Food for 8 week puppy

[lindapalm]

My son just got a lab/border collie that is eight weeks. He is feeding him Iams, which I believe I read is garbage. If it is, what would be a good food to switch to for a dog that young?

[kathryn]

Hi Linda! Where do you live? That may help us be able to find you a food based on where you live.

Some brands that we all really like would be Wellness, Eagle Pack, Fromm and Canidae.. that's just off the top of my head. I only have cats, but right now I am usually feeding them Weruva brand canned food and am going to be switching them to Fromm Four Star kibble.

This is an example of a very good kibble-
http://www.wellnesspetfood.com/produ...pet=dog&pid=56

Just a note which others will be able to go into further, NEVER feed a dry food diet alone if you can avoid it!

[rainbow]

I suggested Orijen to you for your dog and will suggest Orijen Puppy for your son's dog.

[norm258]

My pup didn't like Orijen or Acana for some reason - she sort of just picked at it so I have switched her to Fromm large breed puppy food and she eats it all up. It's funny - the large breed food has REALLY small kibble so if the puppy is a fast eater and doesn't chew properly that may not be the best food for it.

Check out my other thread on rating dog food - http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=69746 and yes, Iams isn't so good.

Hope it helps.

I wonder why they didn't make that post a sticky? It's really helpful when these questions come up!

Norm

[lindapalm]

I'll tell my son about Orijen puppy food. We give our 11 year old dog Evo now, and she seems to like it, if he doesn't want to buy the Orijen I'll tell him to try Evo puppy. I've learned from this site that grain free is best, I wasn't sure if that pertained to puppies, too, but I guess it does. I was surprised to see that Iams cost as much as the grain free ones

[kathryn]

Originally Posted by lindapalm

I'll tell my son about Orijen puppy food. We give our 11 year old dog Evo now, and she seems to like it, if he doesn't want to buy the Orijen I'll tell him to try Evo puppy. I've learned from this site that grain free is best, I wasn't sure if that pertained to puppies, too, but I guess it does. I was surprised to see that Iams cost as much as the grain free ones

Just a quick note that Evo does NOT come in a puppy formula what so ever. It is only intended for use in adult dogs.

Also, if you've not already noticed the other board, Natura Pet (who makes Evo) is about to be bought out by Product in Gamble so that is a cause of concern to most people. I can say that I will not longer be using Natura products after 4 years of it being my #1 choice.


And grain free is a matter of preference Some dogs do better on it than others. For dogs, a little grain doesn't hurt as long as it is a high quality one. But for cats, it's best to stick away from grain as much as possible as they don't digest it quite as well.

[lindapalm]

Never fails, you find something you like and it gets changed. Hopefully they'll leave it alone.

[erykah1310]

I wouldnt feed Orijen puppy to a growing puppy at all.
It has a very high protien content of 40%
Even on the dogfoodreview site they do not recommend feeding it to puppies especially large breeds.
I would almost point you more towards their regioinal red formula, its an all life stages food. I myself am not a fan of puppy formula's
I know of people with BC's or BC mixes that do good on grain free diets and others that do not. Our BC is one who does NOT do well on grainless or raw diet.

[Longblades]

If the puppy was weaned onto Iams I would keep him on it for a month or so. Puppy tummies can be sensitive and it is usually recommended to use whatever the breeder was using.

My breeder (Lab) weans right onto Eukanuba Adult Medium. This is not one of the best rated foods and is the dreaded Proctor and Gamble product, BUT ...... all her dogs do well on it and so did both the Labs I got from her. I tend to be of the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" line of thought. Meaning if puppy is doing fine on the food why be in a rush to switch?

Just a comment on the Fromm. I received four sample packets of their four star naturals last week ( may not have that name quite right, samples not to hand) and they all contain Menadione Sodium Bisulfite which is a controversial ingredient.

[Chaser]

Hi there

I have a 3 y.o. Lab/Border Collie mix. When he was really young (2 months) I didn't know my head from my butt regarding dog food and fed him Nutro. He hated it and refused to eat (what lab pup doesn't want to eat?) so I started looking into the whole food thing.

I didn't feel comfortable with grain-free at first, so I slowly put him on Welness Just for Puppy. It's less of a jump if you're concerned about tummy troubles.

By the time Chase was six months I had learned more and I switched him to Orijen Puppy. He LOVED this food! I was worried about the high protein content, but learned that it's the calcium and phosphorous levels that contribute to growth problems. Puppy formulas control the levels of these. The protein seemed to give him more energy and he developed incredible muscle tone!

So from my personal experience I would recommend Orijen Puppy or it's close cousin, Horizon Legacy Puppy. Both control for calcium and phosphorous levels, use high-quality ingredients and are Canadian made. They both have adult formulas for when the pup hits 12 months.

If your son isn't willing to go grain-free my next choices would be "go! Natural" or Wellness Just for Puppy. Note that the go! Natural is an "all-stages" food and is good for both pups and adults. They have regular and grain-free formulations.

Some websites:

http://www.orijen.ca/orijen/products/
http://www.horizonpetfood.com/Products/dog_legacy.html
http://www.petcurean.com/index.php?page_id=195
http://www.wellnesspetfood.com/produ...completehealth

Another thing that I found very helpful when switching foods, on top of doing it slowly, was to add a teaspoon of plain yogurt and a teaspoon of plain canned pumpkin or squash baby food to each meal.

good luck!

[erykah1310]

slippery elm powder works wonders too for digestion.
Its hard to get in Ontario and perhaps Canada as a whole but I get it sent up from a breeder in the US

[lindapalm]

My sons coming down this weekend with the puppy, will see if he listened to me about switching. I doubt it, he never does, but at least I tried.

[cassiek]

erykah, you recommend to not feed Orijen puppy because it has a high protein content of 40%... but Regional Red also has a protein content of 38%. If protein is the concern, why is the Regional Red recommended even though the protein levels are more or less the same?

What is the concern with feeding puppies a higher level of protein? I myself have not done a ton of research on the issue, and have heard conflicting arguments, but am curious what it is about a high level of protein that makes it unsuitable for a pup. In the case of Orijen, all of their diets are high in protein (around 40%).

I feed the Regional Red alternating with the 6 Fish, but would caution some pet owners with the Regional Red in that while it is an excellent food, and my pups do extraordinary on it, it is a very rich food. Customers who purchase this for their pups should not be surprised if their pup experiences some mild temporary digestion issues with the RR as it contains proteins such as boar, pork, and bison which are not typically used in dog food (which is what makes the RR so unique ). Not all dogs may have issues with it, but every dog is different and some can not simply handle such a rich food, which is why I believe some dogs do not do well on raw.

[Wolff-jigs]

If it's worth anything... I have almost never fed puppy food to my large breed puppies. I feel a lot of this is just sales hype, "puppy foods" didn't exist all that long ago for that matter commercial dogfood as we know it hasn't been around all that long either.

I've always fed my St puppies adult food and kept them on the lean side (not thin!) and aim for SLOW steady growth.
Ive never had any Panno or growth related issues.

My Vet showed me the feed she sells: iVet
I looked over the brochure, and the large breed puppy formula, and I compared it to my Canine caviar chicken/adult, the values were so close.