Hi - I have 6 rescue chihuahuas which can be a bit fussy but if I sometimes add cheese to their food they seem to eat everything. I used to feed them IAMs small dog food which I used to get from Makro on special as about £13 for 7.5kg bag which last about a month but they have stopped doing specials on it and its now about £25-30 so nearly double.
I recently changed to Autarky weight control as read on your website that it was a very cheap but good food. They do seem to love it but the only thing is the pieces are a bit big for some of them and even if I add water its difficult to break them down.
Is there any good cheap dry dog food I can give them, I would prefer to keep them on dry for their teeth as the breed does tend to have lots of teeth problems. I also add a bit of wet food (Butchers thanks to your website recommendation) just to wet the dry food and a tin lasts me about 3/5 days.
The ages of the dogs are from 5 to 8 years and weights from about 2.5kg to 5.5kg so a very mixed range.
Is there anything out there that is small enough for them or should I just work a bit harder and go back to IAMS.
Your website is brilliant by the way and wish I had found it 6 years ago when I first started rescuing these little souls.
Sharon
I am not familiar with either of those products that you mention. It seems that you are looking for something like James Wellbeloved Small Bite. I have just used the Dog Food Directory, setting the filters to toy dog, natural, clearly labelled and no red ingredients - it returned eight pages. You can reduce that by adding to the Daily Cost filter. Some of them are puppy foods but that shouldn’t be a problem - the protein will just be higher. You might be able to feed less. On the subject of teeth being cleaned by kibble, I don’t know that there is any proof of this. However, I do know that you are probably right about small dogs being susceptible to tartar. Cleaning the teeth helps and there are other things such as Plaque Off. JWB add green tea to their recipe specifically for this reason. As for soaking kibble, the results probably vary according to ingredients. I find that it wets down better in a plastic, covered bowl and warm water is used.
Please let us know if you need more help using the Directory or if you want to discuss the results.
Edit: If you would like to consider cold pressed food, Zooplus sell Markus Muhle/Black Angus at very reasonable prices considering the quality of the food. The nuggets can easily be snapped into the smaller pieces that you require. Also, cold pressed soaks very well. The food is economical because it is dense/heavy and dogs need smaller amounts.
Hi Dottie - thanks for advice. Just a quick questions otherwise I will probably spend ages on Google. What is the best dry dog food, what ingredients should they NOT have in them. Not being a breeder I have not done much research and would appreciate a bit of advice so I can start using the search thing on this website. Its an amazing website and very very informative just wish I had found it 6 years ago when I got my first chihuahua.
Sharon
There isn’t really a best dog food - so much depends on the dog e.g. activity level, digestion, size, intolerance (if any), owner’s budget. As I mentioned before, the Dog Food Directory on this website makes selection much easier so there is no need to spend a long time googling.
- Go to the Dog Food Directory.
- Look at the filters on the left hand side and select the ones which are important to you.
- Choose no red ingredients because those are the ones that are controversial - it should answer your query about what not to have in food. I mentioned the other filters in my previous post.
- Rating - you can adjust that by moving the slider. Maybe 3.5 to 5 stars would be a useful starting point. However, it is worth remembering that rating isn’t everything because some dogs may not do so well on top rated foods.
Have a look at this thread for more information.
Brilliant - thanks for advice. Will definitely have a look. Amazing help re dog foods and as I said previously wish I had found it many years ago
I hope that you find something suitable. Once you have narrowed it down, please let us know what you decide to try. We would be interested to know.
I used to give cashews, almonds, and peanuts to my dog until I read that dry fruits are not suitable as a dog food so I stopped serving my dog dry fruits. Thanks for starting this thread. I learned new tips by reading answers here. 