Adopted an 8 month old chihuahua who was left outside his life, not trained, not neutered..?

Question

Minimal human interaction, and underweight. I adopted him, got him vaccinated, neutered, training classes. Now he is a wonderful loving dog. The only problem i have is that he wont eat dog food, i think they may have just thrown him table scraps. I made him a bowl of chicken, brown rice, carrots and a tbs of hamburger with some kibble mixed in, he ate everything but the kibble Anyone have any ideas? he is much healthier now, but i dont know if feeding him that is detremental in the long run.

Answer 1

Aww! The poor little guy! You need to see, if you can try to get him off of the human food. It doesn't have all of the nutrients required to keep him healthy. Stay away from food sold in Grocery Stores and stores like Walmart. Foods like Pedigree, Purina, Iams, Kibbles and Bits, Alpo, Beneful, basically all of those types of foods. They are all Road Kill and the worst thing you can give him. Also foods some foods that are sold in petstores like Petsmart, foods like Eukanuba and Science Diet, which are also garbage. You need a higher quality food. I feed my Chihuahuas Canidae All Life Stages! They love it, and it's healthy for them. My Chihuahuas also used to be picky about dog food, but I would not give in, by giving them human food! I weaned them off of the old food, by adding a little of the new food to the old food, and the first time I gave the the food mixed, they wanted nothing to do with the old kibble, and picked out the Canidae and ate that by itself! It did not upset their stomach, they did not have any problem with diarrhea or vomitting, from switching food and I've never to this day had any problems with them eating it. Canidae cannot be found in a lot of stores, but if you go to this site!

http://www.canidae.com/dogs/all_life_sta...

Go to the Store Locator Link here! In the space provided, type in the city you live in. It will bring up a list of stores in your area that carry Canidae!http://www.canidae.com/company/storeloca...

Here are some Customer Testimonials on Canidae!http://www.canidae.com/company/customert...

Thank You so much for adoptintg this little guy and taking such good care of him. He's lucky to have a mommy like you, that really cares about him and loves him so much. Good luck and have fun with him. Chihuahua are awesome little dogs!

EDIT: Please do not give your Chihuahua Greenies like the one poster said. Greenies, have caused problems with pieces breaking off, causing dogs to choke, and causing blockages. They may say they changed their formula and made Greenies safer,  but in my opinion, because they have had so many problems with them in the past, I don't trust them and never will give them to my Chihuahuas. There are safer treats out there, that are less of a threat!

Answer 2

There areseveral books on making home cooked meals for your dog. Its not as simple as you may think. There is a certain balance that needs to be in the food, viamins and supplements that will need to be added.

I wouldnt give up on feeding him dry food yet. First you need to get him on a good quality dry food. If you can buy it at a grocery store or department store its not good quality. Orijin, Wellness, and Canidae are popular. As is Blue Buffalo and it's easy to find since it'd sold at Petsmart.

Next try wetting the food with warm water. This brings out the smell in the food and can make it more enticing. If that doesn't work try mixing it with a tasty liquid (that way he can not pick out the kibble) Such as low sodium onion free chicken broth, low fat gravy or natural sugar free yogurt. This usually works great

Good Luck!  

Answer 3

He sounds fine. My dogs won't eat dog food either...why eat can muck when he can eat chicken and steak. Mine won't eat their pea  either.

Answer 4

A dog can be healthy eating the types of food you described. It is more costly though, but Chihuahua's don't eat much. If you really want him to eat dog food, buy a high quality brand such as Science diet or Eukanuba and then soak it in chicken broth or maybe pour some grease drippings over it, not too much of the grease though, you don't want him to be overweight just enough to coat each piece.

Answer 5

add green beans also to the mix you made, as for his teeth need hard chews so if he will chew on greenies get them for his teeth they also have other chews for the teeth test them out and see which 1 he likes