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CenTexChows
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Post by CenTexChows »

Hello from Austin Texas! My name is Mark and my wife is Teresa. We are proud parents of Zeus and Andromeda.

Zeus is our newest member in our family. He is a red 7 month old male chow. He’s been eating everything in site, including our leather couches! Lol He has been a handful, but the best part is coming home to playful puppy after a long day at work.

Andromeda is our 7yr old female red chow. She is a little more relaxed and calm compare to Zeus. Two weeks ago she got really sick. She had a bad case of pyometra. Unfortunately she had to be spayed. So our chance of having a bigger family was out the window. I’m just glad she came out with a clean bill of health. We waited a little to long to get her a partner… I had Andromeda when my wife and I first began to date.

I hope to be a good addition to your forum and I have lots of question for the veterans out there.

What is the best food out there for the money? I was told IAMS isn’t that good for the money. Zeus can eat... we nick named him “Animal”. Lol I feed them both twice a day... is this good or bad? Between them both, they can go through a 40lbs bag within a month.

What is the best comb(s) and trick(s) to keep your chow looking good?
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Judy Fox
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Post by Judy Fox »

Welcome and lovely to hear from you! :)
So sorry to hear about your girly's pyometra. It is frightening isn't it? Our Milly and Mabel both had to have emergency operations for pyometra when they were only 18 months old.
Your boy sounds gorgeous! :)
I would love a boy chow - would love to get a puppy boy for Milly and Mabel to love but Fred and I would not really be able to take three Chow Chows for a walk - with M & M, we have one each!

Would still love a baby boy! :D
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Post by Rogansmommy »

IAM's is what is known as a 'hot food' and not typically considered a high quality food (except by themselves) :roll: . You can look for high quality foods like Innova or Eagle Pack. Canidae, Nature's Recipe or Evo are others as well. They seem more expensive, but you can feed less (because they are higher quality) and the dogs pooh less since their bodies use more of the elements in the food!
Michele

^Rogan^ at the Bridge on 5/16/09 -- always in my heart
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kingalls
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Post by kingalls »

I feed the Nutro brand to my two. Mine are free feeders with the dry food. Every morning their breakfast consists of a couple of baked chicken thighs mixed in with one can of Nutro. I split the amount about 60-40. Shiloh eats a little more than Mr. Nahkohe. One bag of the dry (I think it's the 40 pound bag - could be less) lasts over a month. I do give treats such as the chicken jerky strips I get from Costco and doggie cookies. Mr. N is food agressive so we have to monitor the breakfast time so that Shiloh is able to finish her food.
Shiloh is a mix and doesn't have the huge mane that Mr. N does so she doesn't go to the groomers. I brush her at home. Mr. N has a visit to the groomer's every 5-6 weeks. In between, I brush him and her with a comb that has rotating teeth, a "slicker" brush, and a rake that has rotating teeth. I had to use a stripper (Mars Coat king) on Shiloh because of a build up of mats on the side she sleeps on....I did a terrible job! Be careful with these strippers - they really strip out the hair. Fortunately, it's growing back okay.
Welcome to this site!

Karen
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tekendall
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Post by tekendall »

I have a 6 month old female chow and feed her Innova large breed puppy food (dry). She eats twice a day about 1 1/2 to 2 cups per meal. I had a friend tell me the other day they thought maybe I was feeding too much, but, that's the directions on the bag..so who knows. She is about 32-34 lbs already.
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Jeff&Peks
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Post by Jeff&Peks »

Not only is IAMS not worth the money, its not worth feeding to your Chows either. If you notice your Chows starting to itch alot its the Iams. When I first adopted my Chow I started feeding her Iams becouse i knew nothing about dog food and only because I was watching Mad about you on TV and they had a bag of Iams in the kitchen, I figured if its good enough for Murray it should be good for Pekoe, Wrong, Hundreds of dollars later and Pekoe being pumped full of medications for skin conditions it turned out to be the Iams, I switched to Nutro and haven't had a problem in years. Pekoe's Vet says giving a Dog a Cup of Iams is the same as a human eating four chocolate bars, Iams is filled with Corn and wheat fillers, from what I hear corn turns to sugar in a Dogs body. Iams = Itching Hyper Chow.

Pekoe is a self feeder also, I give her a cup of food in the mourning then 2 Cups in the evening she will eat half of it and save the rest for a late night 2 Am snack, Nothing like a Chow eating and drinking in the middle of the night, all kinds of sound effects.
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Post by Auddymay »

Am I under- feeding my girls? I give them both 16 ounces in the morning, and that's it except for treats...which they get plenty. Pip was overweight and I was advised by a neighbor who raises leader dogs that 16 oz was enough, even for growing puppies. I figure he must know something, given the number of labs and goldens he has had through the years. Neither of them is food aggressive, nor do they gobble. In fact Pip was a browser with food until we got Lily, when she realized the new rule was eat it or lose it. I just switched to Natures Way for Lily, she is a scratcher, and has been from the day I brought her home, Hopefully she'll itch less, I'll let you know. Lily was 22 lbs at her last vet check a week ago (5 mos). Vet says she looks good, healthy. I really don't want to end up with another dog with weight issues...
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Post by Mandy »

Welcome to the site!

I'm in the nutro club two. I have 2 chows - Chewie (the male) is 1 yr old and Ceyanne is 5 yrs old. They are free feeders as well and I put food down in the morning and in the evening. They seem to both be eating out of the same bowl even though I have two down there. They just kind of wait there turn and sometimes I'll see them sort of "trading off." One eats a bite and while they're chewing, the other eats a bite etc. It's pretty funny. they are usually huffing and puffing the whole time too. Cracks me up.

I do not use a groomer. We do it ourselves but it is a lot of work! Chewie is blowing his puppy coat so we have to groom him with a shedding rake every day. Ceyanne has a lovely adult coat, so she is "spot" groomed (checking for mats etc) every two days and then has a big grooming once a week. We only bathe them once every 3 months or so unless they get incredibly dirty outside. This keeps their coats and skin in top shape with all of their oils.

Again, welcome to the site.

Mandy
CenTexChows
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Post by CenTexChows »

Thank guys for the welcomes. All of you guys have beautiful chows, especially Chewie... if that’' a picture of him in the avatar? He looks a lot like Zeus or his bothers when we first got him at 4 months old. Andromeda is aggressive with her food. So I have to feed them in separate bowls and watch them at times. Zeus lets her finish her food and sometimes goes for her leftovers.

To tell the truth, I really didn't care much for chows at first. I hardly seen any before, but my wife was the one that actually loved them. She always had one when she was growing up. So when it was time to get a family pet Andromeda was our first choice. She was just a little cutie when we bought her. She was somewhat a "ghetto" dog without papers and we didn't know anything else about her parents. What all matter was that she was brought up in a loving home. As a puppy she was opposite of Zeus, very shy.

I took some pictures for you guys to see.


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You can tell that Andromeda doesn’t like to sit still for pictures. Zeus on the other hand loves the camera. lol

-Mark
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Judy Fox
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Post by Judy Fox »

Lovely pictures - thank you for sharing. You will find that we all absolutely adore pictures of the chows. :)
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Post by kingalls »

Great pictures! Ha, ha - the second picture is funny in that they both seem to have a bit of a snarl like - "hurry up and take that dang picture!"

Karen
CenTexChows
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Post by CenTexChows »

I think I spend most of all day on this site looking at pictures. There are some beautiful dogs on this site! Since I've been a Chow owner... I believe these are the most fun, adorable, elegant, and intelligent dogs! 8)

Hahaha, yea I notice that too, Karen. Very funny!

If you didn't know, the first picture is Zeus and the third is Andromeda.
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Mandy
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Post by Mandy »

I was shocked! Your Zues and my Chewie could be brothers!!! Chewie is a little lighter in color but their faces are so much alike! WOW! I'm not even sure what to say!

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Thanks for posting the pics! They are so great! (chewie loves to pose too!)

Mandy, Chewie & Ceyanne
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Judy Fox
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Post by Judy Fox »

I think they all know how to pose Mandy.

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I love this picture of Milly and Mabel. I think they look so regal. They are beautiful and they jolly well know it! :)
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Mandy
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Post by Mandy »

Judy-

They are so beautiful. And yes that picture is just the best. They do look like two little queens ruling over their kingdom. Love it!!

Mandy
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Post by Rob »

On the food topic, I must recomend Nutro. I switched my chewbacha (chewie) and Sasha over 13yrs ago. Their BALD SPOTS DISSAPEARED COMPLETLY but only Rice and Lamb meal, treats also (NO CHEAP TREATS BIGGEST PROBLEM). Chewie lived untill 2 mo. ago and would have been 15yrs. old on the 10/23 YES, 15 wounderfull years and NEVER even needed a leash. Sasha will be 13 on 12/18 and still plays like a pup! but w/out her real father Chew she is getting lonely as we are all (wife and 3 kids 6,8,and 10 are ALL CHOW FREAKS) and use to having 1 more around. on the lookout for another Chow Chow.
In Memory of Chewbacha!
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Judy Fox
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Post by Judy Fox »

Sorry about your Chewie, Rob but 15 yrs is an excellent age. You say he never needed a leash - more than can be said for Milly and Mabel who are naughty girls! :)
Sasha is getting to be a good age too - I hope M & M carry on for years. I worry a little though because their mother died at 8 yrs. with a tumour! :(
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CenTexChows
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Post by CenTexChows »

Wow Chewie looks awesome! Thanks for pictures... he's a natural with the camera. :lol:

We started Andromeda and Zeus with the Nutro dog food this past week. Both of them loves the food! Thanks guys and gals for your input.
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