Comments for Hill’s, Science Diet-Small Bites

by: Rita Rail

I hope that I am replying about the right Pom because this page jumps away from me therefore I am unable to address this properly. I have encountered some of the same situation with Emily, my small Pom as you are with yours. This very active little dog is 9 yrs old and I have since she was old enough been feeding her Hill’s Science Diet Small Bites. She has been thriving on this very well. I noticed about a month ago that she was not eating much of her 11 bites she receives in the morning and eleven she receives at dinner time. The next day, she only ate in the morning and nothing the balance of the day. On the third day she would not eat anything but her daily morning bit of toast that we share and four small tiny dog bones. She was drinking very well but I become anxious when these small dogs do not eat. She became very quiet. I mulled the last few days of behavior over in my mind and decided to soften her small bites in a bit of hot water, let it stand till somewhat softened and offer this to her again. Voila!! she ate everything. She is very good at opening her mouth for me and I could see nothing wrong with her teeth and she does not have bad breath. Obviously there is something hurting her and I am scheduled for a vet’s appointment, it could be an irritation of her gums which I am unable to see.

I have had all of my animals which totaled eight on Hill’s Science Diet of one kind or another and it has always been dry food unless they had teeth extractions and were put on the same brand of can food for a week. I found that immediately after eating the can food, they had bad breath. The Small Bites is made to clean their teeth by them having to scrape on the bites until they crack them. The first time I gave Lucky these, he was very small and of course I took a hammer and a towel and was cracking them for him until I asked the vet there must be another way to this instead of having a “cracking good time” every evening. She laughed and told me how the dog would be able to wear them down easily and that they were developed this way for healthy teeth. The cats of course received their version of cat food. So far, dental cleaning has only been needed one time for all of them. I do vouch for this brand of food but I also like to pass on any solutions that I have encountered to problems with my large animal family. As I said previously, “Our children eventually leave, but our doggies stay a lifetime.” Sincerely, Rita