Best food for a Yorkie Puppy?
 

When I first got my puppy Yorkie Polo 4 years ago, he was on puppy chow and cesar for a few days. My husband then gave him some sliced steak and my dog never ever would eat any type of dog food whatsoever again, LOL! He ate anything we ate. He ate vegtables, meats, chicken, cheese. He also loved pizza and pasta. My Polo recently passed and we are getting a new pup on Friday. So my question is, what should I do as far as feeding??? Should I do the same or should I really try to get her on dog food and avoid any human food for her? I want to do whats best. Giving my Polo human food worked for him and he was very healthy, active, playful, and sweet but a lot of people would tell me I shouldn't feed him human food?!? My husband always felt our food was best, what does everyone else think with their expereince?

well , dogs have different nutritional needs than people.
If you want to give them people food you really should speak to pet nutritionist to get a proper recipe for your dog to make sure he is getting what he needs.
If you feed him dog food then just look for a high quality
puppy kibble. There are many to choose from.

Pizza and pasta our terrible for US - of course they are terrible for them.

If I could do anything different, it would be to have a dog that does not even know what the taste of human food is. Besides an occasional piece of chicken, etc. I think moderation is okay when it comes to chicken, cheese, etc.

There's a few human foods that can be "okay" to share but not they can not eat primarily human junk food. There is always homecooking but it should be done with a proper balance as well as a nutritional professional.

Otherwise, I'd recommend a good and balanced kibble.

I'm sorry to hear about your Polo and his passing. Feeding table foods and treating your dog like a garbage can isn't a good idea. Home cooking must be properly done or dogs will not have good health or long lives. I would pick a good balanced kibble and stick with that. A lot of people here give you some ideas on brands. I use Royal Canin when I'm not home cooking under the guidance of my veterinarian.

Human food (table scraps) is not good for ANY pet. If you plan to make food there is a way to do it. But it takes a bit of work IMHO. So I buy a good food for corky, Grain free. In corkys case, when I stopped buying his food from dump mart, he was better off.

We use Innova grain free for our dogs..... I am not familiar with the Innova puppy food...... we used Royal Canin puppy food for ours when they were little, but once they got older the Royal Canin wasn't what I was looking for in a dog food for them as adults...... it put too much weight on them and with our Shelby having LP surgery as a younger dog, the extra weight wasn't good for her.

I use Innova small bites for my bichon and I just bought a bag of Innova foo puppy for my new girl. I plan to transition her to Innova. It's a good food even with the P&G connection.

Fromm's is a great brand and another good brand is Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance Ultra Premium Small Bites. The Natural Balance is for puppy through adult. I mix the two. Mine loves both.

Pancreatitis is a dangerous illness that can be caused by feeding table scraps, so do be careful. It can even be fatal.

morgan eats merrick and he absolutely loves it

Yorkies are extremely prone to pancreatitis and the risk of them getting it I feel would increase if they're fed constant table scraps like that. Like others have said, not all the food that we eat is good for us so imagine what it would do for a dog.

There are tons of great dog foods out there. You just have to find the one that works for your dog and do a little research. I've always been a fan of Blue Buffalo because it's what works the best for my dog. I tried numerous foods with her but she reacted the best to this food. Heck there's some other foods that I would probably try with her but I just don't want to take the risk of trying to give her a different food and have her not like it and have her become extremely picky.

Personally, I look for foods without corn, wheat, soy, by-products, artificial preservatives, etc. Basically, I look for the all natural foods, preferably grain-free. There's Blue Buffalo, Wellness, Taste of the Wild, Fromm, Now!, Go!....these are just a few brands out of a ton of different options. It can be very confusing but with a little patience and research you can find the perfect food for your dog. Good luck!

Nice response! Some other posts on this thread were kind of mean. See...you can share information and give recommendations without hurting feelings.

To comment on your question, mine eats Welllness puppy food now. I didn't know much either about food and bought Science Diet because it said "Vet Recommended". After doing some research, I found out that you do not want to feed your dog anything with corn or by-product. I am lucky because Max eats ANYTHING...and maybe not so lucky because that includes paper and bugs!!

The food thing is the hardest... My Max and Marley got a stomach disorder almost a year ago... I ended up feeding them poached white meat chicken with rice and W/d Science Diet wet food. They became extremely finicky... and now, after 8 or 9 months, they still hold out for the tastiest food possible. Their eyes glopped up with the chicken, and they both became chubby. So now, they get Blue Buffalo toy dog wet food along with Science Diet small and toy breed dry kibble. My little guy still holds out -- occasionally skipping two meals in a row in an effort to bring back the chicken, but I'm holdng firm... I want them to live a long and healthy life.

Hi! I wanted to clear some things up! I never treated my dog like a garbage can and fed him pure scraps. All of his food was cooked special for him along with my husband and kids. He hated dog food and refused to eat any kind we ever gave him! He was always in very excellent health and was never ever sick. He passed away from a tragic accident not from his health. I don't appreciate some of the nasty comments here! This is a forum that I just joined for helpful information. I will openly accept anyone to disagree with me and give me their advice, but don't get nasty and childish! We are all adults here. Thank you everyone for their advice! :)

Thank you for all the advice on the different brands of food to try! She is on Beniful and cesar, but she doesn't seem to like it very much��

We have been feeding our dogs Taste of the Wild lately. They seem to really like it.

Mine get some human food and they are 6 and have never had any adverse effects from it. I think all dogs digestive systems are different. The optimal thing to do is most likely to just feed the dog food though. Im sorry you got some negative posts some get way too sensitive in regards to food

The easiest way to tell a good food from a bad food is to read the ingredients, and if you see corn or a corn by-product on there, skip it. A small amount of corn isn't too bad, but most high-quality dog foods don't use it at all, while cheap dog foods use it as a main ingredient.

Human foods would be fine if they were nutritionally balanced for a dog. Many dog recipes give a choice between certain meats, a choice between certain starches, i.e. corn, rice, pasta, and a choice between certain vegetables, but then they add a special supplement that has vitamins and minerals a dog needs. For example, a 5 pound yorkie needs as much calcium as an adult woman, and that’s hard to get that much calcium from regular human foods in the amount a yorkie would need.

Also, someone said that pasta and pizza were bad for humans and dogs and that’s incorrect; pizza and pasta are not bad for humans, it's what we put on them that make a difference. Wheat is not bad for most humans and can be a part of a dog's diet if done properly. Most Yorkies cannot eat the fatty/salty foods humans eat and that’s where you have to be extremely careful. I think home cooking can be very nutritious if you find a diet that made with your dog in mind. I don’t think one size fits all. I do think it's harder to get them to eat kibble once they've had a taste of human foods and Joey got very fussy with his kibble after an illness when the vet recommended a bland diet of chicken and rice for a short time.

I have a couple of VERY picky eaters and they LOVE Taste of the Wild/Salmon. You would think I was giving them a bowl full of beef jerky! It's grain free and Salmon is very good for any dog who might have sensitive stomachs. Good luck and welcome to Yorkie Talk!!!! :)

I started mine on Wellness Just for Puppy Small breed. Small bites and they loved it. The breeder had them on a mix of little caesar and purina can foods. They preferred the dry kibble over the can food and took right to it.

Abby had a little upset tummy, so I switched them to Royal Canine Yorkshire Terrier puppy. They have been on Royal Canine Yorkshire Terrier dry food since.

Truffle was on RC yorkie puppy food and I found out more about corns in it etc... so I switched to " NOW" then these 10 days she has been the "Poop Machine" !!!
at least 4-6 poops a day ( I mean healthy solid poops) but OMG I didn't know where in
the little 3.1 LBS girl's stomach has been hiding all these poops!
Then some of YT members mention about the "Flax seeds" in 'NOW" was causing.
we are trying "Arijen" without Flax seeds in it. so We'll find out how is her poo routines in few days LOL but even healthy dog foods still want to find perfect food for our puppy ( each ones different) is so hard.

Corn is no worse than other carbs, some dogs are allergic to it, but if yours isn't corn is a fine source of energy. The reason corn got a bad rap is that it can be a source of protein, and if a dog food uses it as the first ingredient, it may not have enough of a animal source protein. You’ll find you get lots of advice on the internet from people who’ve never studied nutrition. Nutrition is a lot more complicated than people think. You can’t just look at one ingredient, but how the ingredients balance each other out.


I should add that RC has been using rice to replace corn in many of their foods. Joey's on RC and doing well, I know it can be hard to find a food that your dog likes and does well on and one that the internet people also like! So read with a huge grain of salt!

Thank you great information. :thumbup:
This is why I'm hooked on here:D Iso many thing to study for our babies!

I have come to the conclusion that you have to get the food that suits your puppy. I feed my adult dog innova small bites and I tried to transition Khloe to innova puppy food. Khloe couldn't tolerate the innova puppy food. I live in a small town and I buy their foods locally from the groomer. My groomer who sells the pet foods kind of made me feel bad this morning because I commented on how much better Khloe is doing on the chicken for the soul puppy food. Her comments had nothing to do with the manufacturer, but the quality. I reminded her that Kirby ate biljac as a puppy then I moved her to merrick and now innova. Kirby is healthy and just fine. She is really pushing innova puppy food but I told her the vet and I both realized that Khloe can't tolerate innova puppy food. After many stomach issues with Khloe I am just glad she can tolerate the food. So my conclusion is there is "No Best Food" just what works Best for your individual pet. Don't bash what I feed my pets and I know I won't bash what works for yours.:animal36

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

I totally agree!

Amen to that!!!! For quite some time, the only kibble that Rylee Belle would eat was Chef Michael ( I know that sure isn't the best). I tried so many high end brands but she wouldn't touch them. The breeder actually had her on pedigree but she got tired of that one. Right now she is on TOTW but she seems to need a change every now and then. I think she gets bored just like we would if we were eating the same thing day after day! I give her a spoonful of yogurt every morning and switched her to a grain free diet since she seems to have some allergies and that seems to work for her (for now anyway). :rolleyes: I'm always looking for new foods though since you never know what might happen, what with all the pet food recalls! I'm getting ready to order NOW since I have heard really good things about that one. Anyway..................sorry to ramble on and on. ;)

Hi, my Jada eat's Royal Canin and Cesar and loves them both. But all babies are different. Natural Balance, Wellnes and Innova are great too! Good luck:)

Thank you everyone! We are having a lot of eating issues with this little pup! I haven't logged in for a while. The vet told me to try Royal Canin, but where do I buy that? She is on puppy chow now cause she stopped eating Beniful and hates both so far. She is very picky!

I went from kibble, the second I got Tufty home two weeks ago, to cooked chicken and gradually to tollden farms raw rabbit and botanicals, tripett NZ lamb tripe, with a little cooked chicken mixed in, over a period of a week.
I asked my vet how quickly to transition and she said over a few days and he should be good to go. He bounces up and down as I walk over to the "dining area" with his bowl of food.
I also added a third of a capsule of AOR probiotic 3

I was going to ask what Polo died from if he was only 4 but I wanted to check I got that correct.
The pancreas has to work harder to break down foods unfamiliar to the dogs system as do all the organs, but this one produces the digestive enzymes and can lead to pancreatitis also feeding dogs cheese isn't wise as they don't have the enzymes to break down dairy, a little is fine but pizza eek. I took the raw route after a couple of years of research. If you really want your wee pup to have the best chance at a good life I'd start them off that way.
if you don't wish to do that a premium kibble with no wheat soy or gluten.
Be careful with veggies too, dogs don't have the means to break down the cellulose in plants and again can cause stress to internal organs.

good luck with whatever choice you make and I hope your wee pup lives a long and happy life