Dealing with my Mother.
 

Sorry to be frank, but my mother is a pain in the a**. I am 22 years old and fully take care of my own dog. However, on certain days when I am at work either way too early or until way too late (only on Saturdays and Fridays), i ask that she feeds Bella for me. I feed Bella Innova Puppy food with cut up boiled chicken. My mom refuses to do this saying that the puppy food makes her nauseous. Bella loves it.

So, my mother went out and against my will, bought Bella new puppy few. Nutro Natural Balance. I am totally against it, yet she doesn't seem to care. Bella is very happy on the schedule of food I have now.

I told my mother that this is my dog, and I will feed it what I want, after extensive research on the Innova. But she doesn't seem to grasp the concept. She says that when I am going away to Hawaii on vacation for 10 days, she will force bella to eat Nutro Natural Balance regardless of it Bella likes it or not, and if she doesn't eat it, she won't eat it.

Frankly, my mother is a b****. I am only staying in this house because I cannot afford a place on my own, but if I could, I would move out as soon as possible.

What should I tell my mother? Am I in the right or in the wrong?

Google nutro and then show your mom your findings. Its been linked to dog illness and even deaths. Dont let your mom feed it.

Natural Balance is not by Nutro... it's made by Dick Van Patten. Did you maybe mean Natural Choice?

Either way, she shouldn't change Bella's food suddenly like that. I would avoid leaving Bella with her in her care... is there anyone else you could depend on? Brother? Sister? Dad? Friend? Neighbor? Another relative? Even if it means taking her and dropping her off... Maybe consider doggy day care?

WOW, she sounds like a control freak. Wish you could find another sitter.

Natural Choice, yes. and she is a control freak, which bothers me.

I showed her the website regarding Nutro and their death and illness problems with dogs. She said to find another dry food. Basically, she doesn't care what Bella is on as long as she is on dry food (perhaps shes too lazy to put together a nice meal for the dog and rather throw dry food in a bowl instead, she also says she hates the smell-- regardless if Bella likes it or not).

What dry food do you suggest I start her on? We will be doing a slow transition to the dry food, so no problems there.

I want something that has small bites, so any suggestions will definitely help.

The Innova that you have her on is a very good food. If you dont want to feed that do a search on here for food and you will get alot of info. If you do switch do it gradually

If she's doing well on the Innova wet, then she should be fine with their dry food too. I heard Wellness is good and a lot of people feed that.

Wow...sorry to hear of your ongoing battle with your mother...it's too bad she does not respect your choice for YOUR pet.....If I were closer...I would pet sit for you :>)

I supplement with natural balance, although I feed her venison medallions. I think they have 2 versions for small bites. There are several others that feed this too, nobody seems to have had any problems with it so maybe you could get your mother to use this??

I would not be happy with her either , is she jealous about something or just this way normally. I would not be happy having someone feeding my dog a bunch of crappy food. I hope you can find someone else to watch your dog, I wish I was closer

If I read your post correctly, you still live in your mother's house and depend on her to feed Bella several days a week when you work late and you will need her to take care of Bella for ten days when you go on vacation. If so, you really aren't able to fully take care of Bella as you say so you will have to compromise.

You need to respect the fact that the smell of canned food makes her nauseous. Remember, she is doing you a favor by feeding Bella for you when you are not there to feed her yourself.

Get some Innova kibble as Ashley V said so your mother can feed Bella that when you are working late or on vacation. I'm sure Bella will do fine.

Maybe you can get little Tupperware containers and make the food up beforehand on the days you work early or late so all your mom has to do is take the lid off, set it down ,and run away from the smell ;)

If she really can't stand the food I'm sure you can come to a compromise ( even though you shouldn't really have to) of a food you are happy with and she can stand the smell of. How about the dry version of what you feed her now? And on the days you feed her you can add a little wet food with it , and on the days your mom does it can just be the dry food and chicken.

I hope it works out for you.

Feed her dry and get one of those automatic feeders that release food every so often,or free feed her the dry.

I am sorry...but I don't mean to sound harsh...But I would save my Hawaii money and get my own place.

Thanks for everyone suggestions. We are going to go out today to a hollistic pet food store and come to a comprise. I do like the idea of adding a little wet every so often, it seems she sometimes has a hard time chewing hard food, but maybe because she just isn't used to it.

I will be choosing either Natural Balance or Innova Kibble. Does anyone know if the Innova Kibble is small bites?