Hi!

Does anyone or has anyone ever fed their babies Royal Canin's junior Yorkie kibble? I have Diji on it and he doesn't seem to like it. He did like it but now he wont eat it unless I have mixed a bit of steak or mince with it... what are your experiences? I'm thinking of changing his food brand. I don't know to which one though. has anyone got any advice? Thanks!

I've been feeding Pepper that since I got him. He's now 18 weeks and still loves it! Every now and then I treat him by adding mince but then he won't eat it He's a very strange fella!! But good luck, hope you get some good advice!!

Maybe Diji is just a fussy eater... I try my best to feed him at regular meal times. I feed him 3 times a day morning, noon and night but I find that sometimes he just doesn't at meal time and other times he gobbles everything up like a like monster. :alien: Is Pepper like this at all? By the way, I love Pepper's name!

I used to feed Royal Canin until I found this site: www.dogfoodanalysis.com and saw that RC only got 2 out of 6 stars because of their questionable ingredients. I also had loads of problems with Cash not wanting to eat, etc.

After that, I did some research and bought some books on the subject. Because Yorkies eat so little, we have to make sure that what they eat is top quality and sadly RC isn't. It isn't even halfway there.

I switched to home cooking and then to BARF (Biologically Appropriate Raw Food) and although it is more of an effort and takes more time, I love the difference I've seen in their coats, their health and their attitude towards food. I raised June totally on home cooking and she loves food (I've never had any trouble with her appetite).

Anything you make for your babies is infinitely better than commercial, processed foods. Kibble has such terrible ingredients (certain amounts of ash, feces, dirt and carcasses are allowed in the food) and then these ingredients are cooked at such high temperatures that it destroys all the nutritional value. Skin conditions and decreased immunity are some of the effects of these foods.

But do your research and decide for yourself. If you are interested in buying a book on the subject, I would recommend Dr. Pitcairn's book on Complete Nutrition for Dogs and Cats. You can order it through kalahari.net and it has great recipes for meals, treats, supplements and natural remedies.

You can also order home-cooked foods through Vondi's in Cape Town or BARF through Chris at Giveadogabone.co.za if you don't want to make the food yourself.

I can talk about nutrition forever, but I don't want to bore you!! You can really improve your baby's health by knowing exactly what is in their food. And by the way, there is no such thing as a complete meal and the fact that commercial pet food manufacturers says this is completely ridiculous. If they say this, do you think they have any idea what all the vitamins and minerals are that a dog needs? It's a marketing gimmick and I don't fall for it. And as for the claim that it is so great for their coats, did you know that most skin conditions are caused by processed foods?

Mine eat RC too and Taylor has days when she turns her nose up. The baby loves it but he loves most food!

I planned on changing Taylor's diet due to possible allergies and the lady in the food shop seemed very adamant that RC is the best and is breed specific. But i agree with Marilize, you never know what they add to these foods.

I do my own home cooking some days just as a treat

Pet shops and vets will obviously tell you that RC or whatever they stock is the best. Look at the site and do the research. They aren't. If they have RC signs on the walls then you know they are sponsored. And by sponsored I mean that the vet is paid a commission for the food he sells (so obviously he/she will tell you that it is the best) and they are sent to lavish conferences, etc. This practice has been outlawed in human medicine (they used to do the same thing for doctors until it was found to influence the doctor's opinion and this was deemed unethical). Basically, they are bought. Without any consideration for what the food is actually doing to your dogs.

Did you know that pet food manufacturers have been known to pick up the carcasses of euthanised dogs and cats from vets and then they use their meat in the food? Not only is this disgusting, but these dogs/cats have probably been sick and pumped full of drugs to help. Euthanasia is usually the end of the line, so the animals can have any type of drugs in their systems, not to mention viruses. It also effectively makes them cannibals.

If you are determined to feed kibble, take a look at the ingredients list and if they have a starch/maize listed in the first five ingredients, it means that most of the food contains that. Check if it has corn as most dogs can't digest corn and this can cause skin allergies. If the first ingredient is anything like animal derivatives, by-products, etc. then the actual protein that your dog gets from the food can contain hair, feathers, ash, feces, etc. And the protein itself is cooked to such a high temperature that the amino acids are destroyed.

Sorry for going on and on, but I think all pet owners deserve to know the truth. And the truth is that kibble has been proven to cause cancer. Think about it, how many dogs have you known that have gotten cancer in their later years? I don't want my dogs to go through that and it would destroy my heart if I caused their suffering in any way. But like I said in the previous post, to each his own.

Thanks for this Marilize. My mom had two Rottweilers who lived to around 7 years but both died from cancer. My mom had them on strict dog food diets (kibble). It's just so sad to think that this might have been the reason for their deaths. Another strange thing was they both had terrible skin problems and my dad did everything like treat the grass buy special creams and shampoos and nothing ever worked. If only we had known back then..... So I can believe that kibble isn't good for them at all.

Pepper's on RC kibble but I plan on taking him off around 6 months so he's got another month and a half to go.

So then what do you feed them? everyone tells me NOT to home cook (even though I do as a treat) and that the kibble has everything in it that they need.

someone I work with just said she has had to put her Yorkie on a diet because she home cooks for him and he is now overweight at 1 1/2 years old. i battle to believe it because of the small amounts of food Taylor eats and how lean she is.

The one thing I wonder about home cooking is how much do you give them? I'm looking into home cooking or maybe even trying the BARF diet but I'm puzzled with the quantity they should be getting.

Marilize, thank you so much for that post. I had noooo idea! The reason I put Diji on RC was because my vet suggested it but I will definitely bring up the idea of home cookie with her. What is the average day's menu like?

that's a good question??? I know that if i fed Taylor 10 times the amount of kibble with home cooking she would eat it all and get fat! I do mix her food with veggies and chicken occasionally but normally only as a treat.