# Does she eat enough?



## momofmany5 (Mar 20, 2016)

I'm sorry for all stupid questions ahead of time. I'm not sure how much a 5lbs chihuahua should eat or how often. I feel like she hardly eats. She is used to mostly table food and we do this feed our pets table food. Am I doing something wrong? I fed her 1/4 of a cup yesterday morning and this morning she has most of it left. I gave her a fresh 1/4 of a cup this am and it's almost all still in her bowl. She does drink water all day as normal but I don't think she eats enough. I'm not sure how big she should be but I was told she is about 5lbs. She looks a little lean to me but I'm not used to toy breeds so maybe I'm wrong? Can anyone lend me some knowledge on this subject? I've added a couple pics hopefully they help. Thank you in advance.









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## Momo (Nov 9, 2015)

She does look a bit on the skinny side to me. Mine is 6 lbs and eats 1/4 cup twice a day plus treats if he's still hungry but he is also very active.

What kind of food do you feed her?


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## momofmany5 (Mar 20, 2016)

She is very active to. I don't know how to get her to eat more. I'm switching her from nature recipee chicken and barley * she is very itchy and doesn't care for it* to nature's instinct raw boost. It's what we used for our dogs and our cat also eats. Sometimes we switch it up with blue buffalo. She is very active. She loves to chase the laser light with the cat and will do it for and hr or 2 at a time. 

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## SinisterKisses (Sep 20, 2015)

If she's not eating her meals, but will take everything else, she's not eating because she's not hungry and it's the lamest thing being offered. If someone feeds me cupcakes all day and then gives me a meal with meat and veggies, it's not going to be enticing enough to make me want to eat it if I'm not hungry.

I'd suggest you need to cut back on her table food, and consider the possibility of finding a new/better food for her actual meals.


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## momofmany5 (Mar 20, 2016)

She doesn't get table food with us. We have only had her for 4 days. She got to eat from the table, have a bowl of coffee every day and whatever treats they could buy at walmart. The only treat she gets here is her pig ear to chew on and her food. We don't feed our pets table food. She eats some in the evening and that is it. 

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## Wicked Pixie (Oct 14, 2011)

If she won't eat kibble consider a different form of food. I am not a fan of kibble for lots of reasons.
There is nothing wrong with table foods, maybe you should switch entirely to home cooked so you are certain she is getting a balanced diet.
There are great canned, freeze dried and frozen options now as well, all of which are superior to kibble.


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## momofmany5 (Mar 20, 2016)

While I understand a lot of people do the home cooked or raw food I prefer not to. I've thought about the freeze dried but I'm not sure about it yet. I'm just starting to switch her over to this food so I'll give it a few days and run it past the vet this weekend when she goes. 

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## Wicked Pixie (Oct 14, 2011)

Like I said, there are lots of great choices available now, it doesn't have to be kibble.


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## momofmany5 (Mar 20, 2016)

If any brand suggestions I'm willing to look into any of them. 

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## SinisterKisses (Sep 20, 2015)

Ahh I see - that's likely the problem then. If she's used to being spoiled rotten and getting all the "good stuff" from the table - and as mentioned, table food isn't necessarily bad depending on what it is - then her kibble probably isn't enticing enough to make her want to eat. If it's only been four days, I'd guess she's being stubborn more than anything about eating the kibble. You could certainly try different varieties to see if you can find one she's more enthused about, though it may just take a bit of time for her to accept she's not getting all her meals on a platter  Personally, I like Orijen; our boys eat Six Fish and they LOVE it. You can also purchase a can or two of various meats while you're at the pet store - if you don't want to give her exclusively canned food, try mixing in a small spoonful to her kibble.


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## momofmany5 (Mar 20, 2016)

They do not see that at our pet store. There is one that sells it but it's a bit farther away. I started with the chicken because I didn't want to mess up to her belly. Our dogs we had loves the bison and rabbit we never used bird because of allergies. Our cat also eats this food and prefers the rabbit. The other one we used is taste of the wild in bison as well. Should I stick with this brand and maybe mix in Another flavor or switch all together? I've never used wet food for dogs do I stick with the same brand as the dry food or something else? 

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## SinisterKisses (Sep 20, 2015)

What is available at your local store? There's certainly other options, just a matter of what you can get locally. There's no need to stick within one brand for the kibble and canned foods if you want to try mixing both for her - we buy the same kibble all the time and mix up the canned food every time we have to buy a new one, buying various different meats and brands.


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## momofmany5 (Mar 20, 2016)

Oh ok. Honestly I don't know. I've never used canned dog food. I've used that fresh pet stuff for our dog who had cancer to get him to eat but never canned. I'll definitely look into it. Thank you 😊

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## momofmany5 (Mar 20, 2016)

would either of these be a good choice? There isn't much raw pre-made I can get pretty close. These seem pretty easy. I'm not sure she would eat it but could try 

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## Moonfall (Nov 16, 2012)

I know the instinct is good.

I'm going to be minority here, but my dogs are kept at sport weights and she looks lovely to me. Pet weight tends to be heavier, and also not healthy.


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## Dorothy's Mom (Apr 8, 2015)

I don't know....you've only had her for four days. She could just be anxious about her new setting and not really interested in food yet. She'll likely come around.

I also know Chis can be fussy. Dorothy will go days and eat and eat and eat and then have periods where she barely eats at all. We have dubbed these "food days". If Dorothy is having a "food day" then she'll eat three times. And then it's quite possible she will go the next two days hardly eating at all.


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## momofmany5 (Mar 20, 2016)

She is hungry she is begging for treats and wants people food. I prefer to not feed table food! I'm going to try a good quality wet food on top of some dry and see if she eats. 

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## momofmany5 (Mar 20, 2016)

Is it normal to feed them 3x a day vs 2x a day? Also if we do the pre-made raw does it have amounts to feed them? She will be spayed the first week of April and I worry about her not wanting to not eat at all after going through that. She has been with us almost 6 days and seems to be her normal self here. I was told to do some bacon grease on top of dry but I don't know how healthy that is. 

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## SinisterKisses (Sep 20, 2015)

I'm all for sport weight...my guys are slim and trim too, we've always kept them that way. But she looks a bit too skinny IMO. Not a lot by any means, just a smidge to me


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## Wicked Pixie (Oct 14, 2011)

I generally feed twice a day (sometimes once, sometimes three times, it depends what they are having) but if you want to add weight several small meals are better.
It is hard to tell from pics if she is truly underweight, some Chis do have a very lean build. Her ribs should be covered, you should be able to feel them easily but not see them. If you can see her hips or spine those are also signs she is underweight.
My girls tend to lose weight when they have a season, so if she has been in season recently that could explain it. They soon put it back on though


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## momofmany5 (Mar 20, 2016)

I think if I could get her to eat all her meals she might put on a little weight and I think she would still be thin. She is a bit taller them a lot of the chi's I see pics of on here. 

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## momofmany5 (Mar 20, 2016)

You can definitely see some of her spine and her hips are very pronounced. You can easily feel her ribs. She is a bit more filled out there so they aren't just showing through her fur. I went and got a new food to try tonight. If this doesn't work I'll try the pre-made raw. She ate a few pieces and then walked away. I found a recipe for satin balls but I'll have to look more into that because I have never used them. She's hungry because she is begging for treats and food but won't eat. We made her appointment for her shots, physical and spay. 

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## Wicked Pixie (Oct 14, 2011)

Chis can be very stubborn about food, it is easy to end up with a spoiled dog who calls all the shots about what they eat.
A little tough love won't hurt, put her food down and if she hasn't eaten within half an hour take it up and offer it again at the next meal. She will soon learn she either eats what is offered or goes without.


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## elaina (Jul 1, 2008)

my girls eat Primal freeze dried raw and Stella and chewys freeze dried raw. Primal has a nice feeding calculator on there website that tells you how much to feed


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## momofmany5 (Mar 20, 2016)

Where do you find them? I'd prefer to find something I can get in store. I'll see how she eats this 

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## elaina (Jul 1, 2008)

momofmany5 said:


> Where do you find them? I'd prefer to find something I can get in store. I'll see how she eats this
> 
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I usually buy the Primal or Stella and Chewys from Chewy.com or Petfooddirect.com . but, there is a local petshop here that does carry it. its a bit more expensive buying it from the petshop though. Petsmart and Petco do not carry it. if you have a local petshop that carries the high quality pet food.. you can ask them. if they don't stock it, they usually will be happy to order it for you.


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## momofmany5 (Mar 20, 2016)

There is one it's a bit of a drive but might be worth it If they have it. Thank you and I'll definitely look into it as a back up. 

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## elaina (Jul 1, 2008)

momofmany5 said:


> There is one it's a bit of a drive but might be worth it If they have it. Thank you and I'll definitely look into it as a back up.
> 
> Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk


your welcome . I hope they have it, I would call to see . good luck , I hope she does start eating more


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## momofmany5 (Mar 20, 2016)

Can I do some raw and some kibble? 

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## Wicked Pixie (Oct 14, 2011)

You can with the freeze dried stuff, i wouldn't personally mix kibble with fresh raw


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## momofmany5 (Mar 20, 2016)

Perfect maybe we will try that. I prefer not to do fresh raw. 

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## Wicked Pixie (Oct 14, 2011)

Can you get ZiwiPeak where you are? Its an air dried raw complete, and my guys go nuts for it. I feed fresh raw, but we use it for training treats and travelling. They make a good canned food too.


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## momofmany5 (Mar 20, 2016)

I don't know but I can look for it. 

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## momofmany5 (Mar 20, 2016)

Do you use that as a topper or as a meal?

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## Wicked Pixie (Oct 14, 2011)

You could use it as either, it is complete so could be fed exclusively


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## momofmany5 (Mar 20, 2016)

I'll be heading to find something like this today. Day 2 and no luck of her eating dog food. Was also informed this am that she never actually ate dog food before. Yesterday I made some ground beef and rice for her and she ate it in 2 seconds. She isn't eating 2 meals a day yet but she is finishing 1 meal a day and I feel better about it. If there are some recipes for home made that's easy and don't take much time I'll consider do that if she don't like the pre-made raw. Anyone have any?

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## mrsserena (Jan 21, 2016)

I've done a lot of research into kibble, raw feeding, etc. and in my opinion, this is the best diet I could come up with for the price. The key, though, is getting “dog food” from my butcher, it’s $1/lb for ground up lungs/heart/kidneys. Recipe for breakfast is:

•8-10 lbs butcher's “dog food”

•1 lb ground liver

•12 eggs, scrambled

•1 bag fresh green beans, steamed and pureed

•1 bag carrots, steamed and pureed

•2 bags spinach, steamed and pureed

•2 large cans 100% pumpkin

•1 cup salmon oil

•2 T ground turmeric

•Handful of glucosamine tablets, ground up

•1 large container plain greek yogurt

She gets about ¼ cup of this every morning. I divide it out into the mini silicon baking cups, and freeze it on trays. Every morning, I give her one for breakfast, and pull another out of the freezer to thaw in the fridge. She eats just fine right out of the baking cup.


Dinner is a piece of chicken with bone, I just chop up a whole chicken into 3-4 ounce pieces and give her one of those for dinner. 


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## momofmany5 (Mar 20, 2016)

Can I do all the above and not give her the chicken with bone? Also do you feed all that raw or cook it? I'm sorry never done this before. She carries her food where to eat it so I'd prefer not to give raw meat. 

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## mrsserena (Jan 21, 2016)

momofmany5 said:


> Can I do all the above and not give her the chicken with bone? Also do you feed all that raw or cook it? I'm sorry never done this before. She carries her food where to eat it so I'd prefer not to give raw meat.
> 
> Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk


Well, only if you include some ground up bone somehow, maybe add bone meal? I don't think there's enough calcium in the recipe the way it is. I feed it all raw. I actually started with the chicken because she's missing about half her teeth (she's a rescue) and I didn't want her to lose any more. Chewing on the bones really does keep her teeth clean. I trained her to eat on a blanket, so she just carries it there to eat. 

I have heard of people boiling chicken bones long enough that they basically crumble, you could add that to the recipe? This amount feeds my Chihuahua and border collie for about a month. I think just a chihuahua, it would last about 5 months! 

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## momofmany5 (Mar 20, 2016)

Can I ask for that at the butcher?

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## mrsserena (Jan 21, 2016)

Never hurts to ask! Even if they don't do it already, it's stuff they would normally throw away, I think they can't even sell the lung meat for human consumption. Maybe you could even get it free! 

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## momofmany5 (Mar 20, 2016)

mrsserena said:


> I've done a lot of research into kibble, raw feeding, etc. and in my opinion, this is the best diet I could come up with for the price. The key, though, is getting “dog food” from my butcher, it’s $1/lb for ground up lungs/heart/kidneys. Recipe for breakfast is:
> 
> •8-10 lbs butcher's “dog food”
> 
> ...


Beef or pork?

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## momofmany5 (Mar 20, 2016)

Will it matter if I can't get lung? 

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## momofmany5 (Mar 20, 2016)

I can get heart, liver, kidney and ground chicken necks for very cheap but they can't give me lung. 

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## mrsserena (Jan 21, 2016)

It didn't really matter what type of meat you use. The important thing is the amount of organ meat compared to muscle meat, should be about 10% organs. Organs being liver, kidneys, other secreting organs. Heart and lung would count as muscle meat. Even if you feed hamburger as the muscle meat, I suspect it would be cheaper than the prepackaged raw. But it is a lot more work, that's why I make so much all at once. 

There are a lot of websites that discuss raw feeding, I am by no means an expert, and there are a lot of different opinions on whether they need veggies or not. I don't feed pork, because it can have parasites and I don't want to deal with that. I think the veggies help them get minerals and nutrients that they might not get with just meat. The salmon oil is to help their joints, and I read it you feed salmon oil, you need to make sure they get enough vitamin E, so that's why I add the eggs. The turmeric is supposed to be good for inflammation and possibly prevent cancer. Greek yogurt is so they get probiotics. The pumpkin is because my dogs get bone every day, so they sometimes get constipated without it. I should probably reduce the bone, but I'm afraid they would revolt of they didn't get their chicken! I've added blueberries, apples, sweet potatoes, you can vary the recipe to suit your dogs over time. 

You could also cook this if you prefer. I think just about anything you make at home is better for them than processed kibble, as long as you keep it balanced. 

I have been feeding raw for about two years, I started with the pre-made raw and chicken, and then switched to making my own. My dogs have both been very healthy, and their blood tests don't show any deficiencies on this diet. I know it's intimidating at first, but we're so brainwashed by the pet food industry... Nobody worries this much about their own diets, or even what they feed their kids! 



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## momofmany5 (Mar 20, 2016)

mrsserena said:


> It didn't really matter what type of meat you use. The important thing is the amount of organ meat compared to muscle meat, should be about 10% organs. Organs being liver, kidneys, other secreting organs. Heart and lung would count as muscle meat. Even if you feed hamburger as the muscle meat, I suspect it would be cheaper than the prepackaged raw. But it is a lot more work, that's why I make so much all at once.
> 
> There are a lot of websites that discuss raw feeding, I am by no means an expert, and there are a lot of different opinions on whether they need veggies or not. I don't feed pork, because it can have parasites and I don't want to deal with that. I think the veggies help them get minerals and nutrients that they might not get with just meat. The salmon oil is to help their joints, and I read it you feed salmon oil, you need to make sure they get enough vitamin E, so that's why I add the eggs. The turmeric is supposed to be good for inflammation and possibly prevent cancer. Greek yogurt is so they get probiotics. The pumpkin is because my dogs get bone every day, so they sometimes get constipated without it. I should probably reduce the bone, but I'm afraid they would revolt of they didn't get their chicken! I've added blueberries, apples, sweet potatoes, you can vary the recipe to suit your dogs over time.
> 
> ...


I worry about doing it wrong lol. I've always had big dogs and fed them good quality grain free food. I've never had to deal with a dog that wouldn't eat. At one time we have a 60 lb oldenglish bulldog/boxer, 60lbs pit bull and 130 lbs cane corso. They ate us out of house and home lol. It's been a 2 years since we lost our last one and haven't even thought about another dog let alone such a tiny one with a house full of kids. It's very stressful last thing I want to do is make her sick. If I start out with this recipe she should be ok? Also I have a cat who will probably sneak some from her world it hurt him? 

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## mrsserena (Jan 21, 2016)

We started our rescue border collie on it from the day we adopted her, she was on kibble prior to that. Her tummy gurgled for a week or two, and she had some bad gas! But since then she's been fine. If you feed bone, you want to make sure they crunch it up before swallowing, both my dogs just knew to do that naturally, so I don't think it will be a problem. I do have to skin the chicken for my Chihuahua, she doesn't have the teeth left to tear it off, but she does great with the bones. 

I've read that if you're worried about switching straight to raw, it is probably easier on your dog to start with one meat at a time, say chicken wings for a week or so, then add beef, and don't feed the organs right away, because those are very rich and can cause runny stools. All that said, if your dog is healthy, I think you'll be fine. 

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## momofmany5 (Mar 20, 2016)

I've just recently got her. As far as we know she had check out fine. She was never actually fed dog food. She would steal a few pieces of the great Danes food who lived the same house as her. My grandmother fed her whatever she ate with no exceptions. Right now I'm feeding her ground beef and rice. She eats about 1/4 a cup once a day. I could slowly add it to her ground beef and rice and get her off of that. I've tried 3 dog foods and she won't eat but 1 or 2 pieces all day long. They said she won't eat wet food or I'd do that. Was thinking about trying pre-made raw but I'm not sure of it could take it back if she won't eat it. Maybe with this she will think she is eating what we are when we eat. She looks a bit thin to me because her hip bones are a bit pronounced for my liking. I just don't know what else to do. The butcher said they can ground up the the chicken with bone. 

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## mrsserena (Jan 21, 2016)

Oh, and I don't know anything about cats, but I know some people feed them raw as well. I would just make sure nothing in your food is bad for cats, I only know what not to feed dogs! 

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## mrsserena (Jan 21, 2016)

If it helps, my Chihuahua wouldn't eat for about 3 days after we got her. That was even offering her the kibble they sent us home with. She eventually got over it  

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## mrsserena (Jan 21, 2016)

I think you can buy fairly small bags of the pre-made raw to try it out. 

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## zellko (Jul 3, 2013)

Have you tried "flavoring" the dog food with just a teaspoon of the table food so she will get the vitamins and minerals from the dog food? She doesn't look painfully thin. It may take a while to get her off the table food. I love broccoli but when it's a choice with chocolate....... lol


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## momofmany5 (Mar 20, 2016)

zellko said:


> Have you tried "flavoring" the dog food with just a teaspoon of the table food so she will get the vitamins and minerals from the dog food? She doesn't look painfully thin. It may take a while to get her off the table food. I love broccoli but when it's a choice with chocolate....... lol


Yes she eats around the dog food

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## zellko (Jul 3, 2013)

Try mincing the people food and putting it in the bottom, stir a little. I have a very thin one, too. No matter how much I try she doesn't gain.


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## momofmany5 (Mar 20, 2016)

Thank you she ate both meals today. We found a food she likes. I'm not sure if we should feed 3x a day but we will go off her ques. 

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