Best food for Labrador pup (and into adulthood)

[Moisey]

We collect our much wanted and sure-to-be-loved-more-than-the-kids ;-) Labrador pup next week. The breeder will send her with a small bag of what she's been weaned on but we'd like to feed her the best we can afford going forward. Can anyone recommend a good dry product?

Thanks.

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

In our experience of labradors, they will eat anything and have near-bomb-proof digestions!

We feed ours a mix of dried foods - Pedigree and supermarket's own brand - with a slosh of water. We have a pedigree lab and a rescue lab-pointer cross, and they are both in fine condition on this food.

As you have said, your breeder will give you some of the food they have been feeding the puppy. But once the puppy is settled with you, you can change the food if you choose - we did this by mixing the two foods and gradually upping the proportion of the new food.

We never found any problems whatsoever with changing our lab's food - she will eat pretty much anything, and has never had any problems with the different foods we have given her.

Please may we see a photo of the puppy when you are home? I love lab puppies!!

[HolyStoneOfClonrichert]

Our lab didn't agree with a lot of puppy foods as they made him quite hyperactive (more so than normal puppy behaviour) so we went with Wainwright's which works very well!

[CatherineDeB]

We have fed our lab Burns chicken and rice in the blue bag for more than ten years. It really suits her and is a good quality food. I think it is about £45 for a big bag bit that must last us 7 weeks.

I must take note of how long it lasts! Am sure I only buy it every other month.

Two feeds a day of about a cup and 2/3 (US style cup measure) since she was little.

[Moisey]

This is all brilliant, thanks everyone. Pics, for sure, to follow next week. She's a chunky little beauty!

[Shizzlestix]

I would avoid the big brand names and definitely supermarket foods. Many of them contain nasties, too much sugar and floor scrapings, to be blunt. Puppy food is so similar to adult food that it's almost pointless. The only difference is .5% protein in some brands. If there is food t your vet surgery, check it out on the link below before agreeing to it. Spend some time comparing on this website and avoid anything below 4 stars. www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk/the-dog-food-directory

[Madbengalmum]

The best dog food on the market currently is Orijen, its reviews are fantastic and they do a puppy product. My dog has thrived on it, it is not cheap but they do not need loads of it as it is very,very high quality. I have a very large dog who only needs a cupful a day, a big 13kg bag lasts us about five/six weeks.

[Madbengalmum]

It is the only puppy food to recieve a five star rating on the allabout dogfood site.

[OnlyTheDepthVaries]

My older labrador DDog has always eaten Burgess Supadog going from puppy to adult food with no problem. Younger labrador DDog (now 9 months) had very dodgy tummy at first so we are currently using junior James Wellbeloved - which is great - but twice the price of Supadog.
Hoping to move to Supadog soon.
Labradors are normally fine with anything...and I mean anything!!

[MsAdorabelleDearheartVonLipwig]

I feed my lab on Millie's Wolfheart. It's also got five stars on the dog food website but unlike other foods it can be fed to puppies and adults alike. It's pure quality ingredients with no nasties. It is a bit pricey but he likes it. He doesn't get on with the turkey though, it gives him dodgy poo but I think I've heard that a lot of dogs don't like turkey.

[Floralnomad]

IT comes down to trial and error with the individual dog to find what suits but I'd say get the best you can afford and start there . What I would also say is ensure that the food is weighed out ,at least at first so they are not being over fed . I have a 6 yo patterdale X and he has Millies Wolfheart , we generally have tracker mix but at the moment we are trying the Highland ( cos it's new) , and he's fine on either .

[WeAllHaveWings]

Check out the allaboutdogfood site.

Big supermarket brands like pedigree and baker's are crap.

Look for a did which is high enough quality you don't need a special puppy version.

We use Millie's Wolfheart for our Labrador since he was a pup.

[Wyldfyre]

As a rule of thumb, anything you buy in a supermarket (including Pedigree and Bakers) is utter garbage - filled out with wheat or maize which dogs do not need nutritionally and many are intolerant of.
It's also a complete myth that labs have indestructible digestive systems - intolerance can manifest in loose poos or bad skin for example.

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.
Get the best you can afford but be aware that price is not an indication of quality - there are plenty of poor foods with a top price tag.
If budget is a concern, then I n 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.

[Floralnomad]

It has to be said that Tesco stock Barking Heads and Lily's Kitchen (wet) which are both relatively good foods so if you want to buy in a supermarket it is possible to still feed something that's ok .

[Wyldfyre]

I don't think all of them do, nomad. Ours doesn't anyway

[PassTheCremeEggs]

Royal Canin do breed specific foods. Our lab has been on the Labrador food for 6 years and his coat is always glossy, teeth in good nick and he always looks very well on it. Suits his digestion too - TMI but poo is always formed and easy to pick up..!

[Wyldfyre]

Royal Canin is a brilliant example of a very expensive but nutritionally poor food - filled with wheat.

www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk/dog-food-reviews/0060/royal-canin-medium-adult

Also the breed specific foods are nothing more than a marketing ploy - a quick glance at the ingredient list shows the only difference is supplements added at such a minuscule level as to make no difference in real terms. (Especially if the rest of the recipient is poor in the first place)

[PassTheCremeEggs]

Wow that told me

But rather than one online review, I take account of the fact that I have a totally healthy dog who has never had any digestion problems - not had diarrhoea since a puppy - has farts that basically smell of nothing, has a coat that is glossy to the point people actually comment on it and has, touch wood, never had any health problems.

[Wyldfyre]

I didn't mean it to sound so harsh but it is expensive crap.
I've known dogs do fine outwardly on Bakers and it's so terrible that even McDonalds has voluntarily banned one of its ingredients.

You could feed a child fast food every day in it might LOOK ok but we all know that's not a good diet.

And ignoring the review part of Allaboutdogfood, all you need to do is look at the ingredients list to decide if a food is decent.

The site is the most commonly recommended website simply because it lists the ingredients.

[Shizzlestix]

Royal Canin contains virtually no meat. It does contain fillers like Wyldfyre mentions and the manufacturer also uses carcinogenics as the anti-oxidant despite other far superior methods of stopping fooled going rancid exist. Google BHT and BHA, which are two of the very bad E numbers, sadly permitted in Europe, banned in other countries.

[Shizzlestix]

What allaboutdogfood has to say about Royal Canin and their breed specific nonsense: Firstly, there's no evidence to suggest that different breeds, sizes or even ages of dogs necessarily benefit from specialised diets. Fortunately, Royal Canin seem to agree as the ingredients of the majority of their foods are more or less the same, confirming the widely held suspicion that their vast range is more about appealing to customers and occupying shelf space than actually serving any nutritional purpose.
Virtually all of the Royal Canin range is based heavily on poultry meal, white rice, maize and wheat, none of which are particularly desirable in a dog food. Poultry meal is ok but it is always best to look for meats with named animal meat sources (like chicken, turkey, duck etc.); white rice is little more than a starchy filler while maize and wheat have both been consistently linked to dietary intolerance and digestive problems.

[JaimeLannister]

I have tried many foods for my dogs over the years (oldest dog is 10.) He was weaned onto raw which I continued for about 6 months. Then he had burns, skinners, James wellbeloved and Arden grange. None suited him completely until I tried Millies Wolfheart two years ago.

[MsAdorabelleDearheartVonLipwig]

Isn't Royal Canin sold in most vets?

[MyKingdomForBrie]

We're using natures menu at the moment as we want to raw feed, amazing difference in stools already - solid and dark, never light or runny.

[SandpitDreams]

Arden Grange large breed puppy food for tge first year, then a brand called AVA (I think it is called). Ingredients lists look ok, and reasonably priced.

[SandpitDreams]

Both are about £30 a huge bag (12kg) and bags last about 2 months.