chihuahua owners ...

[meganc]

any one that knows about or has a chihuahua(s) i have a question. what food would you recomend for a 4 year old long haired chihuahua. i have a friend who owns one and she says she doesnt know which food is best she gave him beniful and he kept spitting it back up so.... any ones opinion???
heehee they are cool

[PitBullie09]

Mine eats Science Diet. Alot of people dont recomend that-but she really eats bologna and turkey most of the time.. heh

[tessa_s212]

I would recommend foods such as Diamond, Wellness, Nutro Natural Choice, Solid Gold, Eagle Pack

I would avoid any kind of dog food that you can find in a grocery store.

www.mordanna.com/dogfood
is a great link to learn about what to avoid in dogs foods, but also what you should be looking for.

[tessa_s212]

Originally Posted by tessa_s212

Also, feeding a good quality food will keep his teeth clean.

When picking a good quality food it is very important that at least the first ingredient has *meat* in it! You should avoid ingredients such as by-products, corn gluten meal, ground yellow corn, and animal digest. (Or basically anything you can find in Purina foods! lol)

Some brands of food that I would suggest are:
Innova
Innova Evo
Solid Gold
Eagle Pack
California Natural
Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul
Canidae
Nutro Natural Choice
Diamond
Wellness


Avoid grocery store dog foods. Feed stores are good places to look for the best foods. See this post for a list of some good commercial kibbles and their websites (with store locators).
http://forum.dog.com/discus/message...html#POST382576

This site will teach you a lot about what to look for and what to avoid in a dog food. It also lists the ingredients in most kibbles.
http://www.mordanna.com/dogfood/

The Great Dane Lady’s feeding programs for all sizes of dogs:
http://www.greatdanelady.com/articles.htm


If you actually look into some of these foods you may think that they are way too expensive, which is understandable. But what you should also consider is that because it is a better quality food you should have to feed less, which means each bag will last much longer. Overall you won't be paying that much more, but you'll get a much healthier dog that loves their food!

Another good way to keep dog's teeth clean is to feed RMBs- or Raw Meaty Bones. You can find RMBs at grocery stores(you may need to ask) or at your local butcher's. They keep your dog entertained for quite a while AND will clean(and I mean WHITEN!) your dog's teeth! :clapping:
.

I have found one of my older posts.

[Cassiepeia]

Check out this link http://www.globalpaw.com/thread6858.html it's to a sticky in the Health forum that is all about choosing a commercial dog food.

I'd love to recommend a brand of food, but the one I feed is an Australian brand that you don't have over there called 'Nature's Gift'.

Cass.

[Carrie]

IMO, Beniful is one of the worse grocery store brands. (I've heard some stories about all the artificial stuff in there, coloring, flavoring etc) Science Diet isn't good either.

Check out some premium foods in Pet Smart or some feed stores. Canidae, Chicken Soup for the Dog Lovers's Soul, Innova, Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance, Wellness and others are good. I feed Dick Van Patten's to Lyric because he's got a sensative tummy and there's a single source protein formula, venison and brown rice. It works for him. But I also feed Canidae to my Chi's. These foods use human grade ingredients, no preservatives, usually no corn, which really isn't utilized by a dog other than being a good, non digestive source of fiber, I guess...These foods usually have more than one meat source and no bi-products. They put in all kinds of vitamins and minerals and are cooked at lower temps so as not to destroy all the nutrients. That Chicken Soup one is comparable to Canidae but cheaper. It's very good and has a lot of veggies in it which makes most dogs love the taste. I use to feed that but Lyric has problems with a lot of foods, as seems to be typical with Dobes....little wussy tummies. My Chi's can eat any premium food.

Although most of these premium foods are more expensive at first glance, the dogs utilize more of what they eat instead of wasting it. They can get by on a little less to maintain their weight. So, it ends up being about the same I think. (They also tend to poop less.....less waste)
You can find by searching around online what ingredients do what for a dog and what they need. And then look at several foods and their ingredients.

Here's a link to compare some foods and their ingredients:

http://www.naturapet.com/display.php?d=comp-wiz

[rescuechihuahuaowner]

Tito eats eukanuba, expensive but never had any health problems, knock on wood.

[Swiftwind]

Originally Posted by Cassiepeia

I'd love to recommend a brand of food, but the one I feed is an Australian brand that you don't have over there called 'Nature's Gift'.

That's what I feed my Chihuahua as well, and she loves it! I had a feeling it may only be sold in Australia, but I wasn't 100% sure.

[Roie]

how about "Royal Canin Chihuahua" it is just for chihuahuas so hopefully that will settle well with her??