[Marionne H]

I’m looking for recommendations for kibble for the small breed dog I recently adopted. She’s on Evo Small Bites Chicken and Turkey, but I have concerns about Evo’s quality record. I did a bunch of research and decided we’d try Acana…got a bag of Wild Prairie today and offered her a few kibbles. The kibbles are just a little too large for her, she has to pick each one up and break it and didn’t seem at all thrilled with the taste of it. So, back to the drawing board for me. Recent changes in the pet food market make it difficult to know what is safe. Looking for a high quality petite kibble from a reputable company.

[anonymously]

I have 3 small breed dogs, two are seniors, one has allergies. They all do well on Nutrisca Salmon and Chickpea dry as a base, I add a topper (1/3rd of the meal) such as cooked chopped chicken or scrambled egg, meat…canned food when I’m desperate.
All 3 (annual checkups) have had lab work within normal limits recently, so I hesitate to try anything new. Although, Orijen and Fromm look good. I may try them at some point.

PS: Add a splash of water, a lot of dogs don’t drink enough water, for seniors soak the kibble in water overnight before serving. Check Chewy.com for prices.
Also, if you pour a tablespoon of homemade chicken broth (no chemicals) over the kibble (any kibble)….they will eat it, unless they are sick.
Kibble all by itself is boring. You have to add at least a spoonful of something. Just my opinion.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 8 months ago by anonymously.

[pugmomsandy]

The small kibbles I use regularly (and rotate through) are Natures Logic, Nutrisource grain free lamb, Pro Pac Ultimates (beef and lamb are small), Fromm Four Star Nutritionals Beef Frittata. Also Wellness TruFood is small and irregular shaped as is Fromm’s new formula with rabbit.

[Marionne H]

Thanks pugmomsandy! I’ll have to give some of those kibbles a try! Always great to have recommendations! I’m not familiar with Pro Pac or Nutrisource, I’ll have to look them up.(My last dog was larger so kibble size was not an issue)

And thanks to the other poster as well. My little girl isn’t a senior, she’s about 3, but she’s a Chihuahua x Dachshund and has a smaller mouth. She just did not care at all for the typical sized Acana kibble, too big to eat easily and didn’t seem too excited about the flavor either. I’ve had to use some form of top dressing with my other dogs too, but hoping to find a kibble she’s interested in…and we’ll add broth or top dressing as we need to.

Thanks much!

[JeffreyT]

Hi Marionne, Acana kibble was too big for our toy dogs also. We rotate with home cooking and freeze dried but wanted an easy option for when pressed for time. Mine do not like extruded kibble but will gobble up Wellness Core Air Dried, Wellness Trufood (it’s baked and comes in small breed and regular but even the regular is quite small) and Real Meat Food Co which can be easily broken into tiny pieces.

[Marionne H]

Thanks JeffreyT! I was so excited to try Acana, it sounded like a very good choice for kibble. But I knew as soon as I saw the size of the kibbles that it was not going to work. We’ll take a look at the two Wellness products. Not sure I’ve seen the Real Meat Food Co product in my area, I’ll have to look for it online. Thanks again!

[Marionne H]

Pugmomsandy, do you top dress, or feed kibble plain/water?

[pugmomsandy]

I feed kibble with extras! The extras can be canned food, freeze dried pieces, tonight it’s a scrambled egg. They had raw duck necks three times this week.

[Marionne H]

Thanks Pugmomsandy. Isn’t feeding raw whole parts really messy?

[pugmomsandy]

No. It just gets on their cheeks and feet which they lick off pretty well. I feed raw parts outside. You can feed it in a small crate with a towel on the floor and change it out two or three times a week. Raw parts aren’t dripping with blood. We use chicken thighs, drumsticks, wings, drumettes, pork ribs, chicken and duck necks, and whole sardines, rabbit parts, and whole sardines (5-7 inches). Skinless.

If you look in the topic Pictures of dogs eating Raw (something like that) you’ll see the pugs in there along with others.

[pugmomsandy]

Here it is:

/forums/topic/pictures-of-dogs-eating-raw-raw-meals/

[Marionne H]

Thanks! I did a raw frozen premix for a time with my last dog, but have always been unsure about feeding raw whole/parts. It’s certainly the most natural way to feed them, but I’ve worried about the mess. Of course it’s too cold here much of the year to want to eat outside! Your pugs look very happy with their natural raw food items!

[Dog Pack Mom]

What exactly are your concerns about EVO’s quality?

[Marionne H]

Hi Dog Pack Mom,

I’m less concerned with the potential for quality issues with EVO now that Mars owns Natura instead of P&G. There were a number of issues with the Natura brands after P&G acquired them, and I don’t trust P&G at all after the Iams and Eukanuba disasters. I do see Mars as being a more trustworthy company than P&G and I believe they will leave more of the decision making and the responsibility for the product in the hands of the Natura folks. That said, Mars is a big company concerned about the bottom line with products like Pedigree and Cesar in their portfolio. I don’t completely trust that the quality of EVO will remain unchanged, although I don’t think we’ll see anything like the mess P&G has made in the past. So I will watch. But in the meantime, I think I’ll feed something else until Mars proves they will be a good steward for the Natura brands.

[Dog Pack Mom]

Hi Marionne H,
Thanks for your reply. I’ve recently added two EVO kibbles to my rotation so I was just curious. So far so good for my pups.

[Marionne H]

Dog Pack Mom, what kinds of dogs do you have? I’m truly hoping to be able to trust EVO again and will be interested in hearing how successful it is for your pups. I’m working on figuring out what will work well for my girl and will be setting up a rotation as well.Thanks.

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