Feeding a Yorkshire Terrier: How Much, How Often, Fussy Eaters, Fat and the Liver

A Yorkshire Terrier eats about as much in a day as a Labrador eats in a mouthful, and that makes every mouthful matter. Feed too little, too rarely, and a puppy's blood sugar crashes. Feed too much, and half a kilo of fat on a three-kilo dog is the same as fifteen kilos on a person, loading the windpipe and the kneecaps. Feed the wrong thing, and the pancreas or the liver object. The usual honest line: we are not vets. This is what to watch and when to ask.

How often

• Puppies to 4 months: four meals a day, every three to four hours, never skipped. A missed meal in a toy puppy is a hypoglycaemia risk, not a diet.
• 4 to 6 months: three meals.
• Adults: two meals, or three small ones for life if your dog is very small, elderly, or has ever had a sugar dip. Never one meal a day in this breed, and never free-feeding, which makes fussiness and weight impossible to manage.

How much

A three-kilo adult with two walks a day needs roughly 200 to 250 calories, which is about 60 to 70 grams of a typical dry food; a two-kilo dog needs about 150 to 180, a neutered or lazy dog ten to twenty per cent less. The packet's guide is a starting point, and packet guides run generous. Measure every meal in grams on a kitchen scale; a mug or a scoop is thirty per cent out on a portion this small. Use a small-breed kibble so the pieces fit the jaw, or a good wet or fresh food with the calories read off the label. Treats come out of the ration and are pea-sized: a single cube of cheese is a tenth of a Yorkie's day, and ten training treats is a meal.

The waist test under the coat

The coat hides everything, so use your hands. Ribs easy to feel under a thin cover, a waist behind the ribs from above, a tuck up from the side. Ask your vet for a body-condition score out of nine; four or five is the target. Weigh monthly on the kitchen scales or the vet's floor scale; a hundred grams on this dog is a real change, and it is far easier to correct a hundred grams than five hundred. Overweight Yorkies honk more, luxate more, get diabetes more, and live shorter.

The fussy Yorkie

Yorkies are famous for turning their nose up, and most of that fussiness is trained: a skipped meal followed by chicken teaches the lesson in one go. For a healthy adult, put the meal down for fifteen minutes, take it up, next meal as normal, no extras in between. It takes two or three days and it works. Puppies and very small dogs are the exception, because they can't afford to skip, so make the food appealing, warm it, add a little water, and get them eating. A dog who is fussy and also losing weight, drooling, vomiting or dull after meals is a vet visit, not a menu change: bad teeth, a shunt and a gut problem all look like fussiness first.

Hypoglycaemia and the snack rule

For a puppy or a very small adult, a small snack before and after big play, a car trip or a stressful outing keeps the sugar steady. Keep glucose syrup or honey in the cupboard; if the dog goes quiet, wobbly and glassy-eyed, rub it on the gums, warm them and ring the vet. The health guide covers the full picture.

Pancreatitis and fatty food

Yorkies are one of the breeds prone to pancreatitis, and the trigger is often a single fatty meal: the Christmas ham, the bacon rind, the buttered toast crust, the leftover curry. Signs: vomiting, a hunched back, a painful belly, off food, lethargy, sometimes diarrhoea. It is a vet visit the same day; a blood test confirms it and it needs fluids and pain relief. No table scraps, no fatty treats, and a low-fat diet for life if it has happened once. Tell the family and the guests; the person who feeds the Yorkie under the table has caused more pancreatitis than any breeder.

The liver shunt diet

Yorkies have the highest rate of portosystemic shunt of any breed, and diet is part of both the diagnosis and the management. The signs, a puppy who is small, dull or dazed after meals, drooling, head pressing, seizures, are often worse after a high-protein meal, because the liver isn't cleaning the by-products. The bile acid test is done before and after a meal for the same reason. A dog with a shunt, before surgery or if surgery isn't possible, eats a vet-prescribed liver diet with moderate, high-quality protein, plus lactulose and sometimes antibiotics. Don't put a healthy Yorkie on a low-protein diet 'just in case'; do get the test if the signs are there.

What not to feed

Grapes and raisins, onions, chocolate, xylitol in sugar-free products, cooked bones, and anything fatty. In a two-kilo dog, the toxic dose of most of these is a mouthful, and a single sugar-free chewing gum can kill. Keep bags and bins shut and teach a 'leave it' early.

The honest summary

Little and often, weighed in grams, pea-sized treats counted, no fat, no table, and a monthly weigh-in. Do that, and the sugar, the weight, the pancreas and the trachea all stay easier. The health by age guide covers when each risk is highest.