I can’t swear to the “wise” part, but I can definitely attest to the “happy, healthy” part of the above title.
My long-haired Chihuahua puppy, Frida, is 7 months old now, and she is the happiest little soul alive . . . and marvelously healthy.
Her best friend and heartthrob, Tucker, a Chiweenie rescue (that’s a Chihuahua/Dachshund mix), is about 3 now and is not the same dog I adopted from the humane society one year ago.
Frida weighs 4 lbs. + an ounce or 2; Tucker weighs in at around 18. They are both thriving beyond my highest hopes and expectations. Not having had small dogs in decades, it took me a little experimenting to find out the best combination of nutrients for their wee systems, but I think I’ve got it down.
When Tucker arrived he weighed 12 lbs. and you could see all his ribs and his hip bones. He had put on NO weight in his weeks at the shelter, even though they had been feeding him high quality food 2 or 3 times a day (yes, we have an exceptional shelter here in Santa Fe, NM!). For the first few weeks I had Tucker I was afraid I might fail as well. But by adding blue-green algae acidophilus and digestive enzymes to his diet, the diarrhea he came with finally cleared up, and after a while he began gaining. After a few months he was almost chunky, having added a third again of his body weight. But I noticed he still smelled — he had classic doggy odor, which is not part and parcel of a healthy dog.
When little Frida came at 7 weeks of age she weighed about 2 lbs. and could barely chew. I soaked her puppy kibble in warm goat milk and felt lucky if I could get 1 teaspoon of it down her at a time. And getting supplements or blue-green algae in her was impossible. Frida was very disinterested in food in general. Oh dear. This went on until she was almost 4 months old, and she wasn’t really growing much. Nor was she losing her baby fur.
One day I was eating steak and Frida began acting like a ferocious predator. She wanted some! I had noticed how she went after the big dogs’ bones, even though they were bigger than she was, so I gave her a tiny bite of steak. She went nuts. “Aha!”, thought I. “We have a meat-eating, raw-food freak in our midst!”
I had read and studied all about homemade dog food, the merits and demerits of a raw diet, etc., but had never made that leap — mainly because I always had 4 or 5 huge dogs to feed and, I’ll admit it, just couldn’t face creating that much homemade dog food every day. Besides their premium dog kibble they often got good scraps and bones, and of course plenty of blue-green algae, and were all very healthy, so I figured I would leave well enough alone.
But with the tiny, picky Chihuahua and Chiweenie types I thought just maybe I could make a difference by adding raw meat to their diet. And if they liked it then I could probably get them to eat as much algae as I wanted, mixed in with it.
Bingo. It worked like a charm. Watching Frida eat her first meal of raw meat was like watching a lion after a kill. Tucker too. Here’s my formula:
I vary the meat but keep it raw and chunky. I mix it with some crushed up premium dog kibble and occasional veggies, and add the powder from one Super Sprouts & Algae capsule and one Acidophilus capsule.
Within a month of beginning the new diet, Frida’s coat turned from baby fuzz slurry greys and browns to a long, silky texture and a beautiful caramel color. And Tucker’s doggy odor completely vanished!
I kid you not. If you have a Chihuahua or a Chiweenie who is a picky eater, try the raw meat with algae approach. I think you’ll be amazed, and I know your little ones will love you for it.***
******************************************************************
One caveat: Sometimes older animals who have eaten commercial food all their lives will not accept raw meat. It so, try it slightly cooked. If they still refuse it, well, just keep feeding them what they do well on — but try adding some blue-green algae to boost their health.
IF YOU LOVE CHIHUAHUAS & CHIWEENIES, YOU MIGHT ENJOY THIS:
And you can read all about and order all kinds of super blue-green algae products HERE.
Recent Comments