Golden Retriever puppy: best dog food?

[NicInBetween]

Cassie is 12 weeks old and on Beta meat dog food. I've heard Beta isn't good but what is? Someone's mentioned Royal Canine but can't see much through simple googling what is recommended food for GR pups.

Can you help? thanks!

[Daftaboutthecat]

Will follow this with interest we have went with natures menu as after lots of research thought higher protein no grain was the right way to go. However our puppy is very bitey and the lady who takes the puppy class is convinced high protein could be one of the reasons. Really not sure what else to try though.

[Wyldfyre]

Royal Canin is better than Beta but still not great.

Take a look at allaboutdogfood.co.uk. Go for nothing less than a 3 out of 5. Look for one with a named meat source as one of the first three ingredients and avoid anything with maize or wheat as many dogs are intolerant.
Price is not an indication of quality - there are plenty of poor foods with a top price tag.
In my view one of the best price to quality ratios is Skinners Field and Trial as its about the same price as Bakers/Pedigree/Wagg but far superior quality - so great if you are on a budget.
However there are also better foods for a bit more cash.

[babyblackbird]

Look at allaboutdogfood.co.uk for quality of dog food - however if she is only 12 weeks and assuming from your other thread you have only just brought her home I would give her maybe a week to settle in with you before also changing food. When you do decide to change food do it very slowly and gradually to allow her stomach time to adjust.

As to what to feed her depends on whether you are going dry, wet or raw.

[GandalfsWrinklyHat]

Mine is on Orijen Six Fish with no problems. Very active, swims daily, no problems, now 1yr 3 months, intact so no weight issues so far. Tried barking heads for a while but he developed a very irritated skin, righted itself as soon as he was back on Orijen. If you're interested in 80:20 foods you could also have a look at Aatu. Millies Wolfheart also meant to be good.

[ReallyShouldKnowBetterAtMyAge]

Have you looked it to raw feeding? It doesn't need to be hardcore sheep head and road kill. Simple mince chicken with a portion of offal and bone is easy to portion and freeze (if you have the space) it's all done on the weight of the dog and the bonus is no massive poos, less shedding, better teeth and dog breath and no farts

[wispaxmas]

Depends how much you're willing to spend. Wet food it better than dry food, but can still have a lot of filler. We get Lily's kitchen wet food when it's on offer, sometimes it is on Amazon Lightning deals, and it's really good stuff. We used to feed our dog nature diet, I think it was called. Seemed like good stuff, but our dog is a picky eater. We also feed her wainwrights dry kibble, but vary it a bit by mixing with the whole range of lily's kitchen.

You could also opt to feed your dog actual real food if you want to. But then the onus is on you to make sure you know what percentages of macronutrients they need, how much protein/fat/carbohydrate. Some days ours gets food that we eat, so long as it's healthy for her - think things like meat/potato/sweet potato/veg with no strong seasoning (and definitely no onion/garlic/etc).

[kajsah]

Hi, I've found this thread really useful and AADF comes up a lot in my own journey to find the right food for my pup. I've actually come across a new tool that does a similar job but is a little easier to digest (and looks like it's based off the back of a larger research/report) - paws.com/dog-food-checker

[Chipsnchampagne]

Might be wise to read the article linked below. There seems to be some link between grain-free foods and what they are terming 'nutritional DCM' - a fatal heart condition. Particularly pertinent to you as golden retrievers and goldendoodles is where they first spotted the nutritional link. Experts still aren't 100% sure what is causing the issue - but suspicion is it is something to do with the legumes (peas/beans/lentils) that is often used to substitute for grains. Certainly a high number of cases of this nutritional DCM occured in dogs fed high-legume grain-free food. Personally, at the moment I would avoid any dog food that is high in legumes, particularly given the breed of your pup.

Link to article: www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/news/uc-davis-investigates-link-between-dog-diets-and-deadly-heart-disease

[Chipsnchampagne]

And a website with lots of info about Nutritional DCM: taurinedcm.org/?fbclid=IwAR3QHrisIwqroTTEoQdU7le2aLFd2sTaBOEnppmW0jXMDA7PZPPpKAEBfbM