Grain free dog food??? Diet Help
 

Hi everyone,
I recently convinced my parents that we need to use a new dog food for our two yorkie poos, and I need some help deciding what food to feed. Our current food is Royal Canin 28 (the one for yorkies), but I really want a higher quality food for them and they have developed systematic yeast infection, an allergy to grains, so the new food needs to be grain-free. The dogs are picky eaters, especially my little Lily. Lately, when I have been feeding the dogs I spend about ten minutes every meal going through the fridge picking out clean raw and cooked vegetables, cheeses, meat which I grind together to add as a topper to their food. For a while we were even buying organ meats to cook to try to encourage lily to eat but the fat content of the kidneys we were using concerned me, and lily (the only one who would benefit from weight gain) stopped eating that as well. I have tried Merrick before but they would NOT eat it at all. So my question to you is what foods do you recommend for picky eaters that would not cost significantly more than royal canin.

So I am looking for a good grain free, to minimal grain, dog food and unfortunately I am not allowed to feed raw, so freeze-dried or kibbles.
The foods I have been recently looking at are Orijen regional red, Acana duck and Bartlett pear, Honest Kitchens veal and love, and Ziwipeak.

Out of these what would you suggest and how much would you say it would cost to feed. Lily weighs 6-7 pounds (when eating), and Emily weighs 10 pounds. Also since these are higher fat higher protein diets what supplements, probiotics, etc. would you recommend for easing the transition between foods. Lily is only a fourth poodle and looking at her she looks pure yorkie so what are good supplements for coat as well.

Side Note- Over everything I would love to feed raw but have had no success in convincing my parents, if you feel you can post a convincing argument for raw, please go ahead!!!!!!!

Oh and I forgot to add, I have been considering Canine Caviar to!

First, WELCOME to YT :)!!! Glad you're here.

I don't think you could go wrong with any of the food you're looking at, to be honest. You've picked some nice choices there (although, I will say I'm categorically against veal, in any form; the cruelty is too much for me). I feed pre-made raw, but if I had to feed kibble again - I always think it'd be Orijen. They've had a few probs as a company, but I don't know of one who hasn't. I do like Honest Kitchen too, and love their treats, called Beams - love!

As for feeding raw - since your parents are against it - have you thought about freeze dried raw? The one caveat to freeze dried is that it is even more expensive that premade raw bc it involves more steps in preparation...so I don't know if cost is an issue for you.

Welcome to YT!!

I feed Canine Caviar (Open Sky). For about… 8 months- we love it.

My parents don't really want to spend probably more than what we would pay for Orijen and I thought for now I would switch to something as maybe a stepping stone, and when they see how much good a high quality food can do for the dogs maybe then I can switch them over to raw.

I feed Canine Caviar (Open Sky). For about… 8 months- we love it.[/QUOTE]

So how do you have to use a topper, or do they just eat it :confused:. I think I have a fundamental disbelief of my dogs ever just eating their food, after the way Lily eats. The only thing she consistently eats are steak and lamb bones. (not spoiled at all );)

I also feed my guys Canine Caviar, they're currently enjoying Wilderness (grain free venison). Mimi is very picky, but she loves this kibble, she'll eat it moistened w/water & no toppings. Just for variety, I add unseasoned boiled salmon or whatever protein I have @ the time, I share w/them. I used to feed the THK, they loved it but got tired of it...I think I'll go back to it when they get old & if they ever lose their teeth & are unable to chew. It's all ground up except for the chunks of fruit.
I also feed them raw for 1 meal sometimes, currently they're devouring & loving OC Raw Dog Rabbit...I try not to think about the poor bunnies.


IDthink THK uses veal...maybe the OP meant Zeal, it's fish or Verve, beef. I'm not a red meat eater, so I just googled veal & saw some disturbing pics. Poor baby cows.:(

Haha sorry guys I did mean zeal, poor little cows :(

I have a question though which of the THK blends did you feed?

If I fed on a rotation would that prevent the dogs from getting tired of the foods maybe?

I'd feed Acana over Orijen. My dog has always done very well on Acana, even after the formula changes. I tried others and have never been as happy as I am when he is on Acana. We do the Duck & Pear (which is not totally grain-free, it contains one grain: oats) and Wild Prairie Grain-Free.

Also look into Annamaet.

I have 1 that is intolerant of pumpkin, so we didn't have too many choices & I wanted grain free, so we tried Thrive & Embark. Thrive has quinoa in it, not necessarily a grain, but a seed I think & they did well on it.
Some people say it's good to do a rotation of proteins...I would stick w/what your dog does best on.

I like Now Small Breed. My yorkie is pretty picky and never really liked dog food until I got this food and she loves it when have been through 2 bags and she still loves it as much as the first time she ate it!

So how do you have to use a topper, or do they just eat it :confused:. I think I have a fundamental disbelief of my dogs ever just eating their food, after the way Lily eats. The only thing she consistently eats are steak and lamb bones. (not spoiled at all );)[/QUOTE]

Not cooked bones though right?

It could also make them picky.

My baby is on Orijen, mainly the puppy formula but I rotate in the six fish and regional formula for variety, so far, so good. He is very picky.

I also feed my pup Royal Canine at first and experimented with others. He also suffers from skin allergies.

I'm very happy with Merrick's. It has various options in reference to meats, which is good because they get bored of the same. I've gave him duck, chicken, buffalo, and still have beef to try. Choose the grain-free option as they also have regular. You can get a coupon from the manufacturer, or Petco posts coupons often for it (at least my local store does).

Look at there history of recalls though.

Recalls on which one?

Taylor quoted 1kumiko, so I think she's referring to Merrick. Merrick's had a few recalls...if you do a search here, they'll list all the recalls the company was involved in: Search Results: Merrick recall

Oooh Merrick. I didn't know if it was RC or Merrick.

FWIW, Merrick's recalls have been on treats, not food. Still don't really trust the QC but thought it was worth noting. They've also improved as of late, as far as I can tell.

Hey guys thanks for the suggestions, I actually did try Merrick but lily refused to eat any of it! Oh and the lamb bones were cooked however Lily only eats the meat off the bones, licks it thoroughly and gives it back. Only my dog...

I have actually heard that poultry bones are the only bones you cannot give cooked, however cooked bones in general are not as good as raw as they have a tendency to splinter and are harder on the teeth. Regardless, Lily does not receive lamb regularly (sorry Lily) and the silly dog only licks the bone! :rolleyes:

No cooked bones are good they can all splinter.

I get nutro and Merrick mixed up I think I remember one of them had huge pieces of bone in the dog food pieces.

Thanks for clearing that up.

Still learning
 

I have two dogs with separate health issues. Both have grain restriction diets and one has a protein restriction. I tried many brands including the ones mentioned in this thread. After reading more information than I did while in college I decided to make their food and their treats. Some of the recipes I use I found on Yorkie Talk - thank you very much! Dog Naturally Magazine has good recipes and ideas. I have found it is cheaper, does not take a lot of time and I am certain they are getting quality food. I had no idea what effect grains can have on dogs.

The dog food recall lists are enough to scare any dog owner. I just never felt safe in what I was feeding them. I have no regrets about my decision to prepare their food and would highly recommend it to any dog owner.

Sheldon eats ziwipeak venison and canine caviar (rotation) he is doing great on it!
If ziwipeak wasn't so expensive I would feed 100%
Good luck!

chester was on the sundancer grain free from solid gold done very well on it, got tired of it and changed to acana