What Do I Feed My Pup

[Oscar (AmBull)]

I have an american staffordshire puppy just turned 10 weeks, he is my first dog. He was on pedigree puppy food with water or milk, weetbix and puppy milk, and home made mince cooked. He was having 4 meals a day.

I have now had him for 4 weeks and wanted to start him on a better diet. I have moved him over slowly just wandering if you could please critique my puppy's current diet, just want to get it right.

Morning: Nutrience Puppy dry food soaked in hot water then with some natural yoghurt.

Lunch: Home made meatloaf approximately 250grams and a chicken neck.

Dinner: 1 BARF packet approx 230grams and a chicken neck.

Plus he has a large bone he chews on during the day. Is there anything else to add or change? Also is he to young for chicken carcasses? Really just wanna get it right, any help or advice is much appreciated.

[WreckitWhippet]

You can certainly get him onto chicken wings, carcass, lamb flap, necks and roo tail. Just introduce things one at a time , the chicken should be fine as he's getting necks anyway.

He can also have eggs shell and all, either raw or hard boiled, mine have them boiled as they make a mess with the raw ones. Canned sardines or mackeral, raw fish if you can get them are better. Rabbits are excellent if you can get them. Mine also get the odd bit of cheese, carrot and apple peels and vegie scraps.

Is your meatloaf raw or cooked ? You could do away with that and feed him chicken wings for lunch.

I like to keep it simple, no cooking, mixing or fuss and as close to whole as I can.

[Oscar (AmBull)]

The meatloaf comes from a manufacturer, all they do is dog foods. It is cooked and packaged already by them. With things like eggs sardines etc how often do i give them and at what times? Where do I find lamb flaps? The meatloaf is extremely easy to use. Just wandering if my quantities are appropriate also? 250 grams of meatloaf lunch 250 grams BARF dinner dry food morning? Thanks

This is oscar as well!

[Red Fox]

NewAmstaffOwner,

Oscar is very cute!

I agree with PPS about doing away with the meatloaf and giving the pup raw chicken wings/carcus for lunch instead.

Raw meat/bone is better than cooked.

Have you thought about making your own BARF mix? It's fairly easy once you get the hang of it (and know the correct ratios etc.) and MUCH MUCH cheaper than the bought stuff

The Ian Billinghurst books will explain how to make up a good BARF mix and you can either borrow them from your library or buy them here-

http://www.barfaustralia.com/

The books will also explain what other foods you can feed, how much etc.

With things like eggs sardines etc how often do i give them and at what times? Where do I find lamb flaps?

I feed sardines once or twice a week and about the same for eggs (shell and all), I also include eggs/shells in my vegie mix so he's getting a little bit most days anyway. You can add them to your puppys' dry food or to the BARF mix (if you make your own).

You can buy lamb flaps from your butcher or supermarket. They are pretty cheap too

Nutrience is an excellent dry food this is what our pup came to us on and I still use it for training treats occasionally or for his Tug-A-Jug now he's on raw

[Oscar (AmBull)]

Thanks so much for all the great advice.

I do agree BARF bought (which is what we are doing) is so expensive! Which book has the recipe in it? I would definitely rather make my own.

So should I switch to all raw? Do dogs need dry food or are they healthy without it? Thus is a diet of 3 RAW meals a day reccomended for a 10 weeks old pup amstaff?

I am still learning and hoping to get his diet right for a healthy life!

[huski]

Thanks so much for all the great advice.

I do agree BARF bought (which is what we are doing) is so expensive! Which book has the recipe in it? I would definitely rather make my own.

So should I switch to all raw? Do dogs need dry food or are they healthy without it? Thus is a diet of 3 RAW meals a day reccomended for a 10 weeks old pup amstaff?

I am still learning and hoping to get his diet right for a healthy life!

If you want to look into feeding a raw diet to a pup, you need to do your research. I strongly recommend reading Dr Ian Billinghurst's book, "Grow Your Pup with Bones" as it will guide you what and how to feed.