Binky eating up the rest of her zucchini bits.
Binky falling asleep right before lunch time. She was snacking on a little bit of papaya, and had a carrot stick she chewed like a bone. Her wet food was mixed with some boiled chicken.
One of the most important things to do to raise a healthy happy pet is to feed it right. There is nothing more important that this in keeping our beloved pets healthy. It gives them the energy they need to thrive and prevents them from all sorts of illnesses and diseases. In my quest for the perfect food for Binky I came across ZiwiPeak Daily-Dog Beef Cuisine Canned Dog Food
and I couldn't be happier! I'm on my first order of 12 cans of the Beef wet food, so I can only speak for that. Binky does love this food! However it is only part of what I feed her.
Since Binky is not even 4 months, she's still a very young puppy and needs to eat a good cup of food a day. I free feed her kibble (NutriSource Small & Medium Breed Puppy Chicken & Rice Formula Dry Dog Food) but she barely has a few pieces a day. It's just nice to have available for her so she can snack after a lot of play to keep her energy up. It's important that very small dogs eat every several hours to reduce the risk of a drop of blood sugar, that can quickly lead to issues.
Some of Binky's favorite natural foods are zucchini, chicken (which I boil to use tiny pieces during training, or I half boil to add to her wet food). She also loves carrots, which was the very first vegetable I introduced to her, along with peas. She's tried raw steak and cooked shrimp that she just loves boiled egg, papaya, watermelon, cabbage, kale, lettuce, green lentils and apples, and she loves them all. Her favorite go to snack that I will hand feed her like treats is definitely the tiny pieces of zucchini. Since Binky is so tiny, 3.5 lbs at this current time, she needs to eat little meals more often, as she digests and passes it pretty quickly.
Her schedule goes something like this:
6:30am - 1/2 wafer vitamin (NuVet Plus K-9 Wafers)
7:00am-8:00am - Breakfast - about 1-2 Tbsps of Wet food (ZiwiPeak Daily-Dog Beef Cuisine) with (Complete Probiotics for Pets) and Krill Oil Liquid Pump for Pets.
I also add 1/2 teaspoon of coconut oil, and some tiny bits of raw meats occasionally like steak, or chicken to make it more appealing. It's very important she eats all her breakfast soon after I serve it, as it's the one meal I have her very important additives in it.
I give her this once a week for a general detox - Liver and Kidney Support for Pets
12:00pm-1:00pm - Lunch - Begins with some training using very tiny bits of boiled chicken. I then serve her about a table spoon of her ZiwiPeak wet food, and then hand feed her some veggies. Usually zucchini. She'll often leave her wet food and sit by me patiently just waiting for me to feed her something. I often give her bits of my food, since they usually include raw cucumber, lettuce, sweet potato and other foods that are very healthy for her. If she doesn't eat her wet food during lunch, I don't leave it out long, I just put it back in the fridge to serve it to her at dinner. She is very young so can have three meals a day without issue, but since she's snacking on wholesome foods as well I don't press her to finish all her lunch wet food.
5:00pm-6:00pm - Dinner - Like her lunch I feed her another table spoon or two of her ZiwiPeak wet food. If she doesn't eat it I will add some meat bits to it, and often let her snack on veggies like zucchini and other veggies that I happen to be eating. I actually like that she has her attention on me for the fresh food feeding, so it's something I prefer, rather than set a bowl of it down for her, because it gives me an opportunity to do a little bit of training as well. She sits very patiently, never lunging for food, and only recently lets out a tiny bark to get my attention. So I work on speak when she does that (which is rare for her). She's so patient that sometimes I will hold a piece of her favorite food bits three inches from her mouth and she won't lean in that far, just as far as her body will go without moving, then wait for me to bring it to her.
Snacks - I will let her snack on bits of raw veggies, for example while I'm cooking and she's whining at the gate, it helps calm her down. She is very clingy and doesn't like me to be out of her sight for even a moment. So when she sits quietly for a bit I reward her for her patience with tiny bits of whatever veggies I'm working with. Late in the evening, after her dinner, if I'm busy working at my computer eating my meal, she will often go to her spot, up on a massage table right behind me and sit and wait to be fed a snack. I don't mind this and share a little late night snack with her. When she's done she will go on her way, and I know she doesn't go to bed hungry. All this while keeping note of how much she's eaten in the day, making sure she's never over fed. I don't have that problem though, more often than not I will try coax her to finish up her food than worry she's over eating. As she gets older she may just need to be fed wet food twice a day and snacks during training mid-day.
*All in all she has roughly half a cup of ZiwiPeak food a day, and the other half cup includes raw meats, veggies, and kibble. This is the recommended amount for her size.
