SearchNeed puppy feeding advice
I've been doing a lot of research on what to feed my puppy. My sister mixed canned with dry food for her puppies, which I may do. I have also heard soaking dry food in water is the way to go.
What are you feeding your puppies? I got a brand narrowed down (4health from TSS). Also, what are you using as treats? I'm looking to give my pup lots of variety which includes raw fruits, veggies, and meats.
Why wouldn't you take your breeder's advice on feeding? They should know what tends to work for their dogs.
I am, but I'm also wanting to see what other members are doing to get some more info on the subject.
Q was started on purina Pro Plan large puppy, he does still get an upset tummy every now and then so i try to keep his food as bland as possible. Still on Pro Plan large dog with shredded chicken.
We got some kibble from our breeder to take home when we collected Cleo, it was Beta puppy which was soaked in water. Cleo had gardia when she was a lil pup so the vet changed her to eukanuba intestinal which she was on for 3 months. We then changed her to Eukanuba large breed puppy until she was 1 and she did really well on it but she is quite excitable and someone mentioned that could be down to her food. We have just changed her over to Taste of the Wild, which she loves, and I think she is calming down but we don't know if that is because of the food or if she is just maturing and would have calmed down anyway. We are really happy with TOTW so will keep her on that for now.
That's twice I have heard about the wet food. I like that idea. I also, have heard good things about TTOTW. I was looking at 4health for Tractor Supply. If you check out the ingrediants its a great buy.
What are the beninfits of grain free? This keeps coming up, when I'm shopping around.
I feed my pup Blue Buffalo dog food lamb puppy formula (which is grain free)and he has thrived on it since he transitioned to it at 8 weeks old. His coat shines, he loved the formula from day one (weither I give it to him completely dry or add a bit of water for added moisture), and his energy level is right where it needs to be. I haven't tried the wet varities of food yet, but I do plan on it once he is a bit older. I will let you in on why I choose grain-free dogfoods upon reading up on the issue I had read that alot of the grains in the grain dogfoods are just added to bulk up leaving less of the real sources of meat that are needed in your dogs diet. Grain free dogfoods do have some grain types but it usually is something like Flax Seed, whole grain,barley ect you know stuff that can do the body some good and usually it isn't the first ingredient. I'm going to use Blue buffalo and pedigree as a dogfood example. Blue's first ingredient in Magnum's current formula is Deboned Lamb it's 2nd is Oatmeal and 3rd Whole Ground Barley. Pedigree Puppy Complete Nutrition 1st ingredient is ground whole corn, 2nd chicken by-product, 3rd Brewers rice showing that instead of meat being their number 1 ingrediant they use a filler type grain as both their 1st and 3rd ingredient. There are many good grain-free dog foods out there and many people here on this site feed different varieties so there are many opinions and helpful advice to give on the types. I myself will do some more researching and switching up on dogfoods later since my pup is still young and currently on a food that fits him. I won't ever feed him anything that doesn't say grain free and have quality ingredients listed.
I have heard so many great things about the Blue Buffalo. Now, I know it cost more, but do you find that you have to give your dog less as it's more nutritional than some of the cheaper kinds like the 4Health I mentioned? In other words, is the higher cost balanced out by the fact that you don't need to feed your dog as much? So your not actually spending more money.
My sister swore by Blue Buffalo canned food (mixed with dry) when she raised her Rhodesion Ridgeback and highly recommended it to me. Once the pup was grown, she went to the 4health brand as a compromise between cost and nutrition.
Heres a picture of the famous Cael the Rhodesian Ridgeback, he would like to thank Blue Buffalo for making him the dog he is today:
What an adorable Rhodesian! The original bag of puppy Blue has lasted us a long time. We brought him home at 8 weeks and he didn't finish up the bag until he was about 13 weeks. We fed along the guidelines on the bag for his age range. He ate about 2-3 times daily. We did sometimes add things such as non-fat yogart and cottage cheese to his meals to help with calcium intake and the occassional debone cooked chicken that we cooked for him. I believe that 4Health would be a good middle of the road brand. It is wayyyyy better than the commercial brands of food that don't offer much nutritional value so giving it a try wouldn't hurt your pet much nutritionally.
Hi do you feed Blue Buffalo large puppy or just the puppy lamb and rice? i was told with Blue Buffalo you don't really need to feed the large puppy Blue buff, Any opinions?
DJ came to me with a 40 lb bag of Eukanuba Puppy Growth kibble, and because that's what she's been eating all along, I still leave a little bit of it in her bowl, but I am transitioning her over to the Canidae Puppy food, so I mix the two right now. I also add a spoonful of cottage cheese (a very small spoon at that) just for flavor and to get her interested in eating. She gobbles it up like nobody's business.
I bought taste of wild, all stages of life, all three dogs love it! will be transitioning over , we will see my chi 11 years old loves it, Yorkie 5 loves it / and dobie pup 8 months loves it!
lol @ ZD - She gobbles it up like nobody's business.
I feed Zoe Diamond brand puppy chow (the pink and tan bag). There is no by products in this food and my breeder also uses this brand, which is what Zoe started off eating. The first 3 ingrediants are lamb, lamb meal, egg and then barley. All good sources of protein, makes for good health, shiny coat and lots of energy!!! Not knowing this brand was so great, a year ago we bought the Diamond brand chow for our older dog Scooby and he loves it. He doesn't scarf all at once and is at his leisure to eat it. I believe that the ingrediants are there for what he needs, not what he likes, which is why he doesn't eat all of it at once, like some dogs do with other brands.
I have also found a brand for soft food and snacks called Wellness. In the soft food they use whole food ingrediants (Duck, Sweet Potatoes, Carrots and Flaxseed) in the Duck and Sweet Potato Formula. There is no Meat by-products, no wheat, no corn, no soy and no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives. In the snacks (Wellness WellBars: Chicken and Cheddar Cheese) the first ingrediants are ground barley, cane molasses, ground brown rice, chicken, sweet potatoes, canola oil, oatmeal cheddar cheese, flaxseed. They also make Wellness soft treats just for puppies and they are made with lamb, salmon and whole fruits and veggies.
Zoe has done really well with her diet, so far. She has had a touch of diarhea, but that's when I first started her on the soft food. Now she is used to it and has good poops 
Each morning and evening she gets a mixture of the Diamond puppy chow and half can of the WellNess soft food.
p.s. As I was writing this, I checked all the ingrediants of the food and I just bought her a new type of Diamond brand puppy chow (pink and purple bag) and the first two ingrediants are a meat by-product and corn....NOT GOOD and I'm glad we haven't started feeding it to her yet, as I will be returning this bag and getting her orignial puppy chow, so Thanks d_spaghetti, for putting the message out there and because of you I checked her food!
Hope this helps, sorry the message is a little long, but I get excited when I feel I've got some good advice for another doby lover!!!
DobeZOE
For anyone wishing to feed an all natural/raw or homemade diet, or looking to find holistic info on taking care of animals, I can't recommend Dr. Becker from Mercola enough. She has a lot to say about kibble, canned and raw diets - which ones are excellent, and which ones are horrible.
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My baby Harley :)Pet Profiles
I'm a RAW feeder myself, But I use the model Pray which is basically Meat/bone/organ. No veg, although he does love his carrot and brocoli stem treats :D I usually give him the leftover veg from our dinner but that's really all the veg he gets. When he was little I used to get him a premade frozen RAW called Big dog BARF. It was great and really cheap....but we moved intertate and can't get it for as cheap as I'd like, so I've made friends with the local butchers and they look after us.....one of them is a HUGE fan of Dobes so he gives me great deals :)
Anyway if it's raw where you are heading....trust me...you won't look back!!! EVER! But I understand it's not everyone's cup of tea so I'm sure your going to get some great advice from other members :)