dog food

Question
my chihuahua is 5 months old and i can't seem to find a food he will eat except when i give him turkey for chicken(don't know if this is ok),but i worry he isn't eating enough. I've tried the dry food with doggie gravey or some can food, but he seems to stick his nose up.I even bought kibble just for chihuahua,but he  didn't love it enough to keep eating it. Any idea's. I just feel bad if he doesnt eat. I should prob cut out the treats too ha?
thanks for your help

Answer
Hi Julie!

This is a common problem and a critical time with a Chihuahua pup!!  No, you don't want to give him just turkey or chicken as neither of those things supply all the nutrients that he needs to grow and develop properly.  The last thing you need is medical problems later due to this or a compromised immune system.

I think you're onto something when you mention cutting out the treats!  Good idea!  Actually, one of the tricks I've used to change my dogs over to a new food is to feed the new food to them just as a treat and then gradually add small amounts of it into their "old" food.  I'm assuming that you already know that you need to change your little guy's food over very gradually to avoid any intestinal upset, right?

Are you free-feeding?  Meaning are you leaving food out all day?  I prefer to feed my larger Chihuahuas two meals per day and my small Chihuahua gets four small meals per day and they get them on schedule.

Have you ever heard of EVO dog food?  It's made by Natura and it's all meat - no grains.  I believe they have a turkey/chicken formula which sounds like just the "ticket" for your little guy. Type the name in on a search and see what you think.  They make several different foods and I feed my Chihuahuas the Innova, Innova Sr. and the California Natural.  I run a Chihuahua Yahoo group and this is a food that people try when their dogs will eat nothing else and I've seen the most success with it.  It comes in dry & canned.  I think dry food is best as it doesn't seem to cause the amount of plaque/tartar on the teeth that canned food does with my three and dogs really seem to like their (Evo's) dry food.  You can call the company (toll free number) and ask for them to send you samples of the dry food OR you can check with a pet food boutique near you and see if they have samples.

Bottom line:  The more "people" food you feed your little one, the harder it is going to be to get him on a balanced diet and a balanced diet is important.  Now, you do have the choice of doing home cooking, but that is time consuming and involved.  If you think you want to go in that direction, give me a holler and I'll give you some suggestions.

Hope that helps. Feel free to write me back if you have more questions.

Jo Ann