I am a little confused and would appreciate some input
As a first time Yorkie owner (not first time dog owners) we are struggling to get Remy's food "right"
He is 8 months old and we got him at 6 months, so we are two months into our relationship. At first he would not eat anything, refused kibble, etc. which I figured was an adjustment issue. We finally met with success with canned food. However after a few days on that I tried kibble again, to no avail. Given concerns over a diet of only canned food (quality, variety, not enough "hard stuff to chew, etc.) I began to home-cook his food after our first week together. Admittedly I am not a nutritionist however we have met with success with a variety of meats, veggies, fruits, etc over the last two months. He has a healthy appetite (small amount of food in the AM, with two "meals" throughout the day). I do not leave food out, he eats on a schedule. His digestive system was extremely regular, one poop per day in the AM pretty much like clockwork.
However I have always had in the back of my mind that we need to integrate kibble (to ensure he is getting a balanced diet, worries over long-term pancreas issues, and to give him hard food to benefit his teeth and gums). Finally I found one he would actually eat - Wellness Puppy. And I thought - perfect! I wanted to transition him onto the kibble, and reduce the home cooked food to supplement, or for a special meal treat.
Unfortunately the kibble integration seems to be a problem, which has me very confused.
We have tried the kibble twice - once last week and once yesterday. Each time I gave him about 1/8th of a cup of the kibble for his "lunch" meal, and only gave him home-cooked food later in the afternoon for his "dinner". The home-cooked food is exactly what he has been eating - with no negative after-effects. I had no trouble getting him to eat the kibble - it was gone both times in about 20-30 minutes. It is the after-effects that are the problem....each time he ate the kibble Remy has gotten diarrhea. The first time I thought, well, maybe it is just a coincidence and he picked up something he should not have eaten which was the real culprit. However, this AM (after eating 1/8 cup of kibble yesterday), sure enough - a tummy ache this AM.
So, I am asking for input! Do some dogs just not fare well on kibble? Is it the type of kibble? I am going to try the kibble again next week (after he has a few days to re-regulate his system) but I can't rationalize continuing to experiment with the kibble if we keep having tummy aches, because he is likely loosing any of the nutritional value since its going right through!!
One option I am considering is to just leave him on home-cooking and talk to my vet about a supplement to ensure he gets complete nutrition???
Any input would be very much appreciated!