New Yorkie Owner Needs Advice

[coco2013]

We just adopted a 4 year old female. She is so incredibly precious. But, I do have some preference questions to ask. I just recently found this forum and I have been reading quite a bit but need some opinions.

First of all, preference of dog food for her. I know she should be eating small bites. Her owner said she fed her Science Diet, but I am not a fan at all of Science Diet. Had two cats that had to be laid to rest a year ago( they lived to be 17 & 18yrs old) and I never ever fed them that brand.

Second. I am looking at bows for her hair but I'm not sure which is better for her. Alligator clips, french barrette or the elastic bands.


Thank you for your experienced help.

[coco2013]

Sorry for the broken heart icon. Didn't mean to hit that button and I don't know how to remove it.

[MandiesMom]

Originally Posted by coco2013

We just adopted a 4 year old female. She is so incredibly precious. But, I do have some preference questions to ask. I just recently found this forum and I have been reading quite a bit but need some opinions.

First of all, preference of dog food for her. I know she should be eating small bites. Her owner said she fed her Science Diet, but I am not a fan at all of Science Diet. Had two cats that had to be laid to rest a year ago( they lived to be 17 & 18yrs old) and I never ever fed them that brand.

Second. I am looking at bows for her hair but I'm not sure which is better for her. Alligator clips, french barrette or the elastic bands.


Thank you for your experienced help.

Hi and welcome to YT!! It's so great that you adopted this 4 year old girl. Can't wait to see pics

You will get a lot of different answers on food. I would not suddenly switch her food no matter what. Gradually transition to what you want. Many prefer grain free because these Yorkies tend to have tendencies toward allergies. Mandie's eyes watered a lot when I first got her. I think it was caused by various things but 2 things I changed were her food and her water. I have always had her on Blue Buffalo (first puppy and now small breed and toy breed...I get either of those really). Some here like Royal Canin and some like Canine Caviar and there are more. Many here actually do home cooking and/or raw diets. I'm not that ambitious or talented lol

For bows, I use the alligator clips - it's easier for my hands to get them in and they stay put.

[coco2013]

Thank you MandiesMom. I'm really excited to have her. My sister had a teacup yorkie for years. I don't remember what she fed her but there was much love between the two. My sister passed away 2 1/2 years ago and her yorkie was laid to rest with her. (that was her request)Those two were inseparatable.

I was not really in the market at all for another pet but this came up and I just felt that I needed to take her. She is so precious and loveable and she took right to me and my husband. So, the fun begins again.

[Yorkiedaze]

Hello and welcome to YT. Well, I can't help you with the type of kibble you are looking for because I've always home cooked for my girls. As for the hair, I'm not a fan of the elastic bands because no matter how careful you are to take them out, or cut them out, they still break the hair and then all the small broken hair is always covering the eyes. I like the alligator clips as well as the French clips.
Looking forward in meeting your little girl.

[coco2013]

Thank you for the advice Yorkiedaze. My thinking was also alligator clips or the french clips. So, I was on the right track. I will eventually get a picture up of her. Thank you for the welcome.

[TeresaM]

Welcome. You'll have to post some pictures when you can.

Food-wise, what MandiesMom said and also go to the Health & Diet forum, there's a lot of good info there.

For the bows, I have the best luck with the French clips or the Alligator clips if they have the rubber on them. Otherwise, they seem to slip around some on Gracie Ruth. She has thin, fine hair and sometimes they just don't have enough hair to grip to. I avoid the rubber band ones, just don't like rubber bands. I use the tiny scrunchies for everyday wear and add a bow or clip to dress her up sometimes.

Every day hot mess glory


Clip added for "special" day

[nanahas3]

I use infant scrunchies in Kyra also they seem to be the easiest to get in and out and on her bows the french barrett stays in best for her since she can get all others out lol. Welcome to YT. As for food mine eat a food called Nutri-source mixed with boiled chicken breast. Also they get supplements for their coat.

[MyGirlSasha]

BLUE Buffalo Wilderness - Natural Evolutionary Chicken Diet for Small Breed Dogs ? Grain Free

This is what I feed my girl. She loves it and it's great for her

[brezofleur]

Congratulations! And as others have said, thank you for adopting!

I also use gator clips. I find them really helpful on Thalia as she gets used to bows. She does pull them out sometimes (and then promptly starts to eat them) but they do not pull on her and for about 95% of the time she keeps them in. Of course, she is still a puppy...ha ha.

[LilAnnCamp]

Congrats and thanks for adopting an older baby into your family.


You will get a lot of answers on food. I am using Wellness Super 5 Mix BUT am considering switching to blue buffalo freedom at the moment. The reason I am using Wellness S5M is because it is a life stage food(have a senior & puppy who share food) and has 3 flavors to chose from.

I use alligator clips and snap clips. IMO all bands break hair I even got a thing to cut them out. I would use the scrunchies like others mentioned but Crimson has more of a twig instead of a topknot.

[Teresiana]

Congratulations on your new Yorkie! I feed Royal Canin. It does have grains, but my pups don't have allergies & they've done really well on it. I also use alligator clips & tiny scrunchies. I love to order from BowBiz: BowBiz Dog Bows
You can add a clip or barrette to any bow they have. I also add the sticky grippy thing to it. It helps a lot to stay in the hair. Good luck!!

[Marhcarter]

I feed Introducing Grain-Free BLUE Freedom. Huey has done really well on it. We have just started keeping a topknot after 4 years of none, and I have found (so far) that the tiny baby scrunchies do best with the least amount of breakage.