What do you feed your Pup?

[Kaliani]

We are getting a Lab Puppy at the end of October. I will keep him on the same food as the breeder for a while, but I was just wondering if the combined wisdom of the doghouse had any opinions on the best food for him.

Our last lab was on Royal Canin Labrador Junior, and then on Adult. Is this still a good food - 8 years ago I was told it was one of the best, but not having had a dog since 2007, I wasn't sure if this has changed?

Any favourites or ones to avoid?

[D0oinMeCleanin]

Royal Canin is okay, but overpriced and not as good as some of the cheaper brands out there (Wainwrights and Skinners) James Wellbeloved and Orijen are good foods.

BARF is generally considered to be the best way to feed, it really depends upon how much time you have and whether you prefer wet or dry foods.

I feed Nature Diet trays to my dogs with chicken wings to keep their teeth healthy.

Avoid Bakers, it's like crack for dogs and cheaper dry kibbles, which are mainly grains and starches.

[tabulahrasa]

Mine's on Arden grange large breed puppy...it seemed to have Ok ingredients, doggy people thought it was ok and I can bulk buy it online and it works out the same price per kilo as the bakers he arrived on. I'm another one that wouldn't feed bakers.

[Kaliani]

Sorry, I've been out of the dog world for a while. What does BARF mean?

[D0oinMeCleanin]

Biologically Appropriate Raw Food.

Basically it's feeding raw meats, offals and meaty bones with a few bits of mashed up veggies for good measure, although some people choose to add no veg at all, because if the dog's are given a wide variety of raw meats all of their nutritional needs are met without veg.

There's loads of information on Google about it and on past MN threads. It's thought to be closest to what dogs would eat in the wild and meant to be healthier for them. It can help solve a range of health problems. I had my two on it for a while and they both looked wonderful, it impacted on their behaviour too, in a good way. Unfortunately my freezer is tiny. That's the only downfall really, to make it cost effective you really need freezer space so you can bulk buy from places like Landywoods, if you can bulk buy it generally works out cheaper than commercial foods.

Orijen is the closest dried food you can get to BARF I think.

[doublemocha]

Here's a couple of links, if I can do them! Sorry if they don't work.

www.petforums.co.uk/dog-health-nutrition/255727-updated-dry-dog-food-index.html

This site is American, so some foods are not available in the UK, but it's still interesting, revealing in fact!

www.dogfoodanalysis.com

We are getting a Vizsla, I am going to try Taste of the Wild initially, which is grain free (but expensive) I haven't considered an alternative, which I suppose I should.

[Blackballoon]

I hate all that BARF rubbish. Just feed it a good quality compete dog food and it will be fine. Dogs aren't wolves. If I let me dog free in to the wild it would starve.

[moogalicious]

I hate all the processed food rubbish, but that's just my opinion!

We feed our dog raw meat, bones, left overs and any raw veg that's lying around. He's happy and healthy with a lovely shiny coat

[toboldlygo]

If I let my dogs run free in the wild they would thrive and I've one that nearly sharted herself to death on a variety of complete dog foods, including the expensive all-singing all-dancing veterinary diets.

OP, Royal Canin is actually a bit rubbish especially when you compare the price kg for kg to some other foods - you're paying for the marketing and scientific waffle on the shiny packet when it actually contains a lot of grains and fillers with not much meat. Skinners working varieties are comparable in terms of content, actually have less fillers/potential allergens (no wheat, for example) and is around £21/15kg. Wainwrights, James Wellbeloved, Arden Grange etc. I would put in the same middle-of-the-road category. Fish4Dogs is excellent, as are some of the grain free brands like Taste of the Wild and Orijen though they are £££.

BARF/raw feeding can be very cheap and I feel it is the most biologically appropriate way to feed a dog, having seen the transformation in one of mine who just couldn't cope with eating wheat/corn/rice that makes up 96% of some foods (including Bakers and Pedigree, along with a whole heap of carcinogenic additives and sugar). If nothing else it is best for their teeth, no tartar here and I know some raw fed dogs in their teens which still have sparkling white teeth. I've never yet met a Bakers fed dog that didn't have a stinking rotten mouth.

[SkiLift]

csj little champ

Good value and rave reviews.

here

[toboldlygo]

^

Contains wheat, beet pulp, maize and linseed. The adult version has wheat as the first ingredient and also contains alfalfa. Dogs do not need and often cannot process these things - then you get the itchy, flaky skin, the runny eyes, gigantic soft-serve poos...

[NotMostPeople]

I feed mine BARF having started off with the 'better' dry foods. I have one very fussy dog who just didn't want to eat, I gave BARF a go because I was so worried about him and he's like a different dog. I don't have a freezer and it would be easier if I did tbh but it's not that hard and certainly no more expensive. Poo's are way more managable too.

[shoutymcshoutsmum]

My pointer pup was on Skinners puppy food for working dogs - he thrived on it.

[SkiLift]

toboldygo - I honestly don't know of anyone who has had problems with csj - really.

Not a single review anywhere. I have never seen such shiny coats on my dogs ether. If mine had any of the side effects you are saying they would not be on it.

[toboldlygo]

I do - the working dog formulations are generally quite popular with the sled dog community but I know several who've switched because of the wheat content (note that although they do grain free formulations they are twice the price of the rest of the range). Certainly neither of mine can tolerate it.

You wouldn't measure out wheat, maize and alfalfa into a bowl with only 20% (or often less) meat and feed it to your dog whole like that, so why in a pelleted processed format?

Not trying to have a dig, if it works for you and your dog that's great, I just would never recommend it as it contains so much grain. You hear of so many itchy dogs with runny bums that get diagnosed as having colitis or dermatitis with resultant expensive treatment and I just want to scream 'ditch the wheat!' at everyone.

[Blackballoon]

My dog is 16 and has been on JWB for the last 8 years and previous to that was on cheap tinned meat as all we could afford. She is the picture of health.

[Iamnotamindreader]

We feed our 6 month goldie on Fish 4 Dogs. They do a small sized kibble and larger sized pieces for when your puppy is older but still requires a puppy food.

[Kaliani]

Ok, first things first. The 'he' we were getting is now a 'she' LOL

Been over to see her today, and the breeder is weaning her on to Arden Grange. Visited a few petshops/feed stores and most seem to have loads of the Puppy feed in stock. I was considering Skinners as well, but nowhere seemed to have the Puppy in stock. Would it be the Working Puppy I would give her? I'm leaning towards Arden Grange at the moment, based on recommendations and availability in this area.

Does that seem ok?

[shoutymcshoutsmum]

I get the Skinners Puppy delivered to my house by mobilepetfoods. I order it over the internet - they have been fab. It is such a big bag that I am glad I don't have to carry it! I get the one for working dogs - Skinners Field & Trial I think it is called.

[bobbybearmummy]

I feed Ziwipeak which is in my opinion one of the best commercially manufactured foods you can feed.Its dehydrated raw,the only drawback is, its very expensive,although as its highly concentrated you do not feed that much.

[Rikalaily]

Wainwrites, a mix of the wet and dry. It's got a high meat content and has a little brown rice for fibre. Works out almost as cheap as Chappie because the high meat content mean that you feed less of it. He also gets some raw in the form of meaty bones for supper now and then.

Avoid Bakers it makes most dogs hyper and you definately don't want that with a lab puppy, lol.

[Gymbob]

Mine started life with the breeder on Eukanuba, but he did nothing but scratch himself all the time. We tried him on Burns which was recommended at the time by all and sundry, and he was fine on the puppy version, but when we changed him over to the adult (gradually of course), it gave him the runs.

We've now been on James Wellbeloved kibble and wet for about 3 years, and he is a picture of health