A healthy puppy is a happy puppy. Knowing what to feed your dog is an integral part of responsible dog ownership. It is not uncommon for people to make mistakes in feeding their Yorkie. These mistakes can be harmful and in some cases, even fatal. To avoid unwelcome issues, it’s best to be familiar with the ideal diet for your Yorkie, some do’s and don’ts regarding food and important supplements that will keep your pup healthy. Let’s answer the question, what does a Yorkshire Terrier eat?
What does a Yorkshire Terrier eat?
Any good diet must have a balanced combination of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats along with all the micronutrients necessary for your Yorkie. Special attention should be paid to vitamins and minerals as a deficiency in those can lead to diseases and ailments for your Yorkshire Terrier.
Natural Food or Manufactured Dog Food
A popular debate amongst dog owners is whether dogs should be fed natural whole foods or manufactured dog food. Both sides lay down valid points and are accepted by vets and nutritionists, but we’ll let you decide for yourself after going through them.
Natural Food
People on this side of the debate argue that natural food is the best choice for your puppy. Not only is it what the dog has evolved to eat and is best suited for it, but natural foods also contain important enzymes to aid in digestion. Manufactured dog food, depending on who you buy it from, can contain dangerous filler substances and preservatives, which can be harmful to Yorkie.
Manufactured Dog Food
On this side, a popular argument is that owners don’t feed their dogs the right balance of macros, minerals, and micronutrients that the dog requires through natural food. Dog food is made with all the dog’s needs in mind and the dog receives a complete serving of the required nutrients with each meal. Dry dog food is generally the preferred choice over wet dog food because it’s better for the dog’s teeth.
When buying dog food, it’s important to make sure it doesn’t have any dangerous fillers or preservatives that can harm your puppy. Go for dry dog food with natural preservatives and no filler material or artificial flavoring.
A balanced diet for Yorkies
So what does a Yorkshire Terrier eat? While you already know that a balanced diet includes a proportionate amount of macros, micros, and minerals, it’s important to know what exactly to feed your pup.
When it comes to protein, broiled or baked chicken, fish, liver, and turkey. For vegetarian sources of protein, you can go for cooked beans and legumes. The grains your Yorkie can eat are quinoa and white or brown rice. Avoid feeding your Yorkie wheat. For fruits and vegetables, go ahead with carrots, zucchini, peas, potatoes, spinach, kale, strawberries, raspberries, bananas, and muskmelons.
While your Yorkie can eat fats like cottage cheese or other hard cheeses, make sure to keep them to a minimum as Yorkies are prone to Pancreatitis.
For treats, as with manufactured dog food, avoid artificial flavors, preservatives, and fillers.
How much should I feed my Yorkie?
Yorkies are absolutely tiny dogs that generally don’t weigh above 7-9 pounds. This obviously means that they eat tiny too. On average, your Yorkie needs about 150-200 calories a day, spread out over 3 meals if it’s an adult or free-fed throughout the day if it’s a puppy.
Measure the amount of food your Yorkshire Terrier needs in cups. As you’re free-feeding puppies, fill their bowl up and let them eat according to their needs. For a Yorkie between 3 months to 1 year, they shouldn’t eat more than ⅓ to ⅔ of a cup and an adult Yorkie can eat up to half a cup of food a day. These measurements might seem too small to us, but for Yorkies, they’re a full day’s worth of filling food!
How often should I feed my Yorkie?
As a rule of thumb, feeding small dogs frequent small meals is a better idea than feeding them one or two giant meals like bigger dogs. This is due to their anatomy only allowing a small portion to be digested at a time and also to prevent a common Yorkie condition known as hypoglycemia.
If your Yorkie is under 3 months or weighs less than 3 pounds, you should just go ahead and free-feed it. Free feeding is when you place a filled-up dog bowl available for the dog to eat from throughout the day. This allows them to eat comfortably according to their own appetite. Overfeeding your Yorkshire Terrier is not recommended and can lead to obesity and the health conditions that come from it.
For older Yorkies, from about 3 months to a year, a meal frequency of 3-4 meals a day works best with small dry treats as snacks in between meals.
When it comes to adult Yorkies older than a year, start feeding them 2-3 meals a day. While 3 meals a day is ideal for adult Yorkies, you can get away with feeding it two meals if you also give it large snacks in between meals.
What Should Yorkies Not Eat?
Knowing what not to eat is sometimes as important as knowing what to eat. Feeding the wrong thing to your dog could mean an upset stomach or even a trip to the vet.
The following food should be kept as far away from your Yorkshire Terrier as possible:
- Chocolates. This one’s a no-brainer, it’s not suitable for all dogs.
- Grapes and Raisins. This is a big no-no as they contain an unknown substance that may cause kidney failure in Yorkies.
- Coconuts are another harmful food for Yorkies as they’re known to cause diarrhea.
- Garlic and Onions
- Corn, Walnuts, and Nutmeg
Conclusions
To sum up, a well-balanced diet containing all the necessary proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals is key for a healthy puppy. We hope you’ve found the answer to your question; what does a Yorkshire Terrier eat!
