[lil fu fu girl]

Originally Posted by maquignon

Stop switching dog foods. Dogs do not get bored with their food. Choose a good dog food and stick with it. If your dog does not eat all of his food within a few minutes you are probable feeding him too much and the smaller the dog the more likely a person is to feed too much. Those little tykes need very little food (around 225 calories for the average adult Yorkie). If you give them treats or anything else you have to subtract that from their food. The smaller the dog the more likely people are to feed too much. The average adult Yorkie needs 1/4 to 1/2 cup of a high quality food (that's 1/8 cup (two tablespoons) to 1/4 cup (four tablespoons) twice a day). That is if you don't give him anything else. Some may require even less than that. If your dog is maintaining his weight and is healthy, he is probably eating enough. Most people feed their dogs too much. One of my dogs eats half the amount suggested on the bag and has thrived on it for two years.

First, welcome to YT.

Secondly, allow me to expand on your kcalorie comment. Unfortunately, determination of kcalories is somewhat more technical than a standardized 225 calories across the board. The basic standard equation that nutritionists use to formulate appropriate kcalorie guidelines is based on a canines RER, or Resting Energy Requirements; where
RER(kcal/day)= 30 (body weight in kilograms) + 70. The RER is only valued for resting energy requirements, when other things such as activity, specific breed variants, coat requirements, environmental factors, muscle maintenance, and organ repair are entered into the equation, kcalorie requirements can vary radically. This RER is then multiplied by a specific numerical rate exemplifying the activity level to predict appropriate kcalorie intake that your pup will need for adequate nutrition.

So, say you have two five pound yorkies, one is extremely active and the other is very sedate. After deciphering their RER:
RER = 30 ( 2.27 kg) + 70 = 138.1, you find that their basic resting requirement is 138.1kcal.
For the sedate pup a multiplier of 1.6 is normal so basic kcalorie count would be 220.96 kcals, whereas the active pup would be using a multiplier between 4 and 8 which would put the kcal. count between 552.4 kcals and 1104.8 kcals. So as you can see, there is a drastic difference between these and the standard 250kcalories that you have quoted. My pups are extremely active, and their kcalorie range varies between 325-700 kcalories per day, depending on the exact type of exercises that we are doing.

So there it is, somewhat academic and boring, but useful perhaps to someone.