What is Best food for a yorkie?

[cristinaberger]

Because my previous yorkie died of pancreatitis, I promised myself that I am going to be very careful this time. The breeder sent me home today with a bag of Purina and told me not to change his food for a while. I read some pretty bad stuff about Purina and I want to go out tomorrow morning and buy something healthier for him. We have lots of organic options where we live, please recommend something that is organic or very clean.

[MissSunni]

There are quite a few threads on foods for our little pets. There are a variety of choices and opinions on whats best, from home cooking, to certain brands of excellent food, to home cooking even vegetarian diets. It can be quite a touchy topic, lol. Have you spoken to your vet for his recommendation yet? I'd pour over the threads that already exist and then you may have a better idea of what you are looking for Good luck!! This turned out to be a particularly difficult thing to figure out.

The threads I'm referring to are in the Yorkie Health and Diet Forums

[cristinaberger]

Thank you, I will read through and probably be even more confused. I am not planning on asking the vet. They are all biased toward promoting whatever they get a commission from.

[Yorkiemom1]

If your breeder is trustworthy, and apparently she is as you purchased a puppy from her, please do as she has suggested and leave this puppy on the food she has grown up with......she has enough to get acclimated and accustomed to with new owners, new house, new schedule, no momma or littermates.....please do not add just another stressor to this little soul. While you may now particularly care for Purina, it is NOT toxic and this baby will be fine on it until she is about 8 months old. She will be very well accustomed to everything that is so new to her at your place, and then you can change her diet with much less emotional stress on the puppy. It is the emotional stress that concerns me the most when these little souls go to new homes and have enough to get used to without loosing the only thing they have left that they know from their breeder.

[Russpilot]

Sorry, but that question will open a Pandora's Box of contentious answers on this forum. There are people who love a particular food, there are those who make all of their dog's food, and there are a million opinions in between.

I personally favor making most of Bella's food at home. However with her liver shunt problem, I will most likely need to feed her either Science Diet or Royal Canin for the rest of her life, I have enjoyed cooking for her. She loved seared salmon, chicken breast and thin sliced bones with marrow in the middle. Unfortunately, unless her surgery tomorrow is a 100% success, she won't get to enjoy those again because the protein causes bad things to happen.
That being said, I am still going to be cutting up fruits and veggies that she likes to give her with her kibble. Turns out these little guys like a varied diet and I have been surprised by some of the things Bella likes to eat.

[Lovetodream88]

Originally Posted by cristinaberger

Thank you, I will read through and probably be even more confused. I am not planning on asking the vet. They are all biased toward promoting whatever they get a commission from.

That is not true at all it's a myth.

[Lovetodream88]

I'm a fan of Royal Canin, Wellness and Acana.

[Wylie's Mom]

Hi - congrats on your new puppy !

Almost everyone changes food for their new puppy, so you're not alone in wanting to do that - not at all. Definitely leave the puppy on its current food for at least 2-3 weeks bc you don't want to change food when a pup is stressed...which it will be during transition time.

Then, your choices are wide open ! I feed pre-made raw to mine - either Primal or Natures Variety. But if you want to feed kibble, some great ones are Natures Logic, Natures Variety, Wellness Core, Solid Gold (Wee Bits or Barking At The Moon), Acana/Orijen. I get Natures Logic on Amazon, btw, for a great price.

[OurLittleLady]

I really like Fromm it is grain free and a high quality dog food. It is very small pieces so works great for puppies and I did change my pup to this right away but he didn't seem to be under any stress so I went with it as this is what worked best for my current yorkie. I also boil and shred chicken breast and offer a tiny amount once a day and he loves it.

[Jakester]

My first choice is Farmina and second choice is Fromm. Do some research on Farmina and I don't think you will disappointed.

[Disasterous]

Keep her on the food until she gets used to everything, which can take months, and then look into other foods. Dr. Tim's is a great food with good ingredients, maybe look into that. You can set up a plan to ship it to your house every week, month, ect.
Of course, there are other foods and you can do whatever you feel is best for your little pup.

Dr. Tim's - Free Shipping at Chewy.com

[cristinaberger]

I stopped by the Healthy Pet Store today and picked up some Orajin (for car rides) and Answer (organic raw meat and veggies). When I got home, he still had Purina in her bowl and he barely touched it throughout the day. I gave her some Answer and he eat it all, he was hungry as a wolf.
I don't care in particular about brands, I have only one concern. The food that my family eats (including the puppy) has to be nutritious, as clean as possible, organic if possible, free of fillers, pesticides, hormones and other garbage. I come from a different country where canine cancer is almost unheard of because people can't afford store bought dog food so they cook for their animals and give them lots of fruits and veggies and dogs get to live out their life span with very few ever needing vet care. Then I come to this country where animal diseases are unbelievably rampant and suddenly everyone thinks they are an expert on pet nutrition because their vet said this and that or whatever he is paid for. I am not an expert on nutrition as far as what is a balanced diet for a dog, but I am on expert on common sense and that common sense tells me that my dog will not eat CRAP.

[ironmike86]

Purina is toxic to me. Look up all the lawsuits and allegations of miss leading labels. As a whole the company imo isn't good. The reading is all out there. Dunno if its true or not but many ppl do.

[Jakester]

I totally agree with cristinaberger and that is one reason i choose to feed Farmina because it is made in Italy and they have very high food standards, a lot higher than ours here in the States.

One thing that really pisses me off is we live in a great country but seems like everything is about quantity / profit and not quality.

[Yorkiemom1]

Originally Posted by Jakester

I totally agree with cristinaberger and that is one reason i choose to feed Farmina because it is made in Italy and they have very high food standards, a lot higher than ours here in the States.

One thing that really pisses me off is we live in a great country but seems like everything is about quantity / profit and not quality.

I totally agree with you on this. But looking at it from the "other side", MOST people want/demand quality, but they want it at a cheap price.....they dont want to PAY for quality, they just want it! If people would just realize that quality cost money to produce.....you get what you pay for, in most instances.

I am absolutely thrilled to see that this particular thread about what is the "best" food to give your puppy, for the most part, rather than attacking a particular brand of food, which many people MAY actually feed their dogs, people have chosen to redirect their suggestions for what they like in a food, positive feedback on the choice of food they have made and how it has helped them/their pet!