I've had some contrasting advice about feeding my dog, help!

Tiarella

Tiarella

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I've had my chi for just over a month now and have spent this whole month trying to find a suitable food. He was first on bakers - old owners food. Then James wellbeloved kibble and wainwrights pouches which he quite liked - although someone here said either feed one or the other not both as digest differently. I wanted to go down the dry dog food diet as thats what everyone seemed to recommend so I went to a local dog pet shop to get applaws. I took pooch in and owner of shop asked if I was going to feed him that - she was very shocked and said it was far too much (protein etc wise) for a little dog and that feeding dry to such a little dog is the biggest cause of bladder crystals etc and you wouldn't feed a chi what a Labrador would have. So she recommended me nature diet trays and cheap 'laughing dog' kibble to mix with. I must say he is now only pooing 3 times a day instead of 6/7 and seems to be putting weight on.

Could I have your personal opinions on this and what I should do. I am going back to pet shop tomorrow.

He does get bones etc as I know chis are prone to bad teeth.
 
Sounds like an excellent and convenient diet to me;the fact he is pooping less means he is using it better..demonstrated by weight gain.Laughing Dog ,to us oldie dog breeders is the RollsRoyce of mixer dog biscuits no cheapie this one. He would benefit from the occasional small raw bone to clean his teeth with,Chi`s live long lives and their teeth ,like a lot of toy breeds need help to keep good:)
 
I didn't know anything about the laughing dog mixer - it does just look like crushed digestive biscuits. But if it's okay to feed and to mix with nature diet trays I will carry on as diet seems to suit. Just hadn't had anyone recommend me wet dog food yet so was a little confused. Thankfully he is only tiny so 1 tray lasts 3/4 days!
 
I would sooner poke needles in my eyes than take advice from a pet shop as to which food to give my dog. Thankfully there are independant people out there with proper knowledge of canine nutrition that you can easily ask. As for not feeding a Chi what a lab gets fed, rubbish. The only dog food out there that is breed specific is Royal Canine but that is a marketing ploy.

Either way Natures Diet wet food is actually rather good quality, 4 stars out of 5 on the Which dog food website. Laughing Dog also scored rather highly. I would stick with it if it is doing the dog good and putting on weight and if you really want some proper anwsers to canine nutrition, the guy that does the whichdogfood website is usually happy to anwser any questions.

http://www.whichdogfood.co.uk/dog-food-directory.php#anchor63
 
Sorry didn't explain very well. They're not your standard 'pet shop.' they do just specialise with dogs and have different people that specialise in different areas such as nutrition, training, grooming etc. Obviously I spoke to nutrionist. She stated that you wouldn't feed the same to a chi as a lab as in quantity and you'd more likely feed a lab dry rather than wet etc and how smaller dogs are more prone to bladder crystals because of dry food. They weren't like you're 'pets at home' pet shop.

Brill thanks for website :)
 
Rather insulted by the comments about not listening to what pet shop staff say about nutrition. I work in a pet shop where we recommend Origen and Nature's diet as the best, followed by our own brand food which is a great food at a low price. We're not all stupid, bad moneygrabbers.
 
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