I am glad that your dogs did well on that food, but I just looked at the chicken based ones, and they are loaded with corn, corn gluten, and wheat gluten, and chicken-by-products. A lot of dogs are allergic to those additives. They have been known to cause teary eyes, ear infections, yellow teeth, skin itches, rashes, and sensitive stomachs in a lot of dogs.
I would prefer mine to have natural barley or oats and some veggies as fillers. I know that a lot of companies started off with good foods and then when they started changing the formula and adding all the garbage fillers many dogs also started to show symptoms of allergies. Having good teeth and strong anal glands is more hereditary then anything else, but having a dog that didn't inherit those good qualities, and then feeding it an inferior food would only make the problem worse. Some dogs can t handle rice in there kibble, as they don't digest it well enough and the constant hard pushing to go aggravates the anal glands. It all depends on the dog. I agree it is constant trial and error to find that perfect food for each pet. So if a food works for your dog then stick to it, but be aware that these food companies have also been adding and decreasing additives and not telling the public. RC is one them, but I have also seen a change in the formula in a couple of other brands, so we have to read every new bag that we buy to feel safe. Peggy -------Original Message------- From: GinbarMinPins Date: 4/16/2013 5:44:25 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Chihuahuas] Newbie introduction: food question Hi, I have 6 rescues of which 2 are Chihuahuas. I have fed Pro Plan for about 30 yrs and have tried several other "better" foods but always come back to Pro Plan. I had my 5.5lb MinPin have 2 abcessed anal glands on 2 other higher priced foods and both of them blew requiring expensive vet visits. None of my dogs needed anal gland emptying except when on the higher priced food. I do have a small bag of Royal Canin free from a dog show and the little dogs do like it but I will only feed the one bag and then mixed with PP with my MinPins. I have seen a GSD breeders dogs who raw feeds and her dogs went from beautiful to crap when fed raw. Another friend fed raw to her wire mini dachshund and he was always skinny with poor teeth and poor coat. There are many foods out there, often trial and error has to be done but in the yrs before Pro Plan we fed Pedigree and no dog lived over 11. Now my dogs are getting to 16 and Brutus is a healthy 15 yr old with great eyesight and hearing. His teeth are in very good shape for a dog whose last dental was 8 yrs ago when he was rescued. Robin, the Dobe Axel CGC, TT, the German Pin Ranger CGC, TT, the Chihuahuas Alice and Monte and the MinPins HoneyB, Brutus, IMPS foster Jordan www.minpinrescue.org -------- Original message -------- Subject: [Chihuahuas] Newbie introduction: food question From: tbird02va <[email protected]> To: [email protected] CC: Good evening: I am a new member. I have a food question. I've researched the web in an attempt to find the best puppy food for a chihuahua. I have found plenty of references suggesting that I purchase a "good" food, but no references as to which specific food to choose. The breeder recommends Royal Canin. I decided to come to the experts here who love their chihuahuas and ask for feedback. Would this be a brand that you would recommend or is there a better brand available? Thanks, in advance, for any feedback. Debbie
