Puppy Food

[ChocLab]

My puppy is now 17 weeks old and i've been feeding him Supercoat Puppy.

I have starting to notice in the last week that his poo is not as solid as what it should be.

Could the supercoat be the cause of this, should i be looking to change his food at all?

[tashnchief]

Consider going to a super premium food brand.

Its expensive but well worth it. there is a few different brands to consider and the price varies slightly between them too. So hopefully you can find something that suits your budget.

Look into:-

Eukanuba

Nutro

Advance

Eagle Pack

Royal Canin

Nutrience

Try a search on best dry food on the search engine at the bottom of the page and you find heaps of info.

Best Dry food topic has been discussed fairly recently try about 3-4 pages back and you will also come up with something.

Try to avoid supermarket brands if you can afford too.

Tash

[Kylie and the black Lab]

Hi there - I gather you have a choc lab???? We have a blackie (jee - did the name give it away!) . She is 18 weeks and ever since we brought her home we have been feeding her Royal Canin Junior Labrador.

She really likes it and we have never had a problem with her having the runs. It is expensive, but I highly recommend it. She likes it that much we can even use individual kibbles as training rewards.

Are you feeding your lab anything else to give it softies??

We noticed Jedda was a bit softie when she had a large bone with marrow in it. Now she is just on chicken drumsticks, lamb cutlets and lamb necks and they all agree with her.

I like that the Royal Canin is breed specific so at least you know it is especially for lab's.

Good luck.

[ChocLab]

Thanks Tash.

I was mixing Ekanuba in with the supercoat for a bit but that didnt work either, i might have to just try the Ekanuba on it's own, and see how he goes.

[ChocLab]

Hi Kylie,

Yes i have a chocolate lab. Very spoilt he is!

I actually gave him a marrow bone yesterday, so maybe that also has some effect on him?

I'll have to look into changing his food and bones and see how that goes for my little man.

Thanks for the advice!!

[Kylie and the black Lab]

i'd definately look at the marrow - Jedda ate it like a paddle pop - but it came out the same way!!

[ChocLab]

that's definately one way to describe it!

[Gottalovealab]

I feed mine Eagle Pack, i made the change ages ago and have never looked back. I highly reccomend it.

[persephone]

if feeding marrow bones, have them cut in half, and scoop or rinse ( V hot water) most of the marrow out

It is fatty, so yes, will make some dogs a bit loose.

[milosmum]

Kylie where do you buy your Royal Canin Junior Labrador? I have never seen it, Milo has Eukanuba but doesnt seem to like it, we tried the hills as well and she wasnt so impressed with that either. Now she wont eat kibble unless I mix something through it like mince or sardines, I think its my fault I have turned her fussy!

I also agree with the marrow, we gave Milo a big bone on Monday and she has had the runs since! Do you give the chicken drum sticks raw? How many each time? (Milo is an 28wk black lab too!)

[SoL]

I've just got my Dogs NSW journal and there is an article about this very topic. Though it doesn't give any brand recommendations, it does tell you what to look for. Very interesting.

[tashnchief]

If you wouldn't mind sharing I love to hear what they have said about 'What to look for'. I'm in Qld so I do not get the journal. I'm very interested in knowing what their recommendations are in quantity and components of different ingrediants.

Tash

[SoL]

I'm not sure that I would be allowed to paste that much of their text on here. PM me with your email addy and I'll type it through :rolleyes:

[SoL]

Have now had a chance to read through the article properly so hopefully I can paraphrase it without causing too much controversy re copyright!!!

Here goes ...

Basically, the main gist of the article is don't believe the hype. There's only one place that manufacturers of dry food have to tell the truth and make it scientifically based and that is in the nutrition label, even then it can be misleading. All the rest of the labels such as 'natural', 'premium', 'quality' is pure marketing - there is no scientific basis for those names. Also use the list of ingredients, which is required by law to list in decreasing order of weight, ONLY to identify whether the dry food is mainly made up of animal product or plant/cereal product.

The Pet Food Industry Standards Association of Australia (PFIAA) provides guidelines and explains that pet food 'varieties' are determined by the amount of meat in the product:

• "Beef": beef is the main meat used
  
• "Beef Dinner": Beef is at least 25% minimum in the product
  
• "With Beef": Beef is at least 5% of the meat in the product
  
• "Beef Flavour": Beef is less than 5% of the meat or a commercial beef flavour is used
  

"Meat", as defined by PFIAA, means any part of an animal, game or bird which contains protein and which is ordinarily or in nature used as a food by dogs whether fresh, chilled, frozen or dried.

When looking at nutrition labels of, say, dry food, you should only really look at the 'guaranteed analysis' as the terms "crude protein", "crude fat" and"crude fibre" refer to the analytical methods used to estimate the level of each nutrient and actually have no relation to nutrient quality. The percentages determined by the American Association of Feed Control Officials "AAFCO) are used by PFIAA to determine the percentage of each nutrient should appear in dog food.

The following is used as a standard when evaluating dry dog food so aim to choose a food closely matching these figures:

For Growth/Reproduction Purposes

Protein: 22%

Fat: 8%

Fibre: No recommendation

Calcium: 1.0 - 2.5%

Phosphorus: 0.8 - 1.6^

For Maintenance Purposes

Protein: 18%

Fat: 5%

Fibre: No recommendation

Calcium: 1.0 - 2.5%

Phosphorus: 0.8 - 1.6%

The article then goes on to state the importance of choosing the right kind of food for your dog, ie high energy for working dogs, lower energy for sedentary dogs etc. It also briefly touches on the feeding a veggie diet.

It finishes with a quick list of factors that should be considered when choosing a dry food, the last one stating that the food must contain nutrients ina usable form. Proteins and carbs are ineffective unless they can be absorbed which is what makes the difference bewteen cheap and more expensive food forumlas. The higher-priced products are more likely to have balanced and usable nutrients.

Voila!

Troy, if I've breached some copyright thing with this, please take it off the forum, otherwise, do you think it worthwhile making the post stick?

[Kylie and the black Lab]

Hi Choc lab... took me a couple of days to reply as I am on hols at the moment so have limited access to a PC.

Just so you know Jedda is 19 weeks and this is pretty much her diet....

8am - raw chicken drumstick (organic).

We buy the organic ones as have heard some stories about all of the chicken hormones etc making dogs nuts. We only eat organic chicken - so why not for Jedda too. We get the drumsticks by the tray in woolies and are only about $3 for a 4 pack.

mid morning if we're at home - lamb neck or lamb cutlet

snack if she is being a pest - pigs ear

dinner - 2 cups Royal canin, 1/2 organic chicken breast, 1/2 cup green vegies (whatever we eat usually)

snack for training - 3 small cheese cubes

weekly - 1 or 2 eggs - raw in bowl

I live in the Hills area NSW and buy the royal canin from the pet wholesaler on Carrington Ave, Castle Hill. I have heard there is another wholesaler in the area you can mail order from but I don't know the name - could try a google search.

Jedda is putting on weight at a good steady rate - she isn't fat and her coat is amazing. So hopefully we are doing the right thing. From day one she was not a morning eater, even as an 8 week old she would not eat breakfast, so we shifted to what she seemed to enjoy - a larger evening meal.

Hope this helps.

Cheers, Kylie

[powerpuff]

We started with Hills Science, and then switched to Eukanuba, Also feed chicken necks and chicken wings.

Was told that Hills, Eukanuba and Royal Canin are all very good.

[Poodle wrangler]

I got a Hills Science Diet puppy pack freebie when our pup went to the vet for vaccination today. Brochure said to avoid, "Raw and cooked bones". I kid you not! Read it twice to check I wasn't taking it out of context b4 chucking it into the recycling bin. No raw bones for a puppy :D

I'm looking at food, too, as vet suggested a better quality dry food is worthwhile for larger breeds (standard poodle puppy). Vet commented that he'll be a big dog. At the moment am feeding semi-lean mince+veges, dry food (Supercoat puppy) and chicken wings/ necks/ raw meaty mixed bones.

Our 6 year old mini poodle (<10kg) appears a picture of health on Supercoat Adult with raw meaty bones 2-3 times/ week and chicken neck and/or wings 2-3 times/ week, plus some veges/rice leftovers occasionally. Has good teeth for age, too.

Could someone please post how much I'd expect to pay for one of the better dry foods for pups? Would it really be worth it if dry food= only about 1/2 his overall diet?

ETA: I'm not sure BARF's for me as I have trouble enough ensuring reasonable meals for the humans in the family (kitchen phobic?)

Edited March 12, 2007 by Poodle wrangler

[Toby71]

We were told that as long as you feed your pup a good quality dry food, you really don't need to feed them anything else, apart from treats occasionally and training food. I don't know if this is right?

We feed our little guy equal portions Eukanuba (large breed) for breakfast, lunch and dinner and also give him the odd chicken neck or pigs ear - but not daily. Do you think he's missing out?

[Poodle wrangler]

We were told that as long as you feed your pup a good quality dry food, you really don't need to feed them anything else, apart from treats occasionally and training food. I don't know if this is right?

We feed our little guy equal portions Eukanuba (large breed) for breakfast, lunch and dinner and also give him the odd chicken neck or pigs ear - but not daily. Do you think he's missing out?

I find the raw bones/ chicken wings/necks really help keep my 6 year old dog's teeth clean. He's had more than usual since we got our pup and his teeth look even better. Both pup and dog love them! Our pup is a real chewer, so I give them at least daily. They sell chicken wings and necks at our local supermarket, so it's no hassle to buy. I freeze portions, also.

Other good advice I had: Keep puppy lean and don't overexercise (i.e. play and very short walks enough) so not to put too much stress on growing bones. I'm guessing your dog(s) are a larger breed.