Puppy food advice, please

[MotherOfGirls]

I'm looking for a good quality food for our 11 week old rescue puppy who is probably a collie/spaniel cross. A friend has recommended a raw meat which she buys frozen but I'm not sure I want to go down that route. I'd much rather use dried food - has anyone any thoughts on this one? www.orijenpetfoods.co.uk

[MotherOfGirls]

Or Arden Grange?

[PersonalClown]

I had my woofs on Orijin. It really is great stuff but I found it to be a bit rich for them so I switched to their lower brand Acana.

It's just as good. No additives etc. Just not as high in protein or rich. My dogs love it!

[mymumdom]

I tried mine on Orijin but it was a bit rich for them. You'll find everyone has their opinions about the % of meat in dog food but I believe dogs are omnivores and do well on a lower fat / lower protein food as long as the ingredients are high quality.
Mine eat Burns but Barking Heads is also good.

[Joolyjoolyjoo]

I always say there is NO best food for dogs, it all depends on what suits your dog, and can involve a bit of trial and error. What suits one dog really well won't necessarily agree with another.

[Pisky]

All of them say the amount to feed depends on your dog's weight - so how do you weigh a wriggly pup?

[alp]

We are on Burns for our springer pup. Having read good things about it and the added bonus of it being sold at our local pet shop we can walk to!

We had our pup weighed at vets and at the 9 weeks stage was 3.6kg!

[walkersmum]

Acana for me, for the puppy I mix with Orijen puppy. Just great but don't over feed.

[MotherOfGirls]

Thanks everyone. I can see that different foods will suit different dogs - that just makes it really hard to get it right for a new puppy! I'm really interested in your comment, Alp. Our puppy weighed in at 4.75k at approximately 10 weeks so I guess he's going to end up bigger than a springer!

[twojues]

I feed my puppy Skinners Field and Trial puppy food because that's what the breeder gave him.
My other dog is on Wainwrights wet and dry which we get from Pets at home and I will probably put puppy on that as well when he goes on to adult food.

I weighed my pup last week. I got a big Ikea bag and some luggage scales. I put him in the bag and picked the bag up with the handscales. He weights 10k at 14 weeks. He's a Nova Scotia Duck tolling retriever, which when fully grown will be about as big as a collie.

[MotherOfGirls]

Thanks for the weight info, twojues. I have been a bit worried about how big our (unknown crossbreed) pup will end up. Now 5.2 k at approx 11 weeks, so maybe I don't need to worry so much?

[alp]

MoG - I should add that 11 weeks she was 5kg so you prob won't have a giant on your hands!

[dontforget2scream]

An easy way to weigh a wriggly puppy (using your usual bathroom scales) is to weigh yourself, then pick up your puppy and weigh the two of you, and then work out the difference.

My dog is on Acana pacifica (the fishy one!)

[Pisky]

I thought of that one but not got bathroom scales.

Off to vets for 2nd injection on tuesday so will so if they can weigh her. I did think about trying to put her in the washing up bowl on the kitchen scales but this only goes up to 4kg.

Think Burns is widely available locally so may try that.

[alp]

After my earlier post I took pup to vets to get weighed, mainly as this is about 10mins from us so we could walk on lead to practice lead walking before puppy class tomorrow and i persuaded DCs to come by bribe of ice cream!

Pup is still the same weight as 2 weeks ago at 5.2kg is that right/OK?

[mymumdom]

Did you weigh her on the same scales 2 weeks ago? I would have expected a little weight gain at 11 weeks tbh but sometimes they get taller/ longer first,then fill out.
If she gets on with burns you can order it online and have it delivered to your door.

[alp]

Yes - same scales. She does look a bit leggy-er so perhaps that's it.

[mymumdom]

I wouldn't worry too much, see what she's like in a couple of weeks time. She doesn't sound like she's going to be massive anyhow.

[MotherOfGirls]

Thank you, Alp. What will be, will be, but he will be much easier to take to work if he isn't huge! :)

[MotherOfGirls]

Just took a trip to our local pet shop, which seems to stock everything, including Burns, James Wellbeloved, Arden Grange etc and the very nice man highly recommended a fairly new food called Barking Heads because of the high quality of the ingredients, so that's what I bought. Hope he likes it!

[Merle]

My pup (12 weeks) is on Barking Heads. He is ok with it but I can't say he goes wild for it. I get the impression it is very nutritious but maybe not very tasty.

[teta]

My cocker pup is on Natures Diet Puppy - and he loves it.We mix with some Denes dog biscuit as well to give some crunch.It seems very gentle on his digestive system and means the poos are ok.He arrived on a diet of Eukanuba mixed with Chappie and biscuit which he liked but made him poop prolifically and smelly.He wouldn't eat the kibble on its own unless it was soaked beforehand so we thought the best option would be wet food.

[Pisky]

Just had a sample of Barking Heads through in the post and she loves it :) Think I will keep it for treats for now as the normal kibble she won't do anything for!

If you go on their website you can request a free sample. :)