# Small puppy, feeding and Nutrical etc.



## Lindilou

My new little girl is 12 weeks old tomorrow, I just got her yesterday. She's weighing in at 675g (1.5 lbs), so she's a very tiny one! Full of beans, very playful and alert, ate well last night, not eaten more than a few pieces of kibble this morning, but I read from others that can be normal in the morning?

Two questions:
1) I bought Nutrical as something that was "good" to have on hand. Do I keep it for emergencies (hope that never happens) or do I give her a smidgen of it daily as a supplement? 

2) The breeder had her on Eukenuba which is *tiny* pieces of kibble. The Orijen Puppy I want to put her on is twice the size! She can eat it, but she has to do it slowly and bite each piece into smaller pieces and then eat each smaller piece. Should I keep her on the smaller kibble (Eukenuba) until she's a bit bigger mixing it with a bit of Orijen (which is what I'm doing as the transfer process) or will she be okay on the Orijen when she's still so little? Her teeth are minute little things!

I'm very excited but also a little daunted at such a tiny one, so I appreciate advice from more experienced chi owners, thank you 

(I will post photos when I can keep my eyes open long enough to load them LOL. She was fine last night, but_* I*_ had an upset tummy!)


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## michele

I have a tiny chi she's 6 months and weighs 1Lb 7 oz,she also came with Eukenuba but i wanted to get her off that as soon as poss so introduced the new food very gardually but i sofened it with water and mixed it in.Yes i give nutri-cal a little blob every day,will do till she's 2lbs .Maybe it's nerves that gave you an upset tummy,these little ones need extra care!


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## liss77

Hmm. don't really know much about the Nutrical as a suppliment as mine weren't "Tiny" puppies so not really at risk of hypo.

With the kibble, I would definitely make the switch to Orijen as it is a better rated food. If you are worried about her being unable to crunch up the pieces, just soften them with a little warm water first to make it easier for her. Also I would just check you haven't bought the "large breeds" puppy food by accident as usually most puppy kibble is quite small. But then I have not used Orijen myself so not sure what size their pieces are


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## jesuschick

I agree with the others. Switch her gradually (to ease her little tummy in) with a mix of the foods, gradually increasing the Orijen day by day. The warm water will soften it nicely for her. Mine were small but their teeth were like little razors! Orijen is such a good food!


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## Lindilou

It is Orijen puppy but they don't seem to do different size kibble for different breed groups. I've found I can break it in half myself so I might do that for some of it, otherwise it's so labour intensive for her she might not eat enough.

She hasn't eaten anything other than half a dozen pieces of kibble all day today, which should have been breakfast and lunch. Now it's teatime I'll see how it goes!. Should I be worried? She's fine within herself in all other ways.


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## michele

Just be careful her blood sugar levels don't go down,if she hasn't eaten much ,if she looks lethargic give her some nutri cal if she won't eat have you any cooked chicken you could try ?Dottie will always eat this if she's off the kibble.She must eat


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## Lindilou

Thanks Michele, I'm so grateful for your help. She ate at about 5pm (first PROPER amount), she's still only eaten about half what I expected her to eat all day. She's not lethargic, she's very playful for short periods and sleeps a lot inbetween. But when she plays she really goes at it! She's drinking, doing both toilets. 

I'm not overly happy she's eaten so little. On the other hand, I've never had a puppy that didn't gobble everything in the bowl (larger breeds). She does seem to eat when she wants/needs to, like last night she ate loads and then stopped when she'd had enough. 

I just weighed her and she's weighing a few grams more than this morning, so hopefully that means she's holding her own?

Last night I left a little kibble in her crate just in case she needed, she didn't eat it, but I'll do the same tonight.

Do you think I should give her a dab of Nutrical at bedtime just to be safe? How much do I give? If there's no reason NOT to give it, then would it be best to give it just to be safe?

Thank you for any help anyone. Maybe I'm too concerned for nothing, but I'd rather embarrass myself than let her have a problem.


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## michele

Yes give her nutri cal,as i say Dottie has a small blob every day it's full of vitamins and my vet told me it's good for her.I like you have never had a dog that doesn't gobble everything up in one go,my other chi and my shetland sheepdog eat as if there's no tomorrow,look round it's all gone,Dottie ,i have to play games sometimes to make her eat.


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## Lindilou

Thanks for being so kind Michele, what with tiredness and everything being new, I'm feeling a bit like you'll all think I was stupid to take on a tiny one. It's good to hear your experiences.

I just tried her again with food, before it gets too late in the evening, and this time I mixed in a big spoonful of Butcher's from the can (yuk, hate the stuff). The breeder was doing this (WHY do so many them swear by it?). Last night I'd just given her kibble (which she wolfed down so I tried that again today. I just realised maybe I should try her with the canned food and sure enough it did encourage her to eat at least something. I have to remind myself we're still very new to each other! It's so intense the first few days that it's easy to get lost in the small details.

ETA: 10pm and I just gave her some Nutrical. And before that she'd been having a full on play session, so I think it's all okay!

Thank you again. And sorry for my rambling, I'm overtired LOL.


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## chideb

Sounds like your baby girl has a very caring mom who loves her and is being diligent to make certain all is well with the little one. She is quite a fortunate chi baby! We only had one pup who was very tiny and did not want to eat well on his own.. so we also supplemented with Nutrical daily. We especially made sure he had it prior to bedtime when we were not going to be awake to observe him. His situation was far from the normal as we acquired him at only 5 weeks old with some birth defects, so alot of hand feeding was needed. He was only half a pound when we took him home from the breeder who knew he would not survive without indivivual and round the clock care.* Bandy *was born on June 6th, 2006.. and take a look at him in my siggy now! He is 5.5 pounds of chi with a Rottie attitude..

Baby Bandy


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## michele

Lindilou said:


> Thanks for being so kind Michele, what with tiredness and everything being new, I'm feeling a bit like you'll all think I was stupid to take on a tiny one. It's good to hear your experiences.
> 
> I just tried her again with food, before it gets too late in the evening, and this time I mixed in a big spoonful of Butcher's from the can (yuk, hate the stuff). The breeder was doing this (WHY do so many them swear by it?). Last night I'd just given her kibble (which she wolfed down so I tried that again today. I just realised maybe I should try her with the canned food and sure enough it did encourage her to eat at least something. I have to remind myself we're still very new to each other! It's so intense the first few days that it's easy to get lost in the small details.
> 
> ETA: 10pm and I just gave her some Nutrical. And before that she'd been having a full on play session, so I think it's all okay!
> 
> Thank you again. And sorry for my rambling, I'm overtired LOL.


You will get into a routine soon,and it will get easier i promise,i was tired like you think it's the worry etc,she sounds as if she will be fine you're getting there already with the food.Butchers stinks but i don't think it's as bad as some foods.PM me if you want to talk


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## michele

chideb said:


> Sounds like your baby girl has a very caring mom who loves her and is being diligent to make certain all is well with the little one. She is quite a fortunate chi baby! We only had one pup who was very tiny and did not want to eat well on his own.. so we also supplemented with Nutrical daily. We especially made sure he had it prior to bedtime when we were not going to be awake to observe him. His situation was far from the normal as we acquired him at only 5 weeks old with some birth defects, so alot of hand feeding was needed. He was only half a pound when we took him home from the breeder who knew he would not survive without indivivual and round the clock care.* Bandy *was born on June 6th, 2006.. and take a look at him in my siggy now! He is 5.5 pounds of chi with a Rottie attitude..
> 
> Baby Bandy


Oh wow a little adorable baby,he's done so well


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## chideb

michele said:


> Oh wow a little adorable baby,he's done so well


Thank you, Michelle..he is a very spoiled little guy, and despite his pronounced limp and crooked jaw.. he thinks he is top dog around the house..lol He was one precious little puppy growing up.. We have some wildly funny photos of him! Deb


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## teetee

chideb said:


> Sounds like your baby girl has a very caring mom who loves her and is being diligent to make certain all is well with the little one. She is quite a fortunate chi baby! We only had one pup who was very tiny and did not want to eat well on his own.. so we also supplemented with Nutrical daily. We especially made sure he had it prior to bedtime when we were not going to be awake to observe him. His situation was far from the normal as we acquired him at only 5 weeks old with some birth defects, so alot of hand feeding was needed. He was only half a pound when we took him home from the breeder who knew he would not survive without indivivual and round the clock care.* Bandy *was born on June 6th, 2006.. and take a look at him in my siggy now! He is 5.5 pounds of chi with a Rottie attitude..
> 
> Baby Bandy


That is wonderful! I'm so happy to hear he's a happy pup!


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