Cindy from Ohio wrote:
Hi, I am enjoying your Chihuahua report. I have been looking for a good brand of Dog food for my new Chi. I was told that Merrick, and Chicken Soup for the Puppies Soul were healthy foods to feed him. What is your opinion on these two? Do you have a name brand recommendation that is nutritional and safe?
Thanks Cindy
____________________________
Hi Cindy,
The ingredients for the Chicken Soup for the Puppies Soul look very good. A good variety of meats and veggies with very few presevatives. Two things that concern me about the food:
1) It is made by the Diamond Pet Food Company. They have not had the best track record for making quality pet foods. In fact, the canned version of the Puppies formula was included in the recent pet food recall because it contained the rice protein concentrate additive, melamine, which is the prime suspect in the rash of dog food related deaths that occured last spring.
http://www.fda.gov/oc/po/firmrecalls/diamond04_07.html
2) Some dog owners have reported bloody stools after feeding one of the Chicken Soup varieties of food. Coincidentally (or maybe not so coincidentally), this was one of the key symptoms associated with the deaths as well.
http://www.rateitall.com/i-53381-chicken-soup-for-the-dog-lovers-soul.aspx
While I'm sure that Diamond has tightened up their quality control since the tragedies last spring, I'm not sure I would trust them to have your pet's health as their #1 concern.
The ingredients for Merrick also look very good. I like the fact that they are a small, family owned outfit too. It appears that they have had some quality control issues...but only a few. I wouldn't hesitate to try their food.
We feed our Chi's Nature's Variety Freeze Dried Raw Medallions. Half a medallion morning and evening. We also leave 1/4 cup of the dry kibble out for them to nibble on each day.
http://www.naturesvariety.com/
One last comment: each dog is unique. Therefore, watch your dog closely anytime you change his diet. If he doesn't tolerate the new food well after a few weeks of adjustment time, then change to something else.
Hope this helps,
Gregg
http://www.chihuahuafanatics.com/
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Mary Beth asked:
My chi recently had calcium oxalate stones removed. Can you recommend a diet to help prevent them from forming again? My Vet recommeneded Hills u/d but I refused to put him on that food.
Thank you,
Mary Beth
_____________________________________________________
Mary Beth,
I'm sorry to hear that your Chi is struggling with kidney/bladder stones. How old is your Chi? Is he/she a male or female?
There are several factors that can cause Chihuahua bladder stones. Some of the most common are:
My chi recently had calcium oxalate stones removed. Can you recommend a diet to help prevent them from forming again? My Vet recommeneded Hills u/d but I refused to put him on that food.
Thank you,
Mary Beth
_____________________________________________________
Mary Beth,
I'm sorry to hear that your Chi is struggling with kidney/bladder stones. How old is your Chi? Is he/she a male or female?
There are several factors that can cause Chihuahua bladder stones. Some of the most common are:
- Urine pH. pH is an indicator of acidity level. It can be measured via hydrogen ion concentration. a pH of 7 is neutral, below 7 is acidic and above 7 is alkaline. Generally, dogs tend to have slightly acidic urine around 6 - 6.5. Unfortunately, calcium oxalate stones have a propensity to form in acidic to neutral urine. Urine pH needs to be measure immediately upon voiding from the bladder for it to be accurate. Hopefully, your vet checked this while assessing your Chi's symptoms. If the pH was low then you can reduce the acidity of your Chi's diet to reduce the likelihood of stone formation. The addition of 1 tablespoon of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) or better yet, potassium bicarbonate per liter of water to your Chi's water and/or food may help.
- Bacterial infection. The vet should have cultured the inside of one of the stones to determine if bacteria is the cause, since urine is supposed to be sterile. If the vet neglected to perform this step, then I'd recommend looking for another vet. You can still have a culture performed of your Chi's urine without the stones, but it must be performed against a fresh sample of urine, because bacteria will invade it very quickly once it leaves the body. If the culture is positive, then the vet can test several antibiotics on it to see which is most effective. and treat the Chi with that antibiotic.
- Dehydration. Insufficient liquid intake can result in a higher concentration of minerals in the urine. This can result in more frequent occurrence of stones. Encourage your Chi to drink lots of water.
- Infrequent urination. The longer the urine stays in the bladder, the more likely the minerals can condense and crystallize to form stones. Try to encourage your Chi to urinate 6 or more times a day if he/she is prone to stones.
- Hard water. If you live near the beach or other lowland areas, then your tap water is likely hard, meaning that it has a higher mineral content than normal. You can use a water filter to reduce the mineral content of the water, or even buy distilled water to eliminate all mineral content, if your Chi has ongoing struggles with stones. Avoid spring water, however, since it can also be high in mineral content.
- Diet. An imbalance of nutrients or a diet that is too high in certain minerals or too low in others can increase the likelihood of stone formation. This is a very complex topic and there are dozens of chemical processes that can be involved. in general however, since you mention that the stones are calcium oxalate, increase the amount of magnesium, phosphorus, and calcium in the diet. Increasing dietary magnesium and phosphorus decreases the amount of calcium in the urine, and increasing dietary calcium reduces absorption of oxalates from the intestines. Potassium citrate may help prevent calcium oxalate stone formation because it forms a soluble complex with oxalates and promotes the formation of alkaline urine. Some people use 1 tablespoon of potassium citrate combined with a tablespoon of potassium bicarbonate mentioned above in a 1:1 ratio added per liter of water as a preventative.
- Genetic factors. There isn't a lot you can do about this, but some dogs are just predisposed to the formation of stones because of abnormalities or genetic mutations. You can ask your breeder if other owners have reported problems with their Chi's. If it turns out that your Chi is prone, then I would recommend using most or all of the tips mentioned above to help minimize the frequency and severity of stone formation.
- Disease. Sometimes kidney/bladder stones are symptoms of another illness. A thorough medical evaluation is recommended to help rule out other health problems.
- Aging. Some dogs, especially males, become more prone to stone formation as they age because of changes in hormone levels. In addition to the preventative measures mentioned above, hormone replacement therapy may also be a possible solution.
I hope this helps. Please let us know if you discover any other tips that help.
Gregg Dickson
http://www.ChihuahuaFanatics.com/
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Dogs are intelligent beings...
MSNBC.com
Washington Post: What is your dog thinking?
Research provides more evidence of surprisingly complex abilities
By Rob Stein
The Washington Post
Updated: 11:24 p.m. ET June 3, 2007
Dog owners have long maintained that their pooches have a lot more going on between their furry ears than scientists acknowledge. Now, new research is adding to the growing evidence that man's best friend thinks a lot more than many humans have believed.
The provocative new experiment indicated that dogs can do something that previously only humans, including infants, have been shown capable of doing: decide how to imitate a behavior based on the specific circumstances in which the action takes place.
"The fact that the dogs imitate selectively, depending on the situation -- that has not been shown before," said Friederike Range of the University of Vienna, who led the study. "That's something completely new."
The findings come amid a flurry of research that is revealing surprisingly complex abilities among dogs, chimps, birds and many other animals long dismissed as having little intellectual or emotional life.
"Every day, we're discovering surprises about animals and finding out animals are far more intelligent and far more emotional than we previously thought," said Marc Bekoff, an animal behaviorist who recently retired from the University of Colorado. "We're really breaking down the lines between the species."
The study was inspired by research with human infants. Fourteen-month-olds will imitate an adult turning on a light with her forehead only if they see her doing it with her hands free. If the adult is clutching a blanket, infants will use their hands, presumably because they can reason that the adult resorted to using her forehead because she had no choice.
To determine whether an animal could respond similarly, Range and her colleagues trained Guinness, a female border collie, to push a wooden rod with her paw to get a treat. A dog generally does not use its paws to do tasks, preferring to use its mouth whenever possible. So the key question was whether dogs that watched Guinness would decide how to get the treat depending on the circumstances.
After making sure the owners could not influence their pets' behavior, researchers tested three groups of dogs. The first 14, representing a variety of breeds, did not watch Guinness. When taught how to use the rod, about 85 percent pushed it with their mouth, confirming that is how dogs naturally like to do things.
The second group of 21 dogs watched Guinness repeatedly push the rod with her paw while holding a ball in her mouth. In that group, most of the dogs -- about 80 percent -- used their mouth, imitating the action but not the exact method Guinness had used. That suggested the dogs -- like the children -- decided Guinness was only using her paw because she had no choice.
‘More sophisticated’The third group of 19 dogs watched Guinness repeatedly use a paw on the rod with her mouth free. Most of those dogs -- 83 percent -- imitated her behavior exactly, using their paws and not their mouth. That suggested they concluded there must be some good reason to act against their instincts and do it like Guinness.
"The behavior was very similar to the children who were tested in the original experiment," said Zsofia Viranyi of Eotvos University in Budapest, who helped conduct the experiment, published in the May 15 issue of the journal Current Biology. "Whether they imitate or not depends on the context. It's not automatic, insightless copying. It's more sophisticated. There's a kind of inferential process going on. "
Viranyi and her colleagues said more research is needed to confirm the results and to explore what the findings say about the canine brain.
"Do they use the same cognitive process as the infant? Or is it something different?" Range said. "We have no way of knowing that right now."
The findings stunned many researchers.
"What's surprising and shocking about this is that we thought this sort of imitation was very sophisticated, something seen only in humans," said Brian Hare, who studies dogs at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany. "Once again, it ends up dogs are smarter than scientists thought."
Making inferencesThe experiment suggests that dogs can put themselves inside the head of another dog -- and perhaps people -- to make relatively complex decisions.
"This suggests they can actually think about your intention -- they can look for explanations of your behavior and make inferences about what you are thinking," Hare said.
Others go even further, suggesting the findings indicate that dogs have a sense of awareness.
"It really shows a higher level of consciousness," said Stanley Coren at the University of British Columbia, who studies how dogs think. "This takes a real degree of consciousness."
Others were more skeptical, saying it's too far a leap to conclude from the study that dogs possess conscious awareness.
"It's so easy for the human mind to look at a dog doing something like this and force our human way of thinking about it on the dog," said Daniel J. Povinelli, a cognitive scientist at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. "This ability might happen automatically without any conscious reflection on the dog's part."
The findings could simply be yet another example of the well-documented ability of dogs to interpret subtle physical cues that stem from their long, close relationship with humans, several researchers said.
"Dogs are really keen observers of the world around them," said Bruce Blumberg, who teaches classes on dog behavior at Harvard University. "They use simple but reliable rules that capture just enough of a problem to be able to just do better than guessing. This may just be another example of that."
Regardless of the interpretation, the research reflects a renewed interest in dogs.
"There's been an extraordinary explosion in research on dogs," said Stephen Zawistowski, an animal behaviorist at the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. "What we're seeing really for the first time is incredibly serious and important work on dog behavior and dog genetics. The really important work will be when the canine cognitive work meets the canine genome work. It's going to give us information about where these capabilities come from."
© 2007 The Washington Post Company
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19018411/
MSN Privacy . Legal© 2007 MSNBC.com
Washington Post: What is your dog thinking?
Research provides more evidence of surprisingly complex abilities
By Rob Stein
The Washington Post
Updated: 11:24 p.m. ET June 3, 2007
Dog owners have long maintained that their pooches have a lot more going on between their furry ears than scientists acknowledge. Now, new research is adding to the growing evidence that man's best friend thinks a lot more than many humans have believed.
The provocative new experiment indicated that dogs can do something that previously only humans, including infants, have been shown capable of doing: decide how to imitate a behavior based on the specific circumstances in which the action takes place.
"The fact that the dogs imitate selectively, depending on the situation -- that has not been shown before," said Friederike Range of the University of Vienna, who led the study. "That's something completely new."
The findings come amid a flurry of research that is revealing surprisingly complex abilities among dogs, chimps, birds and many other animals long dismissed as having little intellectual or emotional life.
"Every day, we're discovering surprises about animals and finding out animals are far more intelligent and far more emotional than we previously thought," said Marc Bekoff, an animal behaviorist who recently retired from the University of Colorado. "We're really breaking down the lines between the species."
The study was inspired by research with human infants. Fourteen-month-olds will imitate an adult turning on a light with her forehead only if they see her doing it with her hands free. If the adult is clutching a blanket, infants will use their hands, presumably because they can reason that the adult resorted to using her forehead because she had no choice.
To determine whether an animal could respond similarly, Range and her colleagues trained Guinness, a female border collie, to push a wooden rod with her paw to get a treat. A dog generally does not use its paws to do tasks, preferring to use its mouth whenever possible. So the key question was whether dogs that watched Guinness would decide how to get the treat depending on the circumstances.
After making sure the owners could not influence their pets' behavior, researchers tested three groups of dogs. The first 14, representing a variety of breeds, did not watch Guinness. When taught how to use the rod, about 85 percent pushed it with their mouth, confirming that is how dogs naturally like to do things.
The second group of 21 dogs watched Guinness repeatedly push the rod with her paw while holding a ball in her mouth. In that group, most of the dogs -- about 80 percent -- used their mouth, imitating the action but not the exact method Guinness had used. That suggested the dogs -- like the children -- decided Guinness was only using her paw because she had no choice.
‘More sophisticated’The third group of 19 dogs watched Guinness repeatedly use a paw on the rod with her mouth free. Most of those dogs -- 83 percent -- imitated her behavior exactly, using their paws and not their mouth. That suggested they concluded there must be some good reason to act against their instincts and do it like Guinness.
"The behavior was very similar to the children who were tested in the original experiment," said Zsofia Viranyi of Eotvos University in Budapest, who helped conduct the experiment, published in the May 15 issue of the journal Current Biology. "Whether they imitate or not depends on the context. It's not automatic, insightless copying. It's more sophisticated. There's a kind of inferential process going on. "
Viranyi and her colleagues said more research is needed to confirm the results and to explore what the findings say about the canine brain.
"Do they use the same cognitive process as the infant? Or is it something different?" Range said. "We have no way of knowing that right now."
The findings stunned many researchers.
"What's surprising and shocking about this is that we thought this sort of imitation was very sophisticated, something seen only in humans," said Brian Hare, who studies dogs at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany. "Once again, it ends up dogs are smarter than scientists thought."
Making inferencesThe experiment suggests that dogs can put themselves inside the head of another dog -- and perhaps people -- to make relatively complex decisions.
"This suggests they can actually think about your intention -- they can look for explanations of your behavior and make inferences about what you are thinking," Hare said.
Others go even further, suggesting the findings indicate that dogs have a sense of awareness.
"It really shows a higher level of consciousness," said Stanley Coren at the University of British Columbia, who studies how dogs think. "This takes a real degree of consciousness."
Others were more skeptical, saying it's too far a leap to conclude from the study that dogs possess conscious awareness.
"It's so easy for the human mind to look at a dog doing something like this and force our human way of thinking about it on the dog," said Daniel J. Povinelli, a cognitive scientist at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. "This ability might happen automatically without any conscious reflection on the dog's part."
The findings could simply be yet another example of the well-documented ability of dogs to interpret subtle physical cues that stem from their long, close relationship with humans, several researchers said.
"Dogs are really keen observers of the world around them," said Bruce Blumberg, who teaches classes on dog behavior at Harvard University. "They use simple but reliable rules that capture just enough of a problem to be able to just do better than guessing. This may just be another example of that."
Regardless of the interpretation, the research reflects a renewed interest in dogs.
"There's been an extraordinary explosion in research on dogs," said Stephen Zawistowski, an animal behaviorist at the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. "What we're seeing really for the first time is incredibly serious and important work on dog behavior and dog genetics. The really important work will be when the canine cognitive work meets the canine genome work. It's going to give us information about where these capabilities come from."
© 2007 The Washington Post Company
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19018411/
MSN Privacy . Legal© 2007 MSNBC.com
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Chihuahua Birth Defects - Congenital or Womb Related?
Our response to the following question on Yahoo Answers...
I am looking into adopting a puppy with a malformed front left paw. The breeder so far seems to be ethical although I have not been able to visit her home yet. She is "giving" the dog to me under condition that I sign a contract to have her spayed as soon as she is old enough, and if at any time I cannot take care of her, I must return her to the breeder to be re-homed. I am reimbursing her for veterinary expenses such as vaccinations.
Source(s):
http://www.chihuahuaclubofamerica.com/...
I am looking into adopting a puppy with a malformed front left paw. The breeder so far seems to be ethical although I have not been able to visit her home yet. She is "giving" the dog to me under condition that I sign a contract to have her spayed as soon as she is old enough, and if at any time I cannot take care of her, I must return her to the breeder to be re-homed. I am reimbursing her for veterinary expenses such as vaccinations.
This is what the breeder has told me about the puppy - she is the runt of a 10 pup litter with 7 surviving. There were many difficulties in the birth of this litter. The dog is from champion lines (I will research this to make sure) and is capable of being AKC registered. The breeder is of the opinion that she simply did not have enough room in the womb to grow, and as a result she has the defect as well as the extremely small size.
A question for Chihuahua breeders: Is this common in large litters, or should I watch out for other defects as well?
_____________________________________________________
I agree with you that the breeder "seems to be ethical", based on the questions she has asked and the conditions she is setting. However, I would be very concerned about future health problems with this pup. I would say that it is very likely that she will have issues. I would absolutely recommend a comprehensive evaluation by a vet. Make sure you explain the entire situation to the vet so they can check for many common health issues.
I would also ask the breeder these types of questions:
- is she a member of the Chihuahua Club of America? If she says yes then check here to be sure: http://www.chihuahuaclubofamerica.com/al...
- how many litters has the dam had before this one?
- how many pups in each of those litters?
- how many deaths/deformities?
- how big/small were those pups?
- have the dam or sire had any medical issues?
- have any of the offspring had medical issues?
- ask to see the medical history of the dam and the sire
- ask to see medical evaluation documentation for prior offspring
- ask for a list of people who have bought/adopted prior offspring, especially any that were extra small or have deformities. Then call some of the owners on the list and ask them about their experiences with medical or other issues with their dogs.
If the breeder seems defensive or guarded about answering any of the questions or can't produce thorough documentation on the dam/sire or pups, then those are big red flags.
If the dam has a history of large litters (more than 5 pups) then another red flag - a breeder more concerned about making money than about the health of the dam or the offspring.
Also, lookup other breeders in your area from the Chihuahua Club of America site and ask them their opinion of this breeder. Explain the situation to them and ask their advice.
If you still want the pup after all of this, then at least you are going into the relationship with eyes wide open. I'd advise doing some soul searching to be sure that you are willing to love and care for the dog no matter what happens in the future.
Good luck and God bless,
Gregg Dickson
http://www.chihuahuafanatics.com/...
Source(s):
http://www.chihuahuaclubofamerica.com/...
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Do you Wonder if Commercial Dog Food is Killing your Chihuahua?
If You Care about Your Chihuahua's Health, Read this Before you Buy Commercial Dog Food.
If you knew the truth about how commercial dog food is made, it would be the LAST thing you ever fed to your Chihuahua. Don't be fooled by the slick packaging and meaningless marketing terms like "premium" or "natural". It's the ingredients that actually go into the package that matter, and those can be quite appalling...even shocking! Therefore, choose the food that your Chihuahua will be eating every day with extreme care.
Like most Chihuahua owners, I'm sure you care deeply about the health and well being of your precious Chi. Therefore, you need to be aware of the appalling state of affairs in the commercial pet food industry. Many of the brand names that you know and trust are quite simply using ingredients that can harm your dog.
An analysis of these ingredients can be alarming, even downright disgusting! They take a lot of stuff that is not fit for human consumption, including animal "by-products", things like hooves, organs, stomachs and bowels...with the contents still in them, sick and diseased animals, even road kill and euthanized dogs and cats in some documented cases. Then they mix in the refuse from vegetable and grain processing. Stuff like ground corncobs, stalks and husks, rotten and spoiled vegetables and moldy, fungus riddled grains. Then they mix it together, package it up, stick fancy labeling on it and sell it as dog food.
With a few rare exceptions, the commercial dog food manufacturers seem to be more concerned about their profit margins than they are about the health of their customers' pets. This leads to a strong temptation to "cut corners" by using cheaper, less nutritious ingredients and unsafe or unhealthy chemicals to reduce the preparation time or increase the shelf-life of their products.
Understanding Dog Food Labels
A better understanding of the labeling of commercially prepared dog food probably won't make you feel any better about feeding it to your Chihuahua. Current regulations require a net quantity statement (minimum % of protein, fat, fiber and water) and a list of the ingredients - that's all. In other words, the government doesn't care what goes in the product as long as the manufacturer tells you what it is. And the terms used in the descriptions, like "animal by-products" for instance, don't even have to be clearly defined.
Some states have additional regulations, usually based on information from the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO). In fact, many commercially prepared dog foods will use the so-called "stringent" testing controls required by the AAFCO to validate their products. You may be interested to know however, that these controls are minimal. To meet AAFCO's requirements, a product either has to meet the nutritional guidelines it sets forth or pass a food trial.
These trials, however, are not nearly as scientific as one might expect. In fact, they only require that a minimum of 8 dogs be participants in the test and that the testing period run for a minimum of six months. A product is considered "safe" if the dogs don't lose more than 15% of their original body weight, don't die or aren't removed from the test because of nutritional causes and that at least 6 of 8 dogs complete the test.
Although the AAFCO does provide a little regulation over the industry, the truth of the matter is - commercially prepared dog food is not subject to quality control. According to the AAFCO guidelines, any product that lists a type of meat in its name must contain at least 95% of that particular type of meat minus the water needed for processing. This holds true for beef, chicken, fish and lamb. If a product is classified as a "dinner", "platter" or "entrée", the requirement for the percentage of that ingredient drops to a minimum of 25%. A product label that uses the word "with" on the other hand must contain only 3% of the named ingredient. "Flavored" products only have to contain enough of the ingredient to be detectable.
Widespread use of artificial preservatives is another red flag. Regulations only require that the preservatives be listed, not that they've been proven safe for your pet. Many of these ingredients including; BHA, BHT, ethoxyquin and other chemicals that have been linked to liver and kidney dysfunction as well as allergic reactions, organ failure and skin problems in dogs.
As a caring Chihuahua owner, the lesson is that you simply cannot blindly trust that a commercial dog food is a safe choice for your pet. Can you still feed commercially prepared foods? The answer is yes, but with extreme caution.
5 Keys to Choosing a Commercial Dog Food
1) Check the label carefully: since ingredients are listed on the label from the highest to the lowest percentage, choose a product that lists a quality protein source such as Chicken, Turkey, Lamb... as the first ingredient. Avoid generic terms like meat or poultry. The listing of an ingredient, however, does not take into account it's quality. Just because beef is the first ingredient, you should not assume that the beef is the type of beef you would consume. In fact, very few dog food products use human grade beef which must meet FDA standards.
2) Avoid "by-products": they can include parts that may or may not be digestible such as feet, hooves, blood, fatty tissue, intestines, claws, beaks and even feathers and fur.
3) Watch out for changing ingredients: most dog owners don't know that many commercial dog food manufacturers adjust their ingredients to take advantage of current prices. Many dogs do not tolerate sudden changes in their diets very well. Keeping a few labels to compare against each other will tell you if this is a practice of the manufacturer of your brand of dog food.
4) Be wary of Veterinary recommendations: Don't get me wrong, Vets are great people. It's just very difficult for them to be objective when the food manufacturers are throwing money and incentives at them on a grand scale.
5) Look for "whole" or "organic" foods: The best way to find top-notch foods is to visit Chihuahua owners forums and groups on the internet to ask for advice.
6) Make your own food: OK, I said 5 keys, so this one is a freebie, and it's something you should seriously consider. It is the only way you can be certain of exactly what you are feeding your dog. And it isn't nearly as daunting as you might have been lead to believe. Especially for Chihuahuas, since they eat such small quantities. Once again, the best place to start, if you want to pursue this option, is in the Chihuahua care groups and forums on the internet.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Press Release - The Dog Food Poisoning Scandal
The founders of The Chihuahua Fanatics Club, an online community for people who care for Chihuahuas, are so upset over the latest episode in the dog food poisoning scandal, that they have begun a crusade to inform Chihuahua care givers everywhere of the dangers of feeding commercial dog food to their pets. They are also committed to providing in-depth nutritional guidelines and a collection of whole food recipes that meet the nutritional needs of the whole family, dogs and humans alike, at a low cost and a minimum of fuss.
Lawrenceville, GA (PRWEB) May 16, 2007 -- The Dickson family, founders of The Chihuahua Fanatics Club (www.chihuahuafanatics.com/), are fed up with the dismal state of affairs in the commercial dog food industry. In fact, they are so upset that they and their fellow Chihuahua Fanatics Club members have taken matters into their own hands. They have begun collecting, analyzing and publishing the ingredients, labeling and marketing literature of brand-name, gourmet dog foods to highlight the widespread lack of quality and safety of these commercially prepared foods. But they won’t stop there. They are also developing a complete set of Chihuahua nutritional guidelines, as well as an ever growing collection of whole food recipes that are good for the entire family, dogs as well as humans.
The Chihuahua Fanatics Club.
“It was devastating to hear, yet again, about the loss of so many precious pets because of the poor quality of the food that is available for them,” she says.
"As we researched the nutritional requirements of our Chihuahuas, it became obvious that optimal nutrition for them is essentially the same combination of basic ingredients as are needed in the human diet. It’s just that their quantities are a lot smaller", stated Gregg Dickson, co-founder of the club.
“Most people don’t realize that dogs are omnivores, just as humans are. They don’t do well on a diet of mostly meat, but need a balance of proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals, in a slightly different ratio than is best for humans.
"We aren't talking about table scraps," states Mr. Dickson, "but a combination of lean meats, whole grains and easily digestible vegetables. The same types of foods that dogs and humans ate in the wild before we became civilized. This is the way we were designed to eat, and virtually all humans and canines ate this way until the last few hundred years.
"We believe that both our dogs and our human family members can benefit greatly by going back to the basics of a whole food diet and avoiding all of the refined, processed, man-made foods laden with unnatural and unhealthy substances like white flour, processed fats, refined sugars and a slew of undecipherable chemicals. These include foods like white bread, pasta, white rice and almost all packaged foods. For commercial dog food it’s much worse, even downright disgusting! They take all of the stuff that isn't fit for human consumption, including animal organs, stomachs and bowels ... with the contents still in them, sick and diseased animals, even road kill and euthanized dogs and cats in some documented cases. Then they mix in the refuse from vegetable and grain processing. Stuff like ground corn cobs and husks, rotten and spoiled vegetables and moldy, fungus laden grains. Then they mix it all together, package it up and sell it as dog food.
"The commercial food manufacturers, of both human and dog food, seem to be more concerned about their profit margins than they are about the health of their customers. This leads to a strong temptation to 'cut corners' by using cheaper, less nutritious ingredients, less than optimal processing techniques and unsafe or unhealthy chemicals to reduce the preparation time or increase the shelf-life of their products.
"But rather than crusade to try to change the commercial dog food industry, we want to provide solutions that will work for the average dog loving family today. We have gathered in-depth information on how to meet the nutritional needs of your Chihuahua with food that is far superior to anything you can get from a pet food manufacturer, all at a low cost and in a convenient manner."
The Chihuahua Fanatics Club (www.chihuahuafanatics.com/) is an online community for the free exchange of information and resources about how to care for Chihuahuas and friendship for Chihuahua lovers everywhere.
Gregg and Vicki Dickson, Founders
The Chihuahua Fanatics Club
http://www.chihuahuafanatics.com/
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
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/
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/
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