I also received an 8oz sample of venison in the mail a few days ago! I haven't opened it yet; I am not sure what I'm doing with it yet. Might just put it in my dogs emergency kit and if it gets to close to the expiration date let them have it as treats.
It's kinda hard to balance out multiple different dog foods; since the feeding guidelines will be different for each one. If you just want to feed it once a day; I would feed 1/3 less (since you said you feed 3x daily) of the Taste of The Wild; and for the Ziwi Meal feed 1/3 the daily feeding suggestion. It doesn't seem like it would be much though; since the daily amount for a 6.6lb dog is only .66 of a scoop.. so a third of that would only be .22 of a scoop. If you ask me that's such a small amount anyway; i would probably advise just using it as a "kibble topper" for each meal, as opposed to feeding it alone for a meal. If you did that, you would just maybe reduce the kibble by a tablespoon or so and sprinkling a teaspoon of Ziwi over it. It sounds like such small amounts; but when dividing it over 3 meals it really isn't that much.
Can I ask why you feed the canned pumpkin every day? Here, I keep it frozen in cubes and just dish it out as a treat when one of the dogs has an upset tummy. Since it can work for both diarrhea and constipation it is excellent to have on hand; but I'm not sure I understand the point of feeding it every day. I don't think nutritionally it offers much; just the fiber and water content can help ease stomach issues. But I don't know that it'd be worth using daily.
Anyway my best advice after all this rambling LOL would be to decide on an adjustment; whether replacing a meal entirely or just reducing each meal a bit and sprinkling it as a topper; and then weigh each dog at the beginning. Every week or so, check their weights again to see how they are handling it; and adjust accordingly. You may find that even though your dogs might weigh the same, they have very different metabolisms and what might make one dog chubby, may not be enough for the other. That's why I don't usually go by feeding guidelines... I do agree you should know how much they are getting daily; but I think it takes some trial and error of monitoring their intake & weights before you can truly determine what's enough for each dog.
Good luck! And let me know how they like it! I got this free sample and I just have it on my counter so I can see it and be all excited I have it (yes I'm THAT nerdy of a dog lover; you can't find ZP anywhere around here so I'd have to order it) but I don't want to open the seal until I know how I'm going to utilize it haha!
And FWIW, even at such small amounts I don't think anything is 'too little' to get the benefits. TOTW is awesome food anyway; and ZP is basically a step above it so I believe they will still be able to utilize the benefits.
If you are looking for other little ways to improve your dogs health; I'll also be one to suggest feeding a raw bone just twice a week or so. It does amazing things for small dogs teeth; and I think all of us have seen somewhere how bad small dogs teeth can get. Anesthesia scares me more than anything for my dogs; and I will never put mine under for a dental and should never have to. Even those who aren't raw-feeders will toss out a chicken neck to their dogs (they are perfectly chihuahua sized, so if you can find them at your grocer you won't have to really do much "handling,") and reap the benefits of dental health.
Ok I think I went on enough random tangents... LOL..sorry, in a weird mood today!
It's kinda hard to balance out multiple different dog foods; since the feeding guidelines will be different for each one. If you just want to feed it once a day; I would feed 1/3 less (since you said you feed 3x daily) of the Taste of The Wild; and for the Ziwi Meal feed 1/3 the daily feeding suggestion. It doesn't seem like it would be much though; since the daily amount for a 6.6lb dog is only .66 of a scoop.. so a third of that would only be .22 of a scoop. If you ask me that's such a small amount anyway; i would probably advise just using it as a "kibble topper" for each meal, as opposed to feeding it alone for a meal. If you did that, you would just maybe reduce the kibble by a tablespoon or so and sprinkling a teaspoon of Ziwi over it. It sounds like such small amounts; but when dividing it over 3 meals it really isn't that much.
Can I ask why you feed the canned pumpkin every day? Here, I keep it frozen in cubes and just dish it out as a treat when one of the dogs has an upset tummy. Since it can work for both diarrhea and constipation it is excellent to have on hand; but I'm not sure I understand the point of feeding it every day. I don't think nutritionally it offers much; just the fiber and water content can help ease stomach issues. But I don't know that it'd be worth using daily.
Anyway my best advice after all this rambling LOL would be to decide on an adjustment; whether replacing a meal entirely or just reducing each meal a bit and sprinkling it as a topper; and then weigh each dog at the beginning. Every week or so, check their weights again to see how they are handling it; and adjust accordingly. You may find that even though your dogs might weigh the same, they have very different metabolisms and what might make one dog chubby, may not be enough for the other. That's why I don't usually go by feeding guidelines... I do agree you should know how much they are getting daily; but I think it takes some trial and error of monitoring their intake & weights before you can truly determine what's enough for each dog.
Good luck! And let me know how they like it! I got this free sample and I just have it on my counter so I can see it and be all excited I have it (yes I'm THAT nerdy of a dog lover; you can't find ZP anywhere around here so I'd have to order it) but I don't want to open the seal until I know how I'm going to utilize it haha!
And FWIW, even at such small amounts I don't think anything is 'too little' to get the benefits. TOTW is awesome food anyway; and ZP is basically a step above it so I believe they will still be able to utilize the benefits.
If you are looking for other little ways to improve your dogs health; I'll also be one to suggest feeding a raw bone just twice a week or so. It does amazing things for small dogs teeth; and I think all of us have seen somewhere how bad small dogs teeth can get. Anesthesia scares me more than anything for my dogs; and I will never put mine under for a dental and should never have to. Even those who aren't raw-feeders will toss out a chicken neck to their dogs (they are perfectly chihuahua sized, so if you can find them at your grocer you won't have to really do much "handling,") and reap the benefits of dental health.
Ok I think I went on enough random tangents... LOL..sorry, in a weird mood today!
