[lil fu fu girl]

Originally Posted by mscat

You seem very educated on what to feed our babies . I had my Suzi on a food BY Nature that had a lesser protein content, rated a 4 , and I thought she was just too thin .
Now, I have anther pup and feed them WEllness small bites . They look and behave excellent . Wellness is higher protein , but not rated a 6 on the super prem. list. It is a 5 , but my 2 look so much better after switching to a higher protien kibble. They love it too.
I think I did the right thing by switching , Suzi filled out , not fat , just filled out , and the shih tzu looks perfect , not fat at all. But , bigger then Suzi, yet she ought to be considering she is a shih tzu . LOL .
What is your perspective of Wellness small bites ?

I fell in love with nutritional science during my first degree at FSU. My professor was just beginning research on the Stevia Plant as a sugar supplement, and bounced her research off me....I was hooked!

Down the road, had a son with genetic anomalies and needed more information to manage his issues, so went back to school at UMCP to study nutrition.
Now, 24 years later who would have thought that I would still be in academia working on yet another degree in yet another field?!
I don't know....I tell my friends that some of us are just born into academia and decide to never leave!

Anyway, back to the point at hand, sorry!

I honestly believe, if your dog is healthy without issues that we discussed earlier, that they should be fed a high quality nutrient dense "complete" protein. Dogs require protein for so many things, muscle structure for example. While carbs feed the muscles when they work, protein builds the muscle so that it can work. Hair( as we all want those glorious coats that Yorkies are known for), nails,and skin all require proteins on a daily basis. Feeding a "complete" protein, one that contains all nine essential amino acids, and is only found in animal based products is preferable: such as meats,poultry,fish, eggs, and dairy. Grains also contain proteins that are very useful, yet the vegetable and grain proteins are not "complete" proteins, so combinations of different food sources have to be combined to create complete proteins, this does not need to be done at one sitting, but can be spaced usually within a 24 hour period. However, in this recombination, much research has implicated that negative byproducts are produced in the liver and kidneys by the dog ( which is another rant).
So , I try to feed mine complete proteins.

So, in answer to your query, I think Wellness looks great! 3 out of the top 5 are quality complete proteins, plus the Maheden fish which is great for omega fatty acids.

On the other hand, the By Nature, has 1 complete protein in the top 5: not so great , just imo!

So I am sure that your pups have probably an increased energy and muscle tone, plus not to mention that glorious coat!! I personally think that you made a great choice!
Hope this answers your question...if not.... just ask again, as I am off today..LOL