Breed specific foods & clean teeth aids
 

Just some questions.

Shield is eating Royal Canin's Yorkshire terrier food. He is extremely picky and I have to change up the food every so often.

ARE all of your yorkies picky eaters? Do you think the Yorkshire breed specific foods are just a gimmick to get $?

On the teeth cleaning topic, if you have picky eaters, have you found any bones that clean teeth that your picky pet will chew on?

Food is a hot topic around here and rightly so, we all want to do the best thing we can for our Yorkie's. There are a lot of different brands of food and ideals and I think when you are choosing a food it is best to think about what is important to you and go from there. Some things to think about might be brand safety; does the company you're buying from have a solid reputation or do they seem to keep popping up on the recall list? What about testing and research the facility uses to formulate your dog food? What does your dog do best on? Have healthy stool and happy tummies and actually want to eat? How is your dogs skin, coat, eyes on that diet? Itching? Weeping? Poor sheen? What stage of development is your dog at and consequently what formula is best for them? And so on and so forth but I would say start there...

And yes, my girl is a super duper picky eater who changes her mind often. Right now she is on natural balance sweet potato and chicken, Nulo small breed, fromm (I think the chicken one?) and has royal canin for Yorkshire terriers wet food morning and night. My plan? Not exactly, lol. Funniest thing happened recently- I accidentally gave her the other dogs wet food, should have been fine and she had had it before, natures variety- she looked up at me like, "your kidding right?" And just stared at me telling me with all the communication that we have developed over time, "no mom, I don't want this one, I want the other one" LOL :) I could not believe that girl. Buuuuut...under the yorkie spell I scraped it off her plate and got her what she wanted- her RC pate! Lol she gobbled it right up and told me thank you :)

No substitute for regular brushing and dental cleanings but we like ark naturals dental care treats - I didn't think she would be into them, they smell like herbs but she loves them. She also likes natural balance dental chews in duck and potato flavor. They look like little toothbrushes.

Good luck! :D

YES, most breed-specific foods are indeed just a gimmick. To confirm this yourself, just compare the ingredient analysis.

I have 3 yorkies and 1 chi and none of them are picky at all. Pickiness is really just an individual dog thing - sometimes it can mean some sort of underlying GI condition...has that been explored...?

I feed raw, but for kibble I'd recommend Natures Logic Venison.

For chews: RMBs, CET chews, Get Naked chews, Munchy Stix, Honest Kitchen Beams, Kongs.

Yep, he is healthy. Not overly weepy eyes. Normal potty, etc. I do look at the company's info and check the life stages.

Your little one seems a lucky pup!

I don't do teeth brushing on dogs anymore. I used to before 4 kids. Now getting the 4 human kids to brush is enough for me. I have too mich to do honestly. I used to brush my collie's teeth before kids. I will look into the ark naturals and natural balance chews too.

I kinda figured they were. I have 2 brands out there now and will have to look. Both are good quality foods.

You are lucky your pups aren't picky!

Vet just thinks he is picky. No issues to think there is a problem.

We have never tried Nature's Logic. I will look into that one after these couple are running low. I'M pretty sure we tried the Honest kitchen ones, I will look into those others! Thanks!

I totally understand that one! I have five of my own children and a stepson is well. I try to do a weekly brushing and in an ideal world every Sunday and we would have our bath th too. Half the time though it seems like it ends up on Wednesday night after we got into something or an- oh crud it's the first of the month- time for flea meds kind a bath, LOL. I figure the toothpaste is enzymatic so just getting it in her mouth has to be a good start :) but it makes me feel better to do the ark naturals, I guess they have toothpaste in the middle of them? I give her one in the morning and one at night. How old are your four kids? Mine are 14, 13, 10, eight and six and my stepson is 10 as well.

It's not necissarily a gimmick. I have to buy small breed dog food for my babies because there is a difference in the food size.

That is a good point, definitely some different needs her. I still just laugh at how Lilah turned her nose up until I gave her the food she wanted, little booger. And ironically, it was the one with the Yorkshire terrier on it! Lol

My now passed girls started off as picky eaters,but when I found what they liked the pickiness vanished. My Cody lol bless my lil boy, the only thing he will not eat is his kibble if a bit of water was added to it, this I discovered his 2nd day with me,he loves his crunchy kibble lol. I have been blessed with a perfect lil boy. He will eat ANYTHING.

I will most definitely try some different teeth treats. HOpefully he will like at least 1 of them. Only treat he'll eat is freeze dried liver treats. My kids are 4, 6, 10, and 13. Do you homeschool by any chance? JUST wondering. WE do and lots of larger families seem to homeschool. I have no idea why my tablet keeps capitalizing things.

Also for teeth - get Healthy Mouth additive and add to each meal. It's VOHC approved which is nice.

Thanks, I've never heard of that but will look.

I ordered some Orejin food so hopefully he will like it. We havent tried it before. Dont want him to get bored foodwise!

Oh I only just saw this! How fun! I always wanted to homeschool but it didn't work out where our lives were at when my first daughter became school aged- and then you know, when one is in school that is the coolest thing ever for the younger kids and they all went to school! I am lucky, we live in the small town I grew up on and the school has only improved since I went there. I do wish though that the early exposure was more limited while we established our own ethical base as a family- that isn't one of my biggest challenges with public school

Orijen is a wonderful food. Also, they have a fantastic White Paper that is just excellent for learning about dog nutrition. Can't find it on their website anymore, but I have the .pdf - it's just amazing.

Just wondering how you give it at meals. Do you reconstitute it and put it like some water in their meals or do you use a little bit that is concentrated?

Thanks