[Yoshismama]

My Yoshi was being fed adult dog Ol Roy when I got him. I switched him to Purina One puppy chow. My vet said Ol Roy was terrible food. I had my Pit/Shar Pei X on it but switched . Unfortunately Yoshi loved the Ol Roy and hates his new food. I've been giving him the Purina for 3 weeks now and he barely eats it. I found Vita Gravy at PetsMart and put that on his food. (it's a vitamin gravy that's supossed to taste good.) He gobbled his food up the first time with it but hasn't since. Should I try giving him canned food for puppies mixed with the dry? I really don't want to used any canned because of dental but I don't think I'll have any other choice.

 

[quikdog]

Some chis are just terrible eaters, but then remember that a tablespoon is a lot of food in a tummy their size. I feed my puppies a choice. They always get cottage cheese, usually some type of a meat-like a good canned dogfood or maybe a jar of puree babyfood meat-like gerber beef, turkey or chicken. They also have all the kibble that they want, it is always available for them to snack on. As they become more adults I usually switch to just a good kibble. You might need to try a different brand of puppy kibble, but it can be expensive that way, after all it takes a chi a month to eat an eight pound bag of food. Sometimes taking the babyfood and mixing it with a little kibble or maybe some canned chicken broth mixed with the kibble. Don't make too much, it sours. But sometimes you just have to become inventive.

 

[Yoshismama]

Thanks. I'm going to try a bit of canned puppy food mixed in. I give him maybe 1/2 teaspons of kibble morning noon and night but he just leaves it and takes one or two kibbles and runs away to eat it. during the day. He's not afraid to eat because he will eat thing she likes with us with no problem. He gets about 2 treats a day with his training so maybe he's just not hungry. You'd think he'd eat more than that though. I'll just see how he does with the mix.

 

[PrattFamily]

please let us know how it goes. Goodluck..
we had the same problem with our american eskimo - Andrew. now he is so spoiled and only eats canned Innova = alot of $$$ . . . but he gets toooons of treats = Innova Puppy food (he thinks they are treats) lol. . . when we tried the kibble and canned mixed, he just would eat the canned and spite out the kibble. werid seeing how he loves the kibble now as treats ??? werid. Again goodluck with your baby!

 

[NoahFL]

Innova is great. My 4 cats are on Innova (dry) and occassionaly they will get a treat of the can (big $$$). Zeus is currently on Science Diet, but I'm waiting to finish the bag before I get him on Innova. I put the cats on Innova about 2 months ago and have noticed a significant change in their coat and all around health.

Sometimes when Zeus isn't wanted to eat, I'll put alittle Fish oil/omega 3 on top of his food and he'll eat it. From what I've read fish oil/omega 3 is great for their coat and immune system.

Prattfamily - Do you get Innova locally or order online? I've found one place here that is decently priced, but it could be alittle cheaper ($28 for 16# and $1.10 per can). Thanks.

 

[CuddleMeChi]

Oil on top of food is WONDERFUL for a shiney beautiful coat. Extra Virgin olive oil is great and actually regular vegetable oil is pretty good too if you are trying to keep the cost down.

IT makes ALL the difference in th world on my pups coats.

 

[PrattFamily]

Noah.
I get mine locally at "Pet Department" store. The dry food is decent priced, the canned is more expensive, just because my pup is a pig.
he dances around when he is about to get food, and then when we put it down he dosen't even get a breath in, he eats it all in like 10 seconds. piggy. lol.
The canned Innove looks really healthy you can see the chunks of carrots and potatoes and stuff.. it looks alot better then the Eukanuba he was getting, and he dosen't poop as much, although it still is stinky. lol.
I'm getting my chi in a couple of days (eeeeeeee <- excited sound) I think I will be putting her on California Natural because when the breeder fed the pups Innova one of them got sick. But we'll see.
I think Innova is the best dog food on the Innova.

 

[CelesteWolffe]

I haven't had any trouble with Olivia eating as she should, but I have had that problem with my cats. What I tried for the cats might work for your Yoshi. I know you want to get away from the O Roy food, but for a little bit of time, try mixing in smaller and smaller portions of it with the new food. Eventually, the theory is, that Yoshi will get completely weaned from the 'bad' food and accept the new food. It worked for my cats over a period of a month. Just a thought. :toothy8:

 

[Yoshismama]

Well, I was at PetsMart today and picked up 3 cans of MAX maximum nutrition. I mixed it in with the Purina One I have Yoshi on and he gobbled it up FAST. He loved it. The ingredients sound great to me (but what do I know?!) I guess it's by Nutro, that's what the can says. It has chicken broth,chicken, turkey, beef,cod, beef liver,chicken liver,lamb,rice bran, ground rice, in that order. I haven't heard of or seen Innova anywhere. What are the ingredients? I'm switching him to Wal.Mart brand Maximum Nutrition when he's grown. I just switched my pit mix to it from Ol Roy. I like the ingredients and price. and it's readily available at wal.mart. I've got our cat on Purina One kitten and will switch him to Max. Nut. as well, because I like the ingredients better than the Purina One adult cat. It has real chicken, etc as first ingredient with no by-products or fillers that other (including Purina one cat) do. Has anyone heard of it ? Any one hasve any good or bad experience? I want to switch food once only and not stress over whether it's the absolute perfect choice. I just want a good food that I can afford and find readily.Yoshi's coat has gotten very shiny and sleek since I've had him (3 weeks now!). He's lively and runs all over our cat and pit x. :lol:

 

[quikdog]

The breeder that I got Riley from used the Walmart brand of dog food and had her puppies on Walmart brand puppy food. She had 12 dogs, 4 corgis, a mix, 7 chis. They all look healthy and the puppies were healthy. I really don't see a problem with Walmart brand dog food. I sometimes use the Costco brand. It has the same ingredient percentages as Iams and Science Diet, but it, also, is a lot cheaper. I hate paying those high prices for that name brand food.

 

[Yoshismama]

I know what you mean. Pricier isn't always better, I found. With the cat food, the wal.mart brand was better than the purina one adult. I'm glad I was looking so carefully at all the brands' ingredients before deciding. The Max. Nut. has a great ingredient list and has no fillers or byproducts. That was important to me. It's just such a bummer that my Yoshi and pit x loved the Ol Roy they were on. (I got Yoshi from someone who was feeding him adult Ol Roy). My vet said no way to that food. I see people buy it all the time because it's very cheap and looks real good. It has all different shapes, colors,etc. and dogs think it tastes really good.

 

[PrattFamily]

www.naturapet.com

That is the maker of Innova you can look up the list of ingredients as well as a store locator that sells their products on that site, I think it is important to have a balanced meal: alot of meat, veggies, rice, oils, and vitaimins. Innova offers all this, and it is farily priced.

 

[CuddleMeChi]

Have you ever thought of feeding people food?????

Actually I used to feed my mastiffs people food and it worked out cheaper then anything.... LOL ... Thats because I always had leftovers!!!!!!

I feed my Chi's Natural Recipe but that's because I get 40 pounds for $8.99.
I have a discount store right near me that is super cheap on dog food. Petsmart charges around $25 for 40 pounds of the same thing

 

[Yoshismama]

I looked up the Innova. It sounds really good. I found a dog wash in my city (village, technically!) that sells it when I did the store locator thing. I'd just use the canned mixed with the Purina One dry. The canned food I got yesterday is good but I have to travel to Albuquerque to get it. No big deal~just would rather be closer to home. If I choose to switch to Innova canned, do i just mix a bit of that with a bit of the other til the other is gone? I don't want to waste but don't want to go all the way into the City to return 2 cans!!

 

[TheNashGang]

Try some of this stuff: CLICK HERE TO SEE PETSMART ITEM

I use this stuff when i am weening pups from thier mother. Its in a tube, and comes out in a thick "gel" looking stuff, but it has appetite stimulator and its supposed to taste great to dogs.

What i do is put a small amount of this Nutri-stat in a dish (squeeze out like 1/2" of it. Add a few table spoons of warm water and kind of stir it up. Then take the dry kibble of your choice and mix the solution with it making sure all of the kibble gets wet. If you are giving this to a small pup, say under 10 weeks old, you can let this set for 10-15 minutes and it will moisten the food making it easier to munch.

Hope this helps.

 

[PrattFamily]

definatly be gradually when switching foods. use whatever you are using now, just mix in alittle bit of the innova (you can use wet or dry) and then little by little make it all innova if you are going to just use the canned with the purina or whatever brand... i would suggest using the innova dry as treats for training or whatever it works great for our pup, because i give him tons of treats. lol. I hope you use innova did you compare it to some of the food you are using it now? they have a compare thing online, and it will tell you what is in the innova and give you an explaination of it all, and it will let you compare to alot of other brand name foods and tell you what is in it and give you an explanation of the other brands too. its a great resource lol.

I agree that "people" food is the best way to go, i wish i could do that but i rarely cook for my husband and i, let alone pups... but you have to be very careful and make sure it is balanced, and it can't be like yucky junk food, it needs to be really healthy. this is all my opinion

 

[Yoshismama]

Thanks. Yoshi is 4 mo. now. I've been mixing the Nutro brand maximum nutrition puppy food with the dry and he just gobbles it all up. If I have a really young pup in the future with a dry food problem, I will definitely try your method with the paste. I like having problem solvers in advance.

I am going to try the Innova. It sounds really nice. I haven't been to the store here that sells it yet, but this week I am going to buy some. Yoshi likes vegetables too. I'm planning on giving him some cottage cheese a few times a week. I looked at the canned food in Wal.mart today and didn't like the ingredients so I'm staying away from that. I'm so relieved he's eating now. I just have to learn to brush his teeth now that he's eating some canned!

 

[PrattFamily]

I wouldn't buy anything unless you know what is in it and what is means. The stuff in Innova is all food that you would eat

As far as brushing teeth, I brush andrews probably once a week, but I heard that "greenies" work really good and so do nylabones and rope toys ?? just a suggestion I hope that everything works out great.

Please be careful with foods, some foods are really nasty and bad for pups, I think food is one of the most important things in raising pups/dogs

 

[Yoshismama]

Thanks. I magree about the food. Everyone thinks I'm just a fuss budget and should get what's cheapest because other dogs eat it and live :x Living and thriving are NOT the same.

I bought Yoshi a Little Greenie the other day and I have no idea what he's done with it. I hope my big dog didn't eat it! He has rope toys and rawhyde and nylabones too. I guess my instincts were correct in the chew toy area.

 

[PrattFamily]

i agree.
example: you get a pup and he/she is really uky looking fury is not shiny, ect. . . they are on pedigree or something like that, well if you get them something alittle better then that, they may look healthier, but they are not as healthy as they could be.
I want my fur-babies to live a LONG time