What Should I Feed My Chihuahua?

I stumbled across the following question, posed on recipezaar.com of all places, and have reposted it here along with my response for posterity...

I have a 1 yr old Teacup Chihuahua who has had a sensitive stomach since I got her, and I have continuously struggled with foods...Due to all the recalls, I started making my own. I have been giving her Minute Rice mixed with Campbell's Chicken Broth, & Canned white chicken. She seems to love it, and her stomach has not been acting up, but is this giving her all the nutrition she needs? Is there anything I need to add, while still keeping it simple? And also, my vet says she's a little overweight...what can I add/remove to keep her weight down?
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No, that diet is definitely not very healthy.

Firstly, white rice is TERRIBLE...for dogs as well as humans. It's nothing but pure starch. To the body, its basically the same as sugar.

Secondly, dogs are not carnivores, they are omnivores, just like us. They need a good mix of meats, vegetables, fruits and grains to achieve optimal health.

Thirdly, don't feed your Chihuahua the same meal every day. Vary the diet somewhat from day-to-day or week-to-week This will help make sure that your Chi isn't missing out on any essential nutrients. You'll want to go slowly on this with your Chi to make sure you aren't distressing her digestive system, but I think you'll be suprised at how well she will handle whole foods.

Here are my suggestions:
1) Switch to brown rice, you can cook up a small batch of it that will last all week.

2) Add in some steamed/boiled veggies. I recommend a varied mix of "colors", because the colors are produced by different combinations of phyto nutrients (this just means plant nutrients) so you can be sure that your Chihuahua is getting all of the vitamins & minerals that she needs to have optimal health. For example: broccoli, red/yellow bell peppers, carrots, squash, any kind of green leafy veggies like spinach, collard/turnip/mustard greens, etc. Use your imagination here. You probably want to introduce these slowly, and one at a time so you can make sure that she can stomach each new addition.

3) Use a quality protein source. The easiest are eggs and/or almost any type of quality meat: chicken, beef, lamb, bison, pork, etc. I recommend varying this over time too, but go slowly again.

4) Dogs need fats too. Like humans, they especially need to have the essential fatty acid, Omega 6, in their diet because their body cannot produce it on its own. Best sources are beans (great northern, kidney, navy & soybeans), fish, fish oils, flax seed or oil and borage oil. Fortunately, chicken fat and pork fat also contain some Omega 6.

It's really easy to get all this together and cook up enough to last all week (for a Chihuahua anyway). You can even make bigger batches and freeze some.

Cook and mix up the following (a chopper or food processor is great for this):
One cup rice, one cup veggies, one cup meat and 1/4 cup of Omega 6 fats (cooked beans, fish, or flax..etc)

We like to feed our Chihuahuas twice a day. Start with 1/4 - 1/2 cup at each feeding and adjust as necessary to maintain proper weight.

Hope this helps!
Gregg Dickson
How to care for Chihuahuas
http://www.ChihuahuaFanatics.com/