Feeding a Chihuahua with dry food daily norm

Every pet owner has at least once thought about what kind of food he should give his pet so that he never has health problems and lives a happy and long life.

This article will be relevant for owners of such beautiful dogs as Chihuahuas. It tells you how to properly feed your pet for its growth and development.

Eating at home

The owner needs to approach the issue of nutrition responsibly, because the health of his pet will depend on what to feed the dog.

A dog's diet can be divided into::

natural food prepared by the owner;
ready-made food (dry or canned);
treats.

Natural food

Despite the fact that the market is replete with a variety of dry food and canned food, many dog owners still prefer natural food.

Be careful, because Chihuahua dogs have a special diet.

Ready food

Do not think that ready-made food is worse than natural food . On the contrary, it has a number of advantages:

you don’t need to create your pet’s diet yourself;
convenient to take with you if you go on a trip;
easy to store;
Premium and super-premium food have an excellent composition (content of vitamins and minerals, correct ratio of proteins, carbohydrates and fats).

Treats

If you want to please your pet with something tasty, then let it be low-fat cheese or chopped fruit (an apple is best).

How to give straight food correctly?

Take a closer look at your pet, what foods he likes best, what he doesn’t eat, and based on his individual characteristics, create a feeding diet. Keep in mind that it must be balanced.

Add vitamins and minerals. Create a diet and strictly follow it .

Why you should accustom your pet to natural food:

all useful elements are absorbed by the dog much better from natural food than from prepared food;
this will help avoid allergies to components from ready-made food;
The Chihuahua itself will prefer the natural one.

What is possible?

The pet can eat dry food, canned food, as well as natural food.

Forbidden foods

It is very important for Chihuahua dogs that their diet is correct and balanced.

Therefore, you should not allow your pet to consume the following :

Any raw meat. Only boiled or at least scalded with boiling water is allowed. As for pork, it is prohibited to give it in any form, either raw or boiled. Eating meat can cause worms.
Various confectionery products. These include: sweets, pastries, cakes, etc. Consuming them can cause digestive problems in the dog, as well as destruction of tooth enamel and the development of tearing.
Beware of fatty, fried, smoked and spicy foods. This food is harmful not only for animals of any breed, but also for humans.
Be careful with milk. It turns out that in some dog breeds it provokes a laxative effect; by the way, these breeds also include Chihuahuas.
Eliminate all river fish and pollock from your pet’s diet.
Legumes, sausages and canned goods.
Nuts, especially walnuts.

What should you not feed your Chihuahua?

It is strictly forbidden to ever give your Chihuahua: fried, salty, hot, sour foods, including sweet bell peppers. All this causes gastritis in dogs. You should also not give any sweets (buns, pies, cakes, cookies, candies, etc.) that lead to obesity.

Nuts disrupt the metabolism in bone tissue and the bones become brittle, and stones form in the bladder. Chihuahuas should not be fed peas and beans, as well as pork, horse meat, lamb, rabbit meat, lard, any canned food (stewed meat, fish), raw fish, rutabaga, cabbage, radishes, turnips.

Adult animals do not need milk, cream, sour cream, fatty cottage cheese and cheese in their diet.

Menu for every day

When creating a menu for your pet, it is important to remember which foods it can eat and which it cannot, as well as the number of meals. For a Chihuahua, the most optimal menu would look like this:

Breakfast . In the morning, you can pamper your four-legged friend with fermented milk products. Let's say mix low-fat cottage cheese with kefir until it reaches the consistency of sour cream.
Dinner . For lunch, boil him any cereal (buckwheat, rice), add vegetables and meat to it. If the dog shows little activity, then replace this technique with a snack. An apple is a great snack.
Dinner . In the evening, you can repeat the dish you prepared for lunch, adding a little more meat.

Don't forget about vitamins and minerals, which will only benefit your dog if they are chosen correctly, after consulting with a veterinarian. They can be purchased at a regular pet store.

Remember that the basis of your pet’s diet will be porridge + vegetables + meat.

How many times should you feed a Chihuahua puppy?

If the baby is very small - 2 months, then the diet is six feedings a day. From 2 to 4 months, the number of meals is reduced to 4 times a day. At 6 months you can move on to feeding 3 times a day, and at 8 months you need to eat no more than 2 times. When a puppy has just been weaned from breast milk, it is possible that his blood sugar may drop. To support the crumbs, add a little liquid honey to the milk.

For breakfast, Chihuahuas love fermented milk products - kefir, fermented baked milk, but sour cream is prohibited. Choose tender and crumbly cottage cheese so that it is not a solid curd mass. If you can’t find the best cottage cheese for your four-legged pet, prepare it yourself:

Boil low-fat milk (0.5 l).
Add 2 ampoules of calcium chloride.
Wait until the milk has curdled and rub the curd through a fine sieve, then roll in gauze and leave to drain.

Daily norm

In order to determine the daily food intake for your four-legged friend, you need to know his weight.

It is calculated as follows: 50-80 grams per kilogram of pet weight.

Dry food

Dry food is an excellent choice for those owners who do not have the opportunity to prepare natural food for their pet. If you belong to this category of owners, then read on carefully.

When choosing dry food, it is important to take into account the individual characteristics of your dog, for example, allergies. Therefore, before purchasing food, contact your veterinarian who will help you choose food.

Premium ready-made dry food has an ideal ratio of minerals, vitamins and biologically active substances, so there is no need to worry that your pet will not receive the microelements important for it.

Canned food

Many people prefer canned food over dry food , believing that real meat in a can looks much more appetizing than pieces of dry food.

It doesn’t matter at all what you choose, dry food or canned food, pay more attention to the quality, class of food and do not forget to consult a veterinarian.

Buy only premium and super-premium food for your pet. They contain vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, the mission of which is to prevent toxins from accumulating in your pet’s body. These varieties of food are better absorbed and the dog does not feel hungry longer. Don't forget about the vet. Taking into account the individual characteristics of your dog and its age, he will help you choose the food that will not harm your health.

When choosing food, consider the age of your little pet and its needs. There are 5 classes of feed depending on protein and fat content :

economy (protein – up to 18%, fat – up to 8%);
medium (protein – up to 19%, fat – up to 7%);
high (protein – up to 22%, fat – up to 11%);
super (protein up to 25%, fat - up to 15%);
ultra-class (protein – up to 30%, fat – up to 20%).

homemade food

If you decide to use homemade food as food for your dog, then include the following items in his diet:

Any cereals, do not add salt when cooking.
Serve cereals along with meat (veal, beef), previously boiled or scalded in boiling water.
Low-fat cottage cheese with kefir.
Vegetables, for example, carrots, cabbage, zucchini, pumpkin. Can be served either fresh or stewed.
Various yogurts, kefir, yogurt.
Boiled or steamed sea fish (any low-fat varieties). Also, do not forget to remove the seeds from it.
Egg omelet or yolk.
Chihuahuas love fruit, so treat your pet with a banana or apple.

Problems

It's also worth considering some of the nutritional issues your pet may be experiencing.

Doesn't eat well

Let's highlight several reasons why Chihuahuas don't eat well.:

the dog overeats and is fed very often;
the dog does not like the diet;
forced to eat;
she experiences pain, there are pathologies in the body;
uncomfortable conditions.

If you have already identified the cause, then you should move on to solving the problem:

Don't force your Chihuahua to eat. Don't add extra food to her bowl if there is already another one in there. Give your dog the food he likes.
Stick to a routine. Feed an adult dog 2 times a day.
Provide a comfortable environment for the dog so that it is not disturbed from eating and drinking.
Contact your veterinarian for help.

Refuses food

Reasons why a dog is hungry:

She is stressed, perhaps upset about something.
Unusual conditions, for example, different food, a new bowl, an unpleasant smell from the bowl, people.
The dog became seriously ill, had a fever and pain.

What to do:

We create comfortable conditions for your pet.
We change the bowl and eat.
We measure the temperature and look for the source of pain. To do this, we probe the dog’s body with our fingers. With her reaction she will be able to show the place where it hurts.

Important rules for feeding a Chihuahua: approximate diet

To protect the puppy’s growing body from intestinal diseases, it must be fed strictly according to the clock. From 2 to 3 6 times a day, up to four - 5 times a day, up to six months - 4 times a day, up to a year - three times a day. An adult Chihuahua eats in the morning and evening, for example, at 7 and 19 o'clock or at 8 and 20, but not before bed. For an older dog, over 11 years of age, feeding once a day is usually sufficient.
In order not to raise a pet that is too picky about food, by and large, you need to make sure that he does not even know that there is other food in the world other than what is in his bowl. That is, you cannot treat your dog with any goodies.
If the owner decides to feed the Chihuahua with natural food, then he must take into account that the puppy must be provided with regular food for up to a year with the following products: boiled beef, calcined cottage cheese, boiled vegetables with the addition of vegetable oil, offal (liver, kidneys, lung), rolled oats or buckwheat, boiled egg, boiled sea fish.
An adult dog should be provided with a diet that contains a balance of meat (and offal), cereals (rice, buckwheat, oatmeal) and vegetables in the proportions: 30% to 40% to 30%. Vitamin and mineral supplements and kefir, cottage cheese, and fruits are also necessary. An adult two-kilogram animal requires about 100-150 grams of the full diet per day.

Mini food features

If you get a mini Chihuahua, then be prepared to feed your pet strictly on a schedule. By not following the schedule, you increase the risk of poisoning, intestinal blockage, loss of strength and other troubles in your pet’s body.

The diet of mini Chihuahuas is almost no different from the diet of regular Chihuahuas. Their diet also consists of cereals, meat, vegetables, and sometimes you can add finely chopped greens. Do not indulge your pet with sweets , because this breed has a tendency to become obese.

If your pet does not finish all the food from the bowl, and he is not sick or experiencing any problems, then you should reduce the amount of food served to him.

If there is a need to revise the type of food, then you need to replace some foods with others very carefully, gradually.

Using our recommendations, you can easily determine what kind of food you will use. By choosing an individual diet for your pet, you are taking care of his health. Remember that a healthy dog is a happy dog !