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Originally Posted by harleyyorkie  My Harley is a bigger Yorkie to start with. He used to weigh 16.2 lbs. I use to put a cup in his bowl and he would nibble through out the day & night. Never has he had any table food and treats are only bits of raw carrot and a Milkbone cookie at night (for his teeth, which at 8 years old, he hasn't lost any and they are in nice shape). He eats Beneful Healthy Weight dry kibble. Yes, I know it is not one of the better foods out there, but he has eaten this for at least 7 years and has never had health or teeth problems of any kind. I have tried all the others like Innova and Merrick etc, he doesn't like them. Anyway, why try to fix what isn't broken? If your dog likes Purina and he doesn't have allergys or health problems due to that food, then feed him that. Here's how I got Harley down to a healthier weight of 14.7 lbs.
I cut his food the first week by putting only 3/4 cup down. Once the food is gone,that's it until the next morning. The following week, I cut it down to 1/2 cup. He nows get that 1/2 cup daily and his few treats and that's it. At night when I go to bed, there's still some kibble left in the bowl, so I know he's getting enough. It took a few months for him to lose the weight, so be patient.  |
Sorry, but I just don't agree with this. You are right, Beneful is one of the worst dog food on the market. Here are the main ingredients of the food your are feeding:
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INGREDIENTS
Ground yellow corn, chicken by-product meal, corn gluten meal, soybean hulls*, whole wheat flour, rice flour, chicken, soy flour, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), sugar,
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Most of the ingredients are horrible. Yes, your dog may seem healthy but I would be concerned about the long term effects. As humans, we can eat a poor quality diet when we are young but long term side effects, like cancer, heart problems, diabetes and arthritis do not show up until later in life. The same can apply to dogs.
Another benefit from a quality dog food it that you will have less stool and it won't be as smelly. Foods such as you feed are mainly grain and indigestible filler. Many dogs are not as satisfied on grain based foods and they do have a tendency to over eat because they are still hungry. I do agree that most dogs love these poor quality foods because of all the animal fat that it contains.
Of course, it is everyone's right to feed what they want but I felt I need to point out the benefits of a quality dog food.