Which dog food do you feed your shih tzu?

Lori612 · 02-17-2009, 08:00 PM

I have a 9 month old shih tzu named Maddi and I would like to find the best quality dry dog food for her. Right now I am feeding her Royal Canin Shih Tzu. She's been eating that since we got her from the breeder. The breeder was feeding her Royal Canin Puppy. We fed her puppy then recently switched to shih tzu. I was told that Royal Canin is not the best one out there. My shih tzu is starting to get bored of it and sometimes skips meals. I placed an order for a 4lb bag of Halo dry dog food for Maddi to try. Has anyone tried this brand and did your shih tzu like it? What brands do you recommend and why do you recommend them? Is it better to buy a dog food that is specifically for shih tzu's? How are the following brands, has your shih tzu tried it and did he/she like it?

Avoderm
Blue Buffalo
By Nature
Nature’s Recipe
Nutro Ultra
Pro Plan Selects
Science Diet

How long should your dog be eating the same brand of dog food? Should you switch after a few months?

El Fragil · 02-17-2009, 09:43 PM

orijin.......

flipgirl · 02-18-2009, 01:25 AM

It's Orijen.

Orijen is a good food but depending on where you live, you may have to order it.

I wouldn't feed Science Diet; I'm just not a big fan. They use ethoxyquin as a preservative and some other questionable ingredients. Amongst all of the other issues I have with the Hill's products. I'm not sure about the other brands but I fed my dog Eagle Pack Holistic Selects Chicken and Rice and then Innova puppy when she was a puppy. Both are good foods.

poodleholic · 02-18-2009, 02:03 AM

Innova EVO, Red Meat and the Chicken
Stella & Chewy's Dehydrated Lamb Steaks
Evanger's canned Venison

Lori612 · 02-18-2009, 02:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flipgirl

It's Orijen.

Orijen is a good food but depending on where you live, you may have to order it.

I wouldn't feed Science Diet; I'm just not a big fan. They use ethoxyquin as a preservative and some other questionable ingredients. Amongst all of the other issues I have with the Hill's products. I'm not sure about the other brands but I fed my dog Eagle Pack Holistic Selects Chicken and Rice and then Innova puppy when she was a puppy. Both are good foods.

Thx for all the info. Another canadian told me she feeds her shih tzu Innova also. Which pet store do you buy the Innova and Eagle Pack Holistic Selects from? We have a Ren's, PetSmart and Petcetera where we live so I will check if they have them there. Thx for the info about Science Diet. I won't be getting that.

TwoSweetBabies · 02-18-2009, 10:33 AM

Lori:
I have already posted a reply to your post about Halo dog foods earlier in this forum. But I did not notice your pup was a shihtzu as well. I have a 2 year old shihtzu little girl, and a 1 year old scottish terrier little girl. They both do very well on the Innova adult dry dog food (i buy the small bites, since my dogs are small, but they can eat the large bites just fine as well).
You can go to naturapet.com and go to the "where to buy" link, enter in your city and province and the radius you would like the store to be in, and it will tell you if there are any locations near you.

I wasnt clear on exactly where you lived, but I did a search for places near Alberta and this is what it came up with:

Almonte Natural Food Store
34 Mill Street
Almonte, ON K0A 1A0
(613) 256-1833

Bark & Fitz Kanata
145 Roland Michener Drive.
Unit YO5B Kanata Centrum
Ottawa, ON K2T 1G7
(613) 792-3711

Critter Jungle
1405 Carling Avenue
Ottawa, ON K1Z 7L6
(613) 729-7354

Global Pet Foods
1176 Bank Street
Ottawa, ON K1S 3X9
(613) 422-6741

Global Pet Foods
3191 Standherd Drive
Ottawa, ON K2J 5N1
(613) 825-5615

Global Pet Foods
6081 Hazeldean Rd
Ottawa, ON K2S 1B9
(613) 836-3023

March Road Pet Food & Grooming
1112 March Road
Kanata, ON K2W 1B9
(613) 591-9423

Natural Pet Foods
339 Churchill Ave N
Ottawa, ON K1Z 5B8
(613) 321-7282
Website

Natural Pet Foods
61 Bridge Street
Carleton Place, ON K7C 2V2
(613) 253-7387

Rainbow Foods
1487 Richmond Rd.
Ottawa, ON K2B 6R9
(613) 726-9200

Sandy Hill Pet Food Co-op
304 Wilbrod Street
Ottawa, ON K1N 6M1
(613) 321-5915
Website

The Pampered Pet
2446 Bank Street
Unit 127
Ottawa, ON K1V 1A4
(613) 521-6272

Now im not familiar at all with Canada so I have no idea if this helps you at all but I hope it does!
Keep us updated

Lori612 · 02-18-2009, 04:07 PM

You are so sweet! Thank you for all your help. I did the search and found some locations in Oakville. Since I already ordered the Halo I will feed Maddi that then after I will give Innova a try.

flipgirl · 02-19-2009, 01:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lori612

You are so sweet! Thank you for all your help. I did the search and found some locations in Oakville. Since I already ordered the Halo I will feed Maddi that then after I will give Innova a try.

There is a Global Ryans at Third Line and Dundas if you live in Oakville. That would probably be the only place that would sell Innova. Eagle Pack is available at Pet Valu stores as well as Ryan's. Bark & Fitz sells Orijen (so does Ryans). If you can't find Innova at the Global Ryans then there is a Ryan's pet foods in Burlington at Appleby and New Street or Walker's Line and Dundas.

Lori612 · 02-19-2009, 09:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flipgirl

There is a Global Ryans at Third Line and Dundas if you live in Oakville. That would probably be the only place that would sell Innova. Eagle Pack is available at Pet Valu stores as well as Ryan's. Bark & Fitz sells Orijen (so does Ryans). If you can't find Innova at the Global Ryans then there is a Ryan's pet foods in Burlington at Appleby and New Street or Walker's Line and Dundas.

Thank you for all the info. I really appreciate it. I will check out Global Ryans.

Lori612 · 03-10-2009, 05:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flipgirl

It's Orijen.

Orijen is a good food but depending on where you live, you may have to order it.

I wouldn't feed Science Diet; I'm just not a big fan. They use ethoxyquin as a preservative and some other questionable ingredients. Amongst all of the other issues I have with the Hill's products. I'm not sure about the other brands but I fed my dog Eagle Pack Holistic Selects Chicken and Rice and then Innova puppy when she was a puppy. Both are good foods.

At what age was your shih tzu when you started feeding Eagle Pack Holistic Selects?

I purchased Orijen and fed it to my 9 month old shih tzu yesterday and she was pooping like mad throughout the day and night. She pooped 4-5 times as much as she use to. She pooped all over the house and she threw up once. She ate one of her poops. On her old food, Royal Canin Shih Tzu Adult, she did not poop this much. She only pooped 3 times a day when we took her out. Today I fed her her old food and only put a 5 pieces of Orijen in the food. She won't eat either. Not sure if she's scared to eat or if your tummy is still upset from yesterday.

StellaLucyDesi · 03-10-2009, 05:56 PM

I have a Cavalier, Shih-poo, and a Poodle/Brittany/Chi mix. I have used both Orijen and Eagle Pack Holistic Select. I fed Eagle Pack Holistic Select for about 4 mos. before switching to Orijen. The only reason I switched was I thought I would try the grain-free with them. Right now, they are back on Eagle Pack H.S. Anchovy dry mixed with EPHS can. They loved Orijen, I mean really loved it, but....I actually think they are pooping better on EPHS. They were on Orijen from November to March. They love Eagle Pack H.S., too. There is never a speck of food left. When they were on the Orijen, I fed it dry. That probably was a mistake, because Stella, my Cav., doesn't drink that much and she acquired a UTI. I'm not saying it was the Orijen that caused it, but it is awfully high in protein. I'm also not saying I won't ever use Orijen again, but right now they are doing great on EPHS. The Anchovy formula dry is actually recommended by Eagle Pack for urinary health. Stella is over her UTI, thank goodness! So, with all that said, I would recommend either. But I feel Eagle Pack Holistic is what I'm going to feed for quite awhile (or until something else comes up lol!). Good luck, and I hope this helped.

Lori612 · 03-10-2009, 06:01 PM

Thx for the info. I will purchase Eagle Pack Holistic and see if Maddi likes it. Maddi really liked Orijen the first night we gave it to her then the day after she liked it also until she started pooping like mad she didn't want to eat it anymore. I just fed her only Royal Canin, her old food, and she ate half of it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by StellaLucyDesi

I have a Cavalier, Shih-poo, and a Poodle/Brittany/Chi mix. I have used both Orijen and Eagle Pack Holistic Select. I fed Eagle Pack Holistic Select for about 4 mos. before switching to Orijen. The only reason I switched was I thought I would try the grain-free with them. Right now, they are back on Eagle Pack H.S. Anchovy dry mixed with EPHS can. They loved Orijen, I mean really loved it, but....I actually think they are pooping better on EPHS. They were on Orijen from November to March. They love Eagle Pack H.S., too. There is never a speck of food left. When they were on the Orijen, I fed it dry. That probably was a mistake, because Stella, my Cav., doesn't drink that much and she acquired a UTI. I'm not saying it was the Orijen that caused it, but it is awfully high in protein. I'm also not saying I won't ever use Orijen again, but right now they are doing great on EPHS. The Anchovy formula dry is actually recommended by Eagle Pack for urinary health. Stella is over her UTI, thank goodness! So, with all that said, I would recommend either. But I feel Eagle Pack Holistic is what I'm going to feed for quite awhile (or until something else comes up lol!). Good luck, and I hope this helped.

At what age did you start feeding your shih-poo Eagle Pack Holistic Select? Which flavour did you purchase for your shih-poo? Is super premium better? Have your dogs tried that?

CorgiKarma · 03-10-2009, 06:14 PM

Did you transition her from her other food to the Orijen? If not,that may account for her adverse reaction to it.

Lori612 · 03-10-2009, 06:24 PM

We only did it for 1 day because she wasn't eating the old dog food. She picked out all the Orijen and at that only so we decide to just feed her the Orijen. Then the first full day, yesterday, she was on only Orijen she had her mad pooping and threw up once after she at her poop.

CorgiKarma · 03-10-2009, 06:27 PM

I would blame the throwing up on eating the poop, and the constant pooping on not transitioning. But if you feel it's not the right food for her definetly try something else.
You mentioned Blue Buffalo, I don't have a shih tzu but I have my corgi on the Blue Buffalo. She has done well on it, though I am also going to try her on Wellness.

Lori612 · 03-10-2009, 06:54 PM

She also ate more of the Orijen then her old food so that prob made her poop ALOT. She was really enjoying it until her tummy got upset. Is there an age when you should start on the Orijen? I read some posts which say you should not feed Orijen to your dog if she's under 2yrs. Maddi is 9 months. We are feeding her the blue bag, adult kibble.

Puppy_love_122 · 03-10-2009, 08:38 PM

I feed my Shih Tzu/Poodle mix Taste of the Wild. I've only fed the high prairie formula so far, I might try the others later on, I've been very happy with it. Its easy to find (for me at least) and is well priced (especially for a grain free food) there's 3 places near me (1 vet, and 2 dif feed stores) and they are all right around $40 for a 30lb bag. One of the feedstores is local owned, but the other is Tractor Supply, which (I think) they have all around. I'm not sure they all have it though, it may be just mine.

Jasminecbrown91 · 07-30-2009, 08:20 PM

Lori612.. haha Nature’s Recipe,Nutro,Ultra Pro Plan,Selects,Science Diet are not good foods to feed your dog. I have this website i go by that describes every ingredient in the foods, here is the link see for yourself

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/ hope this helps.

luvntzus · 07-31-2009, 06:15 PM

I've always fed my dogs holistic food and my Shih Tzu has never been excited about ANY dry food. I like him to enjoy his food so I always add something, either broth, canned dog food, yogurt or cottage cheese.

KayBee01 · 10-30-2009, 09:47 AM

I emailed Wellness and they kindly sent me 2 sample bags , one Wellness Small Bites and one Wellness Core. Mollie just loved the Wellness small bites (she's a shih poo 6 yrs old.) Is this indeed a good food for a shihpoo 6yrs old? Also, should she just have the dry or should she be eating canned as well?

Thanks, Karen