I would definitely agree that a breed specific (or combo breed specific--such as one for toy breeds, etc...) food would have to be a better choice than a non-breed specific food IF it also contained good ingredients. I can't imagine anyone would argue that a Yorkie has different dietary needs than a Great Dane, say. Just for the sake of comparison: a Yorkie has a long, silky coat, has a much larger energy requirement (most of them anyway
), has a MUCH smaller stomach--and therefore can't eat as much as, etc... when compared to a Great Dane. Just as was mentioned, Yorkie's as well as many other breeds, tend to have more joint problems than other breeds, so it would make sense that their diet contain something to aid with that. (Also, a dog can't tell you when his joints are aching, and by the time they are walking differently or limping or whatever other signs might be observed, they are more than likely in quite a bit of pain. While I don't like to basically "over" dose my self or my dog, I can see the benefit of never letting it reach this point when there is a strong correlation with something happening to a specific breed.) And many other differences in diet between different types of dogs could be tacked on here as well, I'm sure.
Sadly, it seems that the only breed specific foods out there right now seem to be with larger companies, which also tend to manufacture foods with the bottom dollar as a bigger motivator than the health of their "consumers" (our dogs). Just look at Purina, for example. They have several different varieties (plain Purina, PurinaOne, Purina Pro Plan, etc...) along with many different "special" foods within each variety (these are cat food examples because those are the one's I can think of off hand: Indoor Health, Sensitive Systems, Healthy Weight, Advanced Hairball, Advanced Hairball AND Healthy Weight, etc...) Eukanuba, Iams, Science Diet, etc... all make "specific" foods that contain terrible ingredients!! Why can't good dog food brands make more specific formulas for our babies? I'm guessing it isn't cost-effective for them to do this. They do make small bites in some of those......so why not change small bites to small breed and make it a little more customized for smaller breed dogs?? The same could be done for the large bites. Wellness does make "Small Breed Adult" and "Large Breed Adult" varieties, which is GREAT!!! However, if you'd rather be feeding grain-free or your dog has allergies to ingredients in these formulas or you dog simply won't eat these, it doesn't do us any good. I am REAAALLLLY hoping to see some other good dog food companies to follow this new-ish trend, and I'm also hoping to see a better variety in "flavors" (for lack of a better word--really I'm talking about included ingredients, whether that be lamb, chicken, or salmon, etc... or some that don'g include typical allergens that may be affecting your dog) of foods in these more specialized foods.....we like choices!!!
All that being said, however, I do agree that a GOOD food isn't any good to a dog who won't eat it! Sometimes we have to take the lesser evil....and some dogs may just have to eat a food with fillers rather than basically wasting away!!! (That would not be a good alternative!!!) I have read that dogs have many, many MORE scent receptors than humans and many, many LESS tastebuds than humans, so it would stand to reason that if a food SMELLED reeeeaaaalllllly good (like maybe you could add something over the top that made it smell incredible....don't know what that would be??) a dog that was otherwise uninterested in that same food may just gobble it down! It's a thought anyway....
