Well I give up, Keno refuses to eat the blue buffalo unless he is starving. Went and got him Royal Canin Yorkshire Terrier 28 and he is happy as can be. I know they say that blue buffalo is a better food, but if he hates it he hates it.

My little girl is really picky. I tried and she turned her nose up to Merrik, Nutro, Royal Canin, Science Diet, Ekanuba, Blue Baffalo and Organix. Finally she decided that Halo Puppy Spots Stew would maybe be okay. Of course I didn't know about samples so the grocery bill for the puppy was aweful. Found myself smuggling dog food in the house. Lots of bags of dog food under my bathroom sink...it will be given to the Humane Society. Good Luck :}

The breeder we got Ozzy from was feeding him Iams puppy, but I don't like that so, we are trying the Science Diet dry puppy food for small dogs. He likes it, and the vet said it was one of the best brands. BUT, reading a few reviews of Science Diet, and reading all these posts, I'm now thinking of switching to a different, more premium brand.

My fur-babies are on Wellness for Puppies. However, I just found Wellness for Small Breed Puppies - they love it!

Science Diet pays for many vets start up costs and supports them as long as they agree to sell or at least recommend science diet to their clients. I sat through one of their promotional meetings for vets, if you aren't really knowledgeable about nutrition specifically, their sales pitch is really good. Unfortunately they claim that corn is the best you can feed your animal and have "studies" and lots of cool diagrams and information to support that claim.. ugh.. So if a vet is looking at medical conditions and not researching nutrition on their own Science Diet seems great, after all the company supports the Veterinary community so it must be good right? :(


I would really read the ingredients of your dog food, the first 5 ingredients are the most important as ingredients are listed by volume, meaning the first ingredient is what that the food contains the most of.. the stuff at the bottom of the list is what the dog food has the least amount of. You want to make sure that those first few ingredients are in order to what is healthy for your dog, corn, wheat and by-products are usually linked with poor health and skin condition so I would avoid those ingredients especially if found at the top of the list of ingredients.

Here's an example of Beneful, Science Diet and Merrick.. if you just take the top 5 ingredients and realize this is primarily what their food is made out of..

Beneful:
Ground yellow corn, chicken by-product meal, corn gluten meal, whole wheat flour, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E)

Science Diet Lamb & Rice:
Lamb Meal, Brewers Rice, Whole Grain Wheat, Corn Gluten Meal, Brown Rice

Merrick:
Chicken,Turkey Meal,Chicken Meal,Ground Rice,Oat Meal

Another tip: When it says "meal" that means is it is cooked down to remove the water and fat from the item prior to measuring it out and adding it to the mix of ingredients. Chicken for example is 80% water, so after it's cooked you have only 20% left.. For dry kibble this is a huge difference..

Personally, I read the ingredients of everything I give my animals, even treats and chews to make sure that their diets aren't spoiled by something extra they are eating.

Good luck and glad you're doing your research :)

Fido is on Hill's Adult Large Breed Light , I use food for big dogs for him cause then he has to chew the bits not just swallow, otherwise he doesnt use his teeth :)

I know Hill's isnt the best dog food... It's super premium though :)
I would love to have Fido on Blue Buffalo, but I can't get it here in Iceland, there isn't much to choose from here, the only dog food that is sold here is :
Regal
Arion
Halla Foder
Hill's
Royal Canin
Pedigree
ProPlan
ProFormance
ProPac
Eukanuba
Arden Grange
and Natural Trainer.

What would you think would be the best choice ? Despite Pedigree, Royal Canin, ProPac and ProPlan.

I live with my parents and their 2 Yorkies plus my Yorkie & Biewer were eating Fromm Surf N Turf for several years, then we switched them to Merrick Before Grain Chicken. They LOVED both kinds so much! My little girl, Lola, had a Pancreatitis attack at the end of May, and can no longer eat high fat food. She was in the hospital for 3 days on IVs, the vet sent her home with Royal Canin Gastrointestinal Low Fat kibble. They really don't care for it too much, so I'm in search of a better quality low fat food(less than 9% fat). I'm also going to request some samples to find the right food that they will eat. I have used this site to get free sample of food before, Free Dog Food & Cat Food Samples - Free Shipping.

We went to a specialty store last night and got samples of Acana, Taste of the Wild, and California Naturals. We'll try them as treats and see which he likes best.

Personally I think it is wrong to feed dogs food with grain in it. Dogs in the wild do not eat grain and they also do not get diabetes and cancer. Dogs are carnivores not cows that eat grain. With all the research that is being done on food for our pets I wish the public could be more educated about how the pet food industry is ripping off the consumer and sickening our pets. Most human illness and disease is caused by poor diet and the same can be said about our pets. Pets are contracting cancer and diabetes in record numbers. If you read the ingredient list on the container of your pet's food you will see why.

The only comment I don't agree with is that dogs are carnivores. They do eat vegetables. Actually, I think that dogs are scavengers, whereas animals like cats are hunters. I believe their stomachs are capable of digesting a lot of different things. That being said, I also agree that grain isn't one of the things a dog would normally eat, even if it was completely wild.

I see false information being disseminated by the cat food companies as well as dog food manufacturers. I get disgusted when i see cat food that contains whole grains and vegetables. Honestly, a cat IS a carnivor/hunter, and doesn't eat any of that stuff, EVER. I would never support a company that seems to know so little about the nutrition of the animal it is purporting to know about!

Perhaps a dog who has gone feral my be a scavenger but coyotes and wolves and the fox are carnivores. My dog will eat veggies if I offer them but I don't think that wild carnivores are out there digging up carrots. They get their veggies from their catch's stomach and maybe some grass it chews on along the way. However, some vegetables are beneficial to a dogs diet of course. Offer your dog a bowl of grain and see what kind of reaction you get

We fed Iams Puppy (did fine), then Science Diet small bites (threw up every week or two and had coat issues), then homecooked (did fantastic), then Canidae (don't remember why I switched), then I think Royal Canin LS 14 for a liver issue (so itchy), then homecooked again (did fine, but then she got some intestinal issues and food allergies), then Purina HA (constipated), then Z/D Ultra (made diarrhea worse), then homecooked again (still dealt with GI issues to the extreme), now Purina HA again (and considering all of her issues, she is doing very well on it).

There you have Ellie's dietary history. lol
We are happy with HA right now.
Apparently my girl has trouble processing meat, poultry, and fish.

Hi Wylie's Mom and Ellie May... Its been a while.. It's Renee.. Sadie and Samie's mommy.. haven't been here for about 2 yrs. We've since lost our baby Sadie.. (10/21/10) boy my heart still hurts bad these days.. we have got a new yorkie baby named Bella. And since we got our girls years ago (13) Today is Samie's 13th bday (7-5-11) I've learned a whole lot about feeding better food over the years. However, as Sadie's health progressed (kidney disease) I home cooked for her.. Sadly she never passed away from kidney disease bc I kept her managed with diet and subq fluids. She died from congestive heart failure that was brought on suddenly. It still haunts me to this day seeing her take her last breath as she woke me on that morning.. Oh- I'm struggling with her loss so bad.. Ok- detour on that subject because I will cry really hard.....

My question though is food for baby Bella. I had originally told the breeder we got her from that I did not want her on Purina Pro plan puppy and if he could start her on Wellness Puppy (he didn't know much about food) but he's learning from me. I am concerened though about the Orijen. I bought a small bag of the Orijen Puppy food and Bella LOVES it.. I wanted to give it to her as "treats" only and she is learning real quick that she likes it MUCH better than Wellness puppy. I ALSO like the idea of grain free but I'm questioning the 20% fat content and 40% protein. Although the wellness puppy has 17% fat and 27% protein. When Bella eats a piece of the Orijen Puppy you would think she is eating a piece of filet mignon! THIS puppy KNOWS that this is good stuff. THe wellness is good too but I would like to get some feedback on feeding the higher protein Orijen. Is is bad for a 10 wk 2.5 lb little baby? I love seeing her soooooo happy to eat a piece of kibble. She does not eat the wellness this way. She just picks at it and even plays with her food and throws it up in the air,. It's super cute.. BUt I need her to be more consistent eating.

Thanks guys!
Renee, Samie & Baby Bella.
Sadie- my forever angel who lives in my heart every day and will forever....

I am in the process of trying out Natural Balance Ultra Small Bites and Taste of the Wild Sierra to see which the boys like more.

They are on Acana Chicken while trying the others as snacks.

Lost our Abby at fourteen to Congestive Heart Failure 7 months ago, cried as I read your post. Hope time helps and my thoughts and prayers go to you.