Yorkshire Terrier's and dry food

vicx

Hi,

I have to Yorkie pups (now 6 months old). I have been feeding them on Royal Canin and James Wellbeloved dry food. As an alternative every few days I have given them Pedigree pouches as one meal or in their Kong as a treat.

I have had two Yorkies in the past (one who passed only 8 months ago) so I know how fussy Yorkies can be and how they can skip meals and go a day or two without eating their meals.

The problem is these two refuse to eat almost everything unless it is in their Kong! My mam looks after my dogs a few mornings and I am so fed up with her adding extra food into their meals or putting alternative food down such as chicken. I have told her time and time again she is making my dogs fussy. If they know there is better, they are going to hold on for longer until they are given the likes of chicken as a meal.

All she keeps saying is 'the dogs aren't eating what your putting down' and 'I have never fed my dogs on dry food'. Why are the dogs not eating what I am putting down? Because she is buying food behind my back such as cesar and mixing it in with their wet food and putting other food down such as chicken. She adds wet food in with their dry food because she said the food is ''too dry''. That's why it is called dry.

I have been feeding them on James Wellbeloved dry Puppy food since I got them in Oct, now there is a problem. They are 6 months old so are being introduced to the Adult food. I have opened one pack 'fish & veg kibble' and the kibble is so large that they can't eat it. I do add a teaspoon of hot water to soften their James Wellbeloved kibble and give off the flavour but the large kibble is still too big. I have stocked up on the Adult food in 3 different flavours: turkey & rice, duck & rice and fish & veg. Can anyone tell me if these other flavours are also large kibble before I open the large bags?

I think I am probably best to stick with Royal Canin mini and yorkshire terrier. They do seem to love the Yorkshire Terrier one but I would of liked them to have an alternative such as James Wellbeloved.

Thanks for any info

PixieDust

What a nightmare Your mother, that is, not the dogs Yorkies will indeed hold out for better, and unless you have a heart of stone they know they will win. My Mum's Yorkie won't eat for up to three days when she stays with us....always holding out for Mum to come home and feed her on pouches of food when all she gets at our house is dry food, the same as our own Yorkie.

Does your Mum really need to look after them? Can they not just stay at home? (I've always had dogs but never puppies so I don't know if this is possible. Perhaps a radio on, some Kongs hidden about the place and a food dish on a timer might be ok?)

vicx

My mam comes on a morning when I leave early for work. I have already put their food down but she comes to let them outside and a short walk (as well as putting more food down for them). I am always arguing with her about it, they my dogs so she had no right to put alternative food down and try to get them on to a different food as well as making them fussy.

She just doesn't like the idea of dry food. She says 'dogs need meat' 'I have never known a Yorkie to be fed dry food'. Mothers know best hey? I come home at lunch time to what looks like a buffet! I am honestly sick of it but she won't listen. It's only the past few days she has finally stopped adding wet food in with their meal after my neighbour told her wet food should not be added in 'complete' dry food.

I am going to print off a few pages for her to read about why dry food is better and why they should not be given different brand of food, She doesn't understand dogs need to be weaned and will have the runs and upset stomach when changing their meals.

I fed my last 3 dogs on wet food but after vet recommendations I wanted these two to be fed dry food.

PixieDust

well....how's this? Our dog, Yorkie, fed on complete dry food (and doggy treats occasionally ) is healthy and happy, nice teeth, bright eyed and bushy tailed and can walk for miles if we ask her to (proper Yorkie stoicism )

Mum's dog, Yorkie (our dog's sister) is fed on wet dog food and shares Mum's meals (Mum lives alone) and has a running buffet of all sorts of stuff she ought not to have. She is fat, moody and has manky teeth. She loves a walk but she wheezes all the way round the park.

Which dog would your Mum like yours to be in two years' time?

vicx

The reason I wanted to put these two on dry food was because of the problems we had with both our King Charles and Yorkie which we lost only 5 and 8 months ago. My Yorkie was 14 years and 9 months when he had to be put to sleep (due to trachea collapse) so a good age and was still energetic. He had to have all but 4 of his teeth extracted around 8 years ago because he suffered with toothache and my King Charles had a build up of plaque, I blame their diet.. wet food but mother won't listen.

I am happy to keep them on dry food but having problems with the James Wellbeloved 'adult' kibble as it is too big for them and at 6 months old they should be off the puppy kibble and introduced to the adult kibble.

What food is your Yorkie fed?

Caroline_a

Processed wet food isn't great stuff - it's made to look like beef casserole so that humans will buy it - if you ever see videos of how they make it you'd be put off for life!!

Apparently, (although I've never tried it, so for the scientists among you) if you boil down wet dog food it turns into liquid! So you may as well add some water and food colouring to the dog's food!

You could also point out to Mum that frequent and changing of dog's diets can give them very upset tummies.... wet dog food also can make them exceptionally smelly! She probably comes from thinking that dried food is like Winalot - meant to have something added to it, whereas complete food doesnt, in fact by adding other foods you will upset the balance of vitamins and minerals.

PixieDust

Boo is fed on a variety of "small dog" foods....she likes Baker's ones best, but she gets what we can afford at the time We have bought a huge bag of complete food from a farm supplier so she'll be eating that for a good while yet! Luckily her tummy doesn't seem to be sensitive so we can chop and change for variety

adviceforall

Dont know if its been mentioned or if i have missed it but At only 6 months old they should still be on puppy food, dogs stay on puppy food until they are 12 months, large breeds till 18 months.

vicx

PixieDust wrote: »

Boo is fed on a variety of "small dog" foods....she likes Baker's ones best, but she gets what we can afford at the time We have bought a huge bag of complete food from a farm supplier so she'll be eating that for a good while yet! Luckily her tummy doesn't seem to be sensitive so we can chop and change for variety

I was advised by my Vet to stay away from Supermarket dog food, especially Bakers. She said is it like canine Mc.D's and full of colourings. I was given James Wellbeloved in their puppy pack when they went for their injections and after researching online I decided to keep them on James Wellbeloved and also buy Royal Canin so they have an alternative.

vicx

adviceforall wrote: »

Dont know if its been mentioned or if i have missed it but At only 6 months old they should still be on puppy food, dogs stay on puppy food until they are 12 months, large breeds till 18 months.

It depends on the brand. James Wellbeloved: Change to adult from 6 months. And Royal Canin: Change to Adult from 10 months.

http://www.wellbeloved.com/products/dog_food/dog_feeding_guidelines.aspx

fairymoneysaver

You can change them onto James Wellbeloved junior before adult if you want, that is what we did with our terrier, he didn't go on adult until he was one. The adult duck and rice kibble is larger than the turkey and lamb ones, I don't know the size of the fish one so can't compare, sorry.