My Yorkie might just be the pickiest eater I know, even pickier than me. From what I have read around the web Yorkies tend to be very finicky eaters, but I didn’t realize just how bad it had gotten until the last few months. When we first brought Lola home she did very well with dog food. We made sure to not give her people food or table scraps and she did well with puppy food when we got her acclimated at home. I believe the first puppy food brand we had her on was Wellness Brand Small Breed Complete Health Dry Food mixed with Wellness Just for Puppy Wet Food. This worked for a few short months, and then she wouldn’t go near the food. I would leave it out for a bit and pick it up if she didn’t eat it. I thought over time she would learn to eat when the “window” was available and otherwise she would have to wait.

After that we moved on to another approach which was to make from scratch her own dog food. (you can read the post here on the recipe I used to make) That worked pretty well and she did take to the ground beef, eggs, rice and pet multivitamin powder with beef flavor. I would make a batch, freeze the extra and reheat her meals in the morning before work. As with any food she got tired of it and then would only want dog treats or bones.

Two really good products to add to homemade dog food:

Grizzly All Natural Salmon Oil for Pets – click here

Omega Oil For Pets by MaxxiOmega – click here

Let me mention that Lola, my currently 4 year old Yorkshire Terrier girl, is a spoiled dog. Everyone loves her, she is the apple of the entire family’s eye. We all adore her so she’s definitely been brought up being babied. When we would visit places people gave her table food like cheese and sliced meats, chicken and turkey and I thought it was okay. For me I thought meat was fine, but then it started to turn into other things and I just couldn’t let that happen anymore. I knew that over time she would never eat dog food if all she was eating was table/human food and treats. I then started to make her boiled or grilled chicken with some chicken broth and brown rice and occasionally some vegetables. It would be something she would gobble down one day and then turn her nose up at for the next three. She would however always be happy to eat at treat, so I felt bad. I felt like “well at least she is eating something” but that was a bad idea. I did however make sure her treats were better than others and she did like the Blue Buffalo Duck Treats. I like the Blue Buffalo brand so I would give her 1 of those and that would be it.

I even tried to do what I read that most Yorkie parents do, add some cottage cheese or shredded cheese on top of dog food – she wasn’t having it. My dog just had me at my wits end, but I knew that this would not be good for her long term. In the few months that she sporadically would eat food, but mostly wanted to eat treats she gained 2 pound. I know that doesn’t sound like a lot to you or me, but she went from 6 lb to 8 lb and it was noticeable when I would pick her up. I said to myself, this is going to harm her later in life if she doesn’t get back on a good, healthy routine. I wanted to share this because I am sure other Yorkie moms have dealt with this and it’s something that is not easy. So recently I finally got her on a mix that actually is working and she really seems to like:

Blue Buffalo Wilderness Small Breed Chicken  Mixed with Blue Buffalo Healthy Starts Wet Food

For some reason my little picky eater is learning that she will need to like her dog food, and yes I do give her the occasional Blue Buffalo treats but she over time is learning that her food is her food and she eats it. I do heat it up in the microwave for about :20 to help warm it up and bring out the smell (which seems to help), but so far so good!

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