Need help w/ new dog food

I have a new chi (rescue) and we have been having a bit of a problem w/ food. To start off we have had her for 3 wks, she was so thin and all we knew was that she was found on the streets in the city. The 1st wk we had her she was fixed (our reascue already had her a wk), then next week she went to the vet b/c she had worms. Actually I told them when they took her to get fixed but I don't know if they did a fecal. they gave her med for the worms I don't know which meds they gave her so I don't know if it was for the other worms ie pyrantel and it doesn't work on tapeworms. Either way we took her to our vet and they gave her the shot for the worms. In a wk she was all better. At that apt she was 4.0 lbs by the next apt a little over a wk later she was 4.8 lbs. Eating and no worms does wonders. SHe is about the height of our other chi and she is @ 8lbs. So the new one has a way to go. It has taken me 3 weeks to get her to eat from a bowl and she is doing better at eating in the kitchen, she doesn't like the floor, possible too slippery(?) Anyway I had to start w/ things like cheese just to get her to eat, then we went to boiled chicken and rice, now she is finally eating dog food. I still have to put ina tiny bit of something like chicken to get her started. She will only eat pedigree little champions and it has to be warmed and chopped. But she won't eat any that is ground up. So fun for me I have to warm it and cut it up smaller. I really don't mind but I want to see if there is a better quality wet food or if this is ok. She is starting to eat dry and that is good, but what about the wet food? any ideas. The other problem is that she is so small that some of the cans just have too much food and even w/ a cap it takes so long to finish that I don't want it to go bad. I was trying the tiny can (can't remeber what it was) but it got gross (jelly) b4 she ate it all and we tossed it.
Any suggestions would be great. Right now I'm just happy she is eating but I would like to eventually change if there is something better.

Thanks.

Glad she's gaining weight. Pedigree is definetly not something good to feed to your dog. You could get better options. The following list is from www.greatdanelady.com.

List of Quality Dog Foods (Kibble)


Eagle Pack Dog Foods
Prescise Plus
Back to Basics
PHD
Wellness
Fromms 4 Star Dry
Flint River Ranch
Wysong
Blackwood
Healthwise
Karma Organic Food For Dogs
Pinnacle
Chicken Soup For The Pet Lovers Soul
Natural Balance
Canidae / Felidae
Innova
Life Abundance

If you are unable to find any of these foods which are my preferred brands, then these two brands are acceptable. In some areas of the country it is difficult to find these foods so I have provide two others that are more accessible.
Regal
Nature's Recipe

Some of these foods are also available in cans so you can mix canned food with dry food, 50/50.Stay awayfrom Eukanuba, Iams, Purina, Science Diet,Alpo,OlRoy and pretty much anything you can get at Walmart. One last thing, look for Mordy. There's a great link in her signature that explains alot about dog food.

all of the companies that make good quality dry food usually also make nice canned food. innova, california natural, natural balance, eagle pack, solid gold, wellness etc.

you can divide up cans into small zip lock baggies (snack size) and freeze them.

if you don't want to buy canned food, you can make "dog soup" and freeze that in above mentioned zip lock bags.

here's my recipe:
1 whole stewing or roasting chicken
2 cups of coarsely chopped veggies (e.g. carrots, peas, broccoli, green beans)
1 sweet potato/yam, also chopped up into smaller pieces
1-2 cloves of garlic (also chopped, or use garlic press) and a little rosemary
1000mg calcium supplement

put chicken in a stewing pot with garlic and rosemary, cover with water (preferably filtered or bottled). cook over low to medium heat until the bones can be pulled out easily - about an hour and a half to two hours should do it. start with cold/room temperature water, not hot water.

remove chicken from pot and separate the meat from skin and bones. you can leave some of the skin on the meat, but not too much. a lot of the fat will have melted into the soup stock already, which is enough.

before you start deboning the chicken, add the veggies into the simmering soup stock and turn heat to low. stir in calcium supplement.

once you have all the chicken meat separated, pull or cut it into bite sized pieces and add back into the pot. refrigerate overnight and repackage the next day.

important: the cooking process will have extracted a lot of collagen from the chicken skin and bones, so don't be surprised if you find a pot full of jelly with bits of chicken and veggies suspended in it. this is normal and makes a very healthy food. it's also easier to divide up into smaller portions for storage that way, especially if your freezer space is limited and you need to rely on zip lock bags to conserve space.

the fat will have separated to the surface, so take a spoon and stir well before you start measuring out portions. you can serve this dog soup "jelly" out of the refrigerator or at room temperature. if you heat it up, it will become liquid again, which makes it easier to mix with kibble.

variations: you can use other meats in place of the chicken, but if you do, add a few soup bones for added nutrients, or use cuts that have bones in them, such as beef shank slices. you can also use oatmeal, pasta or rice in place of the sweet potato, but don't use more than about a cup (dry). make sure to overcook the grains to mushiness, or the dog won't be able to digest them well. if the dog eats mostly kibble, i'd leave out the grain tho, kibble contains enough of that already.

1. Does anyone know if Petsmart carries any of these in wet?
2. That is a great idea w/ the taking it out of the can and puting it into baggies and freezing it. That's is a great idea!
3. I might try the recipe but my husband has this thing w/ giving them people food even if it is specifically cooked for them. Plus it depends on if I have the time. we just moved/ are moving and its a bit crazy right now, but I will keep it and maybe that will be the big treat.

Like i said I was a bit desperate and would have given her just about anything to start. Put it this way, I had to hand feed her for most of 3 weeks and once we got to dog food it was a bit gross but she is doing so much better now, w/ a starter such as a little piece of chicken she will eat right out of the bowl. Plus anything was better than what she found on the streets. How a chi survives on the street I will never know. They can't even know over a trash can. And she is even eating a bit of dry food. We would like to eventually switch her to mostly dry and just a little wet but we'll see how it goes. It would make brushing their teeth a lot easier, meaning I won't have to do it as much and they will like that!
Thanks!!

1. as far as i know the only decent dry food petsmart carries is blue buffalo. i'm not familar with the full range of canned foods, but i believe nutro natural choice is the only brand worth considering. generally you don't find good quality products in big chain stores. looking for smaller independent pet and feed stores in your area will most likely give you better results. don't let pet food reps confuse you with their talk!

2. baggies are great. and if you wash them up after serving the food, you can reuse them multiple times, which is more environmentally friendly than just tossing them after one use. i put mine inside out and stick them in the dishwasher.

3. take your time and keep an open mind. consider buying the book dr. pitcairn's complete guide to natural health for dogs and cats and let your husband read it. it's a great book to get started and a real eye opener.

dry vs. wet food:
the claim that dry food keeps teeth cleaner is a total myth. wet food is actually healthier and contains far less carbs. especially with little dogs it's not as expensive to feed, so going with wet food only is an option you should consider.

I wouldn't feel bad about using canned food in your chi's diet. I add canned food to my puppy Hannah's diet and I mix in yogurt or cottage cheese or healthy stuff into my husky's diet. It's actually good for them (or so I've heard) because it adds moisture and some dogs need extra moisture because they don't drink as much as they should be drinking. So I like to add in a little canned with the kibble. Our older puppy Mack HATES canned food, he likes his kibble plain.

Oh, and to make that wet food come out of the ziploc bag more easily, spray it lightly with some sort of cooking oil. The food will slide right out!

Plus since I have to warm the food up anyway, freezing is a great idea. I guess I just have to start brushing their teeth more. I was doing it regularly but w/ the move it's been difficult. oooopppss this last wk I let the toothpaste and brush at the new house. Baby had her teeth cleaned last yr and Mira just had them cleanned. Baby's teeth are already getting bad. Since she doesn't know how to play toys that clean teeth are out. People ae saying greenies are bad. I still give her the litlbits (they are shavings) and watch her closely if she gets the teenies (very small). I give her denta chews they disovle but look like raw hides (from the vet), she well have some occationally but not enough to help. She really doesn't like the brushing and I can only do a little at a time but I guess I will have to do it. Maybe I should start a new post? See if I get any responses and go from there.