you might want to check out the dogfoodanalysis link that Yorkieusa posted on this thread... you'll learn a lot about various foods.
most vets push science diet because the company pays them to do so :(

See now I am hearing conflicting stories. My vet told me too much (high) protein is extremely bad for the tinier toys. Apparently more difficult to digest and hard on their livers? She recomended I avoid sugars, starches & high protein based foods.
Yet it seems most breeders are feeding their Yorkies the higher protein based formulas. I am totally confused :confused:

i was confused too. perhaps your vet isn't very experienced with small breeds. up until a few months ago i thought low protien was best too but think about it... dogs are carnivors... so if you arnen't feeding a high protien food what are you feeing... grains.. which are just fillers which dogs don't need... you can meet it half way tho... get a food that is higher than normal in protien... and see how your pup does.

Just check the ingredients on what you are feeding your babies! There should be NO CORN :thumbdown , NO WHEAT OR SOY :thumbdown , AND NO BY-PRODUCTS!! :thumbdown :thumbdown The corn is a cheap filler (Science Diet has it as one of the top ingredient. Vets push this product since they get kick backs on it and also they are in the biz of treating sick dogs so it is a win-win for the vet). corn also can cause severe allergies. Wheat and soy aren't needed by dogs in any shape or form. The by-products are the parts of animals that aren't used for anything else. These can include beaks, feet, and feathers. :thumbdown It can also include the euthanized animals collected from vets offices. Many times, the collars aren't even removed so that all gets into the mix too. Roadkill is also thrown in. YUMMY!!:mad:

I have free samples available to anyone that wants to try some super healthy all natural dog food and treats. It is all nautral, human grade and made fresh every week. The food and treats are delivered straight to your door from the manufacturing plant instead of sitting on a store shelf forever.

Just PM me if you would like a sample to try. You have nothing to lose and your furbabies have everything to gain for getting them off of the junky food and onto a super healthy food. The kibbles are really small too so they are perfect for the yorkies. If you furbaby is a little porky yorkie, i also have weight-loss kibbles :D This food is an all life stages food, which means it is good for puppies, adults and seniors so there is no need to be switching them around because of age.
i have a comparison chart too.

I just found another thorough Web site for dog foods. It slams Science Diet right off the top, but I was surprised that it noted that all corn is not bad.

http://www.dogfoodproject.com/

:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

I think a raw diet is the very best way to go. Lacy eats Nature's Variety raw medallions. I alternate rabbit and venison every day. If you don't like the idea of feeding raw meat, homecooking is the next best thing - you do lose some of the nutrients from cooking the food but your dog will still be getting high quality food with none of the crap commercial food has. With either, be sure to research it well and know what you're doing.

If you're going to feed kibble or canned commercial dog food, pick a premium food such as Nature's Variety, Innova, Wellness, Canidae, Merrick, California Natural, and there are others as well.

Stay away from grocery store brands and Iams, Hills Science Diet, Purina, and Eukanuba. Vets push these brands because these large companies basically pay them to. I'm in vet school right now, and Hills and Purina donate a lot of money to the American Veterinary Medical Association (Especially Hills!). They do a lot of things to contribute to veterinary education but it does cause most vets to push these crappy foods. Being a vet student, I can get 80% off Science Diet and Purina foods if I wanted - see, this gets future vets to use their products (they also gave me a free backpack and free lunch during Orientation). Hills also teaches a lot of the nutrition classes in vet school and gives students a biased opinion that kibble is the way to go and Hills is the best. They also give vets a lot of free products and kickbacks to sell their food. This is why most vets recommend it. The reality is most vets don't know much about nutrition. It's obvious when you look at the ingredients of these foods -corn, byproducts, dyes, etc. I plan to include Holisitic medicine in my practice one day, mostly the nutrition aspect. I think our pets would be so much healthier if they weren't eating a lot of the crap that most commercial dog food has in it.

can you please move here and be my vet!! there are no holistic vets near me.. i'd have to travel up to 2 hours :( not so great for emergencies!

HaHa..I still have a LONG way to go, but who knows where I'll end up when I get out :)

TG you are understanding about why all the vets push that SD!! WOO HOO!! :yeahthat: I am sooooooooooo encouraged that there are people like you thinking about diet for the babies and not the bottom line!! WHEW!! The vet that makes the Life's Abundance is a super duper holistic vet. Dr. Jane Bicks formulated this product!! Of course homecooking is FABULOUS if you have the time. I don't so the next best thing for us is the holistic diet for them.
I wish more people would think like you do!!! :D

lol... we need a club... we can sit and talk holistic food and medicine!!! i love when i see people post exactly what i am thinking!! because sometimes i'm SO overwhelmed by my feelings towards home cooked food (either raw or not) that i can't put it in words. i can always count on myfairlacy to do it :)

i feed mocha innova small bites (protein content i believe is around 24%). the regular innova triangle shapes seemed to be too big and i found from my pet boutique the small bites formula--it's as small as eukanuba (i used to feed her eukanuba when i was less educated on different foods). she loves it. i sampled her with canidae which she barely touched, so we chose innova. there are days when i mix a little sweet potato or carrot baby food and she gobbles it all up.

if you are looking for samples, try checking out any pet boutique that carries these brands. they have a ton of free samples. :)

So the raw food...exactly how does that work? Is it frozen? I'm getting a new puppy next weekend and I have been seriously considering a raw diet, especially because I read that the enzymes are good for dental health. Can someone suggest how I could transition from a dry kibble diet to raw without causing an upset tummy? How long should I wait, she will be around 14 weeks when she comes home.

Well, Sadie's on Hill's Prescription W/D...not my choice, but it's the only thing we've found that doesn't upset her IBD. So that's what she's on for now. I kind of wish I could find something else that would work, but am scared to try anything. The W/D is a high fiber/low fat food. She gets the canned as her food and the kibble as her treats (looking at the ingredients of this particular food, the canned is better for her).

I feed Nature's Variety Raw Medallions. The diet is pre-mixed and frozen into 1oz medallions. I just thaw two days worth out in the refrigerator and feed them to her. You can go to www.naturesvariety.com to read more about their products. There is also an estimated feeding chart on there. From all the research I have read, it says to just switch from kibble to raw cold turkey. I did this with Lacy with no digestive upsets at all. You never want to feed kibble and raw meat at the same time because they move throught the digestive tract at different speeds. The raw moves through a lot quicker than kibble which is why bacteria doesn't have time to multiply and cause upset tummies (like in people - our digestive system works slower so we get sick from bacteria in raw meat). If you feed kibble and raw at the same time, the kibble slows down the movement through the digestive tract, giving bacteria time to multiply, and your puppy can get an upset tummy. I do know some people that feed raw in the morning and kibble in the evening (and this works because the raw has digested before the kibble is eaten) but I don't see the point in keeping kibble in the diet if you're doing raw. I suggest researching raw on the internet too. Most of the info you'll find is for mixing the diet yourself, but you'll still read a lot of useful information about raw diets, the advantages of feeding raw, and get a lot of questions answered. I feed the prepackaged raw because it's more convienient for me.