Horsegal98 Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 Picking up my first ever border collie next week and not sure what to feed her. The breeder has them on hills science diet ATM but I am not comfortable with the high corn content, among other things. I would like to transfer off onto something else but even after lots of looking at ingredients I am still unsure. - at this point in time I can't make a commitment to a raw diet. I would like a complete dry food supplemented by chicken necks and occasional raw offal. - I use purina pro plan in the past and do like it, but this has been on terriers as opposed to a herding Breed - at the moment I am leaning towards sticking with pro plan, eagle pack or black hawk. Would appreciate any thoughts. Ideally this would be suited to a rough collie pup in the future as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nevafollo Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 Picking up my first ever border collie next week and not sure what to feed her. The breeder has them on hills science diet ATM but I am not comfortable with the high corn content, among other things. I would like to transfer off onto something else but even after lots of looking at ingredients I am still unsure. - at this point in time I can't make a commitment to a raw diet. I would like a complete dry food supplemented by chicken necks and occasional raw offal. - I use purina pro plan in the past and do like it, but this has been on terriers as opposed to a herding Breed - at the moment I am leaning towards sticking with pro plan, eagle pack or black hawk. Would appreciate any thoughts. Ideally this would be suited to a rough collie pup in the future as well. I have recently just gone thru a 20kilo bag of Black hawk (that i won) and my dogs did terribley on it! I wouldnt reccomend it at all! (I know others use it with no issue thou so each to their own) Atm I feed my dogs Advance active and they are doing brilliantly, I use to use proplan performance or puppy and they occassionally got the runs on it and I have had friends whos dogs have had the same issue with it! I have also used Royal canin but couldnt get the performance type at the store so gave that the flick and eagle pack my dogs did well on but again I had huge issues actually getting it especially because I needed bags big enough to lst my 6 more that a week :-p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheena Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 I have raised my border collie pup on Black Hawk Adult formula from the age of 10 weeks & he has done very nicely on it...he is now 18 months old. My older girl has been on it successfully for two years as well. They both get half a turkey neck daily as well & often raw or canned fish, beef, roo or mutton meat or a raw egg yolk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulesP Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 Congrats on your new puppy. Feed the Hills for a while and slowly change over or puppy may get an upset tummy. None of my border collies have done well on Black Hawk, it made them itchy and I had some vomiting issues last time I tried it. Like Holistic Select (Eagle Hawk). Haven't had any issues with any animal on this. Used to use ProPlan a fair bit but stopped when it started to be made here as I wasn't as happy with the formula. There are other grain free feeds around too, a couple of the top of my head are - Artemis, Earthborn, Wellness, Evo, Canidae The best food for your puppy is the one that he/she does well on :) Border collies are pretty good doers btw so watch quantity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weasels Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 My kelpies get Eagle Pack holistic select for breakfast and are shiny and happy. That's in addition to table scraps, raw meat and bones, sardines, yoghurt and Nature's Gift tinned food for the busy days :) Also - yay new puppy! :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheena Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 My kelpies get Eagle Pack holistic select for breakfast and are shiny and happy. That's in addition to table scraps, raw meat and bones, sardines, yoghurt and Nature's Gift tinned food for the busy days :) Also - yay new puppy! :D Hmmmmmmm....havn't you forgotten something Weasels????? Photos are a must...what did you get????? Silly question...odds on it is a Kelpie :laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weasels Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 :laugh: I wish! Sorry I was cheering for HorseGal - we'll need photos from them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piper Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 I use about 2/3 raw diet and the other third Proplan, In the past I have used Black Hawk and Eagle Pack as well. I have found for my guys they do best on Pro Plan. They are getting some Advance at the moment though as Jazz won some and they seem to be doing fine on that. My parents border is on Advance for 50% of his diet and looks fine. To be honest, none of the borders we have ever had have been difficult to keep. I cant think of a food I would say they have done badly on. We have even used Uncle Albers/Great Barko and they still looked fine (just much more to clean up outside!). I think the fact that they get over half raw food makes a difference to this as well though. Across a week they will get a few raw meaty bones (lamb, turkey or chicken mostly), some eggs, natural yoghurt, offal, sardines or other fish and a few dry food meals. Make the transition to the food you want to feed, give it time and see what you think and if it isn't working then give something else a go. And popping into the border collie thread with photos is a must . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretty Miss Emma Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 Hamish is currently on Black Hawk and doing fine. Kenzie got I think Eukanuba at first as a puppy dry food and then I switched her to Nutro, and again she was fine on both of those. I figure Hamish will stay on Black Hawk while he gets puppy and then move to whatever Kenz is on when he swaps to adult food. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsegal98 Posted September 17, 2012 Author Share Posted September 17, 2012 So difficult because what works for one person doesn't work for another! I would rather not start feeding something that could be difficult to obtain or has supply issues to save me the angst of making this decision again and again later down the track. Maybe I should just stay with the pro plan that I am familiar with and see how that goes. The breeder does include some of the hills in the puppy pack so I can transfer off it gradually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dancinbcs Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 Stick to the Hills short term then gradually change to something else. Black Hawk is the only dry I can feed to my current Border and is the only one my Jap Spitz will eat as well. Most of my friends with Borders use Black Hawk or Advance with a substantial amount of raw added. The basic rule with puppies and dry food is to buy in small quantities and if the food doesn't suit change it. Every dog is different, they grow at different rates and some do better on one food than another. Many do well on anything, others are more sensitive or need a different balance of nutrients to grow correctly. Good luck with the puppy and I hope you have also checked the DNA status of the parents for CL, TNS and CEA as well as their hip and elbow scores. These are the minimum health test requirements for Borders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WreckitWhippet Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 Whatever you choose change over gradually I'd run a mile form black hawk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsegal98 Posted September 18, 2012 Author Share Posted September 18, 2012 Yes she is on the limited register and clear by parentage. Haven't received the scoring for the patents yet but I will certainly ask when I pick her up. Any thoughts on optimum or advantage? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nevafollo Posted September 18, 2012 Share Posted September 18, 2012 Whatever you choose change over gradually I'd run a mile form black hawk Im glad Im not the only one that feels that way! Id stick with the proplan if thats what you are familiar with Horsegal, just make sure the change over isnt too fast and hey if the proplan doesnt work then try something else! My dogs have also done well on bonnie working dog, optimum and super coat but the big difference with these ones is the size of their poops! Huge compared to the advance which they are on now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeltaCharlie Posted September 18, 2012 Share Posted September 18, 2012 We feed predominantly raw but when they do have dry we feed Artemis. All the dogs have done brilliantly on it, even the one that has gut issues and can't eat most commercial foods (or brisket, or chicken, or tuna...). We buy it online from Pookinuk as they have a $5 flat fee for postage, no matter how big the bag. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dancinbcs Posted September 18, 2012 Share Posted September 18, 2012 Yes she is on the limited register and clear by parentage. Haven't received the scoring for the patents yet but I will certainly ask when I pick her up. Any thoughts on optimum or advantage? Several of the prominent BC show breeders use Advance and seem very happy with it. A couple use Nutrience but I don't know anyone who uses Optimum. As a general rule Borders like variety and do well on a mixture of foods. The breed was never kept in kennels but lived with the farmer's family and ate whatever they did. So while delicate digestion can happen it is not common in the breed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC Crazy Posted September 18, 2012 Share Posted September 18, 2012 (edited) Welcome to the wonderful world of Border Collie ownership Horsegal 98 :) Would love to see your new arrival when you get a moment. I had my boy on Black Hawk for a while but his coat was lacking its luster so I switched him over to Taste of the Wild grain free dry food & his over all conditon improved dramatically in a short space of time. I also give him Barf Big Dog Kangaroo. You don't have to feed very much TOTW, Sonny only has 3/4 of a cup per day & 100 grams BBD. Naturally all dogs are different & what works for one may not for another, also quanities will vary from dog to dog depending on how active they are, etc etc. All I did was lots of reading on this forum & alike, found my top 3 picks of dry food & got samples of each to try & monitored him closely, then stuck with the one I thought he did best on. I also have my younger girl on the same diet & she is doing equally well. Enjoy your new baby, I am all puppy clucky now :) Edited to add that I add variety with very small amounts of things like sardines, cheese, boiled veg, natural yoghurt . Edited September 18, 2012 by BC Crazy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsegal98 Posted September 20, 2012 Author Share Posted September 20, 2012 Sticking to the pro plan for now, but I got a bag of Canidae to trial inside her toys. Samples of black hawk, eagle pack, Nutro, nutrience and holistic select on the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cala Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 Advance used here, and one of the cheaper foods for the 2 desexed girls, lower in protein. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
temperamentfirst Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 Sticking to the pro plan for now, but I got a bag of Canidae to trial inside her toys. Samples of black hawk, eagle pack, Nutro, nutrience and holistic select on the way. My Borders are all on Nutro, and are thriving on it - we are more than happy with it. It's the best dry food we've used. The dogs also get meat, chicken carcasses, veggies, sardines, eggs, suitable leftovers. We avoid dry foods that have 'meal' in them, and in the hotter months we avoid lamb / mutton as the dogs get hotspots when they eat it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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