# What Would You Feed a 10 week old Chihuahua



## Little Wise Owl (Nov 12, 2011)

So, uh... Yeah. I have a extremely tiny Chihuahua to feed

I'm thinking homecooked (weak immune system, don't want to risk raw right now) or canned (what brands?). I also thought of Fromm Gold Puppy, Red Paw X-series Puppy, or Annamaet small breed ALS as possible kibbles.

I've never dealt with a dog so tiny before it's a bit unnerving. lol I'm used to my blocky/sturdy, made-of-stone type dogs. If I go the homecooked route, how do I even go about balance his diet? How much calcium does a tiny dog need?


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## BostonBullMama (Apr 20, 2013)

I would think just a toy breed puppy food would be good, no? I don't know much about toy breeds, but if I was in a pickle and had one land in my lap, that's probably what I would do. Or go with a toy breed wet food just in case the kibble bits are too big..


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## Little Wise Owl (Nov 12, 2011)

He came to us on Purina Puppy Chow and doesn't seem to have trouble swallowing (whole!) the kibbles. And I thought they were too big for him lol And since he's so tiny, I feel like I can afford much more high quality brands because he eats so little.


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## Chichan (Apr 1, 2014)

Little Wise Owl said:


> He came to us on Purina Puppy Chow and doesn't seem to have trouble swallowing (whole!) the kibbles. And I thought they were too big for him lol And since he's so tiny, I feel like I can afford much more high quality brands because he eats so little.


You mean what DO I feed my 10 week old Chihuahua?
I feed him Royal Canin Chihuahua Puppy food.
Mine eats a little less than 1/2 cup a day. 
You should be feeding him 3-5 times a day to avoid hypoglycemia. Toy breed puppies need to eat smaller meals more often.
Chis can get obese easily so no table scraps and if you're training him; I take normal treats for small breeds and puppies and cut them into threes.
Chis can choke on large pieces of food/kibble which is why I go with RC.
Human food cut into bit sized pieces that are good for Chi puppies: cooked carrots, yams, green beans, peas and the occasional hard boiled egg.


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## CptJack (Jun 3, 2012)

I'd probably still feed kibble, though with something that extremely tiny I might spring for air dehydrated raw. I would NOT go only canned, unless I wanted to do it for life. Which I wouldn't. Keeping open cans around is just a pain. If I did, however, probably Merrick's Before The Grain.


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## Little Wise Owl (Nov 12, 2011)

Thanks, I'll look into RC's Chihuahua formula


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## MarieLovesChis (Mar 21, 2014)

My Chihuahua is no longer a puppy so I now prefer to feed her much larger kibble so I am feeding her Farmina. Since dogs hardly chew, I find small kibble to be much more of a choking hazard as opposed to large kibble that forces her to chew.

When she was a puppy, I fed her Purina Puppy Chow (yuck) but if I were to do it all over again I would either feed her Farmina Puppy or Annamaet Small Breed mixed with a high quality wet food. I never feed just kibble, I always add some kind of wet food for added moisture. Right now I'm using Hound & Gatos but also like Nature's Variety Instinct and Petkind That's It.


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## Rescued (Jan 8, 2012)

Bil Jac! It's the size of rabbit food and is the only food my tinies could eat for a long time. Crumbles really was too so easy to chew. Grey managed to eat regular small breed kibbles once she hit 1.75 lbs


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


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## TinyTails (May 16, 2011)

How old and how big is the chi? I know the Fromm Kibble is very tiny, also the Wellness Small breed puppy is small. No matter how small the puppy they should be able to crunch the dry food. You can also do canned food or something like THK or dehydrated - fellow chi owner


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## Little Wise Owl (Nov 12, 2011)

Bil Jac and Farmina are not available in Canada ):

TinyTails, he is 10 weeks and like... 1lb? Very tiny. 

I went with a small bag of Fromm for now.


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## Rescued (Jan 8, 2012)

where is this pup from?? 

If bil jac isnt available Royal Canin Mini/Babydog would be my next choice. Teeniest kibbles I've found. Grey also did well on stella and chewy's. I didn't rehydrate it but just left it dry so that she didn't get "addicted" to canned.


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## TinyTails (May 16, 2011)

That is very tiny. Make sure to have Nutri-Cal on hand in case he becomes hypoglycemic. With a puppy that small I would probably do even more than 3 times a day feeding.


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## taquitos (Oct 18, 2012)

Cans or freeze dried food that you can add water to  Stella & Chewy's has always been a popular choice for toy breed people at the store I used to work at.


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## MarieLovesChis (Mar 21, 2014)

taquitos said:


> Cans or freeze dried food that you can add water to  Stella & Chewy's has always been a popular choice for toy breed people at the store I used to work at.


Just my two cents, I would never feed nor recommend Stella and Chewy's. Ash is way too high for me to ever feel comfortable feeding it again. They range from 11% - 16.5% ash. I used to use it as a topper until I emailed them for the information. Scratched off my recommended list.


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

I'd probably feed Ziwipeak or a prepared raw for a dog that size. Cost isn't much of a factor for a dog smaller than a (small) cat!


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## Rescued (Jan 8, 2012)

MarieLovesChis said:


> Just my two cents, I would never feed nor recommend Stella and Chewy's. Ash is way too high for me to ever feel comfortable feeding it again. They range from 11% - 16.5% ash. I used to use it as a topper until I emailed them for the information. Scratched off my recommended list.


I have often wondered what the average ash content is with a Prey Model Raw diet. I used to worry more about ash until I realized that the raw people feed a fair amount of bone. IDK. that is high though.


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## MarieLovesChis (Mar 21, 2014)

Rescued said:


> I have often wondered what the average ash content is with a Prey Model Raw diet. I used to worry more about ash until I realized that the raw people feed a fair amount of bone. IDK. that is high though.


Hmm I don't know.. when I was feeding raw I was adding a premade that had only 1% ash on the label. It definitely had adequate bone in it too, seen by my dog's turds lol. So I don't think raw feeding = high ash...


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## TinyTails (May 16, 2011)

As per a Stella and Chewy rep the ash for their foods is around 3% once hydrated, their diets are not meant to be fed without hydrating in water first.


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## MarieLovesChis (Mar 21, 2014)

TinyTails said:


> As per a Stella and Chewy rep the ash for their foods is around 3% once hydrated, their diets are not meant to be fed without hydrating in water first.


I have the email and I'm going to go by that 

As for adding water, I don't give a crap. Water or not, the contents of the food don't change. If you want to feed it, cool I'm not telling you not to. I personally don't feel comfortable putting that in my dog and if I wouldn't feed it I won't recommend it. And no amount of water changes the amount of given ash in the food.

Same goes for canned food. Dry matter is what matters. Convert a can of food that has 3-4% ash to dry matter. Yea no thank you.


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## TinyTails (May 16, 2011)

Honestly I don't fully understand how the ash levels work, I don't feed it I was just sharing what the company was telling me  They donate to the rescue I work work so I have used it as treats and my picky cat was eating it for a meal for a while - she's on Farmina right now (she won't eat canned no matter how hard I try) My pups are on the Farmina grain inclusive in the am and THK Thrive pm - both topped with fresh meat. Keeping my fingers crossed my male does does on the Farmina - with his allergies it's so hard to find foods for him.


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## MarieLovesChis (Mar 21, 2014)

TinyTails said:


> Honestly I don't fully understand how the ash levels work, I don't feed it I was just sharing what the company was telling me  They donate to the rescue I work work so I have used it as treats and my picky cat was eating it for a meal for a while - she's on Farmina right now (she won't eat canned no matter how hard I try) My pups are on the Farmina grain inclusive in the am and THK Thrive pm - both topped with fresh meat. Keeping my fingers crossed my male does does on the Farmina - with his allergies it's so hard to find foods for him.


Oh I didn't want you to feel like I was attacking you or anything! lol It's just in the email they sent me they tried to tell me the same BS "add water and the levels won't be so high". It just doesn't work that way.

Once you add water, the percentage of the meal technically won't be 16% ash since you added a bunch of water weight. But this is why we convert it to dry matter, to figure out how much of what is in the actual food.

I don't really like the site too much, but Dogfoodadvisor has a good explanation of dry matter basis and why it's necessary.

I am also feeding Farmina grain inclusive (very happy with it) with stuff like wet food added. THK is next on my list to try. With the high fiber I'm worried how my girl's poop will be though!


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## taquitos (Oct 18, 2012)

MarieLovesChis said:


> Just my two cents, I would never feed nor recommend Stella and Chewy's. Ash is way too high for me to ever feel comfortable feeding it again. They range from 11% - 16.5% ash. I used to use it as a topper until I emailed them for the information. Scratched off my recommended list.


I had no idea about this. Thanks for letting me know!

Good thing I don't feed Stella & Chewy's! I shall stop recommending it then 

But yeah I feed PMR with 10% bone as per guidelines... Have fed my three cats and dog this way for 2+ years... so far no problems so I am not sure what to think??? I have never heard of dogs on raw having health issues deriving from too much ash in their diet.

ETA:
One of the most active/experienced members on the PMR forum I frequent is a Great Dane breeder who feeds raw to her puppies... so I am not sure whether or not raw food has lots of ash (wouldn't it have affected the growth of her dogs?).


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## Rescued (Jan 8, 2012)

Well ash is *technically* not present in raw since it is a byproduct of the cooking process. But all ash is is the minerals that don't combust. So yeah, I do wonder sometimes if all our worries about ash are rather unimportant if you compare the dry matter basis amount to kibble versus raw if it was cooked.

IDK. there is so much to worry about. For breakfast this morning:

Nug had 1 cup Farmina Cod ancestral grain
Grey had 1/8 cup low sodium Venison and rice Kibble, mixed with low sodium pure grain free canned rabbit.

What did Rescued have? Two leftover pepperoni rolls and a 32 oz sweet tea. Sometimes it makes me giggle how much thought I put into my dogs food when compared to my own diet.


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## fourdogs (Feb 3, 2014)

I have a 4 lb chi that came to me as an adult. FWIW, the fromm kibbles are TINY but they are also quite hard! If I had a puppy like yours, I would find a good canned puppy food and feed that 4-5 times a day and go from there. If dry suits you better, then I might even humor the "marketing" and go with a toy breed puppy kibble because of the tiny size. 
Not very helpful, am I?  

How did you find yourself with an itty bitty?


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## Kathyy (Jun 15, 2008)

Max's pretend prey model raw diet of beef, pork, 2 kinds of liver and 2 kinds of kidney plus fish has 5.3% ash. 

Of course dogs fed raw can have problems especially if the dog is fed some interesting concoction the owner dreamed up with not enough research. BARFers might miss the ground meat and bit of liver that goes into the veggie glop of a proper BARF diet and feed only ground veggies and chicken necks. Others are afraid to feed bone so think a raw diet is just boneless chicken breast. I am sure lots of people get addicted to the tiny hard poop from feeding just chicken. Without doing any math I suspect that 30% bone bony chicken only diet might mean the dog is taking in 10-15% ash. And the dog still wouldn't be getting all the minerals needed, just would be getting way more calcium and phosphorus than needed.

Okay, to be on topic I'd be feeding a bitty pup prey model raw. Ground up chicken to start with a fun chew of a chicken foot. If not much chicken foot got eaten then I would mix up some powdered eggshell with the meat at first. I'd plan to feed Cornish Game Hen as the main bony meat but could get lucky like I did with Ginger and be able to offer some bigger bony bits less often. If I actually saw evidence the pup needs cooked food then I would be cooking the chicken, mixing in the bit of eggshell for calcium and adding in 25% pureed veggies for bulk instead. As soon as possible I would be mixing in ground beef and a tiny bit of beef liver. My home cooked food has got to be lower in bacteria and other nasties than kibble or canned dog food.


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## Little Wise Owl (Nov 12, 2011)

Thanks for the advice everyone. After speaking with the vet, we're going to do a mixture of PROBABLY RC Chihuahua and canned for now. Until his immune system is up and running better.


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## Laurelin (Nov 2, 2006)

I just feed my toy breed dogs whatever. Never pay attention to kibble size at all. Mia was around 5 lbs when she came home though.


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## Little Wise Owl (Nov 12, 2011)

So I lied. He's actually 2.4lb


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## NicoleIsStoked (Aug 31, 2012)

I have a small breed, though not a toy breed. He was a bit over 4lbs when he came home and was never given small breed kibble. I fed him normal sized puppy food which taught him to slow down and chew properly which he still does today at 2 years old and 16lbs.

As for RC i personally wouldn't feed it nowadays though I uneducatedly did in the past. It's full of by products, and low quality grains. Not very nutritious. I know fromm gold small breed is smaller than cat food.


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## Little Wise Owl (Nov 12, 2011)

It's not my ideal but now I'm starting to see that this little guy is picky. I've heard that the RC Chi puppy food works really well for getting picky puppies to eat


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## Chichan (Apr 1, 2014)

Little Wise Owl said:


> It's not my ideal but now I'm starting to see that this little guy is picky. I've heard that the RC Chi puppy food works really well for getting picky puppies to eat


Chis are very picky.
That's what so great about RC Chihuahua food.
It's designed for Chis in mind.
It's also considered to be premium food.
It's not bad or low quality by any means, but it's not the best there is.
I consider it to be a higher medium quality food.
The most important thing is that he's eating at the end of the day.


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## MarieLovesChis (Mar 21, 2014)

Chichan said:


> Chis are very picky.
> That's what so great about RC Chihuahua food.
> It's designed for Chis in mind.
> It's also considered to be premium food.
> ...


I agree that whatever he is eating is ideal. If he's willing to eat something, I wouldn't switch it up and risk him not eating and holding out at that size.

However, I believe it's a bit absurd to say a specific food is great for picky dogs. Dogs can hate certain foods just like humans. Chihuahuas don't have a specific taste they want that a food can just label it "great for picky Chihuahuas". My Chihuahua won't touch RC and she is willing to go a week without eating if she doesn't like something. Of course I'm not willing to let her go a week though...


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## Little Wise Owl (Nov 12, 2011)

Does RC have samples?


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## Chichan (Apr 1, 2014)

Little Wise Owl said:


> Does RC have samples?


I'm not sure, but apparently they'll fully remburse you if your puppy/dog won't eat it.
http://www.royalcanin.ca/index.php/FAQ/General



MarieLovesChis said:


> I agree that whatever he is eating is ideal. If he's willing to eat something, I wouldn't switch it up and risk him not eating and holding out at that size.
> 
> However, I believe it's a bit absurd to say a specific food is great for picky dogs. Dogs can hate certain foods just like humans. Chihuahuas don't have a specific taste they want that a food can just label it "great for picky Chihuahuas". My Chihuahua won't touch RC and she is willing to go a week without eating if she doesn't like something. Of course I'm not willing to let her go a week though...


Every puppy is different, but it's what works for me. haha


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## MarieLovesChis (Mar 21, 2014)

Chichan said:


> Every puppy is different, but it's what works for me. haha


Then that's great! I wasn't saying RC was a bad food and you should switch or anything like that. I have no problems with RC. Just saying that no food can guarantee that every picky dog will fall in love with it lol.


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## workingdog (Oct 19, 2006)

I have a 2 pound chi and she eats wellness super five mix little breeds. She does awsome on it.


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## doggiepop (Feb 27, 2014)

You can empty the can into a glass jar. There's also lids available for cans that are opened.



CptJack said:


> I'd probably still feed kibble, though with something that extremely tiny I might spring for air dehydrated raw. I would NOT go only canned, unless I wanted to do it for life. Which I wouldn't. Keeping open cans around is just a pain. If I did, however, probably Merrick's Before The Grain.


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## fourdogs (Feb 3, 2014)

Chichan said:


> Chis are very picky.
> 
> .


Apparently, my chihuahua didn't get that memo LOL! She eats anything and everything. She can eat the huge chunks of Farmina and the tiny Fromm chunks (but like I said, she has a harder time crunching those little bb's) and everything in-between. 

They are great little dogs! <3

Oh, and it really isn't all that expensive to do all canned for life for these little dogs. My 4 pounder gets 1.4 ounces of canned food twice a day. Those 13 ounce cans last a LONG time!  But she does like crunch, so sometimes her meals are .75 ounce canned and 1T dry. 
Not a big consumer ;P


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## Little Wise Owl (Nov 12, 2011)

So far he's readily eating a mixture of puppy chow (phasing out), Fromm and Wellness puppy canned.


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## Little Wise Owl (Nov 12, 2011)

Today he neglected his dry food but I offered some canned and he gobbled it up. Why do you do this to me, Puppy?


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## taquitos (Oct 18, 2012)

Little Wise Owl said:


> Today he neglected his dry food but I offered some canned and he gobbled it up. Why do you do this to me, Puppy?


Hahaha

Honestly, would it be THAT bad for you to feed canned?

Have you tried air dried food like ZiwiPeak yet? It might work well for him.


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## Little Wise Owl (Nov 12, 2011)

For me? Nope! But every canned food I've tried he tries to cover up with imaginary dirt with his nose. lmao

I haven't tried Ziwipeak BUT today he stole a dehydrate rabbit ear from mom's GSD and munched it up... So dehydrated food is something I'll try once he's finished his bag of Redpaw.


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## taquitos (Oct 18, 2012)

Little Wise Owl said:


> For me? Nope! But every canned food I've tried he tries to cover up with imaginary dirt with his nose. lmao
> 
> I haven't tried Ziwipeak BUT today he stole a dehydrate rabbit ear from mom's GSD and munched it up... So dehydrated food is something I'll try once he's finished his bag of Redpaw.


Have you tried Tripett? I find most dogs love it. Or maybe try some cat food?

Yeah try some Ziwipeak


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## Little Wise Owl (Nov 12, 2011)

Haven't tried Tripett yet but will when we finish up what he's eating now.


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## TinyTails (May 16, 2011)

My male chi is super picky - he turns his nose up at most food including freeze dried. The only food he will eat without having to beg is The Honest Kitchen, topped with a bit of chicken. He's also really liking the Farmina low grain chicken - he eats that for breakfast mixed with the fresh chicken. Instead of topping with canned I just buy chicken leg quarters at .50/lb and cook them up once a week to use as toppings


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## Little Wise Owl (Nov 12, 2011)

I really wish I could get Farmina here.


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## Little Wise Owl (Nov 12, 2011)

So, he likes Redpaw X-series... But we just discovered that he LOVES Primal freeze-dried. Like loves. He bounces for it.


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