Feeding Puppy

[doglover1]

There are so many puppy chow brands out there. Which are the best?
What brands do you all use?
I see now that they have large breed puppy chow. Does anyone use yogurt to mix in the puppy chow?
I didn't know if they needed the extra calcium. I know too much calcium is not good.

Thanks!

[dogsbestfriend]

Originally Posted by doglover1

There are so many puppy chow brands out there. Which are the best?
What brands do you all use?
I see now that they have large breed puppy chow. Does anyone use yogurt to mix in the puppy chow?
I didn't know if they needed the extra calcium. I know too much calcium is not good.

Thanks!

when you say puppy chow are you using chow as in the term for "FOOD" or are you actually speaking about the dog food "PUPPY CHOW" ?

In any event, there are tons of threads here on food and plenty of opinions on what who will or won't feed their pups/dogs.. good luck

[Diane Heller-Vaccaro]

Go to the nutrition section. I know of not one good food called "Puppy Chow" and no do not add calcium to your puppy's food. Vitamin C, Yes, calcium No.

[TR Young]

Well, after some advice from the good folks on this site, and my own research, I settled on Canidae. Tara really likes it, and it has firmed up her stools and shined her coat quite nicely.

[doglover1]

Canidae? What is this, I've never heard of it.

"Puppy Chow" is an expression. I mean puppy food.

I have adults and use Pro Plan. But, puppies are different, especially the large breeds.

Anyone use Pro Plan? Eukanuba? Iams?

[Diane Heller-Vaccaro]

All the foods you mentioned are substandard in nutrition. The are filled with corn and by products. Here is a short list of super premium kibble:

Innova
California Natural
Canidae
Timberwolf Organics
Solid Gold
Wellness

Of course RAW being the prefered diet.

Foods not to feed:

Ol Roy
Atta Boy
Science Diet
Iams
Eukanuba
Purina One
Pedigree
Alpo

Basically anything you can find in your grocery store or PetsMart, though Petco is now carrying Solid Gold which leaves me to wonder if they changed ingredients or where purchased by a major company

[jasonm]

Well you can spend a ton of money on a specialized food. I know that I've talked to about 10 breeders before choosing one, and they were all reputable, plus I interviewed 4 vets before choosing the one we go to and they ALL said most of the higher quality foods out there are great.

You can spend more money on food for your dog than you do yourself but when asked they all recommended Purina One as a good, well rounded food. Everyone puts down the name brands but I can't believe they are horrible for the dog especially when that many people have mentioned it before I asked them for specifics.

And I'm not knocking the raw diet but what I've seen is that for every person thats says it's great there is someone saying there are issues. Now I'm new to rotties (always had labs) and I'm only going on what I've read and heard from people I've talked to. I use the Purina One and my little girl is doing great.

But if anyone ever picks Ol' Roy or Atta Boy you might as well be feeding them McDonalds because the ingrediants in that stuff are terrible.

[TweitzeKc]

I disagree with the pp. I wont use purina or any others because of the Corn, by-products, all the fillers and preservitives. I just bought Canidae and cant wait to have my boys try it. It was 29.99 for a 40 lb bag. Your dog will actually eat less of it and its really more digestible. I have tried Innova (lots of samples), merrick and Nutro Ultra(was feeding all the time). I wanted better. My boys are healthy and look great from the Nutro Ultra. I am just trying other options because I dont like the changes in the Nutro. www.canidae.com Check it out.

Innova
Merrick
Canidae
timberwolf organics

the list goes on and on

Taylor

[spidey]

But, puppies are different, especially the large breeds.

Not really, they just have higher caloric requirements per pound than an adult. The only real difference in terms of breed size is the optimal growth rate and I tend to think that ALL puppies do better when they grow slowly rather than quickly, anyway. There are many all stages foods out there which work very well. My current dog never ate puppy food (other than when he was first weaned onto solid food by his breeder), he's eaten adult food since 10 weeks, he grew slowly and well and is now a gorgeous adult (if I do say so myself), and he's a much smaller breed than a Rottweiler (problems with too-fast growth aren't restricted to large breeds). "Large breed" foods are a waste of money in my opinion (as a general rule they just have extra filler to drop the calories per cup, and you can do the same thing by merely feeding a bit less of a regular food and supplementing with green beans or pumpkin if your dog is still hungry). There's nothing wrong with choosing a high quality puppy food (like the puppy versions of Innova, Nutro Ultra, etc.), and there's nothing wrong with feeding a high quality all life stages food either, just make sure that you maintain a slow growth rate and keep your puppy lean.

[ikes owner]

I'm feeding eukanuba real lamb and rice for puppies. ike is doing fabulous and it has really shined his coat. we also andd a can of tuna 2 or 3 times a week.

[spidey]

we also andd a can of tuna 2 or 3 times a week.

That seems like a lot of tuna to me, tuna contains quite a bit of mercury. Recommended amounts for HUMANS are only 1-2 servings per week, and a dog is smaller than a person. I'd choose a different fish (mackerel, low-salt sardines, whatever), since over the long term feeding that much tuna might cause mercury toxicity.

[Diane Heller-Vaccaro]

I've said this on all my nutrition posts, one food does not work for every dog. Same as we can't all eat the same foods, infact your dog may be doing fine on a food and suddenly not so well, I myself couldn't live without my Starbucks, 2 years after having my coffee every morning I suddenly became sick to my stomach I can no long drink coffee at all, I get sick everytime. These things happen with our animals too. That's why rotating foods is suggested, many vets who know nutrition (and I will say there aren't many you will know the ones they don't have Science Diet in their lobby) believe every 6 months to rotate to a different food that is one reason I like Timberwolf Organics you can rotate with in the brand.

I just want to add that not only are the ingredients important but so is how the food is kept and prepared. Someone here did a post on Diamond Dog Food and it must have been a real shock for those who thought there dogs were doing just fine on that food. Know your dog, learn how to read labels and know that rubber preservative has no place in our dog foods. Look at this site. http://earthrenewal.org/pet_wellness_and_diet.htm

[ikes owner]

well spidey I've had the same vet for 13 years he told me about it on our first visit with my blue heeler, I did it for her! he said as long as it is albacore white meat its fine.

[Diane Heller-Vaccaro]

Yes, tuna is wonderful and sardines too, especially in olive oil. Asa also drinks cold pressed carrot juice. Then again, he is a RAW fed dog so he loves veggies and fruits, just not grapes or onions.

[Skip]

I hear a lot of people talk about shiny coats...I just wanted to say that a lot of dog foods....good ones AND bad ones...can make the coat shiny. There is much more to good dog health besides a shiny coat. Feeding oil to the dog will give a shiny coat.