What is a good diet food for Chihuahuas ?
March 13th, 2010
Categories: Diet food
My 6month old Chi was spayed yesterday. However, the vet tells me that “from now on, you have to watch her diet very carefully”. She loves “Cesar puppy” food (wet food). She has one in the morning, and one in the evening. No snacks during the day. The vet said: “See what she likes”.
By the way, she never liked dry foods. I’ve tried very hard with those. I kept returning the bags of dry food to the pet store ! Should I just give her “half of her Cesar food”?
Yo quero taco bell.
Feed your dog the same as you always fed her. You will just need to increase her exercise to make sure she doesn’t plump up a bit.
I wouldn’t give her any less unless she really starts to put on weight. Pretty soon (if not right now) I’d switch to adult food which has less fat. If she ever starts getting heavy, I wouldn’t cut her food down by any more than 25%. One type of dry food you might try is Royal Canin. They make a dry food specifically for little guys, and though it’s expensive, you don’t need to feed as much and maybe your pup would like it. If you go to certain pet food stores, not Petco or Petsmart though, I don’t think they have samples, you might be able to get samples to try so you don’t have to bring back bigger bags. http://www.royalcanin.us/dogs/Why_Diets_By_Size.aspx
http://www.petco.com/product/13069/Royal-Canin-MINI-Canine-Health-Nutrition-Chihuahua-28.aspx
The pieces are smaller too, so they’re easier for her to eat!
She’ll eat dry food if you stop letting her control you. Cesar is absolute crap-you DO need to change foods. Pick a high quality dry food (luckily, with a Chihuahua, even the most expensive foods are very affordable to feed), put it in her bowl, and don’t buckle. Dogs just won’t starve themselves…after a few days of eating dry, she’ll be fine with it (it may take a week of not eating to get her to eat the dry, but she will, and she will be just fine). California Natural is a good food that is lower in fat…be sure to start measuring her food (based on what she SHOULD weigh). A 4-pound dog should be getting between 200 and 225 kcal per day. Check the bag for the caloric content and feed an appropriate amount. If you’re feeding a high quality food, this may be 1/2 cup per day or even less for a Chihuahua. Get a scale and measure the food daily until she gets back to a normal weight, then put her back on a maintenance level. If you notice her starting to gain again, cut her back slightly. ANY dog would prefer canned food over dry-dry is usually the healthy choice…it’s up to you to have the willpower to do what’s best for your dog. Good luck.
Just keep feeding her what you are currently feeding her. After dogs get fixed they tend to gain weight, so take her on walks and exercise her constantly.