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Originally Posted by ChicagoSoul That's the thing. She has never lost a pound. We took her to the vet the second day of her arrival. What I think is happening is that her breeder was right. She was slightly less than two pounds and just gained a couple of ounces after two weeks. Her first weight was not the right figure. The assistant made a mistake.
On the issue of having food constantly available, I absolutely disagree with you. All the literature on the subject and most if not all of the vets suggest a schedule for both developmental as well as training purposes. Every vet I know says that a puppy needs to be reasonably hungry for every meal.
Animals don't have a sense of fullness when they see food. They eat as much as they can handle before they are tired to eat or before they are interrupted to do something else. It's similar to humans, in order to stay healthy, we need to have portion control, schedule as well as healthy food and plenty of exercise.
It is similar with new born human babies. They need a schedule.
You should do whatever you think is the best, of course but modern day veterinary science is not in agreement on that. Depending on the size, age as well as level of activity, each puppy should eat 3 or 4 times a day. The size of their portion varies also depending on those criteria. At the same time, there must be a form of control in the portion and schedule at all times. |
Personally, I would prefer the word of a professional breeder whom I admire then just any vet. Remember, veterinarians are trained in many animals and don't necessarily specialize in Yorkies. Most vets learn from the breeders!
The literature, to which you refer, is this to dogs in general or Yorkies? Since they do suffer from hypoglycemia, their needs are different.
Animals as well as humans do know a sense of fullness; the key ingredient to this is HEATHY food. Once you have created an eating disorder or introduce an unhealthy food (high fats and/or high sweets) the animal and or human will overlook this sense of fullness and overeat.
I also fed my human babies on demand. I think this schedule thing is terribly old fashioned and I'm surprised anybody is still doing this and/or recommending it.
Nancy