Food?

[soneal]

I am getting my Lily this Sunday and have a food question...The breeder feeds her Eukenuba Granules for puppies and Mighty dog can shredded beed in gravy. she said where she is so tiny(10 oz.) she can't break kibble in her tiny mouth and she keeps food out all the time for her. I want to switch her to a good food(Natural Balance Potato & Duck), it says puppies,adults and pregnant dogs can eat it. Since I will have 3 dogs at different ages I figured they all could eat it. I can't find Eukenuba Granules anyway. The breeder said I could grind what ever I use in a coffee grinder for her to make it granules. Has anyone ever had to do that? Will the Natural Balance Potato & duck be ok for her, my 7 month old Pom and my 4 yr. chi? I know where she is tiny she will have to eat more frequently, but like what kind of schedule? I do have Nutra Cal on hand and chicken breast to boil(breeder gives that when she is being picky), but any advice would be helpful. Should I keep giving the Mighty Dog or some other can food along with the kibble?

[Jaxon's mom]

I used to grind up Jaxon's dry food when we first got him but just used a blender. Gradually I made it bigger until he got used to full size and crunching them up on his own.

I'm no expert but I'm sure you can switch the food. Just be prepared for a couple of days of runny poops! It happened to Jaxon when I changed his canned food.

[RLC12345678]

Originally Posted by soneal

I am getting my Lily this Sunday and have a food question...The breeder feeds her Eukenuba Granules for puppies and Mighty dog can shredded beed in gravy. she said where she is so tiny(10 oz.) she can't break kibble in her tiny mouth and she keeps food out all the time for her. I want to switch her to a good food(Natural Balance Potato & Duck), it says puppies,adults and pregnant dogs can eat it. Since I will have 3 dogs at different ages I figured they all could eat it. I can't find Eukenuba Granules anyway. The breeder said I could grind what ever I use in a coffee grinder for her to make it granules. Has anyone ever had to do that? Will the Natural Balance Potato & duck be ok for her, my 7 month old Pom and my 4 yr. chi? I know where she is tiny she will have to eat more frequently, but like what kind of schedule? I do have Nutra Cal on hand and chicken breast to boil(breeder gives that when she is being picky), but any advice would be helpful. Should I keep giving the Mighty Dog or some other can food along with the kibble?

Your food choice is fine. But make sure that you mix the new food in with whatever she is eating with the breeder and slowing switch her over bc otherwise it will really upset her tummy. Since you cannot find the Eukenuba anywhere, ask the breeder for a ziplock bag full of it. Then over the course of a week or two, mix the two foods together, but each day decrease the amount of Eukenuba you put in there and increase the amount of Natural Balance. When we got our puppy a couple of weeks ago, she was too tiny to chew up the kibbles so we ground the hard food up in the food processor. It worked like a charm. I would leave the ground up hard food out all day and then give her the Mighty Dog 3 times a day until she is big enough to be over the threat of hypoglocemia and until she is big enough to be eating the hard food really well on her own without it having to be ground up. Whenever you give her the MIghty Dog, mix it with the ground up hard food. As she gets older and able to chew better, you can start mixing it with whole kibbles instead of the ground up kibbles until she is able to just eat the whole kibbles really well on her own. It is good that you have 2 other dogs. Definately leave out whole kibbles for them. Then your new puppy will see them eating the kibbles and she will be quick to learn how to eat the whole kibbles instead of the ground up food.

[soneal]

Thank you so much...I already feel more confident in feeding her properly. I am so glad this site exists. Glad I picked an ok food too.

[RLC12345678]

Originally Posted by soneal

Thank you so much...I already feel more confident in feeding her properly. I am so glad this site exists. Glad I picked an ok food too.

I just looked on a Dog Food Reviews website, and Natural Balance Potato and Duck formula is a very good food....4 out of 6 stars. Here is the website if you want to look at it:

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_f...p/cat/4/page/4

You can go to this page of the website to look at dog foods in the other star categories:

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_f...ndex.php/cat/1

However, the foods with 6 stars have too much protein for our little guys, so the best food for small dogs would be the dry dog foods in the 5 star or 4 star category. And yours is! So, good choice!

[soneal]

That is why I picked it...someone had posted that site before and I did my research before I chose it. This site is so helpful! Thanks guys and gals!