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Originally Posted by TraciG

My pup also eats Acana, I read on another thread some members concerned about the size of the kibble. Someone suggested breaking it down with a meat clever and I thought it was a great idea and have been doing that for the past few days. Even though Brutus never gagged on the regular size kibble, I din't want to take the chance. Just a thought... Glad to hear Lu is doing better.

Lu seems to eat the Acana just fine when she actually eats it rather thanswallowing it like pills. She is a bit of an odd duck. Sometimes she will"steal" food from her bowl and take it to the family room and playwith it before she eats it. She doesn't appear to have difficulty with the sizeof the kibble in that she has on occasion swallowed it whole rather thanchewing it. With regard to the size of the kibble I had wondered if it might behard to chew? I know that the act ofchewing on things is good for their teeth and jaw etc. and when I watch her eatshe doesn't seem to have trouble chewing the kibble but somewhere in the backof my memory I remember hearing or reading something about tiny dogs wearingtheir teeth down on food that is too large for them? I can't remember for thelife of me where I read or heard that and I have no idea if there is any truthto that notion. It may be an old wives tale. Does anyone know?

Lu seems to do quite well on the Acana and since she is so terribly fussy Ihate to try and change her diet unless it really is necessary. Her stool seemsthe right amount of firmness (doesn't tend to stick in her hair but isn't hardand dry either) and she seems to eat the kibble just fine when she doesn't gettoo distracted . . . Other than thescare she gave me a little bit ago she has not had any health issues. Thatbeing said, if there is any truth to kibble size and teeth wearing then I wouldcertainly try to change her food to protect her teeth.

I will say that there must be something relatively good about the regularAdult Acana as our Greyhound/Deerhound eats it and the vet is always amazed athow wonderful his teeth are. Apparently Greyhounds are notorious for having badteeth. (I didn't know that until the vet mentioned it.) I know we ought to bebrushing his teeth but we haven't been and for some reason his teeth areapparently impressive.

I feel bad for those who have dogs that have major food issues and have totry and figure out what is causing the problem. If that had been the issuegoing on with Lu I had read enough to know it wasn't going to be an easy taskif we had to search out food issues. It's such a pain to have to go the trialand error route and of course what works well for one dog doesn't always workfor another. It has to be terribly frustrating. Theories also change over theyears as new information becomes available. Then there are trends in feedingyour dog just like diet trends with people. It would be so much easier ifthings were more cut and dry.

I'm going to do some more reading and see if I can find anything tosubstantiate the kibble size and tooth wearing theory. If anyone happens toknow something about that, I'm all ears. I'd hate to be giving Lu somethingthat could be causing her long term issues with her teeth. I could break up herkibble as I do have a hand chopper that would probably do the job. It would begood to know though if there is indeed a reason for concern.