# Should I change her food.



## cocoshuman (Mar 21, 2011)

When we adopted our chi a couple weeks ago the people who had her were not sure of her age and said she was 6-8 weeks old. and they had her on the cheapest food you could get in dog food, so we changed her to blue buffalo after talking to someone at the store. Now I am not sure that was the right thing to do. for one I read chi's should eat many times a day well she has food out all day but doesn't seem to eat at all. seems she needs to be starving before she will eat. Now I have only big dogs before so maybe she does like it and just eats so little at a time it seems she's not wanting it.

But one worry I have is now that she is dewormed and on this food 100% her poops are like 2x bigger than they were before now i know shes grown but not double in size so it seems odd to me and I am wondering if i am feeding her the right food? We are reasearching raw and the costs of it and we want the best for her. Like if she was one of our children I am open to even making her food if need be only thing with raw is I have issues with organs so if we go that route we need to figure out how to do it. I also would need to find a good source for her food as I don't think my local store would be great finding chicken that is not enhanced is hard.

Anyways should I change her food wait it out a bit longer and see if it's her body still adjusting?


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## Deme (Aug 18, 2009)

I found that the amount recommended to feed my dogs on the side of food packages was always more than what my dogs needed. Jake gained so much weight that it give my vet concerns especially as Jake had recently had major operations on his back legs.

I struggled reducing the amount as it looked like nothing in his bowl, however his poop's were big and plenty and once I regulated his food to a more appropriate amount for his size he stayed healthy and the poop's got less.

Not sure if its the same with dogs but I do know if you over feed a horse with too much grain they will poop more as the body does not need the extra food and so get rid the best way it knows how.. is to poop it out.

I also weigh all of my dogs food so that I know how much they are eating, also helps if they ever get ill and go off their food I know straight away what to tell the vet.


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## svdreamer (Feb 20, 2010)

Most of my puppies started on the Blue Buffalo puppy food and did wonderfully. BB is a good food so she will not need to eat as much as she did to meet her requirements as when she was eating the cheap food. The only way to know she is eating enough is to weigh her. Get a good postage or kitchen food scale and weigh her the same time everyday for a week.


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## cocoshuman (Mar 21, 2011)

ok thanks see gets so little now. but I will get a scale and weigh her and see how she does. I just want the best for her.


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## Reese and Miley (Jun 24, 2010)

You may find she eats better if instead of free feeding her, you offer her food 3-4 times a day for 15 minutes and then pick it up. As Deme already pointed out too, you might just be over feeding as well. They eat such a small portion its ridiculous and seems like no food, especially when youve divided it up between 3 or 4 meals. 
Here is a site that many of us use to get a better look at the ingredients in kibbles, there are so many to choose from its a bit overwhelming! So this makes it easier to narrow down your choices.
Dog Food Analysis - Reviews of kibble
Id try to give her a 5 or 6 star, which BB may be, depending on which formula you picked (the wilderness has the highest rating as its grain free). 
I did have mine on BB until they had a big recall on several of their kibbles, which were contaminated at the plant where they were being produced. We switched to Orijen, which is privately owned, top quality, and makes their own food rather than farming it out to various factories for production. Its just safer that way in my opinion.
If youre interested in raw look through some of the threads in the raw section or post a question there, we have a lot of members who feed raw and theyre very helpful, knowledgeable, and patient! There is also a nice selection of pre made raws and grinds that you could use for organ meals if youre not comfortable handling them 
There are so many choices in what to feed these guys!


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## Cambrea (Feb 21, 2010)

Chis do eat very small portions, especially of high quality food. My 7lb adult toy fox only gets about 1/8-1/4 cup of food per day, just for perspective. My grandma swears I'm starving her, but if I feed more she gains weight and that is unhealthy for her. Very small puppies also eat less food many times a day, so she may just only be able to hold so much. You also may not want to change her right away as changing food often can cause tummy problems.

Raw is great, but I can't stand touching raw meat either lol. I feed Ziwipeak, which is a dehydrated raw. It works great for my chis, but the serving size is even smaller than with kibble. It took me a while to figure out a good amount to feed each of mine. There are lots of great threads here on all kinds of premade raw and raw food.


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## cocoshuman (Mar 21, 2011)

thank you for all this one site I saw rate bb a 4 star but they didn't have the small breed puppy on the list.

I have plans to keep her on this for now while I do all my research. I will stop the free feeding and got to 3 or 4 times a day. Thank you so much. I love this little girl and want the best for her I will spend time on here reading.

and thanks for the info on the premade frozen stuff for organs.


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## svdreamer (Feb 20, 2010)

I personally free feed all my dogs, especially the puppies, but if you want to be absolutely sure she is eating, I guess feeding her 4 times a day is good. How much does she weigh? If she is a little tiny thing and 6 weeks old, you may have to feed her one time during the night.


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## cocoshuman (Mar 21, 2011)

she should be 8-10 weeks no we got her and they said she was 6-8 weeks old. I want to make sure she is eating shes a little over a lb now.


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## mybug (Apr 19, 2011)

I have to say I love Blue Buffalo. Our current chi was on Euka up until around 6 months of age and then our vet suggested Blue. We got him switched over and havent taken him off of it since. Hes now 1.5 yrs old. His weight is good, stools are good and his coat is amazingly soft and sooo shiney! Not saying other foods are bad but we did notice he went from coarse and shedding alot to silky soft shiney and not much shedding at all since the switch. We even moved our Siamese onto the Blue food and also noticed the improvements! The only downfall I have found with Blue is we have to drive well over an hour to get it LOL but its ok, we take a monthly trip to the Petsmart to purchase it plus it gives Bug a special day out (he lovessss Petsmart)


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## LorianeC (Jul 1, 2011)

Have you heard this latest news that talks about having a recall of one of the cat food because of possible salmonella contamination. In the news they mentioned that last Monday Nestle Purina PetCare recalled several 870 bags of cat food due to a possible contamination of salmonella. Though it was only distributed in a few states, the company warns that the food may were distributed further. The animals are not the only ones probably facing danger. The disease could be moved to people handling the food or infected pets. Here is the proof: Purina recalls cat food for possible salmonella contamination


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## CHITheresa (Apr 30, 2011)

I free feed dry Wellness puppy small breed, then twice day I feed her Wellness that I moisten with little puppy formula. Because she is so tiny. 2.2 lbs at 14 weeks old. I want her to be able to have food to keep her blood sugar good.
funny thing is she likes to eat the moisten I put in my hand and feed it to her. Spoiled. I am getting her away from this habit. 
If you sign into the wellness site they send coupons to print. I love coupons.


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