10 Best Dog Foods for Morkies in 2022 – Reviews & Top Picks

Morkies are small but active dogs, so they require some special considerations when choosing the type of food you feed them. Finding a brand of food to feed these small dogs can be challenging and looking through the ingredients of dozens of brands can be tedious.

We’ve chosen 10 brands of food targeted for small dogs to review for you. Each brand has unique qualities and will go over the pros and cons of every one. We have also included a buyer’s guide where we look at a Morkies nutritional needs and what makes one food better than another.

Join us while we look at protein, vitamins and minerals, kibble size, and more to help you make an educated purchase.

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A Quick Comparison of Our Favorites in 2022

The 10 Best Dog Foods for Morkies

1. Blue Buffalo Life Protection Adult Dog Food – Best Overall

Blue Buffalo Life Protection Formula Adult Dog Food is our pick for the best overall dog food for Morkies. It has chicken listed as its first ingredient, and it contains other protein sources as well, bringing the total protein up to 26%. It also contains omega fats, which help with brain development, a soft coat, and other health benefits. Real fruits and vegetables provide plenty of vitamins and minerals as well as antioxidants that will help boost your pet’s immune system. It also contains glucosamine, which can help with joint swelling and arthritis. The kibble is a little smaller than regular dog food, so it’s easier for your Morkie to chew, and there’s no corn, wheat, or soy ingredients that might upset your pet’s stomach.

The only thing we didn’t like about Blue Buffalo Life Protection was that some of our dogs didn’t like it. If oy have picky eaters, you will need to break them in slowly.

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2. Iams ProActive Adult MiniChunks Dry Dog Food – Best Value

Iams ProActive Health Adult MiniChunks Dry Dog Food is our choice as the best dog food for Morkies for the money. It features chicken as its main ingredient and has a total protein count of 25%. The smaller kibble size is perfect for Morkies, and there are no chemical preservatives or dyes. It’s fortified with vitamins and minerals to provide a complete meal and contains a helpful blend of fibers and prebiotics.

The only thing we didn’t like about Iams ProActive is that it contains corn, which can be difficult for some dogs to digest.

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3. Blue Buffalo Life Protection Formula Puppy Dog Food – Best for Puppies

Blue Buffalo Life Protection Formula Puppy Dog Food is our pick as the best for puppies. It features chicken as its main ingredient, and it delivers 29% protein without using any meat by-product. It uses plenty of natural ingredients, including real fruits and vegetables. These ingredients provide antioxidants as well as omega fats. The smaller kibble is easier to eat, and there is no corn, wheat, or soy ingredients that can upset your pet’s sensitive digestive system.

While we were trying out the Blue Buffalo puppy food, some of our dogs wouldn’t eat it. Others sorted through the food, picking out the bits they liked, and leaving the rest.

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4. Nutro Wholesome Essentials Small Bites Dry Dog Food

Nutro Wholesome Essentials Small Bites Dry Dog Food feature lamb as the first ingredient. It also includes other protein ingredients that bring the level up to 22%. It contains beet pulp and flaxseed, which provides helpful antioxidants and omega fats. Zinc will help boost the immune system, and none of the ingredients are genetically modified (GMO). There are also no artificial colors or preservatives.

The downside to Nutro Wholesome Essentials is that it can occasionally lead to soft stools. We also wish the bag had a way to reseal it.

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5. Hill’s Science Diet Adult Small Bites Dry Dog Food

Hill’s Science Diet Adult Small Bites Dry Dog Food has chicken listed as its first ingredient. Among its ingredients are plenty of real fruits and vegetables like apples, broccoli, carrots, peas, and cranberries. These fruits and vegetables deliver plenty of vitamins and minerals, including vitamin E, which is required by dogs and is also an antioxidant. Vitamin E is just one ingredient in their powerful antioxidant blend, which also helps provide omega fats to keep your pet’s coat looking healthy. Smaller kibble is easier for Morkies to eat.

What we didn’t like about Hill’s Science Diet was that the protein was a little low at 20%. While that number is acceptable, there are many brands on this list that exceed it. It also contains corn ingredients which don’t provide any nutritional value and could upset your pet’s stomach.

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6. Wellness CORE Grain-Free Dry Dog Food

Wellness CORE Grain-Free Dry Dog Food has turkey listed as its first ingredient. It also has real salmon listed, which brings the protein up to 36% and provides beneficial omega fats. This food also contains real fruits and vegetables, including kale, broccoli, spinach, carrots, and apples. These fruits and vegetables provide fiber and probiotics to help balance your dog’s sensitive digestive tract. They also provide glucosamine and chondroitin to help with joint pain and inflammation.

We liked the ingredients in Wellness CORE, but felt the kibble was a little larger than some other brands and harder for our dogs to eat. It also gave our dogs bad breath.

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7. Nature’s Recipe Small Breed Grain-Free Dry Dog Food

Nature’s Recipe Small Breed Grain-Free Dry Dog Food features chicken as its first ingredient. At 25%, it provides plenty of protein to small active breeds like the Morkie, and it contains a small breed formula. Real fruits and vegetables, including garbanzo beans and peas, provide high vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, while pumpkin and sweet potato provide complex carbs and a suitable substitute for grain. There’s no corn in the ingredients, and the smaller kibble is perfect for a Morkie.

Some of our dogs really liked Nature’s Recipe, and some of them didn’t like it at all. It tended to give them loose stools if we fed it to them several days in a row, but it would make a good choice for dogs suffering from constipation.

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8. Royal Canin Size Health Nutrition Small Adult Dog Dry Food

Royal Canin Size Health Nutrition Small Adult Formula Dog Dry Food delivers a good amount of protein at 25%, and fish oil provides plenty of DHA and EPA omega fats that will help with brain and eye development as well as a healthy coat. L-Carnitine helps to promote fat metabolism so our pet can stay a healthy weight.

We didn’t like that Royal Canin has corn as its top ingredient, and it only contains chicken by-product meal and no whole chicken. Most of our dogs did like this food because many of them have loose stools.

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9. Purina Beneful IncrediBites Dry Dog Food

Purina Beneful IncrediBites Dry Dog Food Features beef as its top ingredient, and it contains other protein sources as well, bringing the level up to 26%. Real fruits and vegetables like apples, carrots, and green provide 23 essential vitamins and minerals, many of which are antioxidants that help boost the immune system.

What we didn’t like about Purina Beneful IncrediBites is that a contains corn ingredients that can upset some dog’s digestive system, and there are no omega fats, which is an important nutrient for dogs of all ages. The kibble is very hard, which caused many of our dogs not to like it, and the bag is not resealable.

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10. Wellness Small Breed Complete Health Adult Dry Dog Food

Wellness Small Breed Complete Health Adult Dry Dog Food is the last brand of food for Morkies on our list, and this one features turkey as its first ingredient. Other meat ingredients help bring the protein level up to 28%. Fish oil and flaxseed provide helpful omega fats, while real fruits and vegetables provide the vitamins and minerals your pet needs, including vitamins A and C, which are important antioxidants. Chondroitin is another important nutrient that helps with arthritis and joint pain in older dogs. The smaller kibble size is perfect for Morkies.

Our dogs liked Wellness Small Breed at first, but then they stopped eating it after two or three days. The food has a terrible odor to it and gave our dogs bad breath. It also causes loose stools and even diarrhea in some of the dogs we fed this brand.

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Buyer’s Guide – Choosing the Best Dog Food for a Morkie

Here are some things to consider when choosing a dog food brand for a Morkie.

Protein

Because the Morkie is an active breed, it will need a food high in protein to maintain energy levels and build strong muscle. Protein from whole meat like chicken, turkey, beef, or lamb is preferable to a meat by-product or meat meal. Meat by-products are dried and ground meats that often come from countries with lower pet food standards.

We recommend a food with no less than 20% protein for adult dogs and 25% protein for puppies.

Fruits and Vegetables

Many brands spray their food with liquid vitamins and minerals. While spraying is an acceptable way to provide these nutrients, real fruits and vegetables are preferable. Organic foods like cranberries, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, raspberries, blueberries, and more provide powerful antioxidants and fiber. Antioxidants will help boost your pet’s immune system, which will ward off disease, help them heal quicker, and help the systems in their body function better. Fiber will help balance the digestive system and can relieve constipation as well as diarrhea.

We recommend purchasing a brand of food with real fruits and vegetables listed in the ingredients. The higher they are listed, the better.

Omega Fats

Most omega fats come from fish oil, but flaxseed and many fruits also provide them. You will see Omega fats listed with many names, including omega-3 omega-6, DHA, and EPA, but fish oil provides everything you need, and we recommend a brand with fish oil listed in the ingredients.

Omega fats provide many benefits to your dogs. It helps with the development of the eyes and brain while your dog is still a puppy. It promotes a shiny, soft coat, and helps their heart, skin, and immune system.

Ingredients to Avoid

Unfortunately, there are some ingredients commonly found in dog food that you should avoid.

Corn and Soy

Corn and soy provide very little nutritional value to your dog and are empty calories used as a filler. For some reason, many dogs seemed to like the corn ingredient, but it’s not part of their natural diet, and it could upset their sensitive digestive system, leading to gas, loose stools, and even diarrhea. Corn and soy are also the two most genetically modified foods on earth, so it’s best to avoid them when possible.

Chemical Preservatives and Artificial Colors

Two other ingredients you want to look for on every package of dog food are chemical preservatives and artificial colors. Since your dog is colorblind, there is little need for artificial colors in their food and they may contain ingredients that can cause an allergic reaction.  Chemical preservatives like BHT are even more dangerous to your pet and can lead to serious health problems like cancer.

We recommend choosing a brand with no artificial colors that use natural preservatives like rosemary.

Conclusion

When choosing the best brand of dog food for your Morkie, we recommend something high in protein like our top choice. Blue Buffalo Life Protection Formula Adult Dog Food Contains 26% protein and has plenty of antioxidants and omega fats due to its high concentration of real fruits and vegetables. It also contains glucosamine to help with aging joints, and the small cable fits comfortably in your pet’s mouth. If your dog is still a puppy, we recommend Blue Buffalo Life Protection Formula Puppy Dog Food. We consider this one of the best dog food for Morkies because it contains everything our top choice has but increases the protein level to 29%, though it is a little more expensive.

We hope you have enjoyed reading our dog food reviews and found some useful information in our buyer’s guide. If we have helped you pick a brand for your pet, and you think it can be helpful to others, please share this guide to the best dog food for Morkies on Facebook and Twitter.

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Featured Image Credit: JStaley401, Shutterstock