Pedigree Puppy Food.. Good?
 

I am going to be a new yorkie mom on Thursday. I want to buy pedigree puppy because its in a better price range. Is this a good brand for yorkies? She is going to me 2 months..

I know it says that you should feed them 1 cup of kibble a day,
but how many times a day do I feed her?
Also should I add a little water to make it moist? I read somewhere that their throats are so tiny and they choke alot? Or should I leave food out 24/7.. I read they are prone to low or high blood sugar or something.


Thanks for any info you have for me.

Pedigree is pretty much junk food for dogs. Find out what the breeder is feeding, you don't want to make any abrupt changes in her diet. Then slowly transition her to a high quality food. The higher quality foods often require smaller quantities than the junkier food. When you calculate the actual per feeding cost, some of the better brands are really the better bargain.

When you said the pup is going to be 2 months, I assume you mean just 8 weeks. A yorkie puppy should really not leave it's mother until 12 weeks. Is there any way the pup can stay with the breeder until then? Food should be available 24/7. Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) can be a medical emergency, so you need to start reading up on the signs and symptoms as well as the use of Nutrical to treat it.

:thumbup::thumbup: As far as cost for a good food vs. something like pedigree, you have to consider this also - healthier dog will generaly = less vet bills. Trust me, it's worth the extra money to use a high quality food. check out this web site:
www.dogfoodanalysis.com/

For amounts - check the label on the food, just keep in mind that small dogs like Yorkie's do better eating smaller more frequent meals (free feeding is a good idea for now if you don't have other pets in the house)
Most puppy foods come in smaller sized peices so that shouldn't be too much of an issue, but adding a bit of water is fine to soften it up.
And I agree that the puppy should stay with it's mom until 12 weeks old.

Welcome to Yorkie Talk and congrats on getting your new furbaby:D

One of the worse food for dog in my opinion. There are so many other food for about the same price. Try looking at your local Pet store and Feed store.. Most grocery stores don't carry a healthy selection of dog food :)

I don't think it is the best food for your Yorkie. Check its rating on the site that AlicetheYorkie posted. It provides a lot of information on food.

IMO one of the worst foods that could be fed. I know I may be exaggerating a little but there are certainly WAY better foods out there than Pedigree. Like another member said, with higher quality foods, usually you'll have a healthier dog which means less vet bills. Generally, you also end up feeding less of a higher quality food than you would with a lower quality food which means the food will last longer. Check out some of the threads here on YT. There's TONS to learn about food. I certainly was no expert until I joined this site.

I agree with the other posts that this is not the best choice. Especially that choosing a high quality food, though more expensive, does generally = less vet bills.

The great thing about having a small dog is that they don't eat much and so it's much easier to buy a high quality food on a restricted budget than it would be for someone feeding a large breed.

All the experienced and reputable breeders here will say 12 weeks is the minimal age a Yorkie should leave their mother....perhaps one of them can comment on how you should go about feeding while a pup is so young. Or, you can try searching the site and see what you can find.

But as your dog gets older, for sure, I think it's really important for a dog to learn where their food comes from (you) and that feeding time is a great opportunity to teach obedience skills. Once it is safe to do so, I would not free-feed. I feed 4 small meals per day on recommendation of a nutritionist. I make my dog sit and wait for every meal until I give him the "okay" and at least once a day I hand feed and he does tricks for every bite! Dogs like having a job to do and working for their food provides good mental stimulation.

To the OP- My rule of thumb has been any food thats first listed ingredient is Corn Meal is probably not anything you want to feed to your dog. The higher end dog foods do not have corn meal in them at all.

On a different note I looked at the website above suggested and noticed.... I have been feeding my dogs the blue wilderness chicken.. I noticed it received 5 stars.. but the Blue Wilderness Salmon received 6 stars.. I didn't realize that the brand dog food was not the only thing to look into.. its also which meat product its based on?

That site is a great resource, but I wouldn't worry too much about the difference between the site giving 5 or 6 stars. The #1 thing they're basing their rating system on is protient content (the higher the protein, the higher the score for the most part, it's not the only factor but the main one) The salmon probably is just a little higher in protien % plus they may be comsidering that the salmon is higher in Omega 3. The chicken is totally fine as is any food that gets a 5 star rating there. If you want to though and your dog will go for it;), you can safely change the "flavor" with each bag to give a wider range of protient sources:) That's what I do.:D

How is purina? I live in Mexico and the brand name over here near me is pedigree and purina, but purina is about double the price.
All the other brands are junky I wouldn't even consider it once.

I will be traveling back to the states within the next year to live so I will have more choices once I am over there for the perfect doggy food.

Sorry mistake she is 12weeks.

I will recommend you check with the breeder first on which food she fed the puppy. If you are wanting to try a good brand my recommendation will be Royal Canin (they make one specially for yorkie puppies) or Wellness

Also no corn meal is listed in the ingredients of the pedigree puppy.

The first website someone said to go on I looked at the reviews, but they are very outdated.... 2005, 2008.
When I read for the pedigree is says there was corn meal, on my package I just confirmed no corn meal..

Is it purina pro plan? I would still not feed it but since you have limited choices.......do they carry royale canin, eukanuba?

They are a little better. In your case I would order online or home cook.

No Purina Puppy Chow

It may not have corn meal in it, but the very first ingredient is "sufficient water for processing". The first ingredient in a decent food should really be a protein source. Pedigree also has by-products in it which are not good at all, especially meat-by-products which is an un-named meat source really. Most of the other ingredients listed in Pedigree I have no idea what they are whereas in higher quality foods, you can usually recognize over half of the ingredients listed.

Perhaps it is listed as ground whole corn or corn gluten meal but I don't think you will find any Pedigree without corn meal of some sort in it.

Pedigree is NOT a good food for our pups. If you want to use it, fine but it is not a quality product. I would not use if for the ptesence of by-products alone! Too many possibilities when they talk by-products and none of them are pleasant. But..... before I knew much about by-products & premium foods, I did feed a dog Pedigree & Alpo and the dog lived just fine, but it was not a yorkie. Yorkies do have a more sensitive digestive system and are more prone to liver problems. Those are more reason to feed them better foods.

I would recommend as others have, asking the breeder what she used for kibble. If a premium food is not available loclaly, then you can order from a place like petfooddirect.com. I had to order from them for years and then we finally got a store locally that stocks premium foods. A quick check online does look like you may have problems finding a good food locally. I would just have it shipped to you. Maybe you cna even go in with the breeder on shipments to save $$.

I recommend having kibble out 24/7 for puppies. They are prone to bouts of LOW blood sugar also called hypoglycemia. This can be very frightening and puppies can actually die from it if they do not get their blood sugar back up in time. Better to have food available at all times. Be especially vigilant after they have been playing very hard, or gone through stressful circumstance like seeing the vet. They may need a little extra food to take care of the need. Make sure to keep some Nutrical gel on hand. It is to be used if your puppy does have a drop in blood sugara. If you notice they are listless, no energy, cna't hold head up, may even be going in circles or not walking right -- rub the gel on their gums for fast absorbtion. Then get to the vet. This may never happen to you, but good to be prepared!

No way. Its awful :(