

Here is the ingredients list for Science Diet's dry puppy food.

Ground Whole Grain Corn, Chicken By-Product Meal, Soybean Meal, Animal Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), Dried Beet Pulp, Chicken Liver Flavor, Dicalcium Phosphate, Brewers Rice, Fish Oil, Flaxseed, Soybean Oil, Iodized Salt, Choline Chloride, Potassium Chloride, Vitamin E Supplement, vitamins (L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement), minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), preserved with Mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid, Beta-Carotene, Rosemary Extract.

Dogs don't digest foods like we do. Corn is crap - dogs can't digest it and by the time it is processed and everything, it doesn't have any nutritional value at all. As for the chicken by product meal - that is made from the parts of the chicken that the meat companies can't sell to anyone else - things like feet, beaks and feathers, and it is the ONLY meat source found in this food.

ROFLMAO!!

Just for fun - I looked up the ingredients for Purina Puppy Chow.

Whole grain corn, chicken by-product meal, corn gluten meal, brewers rice, soybean meal, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), barley, animal digest, calcium phosphate, calcium carbonate, fish oil, salt, potassium chloride, L-Lysine monohydrochloride, choline chloride, zinc sulfate, Vitamin E supplement, zinc proteinate, DL-Methionine, ferrous sulfate, manganese sulfate, brewers dried yeast, manganese proteinate, added color (Red 40, Yellow 5, Blue 2), niacin, Vitamin A supplement, copper sulfate, copper proteinate, calcium pantothenate, garlic oil, pyridoxine hydrochloride, Vitamin B-12 supplement, thiamine mononitrate, Vitamin D-3 supplement, riboflavin supplement, calcium iodate, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), folic acid, biotin, sodium selenite.
S-4001

Remarkable similiar yet considerably cheaper. So much for Science Diet's claim of being a premium food.

FYI - neither one of these foods would ever make it in the front door of my apartment.

[14+kitties]

Originally Posted by catco

Thanks, Cindy for your reply
Yes, she has been to a vet - nothing wrong.
It is interesting that you call Science Diet not a good food. It seems that folks always say something other than "their" food is not good. What food do you recommend?

catco - we don't push any food here. We like to make people aware that there is a better choice than a food (Science Diet, Canin) being pushed by the vets who sell it, therefore make a profit off of it and grocery store brands which generally are junk.

My BIL used to own a dead stock removal company. Guess where the majority of the dead animals he picked up went? And this is after lying in a farmer's field/barnyard for how many days before he got called?