Author Topic: What to feed a puppy?  (Read 11078 times)

Offline Lucah's Folks

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What to feed a puppy?
« on: July 31, 2006, 02:58:17 pm »
Lucah (our OEM) had his first Vet visit.  She told me he should be on a puppy food so that he doesn't grow too quick.  My research said that puppies should have medium levels of protein and fat.  Puppy food seems to have larger amounts of protein and fat, but, it also has increased calcium. 

What do I feed our puppy?

Regular food has lower protein and fat.  Puppy food has more calcium.  does ayone has a sugestion with what works safest for a puppy.  I am not a size freak that wants a monster, but I want to make sure he is healthy and happy.

Ideas?

Offline Saint and Mal mom

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Re: What to feed a puppy?
« Reply #1 on: July 31, 2006, 03:23:32 pm »
I personally believe in feeding a large breed puppy food to puppies, but you will get a lot of different opinions on that from people here. So you'll have to decide for yourself. I feed Eukanuba Large Breed Puppy and Nutro Max Large Breed Puppy and have been happy with both and my dogs seem to like the taste of them both. There are some other great foods out there, I know, but I just haven't had experience with them, one because of cost, two because of hard time locating them in Kansas! I'll let others tell you what they think now!
Marissa

Zoey- Alaskan Malamute, 4 years
Dolly, CGC- Saint Bernard, 4 years
Foster mom to Clarence- Basset Hound, 5 years

"To be loved by...any animal should fill us with awe-for we have not deserved it."

Offline newflvr

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Re: What to feed a puppy?
« Reply #2 on: July 31, 2006, 03:46:48 pm »
I agree with Julie.  We've fed all of our Newfs adult food as soon as they came to us (under recommendation s of the breeders we've worked with).  The guideline they gave us is no more than 22% protein and minimal fat.  We've tried a lot of them since there have been allergy issues with Chester, especially.    He didn't do well on Nutro at all...he scratched like crazy.  He refused to eat any kind of Eagle Pack (we tried 4 different varieties ::))

I think the whole point is to have them grow as slowly as possible, always remembering that their genetics make the size of the dog, not the food. 

Good luck and please post pictures SOON!  We ALL love puppy pics!!

Offline Lucah's Folks

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Re: What to feed a puppy?
« Reply #3 on: July 31, 2006, 07:43:38 pm »
Thanks for the answers.  I find that the puppy food might make the best sense.  But I guess I will look for more answers at local pet shops and here on the web.

Gypsy Jazmine

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Re: What to feed a puppy?
« Reply #4 on: July 31, 2006, 07:56:40 pm »
I am feeding Canidae (all life stages) to my big puppies & I could not be more pleased!....I did feed large breed puppy food to both of my guys but switched them to adult food by 10 months old...If I'd known about Canidae then I'd have fed that...Don't forget to supplement with glucosamine/chloradritan...Don't let the foods that add it to their formulas fool you...Processe d kibble contains 6 mg. of gl/chl per cup...A 100 lb dog needs at least 1000 mg.'s a day...Not sure how much for a growing puppy but I think it is very important for maintenence & proper growth of large/giant breed pups...Can we see pics of your OEM?...I think they are just gorgeous! :)

Offline Saintgirl

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Re: What to feed a puppy?
« Reply #5 on: July 31, 2006, 10:29:49 pm »
I'm one of those against feeding puppy food too. There are some excellent foods out there that are great for a growing puppy, Julie listed them! Our giant breeds are different from large breed dogs, a 90lb dog has specific requirements, and 190lb dogs require other things. IMO large breed puppy food does not necessarily best meet the needs of our fast growing pups.
Leah, Hutch, and Abbey

Offline Lucah's Folks

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Re: What to feed a puppy?
« Reply #6 on: August 03, 2006, 09:52:54 pm »
I have decided...

I am going with Solid Gold Wolf Cub.  It has good levels of protein and fat and no corn in the ingredients.  I got a lot of Science Diet and Nutro suggestions, but I never really felt all that good about corn products in dog food.  A guy at a pet store tried to get me to buy something called LOTUS, but it didn't have a puppy formula. 

It was funny that he tried to push LOTUS though.  He claimed it was the best out there, but 3 years ago the same store was pushing WELLNESS just as hard.  I guess you have to be careful and do your research.

I am attaching some pics below

Offline newflvr

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Re: What to feed a puppy?
« Reply #7 on: August 04, 2006, 03:19:04 am »
I am by no means a food expert.  But I have not even heard of Lotus.

Lotus is a private label brand that is sold only in a small Southern Calif. pet store chain, Centinela.  I have no idea whether the food is any good, we just sort of stick to our regular program: Coco's Cuisine and Solid Gold Duck and Potato and fresh cooked meat.  I was in Centinela yesterday doing a re-stock, and asked them about EVO for my guys.  He said that Chester had to be at least 24 months to switch him to a food with that much protein.  It was good to know that they seem to know what they are selling! ;)

Good luck with your puppy, and we'd love to see more pictures!

Offline navarre1316

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Re: What to feed a puppy?
« Reply #8 on: August 04, 2006, 03:29:57 am »
OOOOHHHH!! That face :-* :-*  I want to smush it!!
God placed me on this earth to accomplish certain tasks...I'm so far behind I'll never die!!

Navarre: GSD 9/13/99-5/14/06 patiently waiting
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Re: What to feed a puppy?
« Reply #9 on: August 04, 2006, 03:36:06 am »
I'm against feeding puppy food too, including large breed puppy foods.

I fed large breed puppy foods to Bubba and he grew way too fast. He ended up with Pano in his front legs, and his hips/ankles/elbows snapped, crackled and popped for the longest time. Scared the crap out of me. :(

Lola on the other hand I am feeding adult food and she's growing much more evenly with no joint problems thus far.

Offline Boyle

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Re: What to feed a puppy?
« Reply #10 on: August 04, 2006, 03:50:05 am »
Your Lucah is just adorable.  :)

I too am against feeding any type of puppy food.  With Nola, we kept the protien between 20-24% and fat between 12-15% to control growth, and made sure of high quality ingredients for proper nutritional absorption.  Slow growth is the key - it may not seem like slow growth when they are gaining 5 pounds a week. 

Here's the 2006 list from the Whole Dog Journal. These are highest quality foods. Most of these are not carried at large chain stores (you don't want those brands anyway) but you can usually find them at small pet stores, feed and grain stores, etc.

Artemis: www.artemispet food.com
Azmira: www.azmira.com
Back to Basics: www.beowulfs.c om
Bench & Field Holistic Natural Canine: www.benchandfi eld.com
Blue Buffalo: www.bluebuff.c om
Burns: www.bpn4u.com
by Nature BrightLife: www.bynaturepe tfoods.com
California Natural: www.naturapet. com
Canidae: www.canidae.co m
Canine Caviar: www.caninecavi ar.com
Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul: www.chickensou pforthepetlove rssoul.com
Cloud Star Kibble: www.cloudstar. com
Drs. Foster & Smith: www.drsfosters mith.com
Eagle Pack Holistic Select: www.eaglepack. com
Evolve: www.evolvepet. com
Firstmate Dog Food: www.firstmate. com
Flint River Ranch: www.flintriver-pet-food.com
Foundations: www.petcurean. com
Fromm Four Star Nutritionals: www.frommfamil yfoods.com
Go! Natural: www.petcurean. com
Hund-N-Flocken: www.solidgoldh ealth.com
Innova: www.naturapet. com
Innova Evo: www.naturapet. com
Karma Organic: www.karmaorgan ic.com
Lick Your Chops: www.healthypet foodsinc.com
Lifespan: www.petguard.c om
Limited Diets: www.royalcanin .us
Merrick Pet Foods: www.merrickpet care.com
Mmillennia: www.solidgoldh ealth.com
Natural Balance Ultra Premium: www.naturalbal anceinc.com
Natural Choice Ultra: www.nutroprodu cts.com
Newman's Own Organics: www.newmansown organics.com
NutriSource: www.nutrisourc edogfood.com
Organix: www.castorpoll uxpet.com
Performatrin Ultra: www.performatr inultra.com
PHD Viand: www.phdproduct s.com
Pinnacle: www.breeders-choice.com
Prairie: www.naturesvar iety.com
Premium Edge: www.premiumedg epetfood.com
Prime Life: www.ompetprodu cts.com
Royal Canin Natural Blend: www.royalcanin .us
Timberwolf Organics: timberwolforga nics.com
VeRUS: www.veruspetfo ods.com
Wellness: www.oldmotherh ubbard.com
Wellness Simple Food Solutions: www.oldmotherh ubbard.com
Wenawe: www.wenawe.com .uy
Wysong: www.wysong.net
Zinpro: www.lincolnbio tech.com

Good luck with Lucah and please post more pictures.

Offline Lucah's Folks

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Re: What to feed a puppy?
« Reply #11 on: August 12, 2006, 05:35:51 am »
thanks all for the information... it was really helpful.  So far so good with the food choice we made.   Now is we can just get this house breaking thing figured out. ;D

Offline Saint and Mal mom

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Re: What to feed a puppy?
« Reply #12 on: August 12, 2006, 06:41:09 am »
That is one cute puppy! More pics when you can, please!  ;D
Marissa

Zoey- Alaskan Malamute, 4 years
Dolly, CGC- Saint Bernard, 4 years
Foster mom to Clarence- Basset Hound, 5 years

"To be loved by...any animal should fill us with awe-for we have not deserved it."