What To Feed Our Puppy?

[Sticks1977]

Currently our little Fraser is being fed Advance Puppy Growth which has the following breakdown:

Crude Protein (32%), Crude Fat (19%), Crude Fibre (5%), Moisture (10%), Ash (10.5%), Salt (2.5%), Calcium (1.2%) and Phosphorus (0.94%)

I finally made sense of the feeding table on the side of the big bag of this food that we got for him. It was the same food that he has been having when he was at the breeders. He is now just over 10 weeks old and he is due to get his second vaccination on the 21st August.

However after looking on the feeding table it states that when he is at two months of age he should move onto Advance Growth Large Breeds which says is for puppies and larger breeds that are 25 kg and over, I would think this would apply to Fraser being a lab! The breakdown of the Advance Growth Large is:

Crude Protein (28%), Crude Fat (16%), Crude Fibre (5%), Moisture (10%), Ash (10.5%), Salt (2.5%), Calcium (1.0%) and Phosphorus (0.85%)

I know that if I am to change his diet this should be done gradually over time, he has also had a little trouble going to the toilet when needing a poo - most of the time it seems solid and normal colour but every so often it seems light in colour and resembles diarrhea.

Should I just wait until he goes to the vet for his second vaccination and bring it up then? Or should I be looking at other alternatives for him as he is growing up? He is a very active puppy and has just learnt how to leap up onto the couch to sit with us and watch television... He seems to have SO MUCH energy at the moment and is full of beans most days when I come home from work to be greeted by a smiling and happy puppy.

Any help would be appreciated, you are welcome to click on the links provided to the two specific products, I am just a little worried that he may not be getting certain nutrients especially when the manufacturer of this product suggests to upgrade the puppy to another product at two months of age.

Regards,

Shaun (Sticks1977), Gaylene and Fraser

[kiahzen]

I feed Advance Growth Large Breeds to my 2 Rotts and think that it is a great food...

I'm not sure how you buy it but i usually get the 15kg bag as it lasts longer and works out much cheeper...

If you change to the large breed then you can change 100% to that in a matter of days..

Buy a bag of the large breed when you have about a weeks supply or just under left of the other and then mix in a cup of the large breed and just gradually mix in more and more every day until you have changed it over... As they are the same brand you shouldn't really have too many issues in changing over as the ingredients are very similar...

Not sure on the toilet issue that you are having... I feed the Advance with raw beef mince also and give other lamb neck bones and chicken frames throughout the week... So long as he doesn't have an upset tummy too often then i think it is normal that sometimes it is runny and others it isn't... I don't always have solid poo to pick up and don't often have runny ones only usually when they have had a lamb neck as it has the bone in there and i find that this sometimes makes them a little runny...

Goodluck with the puppy it sounds like you are doing a great job with him....

[shmoo]

chuck it all out and research a BARF diet.

[APBT Lover]

chuck it all out and research a BARF diet.

Good advice

[ShesaLikeableBiBear]

Your puppy should be on a formula for Large Breed puppies, personally we feed Nutro Natural Choice.

[Poodle wrangler]

If you want to feed dry food, then yes- put him on a large breed formula because it is much better for their growing bones.

Keeping him lean will also help his bones grow healthy. No small ask for a lab who loves his food.

Overweight and overexercising are thought to increase risk of hip dysplasia.

My breeder advised no jumping on/off lounges, beds etc. for large breed pups with growing bones. Ditto no running down flights of stairs, no overexercising on lead (off leash they get to rest when they want, so is OK).

Training (very short for a young pup) is an excellent way to exercise both mind and body and 2-3 very short walks are better than one once he's had his 2nd vaccs.\

ETA: My pup loves chicken necks and brisket bones to chew on.

Edited August 8, 2007 by Poodle wrangler

[Static'sMum]

I feed my almost 9 month old Rotti Eagle Pack. He weighs almost 40kg, so is quite big, and it costs us around $5 a day to feed him on this (and this includes all 'extras' such as add-ins and bones)

He has previously been on Supercoat (I wasn't so well informed when I first got him) then Royal Canin, and now Eagle Pack.

He has gone from lots of lightly coloured, sloppy stools - to lovely brown, firm stools! (I never EVER thought I would be so exciting about poo in my life ... but it is now not a trauma to pick up/hose in!)

We also add extras - mince/chicken - human grade, sardines, pasta/rice, vegies, fruit, etc with his biscuits, and he has fish oil.

I would personally always stick to a top of the range product.

We pay between $90 - $101 a 15kg bag, which is expensive if you look at price/size ration, but you feed less portions, they get more benefit from the product, and they poo less - woooo hooooooooo :cool:

I am looking into the BARF diet - but Static seems to like his biscuits - and I do at fresh veg/fruit/meat etc. Haven't gotten into the organ meats yet, but looking into it.

He is happy, healthy - OH ... and he farts a lot less than he used to

ps. i have read also (replying to someones previous comment) that it is not necessary to feed Large Breed Foods to Large Breed dogs - as they can have just as much benefit from an adult food - providing it is a premium brand in the first place?? As I am divided in what to believe, Static is alternated between Eagle Pack, Large Breed Puppy, and Holistic Chicken (okay for pup/adults alike) complete dry food. As you get discount for buying 2 bags plus at a time, we buy $30 kilos which lasts us just over two months .... and once he stops growing, and eats less, he will be even cheaper to feed this good stuff!!

[bloss344]

ps. i have read also (replying to someones previous comment) that it is not necessary to feed Large Breed Foods to Large Breed dogs - as they can have just as much benefit from an adult food - providing it is a premium brand in the first place?? As I am divided in what to believe, Static is alternated between Eagle Pack, Large Breed Puppy, and Holistic Chicken (okay for pup/adults alike) complete dry food. As you get discount for buying 2 bags plus at a time, we buy $30 kilos which lasts us just over two months .... and once he stops growing, and eats less, he will be even cheaper to feed this good stuff!!

EP Natural Formula is essentially the same food as the LB Puppy. The Natural has been used for growing Great Dane Puppies and correcting bone problems for 20 years apparently.

http://www.greatdanelady.com/articles/pupp...am_2006_htm.htm

[Scales of Justice]

Everyone has their own favourite food to recommend but the message here is choose a high quality large breed food with particular attention to the lower amounts of calcium and phosphorus in a ratio of 1% : .85% (as most good quality large breed formulas are).

[InspectorRex]

Ours are also EaglePack pooches and our puppy is on the Large breed adult formula

[helen]

If you switch from Advance Puppy to Advance growth you are unlikely to see much difference, but do mix and change gradually. The advance is a great food.

[Guest Tiggy]

I feed my puppy BARF. 1 BARF Pattie for breakfast, 250g chicken necks for lunch and 250g chicken wings or 250g meat/offal for dinner. I bought a bag of Eagle Pack Holistic but once you've fed raw there's no going back, it's the best! My Dad's dog is finishing the Eagle Pack.

[KitKat]

Raw may be the best...for those dogs that do well on it - Not all dogs do so well on a Raw diet...or a Barf diet for that matter...some do better on one over the other in that respect as well.

If you are happy with the pups condition on the Advance...then stick with it...i would agree in changing the type to the large breed growth with a change over of a few days to a week depending on how much of the normal Advance puppy food you have

[sandgrubber]

I, personally, would avoid anything that contains more than 2% salt.

[joanne76]

Ive never used Advanced so I cant comment on it. I used Eukanuba for my Lab Lola until I found RC Labrador Retriever Puppy. Once i switched I saw massive changes in her coat. Within a fortnight her coat was shiney as silk and she got a beautiful shape to her waist. I fully recommend it.

Also once fraser is and adult you can change him over to the adulth lab blend. Ive asked what are the benefits of feeding it to a lab and was told that it has ingrediants to protect the joints and an ingrediant to promote a healthy coat, since labs have the thickest coat and blacks are prone to geting a reddish tinge. I have found massive changes in Lola's coat.

I was going to feed Lola a barf diet and as the breeder did I continued it when i brought her home. WHen i took her to the vet for her vaccinations the vet tore strips off me and said i was irresponsible and didnt deserve to have a dog if i wasnt going to feed her right. I was so confused and upset I put her straight onto Eukanuba. Ive since spoken to another vet who also didnt reccomend the Barf diet. Ive got the Barf books and read them and found it all interesting and was %100 for it until the vet knocked the wind out of my sails.

Sorry i just realised ive rattled on without answering your question at all. oops

[KitKat]

Many vets aren't that up on canine and feline nutritional requirements - and BARF/RAW can be problematic if you aren't careful and get the requirements right. So an easy way is high quality dry food - as it's 'balance in a bag' as it were

For example some peoples idea of feeding raw is just to feed raw meat...no bones, no bits, nothing else...just minced raw meat - which of course isn't a balanced diet for anything! ;)

[jenkie99]

I feed my puppy BARF. 1 BARF Pattie for breakfast, 250g chicken necks for lunch and 250g chicken wings or 250g meat/offal for dinner. I bought a bag of Eagle Pack Holistic but once you've fed raw there's no going back, it's the best! My Dad's dog is finishing the Eagle Pack.

I would have to agree with the barf diet. I have been showing and breeding for 15 years and have Rottweilers bulldogs and cresteds. Up until About 6 months ago we have always feed a quality dry food and raw meat then I went to a quality dry food factory to see how it is made and all dry foods are made the same might I add. They have truck that picks up all the left over fat meat that is good or off, then it travels around in an open not refridgerated truck with flys and god knows what else then it goes to the dry food factory where the chemically add vit and minerials then the add the fillers ect. THen it gets cooked and 135 degrees to dry it out so what was good in it now isn't good at all. Since finding this out we now feed muesli and not the VIP kind that still resembles dry food, but real muesli that looks like horse feed 100% natural and 100% australian made. We only feed half as much as the dry food and also the dogs poos are firm dark and small because they don't have the filler. We noticed a difference straight away in coat growth, shine and the dogs well being. We would never go back. 10kg $42.50 so for the amount you need to feed then it works out about the same as most premimum dog foods.

JMO