to think that my friend is being ridiculously PFP about insisting on this posh food for her little darling?

[BitOfFun]

Precious First Puppy, that is...

My friend and I are both getting puppies soon, which are currently only three weeks old. She is not local, and I am liaising with the breeder/owner on her behalf.

Today, I have been given instructions to ask the lady if she will wean my friend's puppy onto a brand of food that one can only buy in the doggy equivalent of Waitrose, which is organic, omega-3 filled gluten-effing-free cordon-bleu standard canine cuisine.

I will ask, of course, but given that it will be difficult to feed the puppies separately and that the other owners are unlikely to be quite so discriminating in their choice of nourishment for their pooches, and will then have to switch their ruined little princesses onto more easily-available cheaper fare, AIBU to tell my friend she is a nitwit?

Bearing in mind that no matter how lovely, we are talking about a bloody dog- an animal which might occasionally eat its own excrement and certainly routinely rims itself for its own amusement...

Am I Being Unreasonable?

My mum is a cavalier nut. When hers were puppies just home they had cornflakes with warm milk and scrambled egg and then introduced them to steamed chicken breasts then on to ceaser.

my dog, a wee mutt, pedigree puppy food then tesco premium chunks. she eats everything. (ceaser is the one she won't eat). most evening though her dinner is our left overs and she goes mad for a drink of milk. she is 4 and has never been to the vet. mutts all the way!

I feed my two John Wellbeloved with occasional chappie (cos they love it )

I liked Burns as well (v small poos and lovely coats) but my springer got too skinny on it, but it is a good quality food and they deliver.

Completely agree that most of the more readily available/supermarket foods are full of rubbish-my SIL feeds her dog Bakers and the dog is bloody barking, she wont change even though her 4 year old dog has bad breath, even worse farts and is fat!

Feeding your pup can be a wee bit trial and error and it may take a while to find out what suits him

I am getting puppy broody......

Ooh, don't look at my profile pics then

Now you know I just did.......

Puppy breath and little kisses, there is nothing like it

I am fully aware that I sound quite mad!

My dog has never eaten his own shit, not sure where you got that from that dogs do that.

My second dogs eats the first dogs shit fabbychic. So some do.

LOLing at BoF starting this thread to take the puss out of Shiney and actually learning something!!!

We are feeding one on Hills and the other on Royal Canin. Moving back to UK in Summer though so interested in working our what is best then. Both labs. The baby one is 8 months and thinks she is a kangaroo auditioning for the royal ballet. Would hate to think her food was affecting her!

The best dry foods do tend to be the most expensive to buy in the shops (Hills, Eukanuba, JWB, Royal Canin etc) but remember that at 60% or so meat content, each mouthfull is more nutritious than a cheaper food therefore you have to feed less.

Next time you buy, ask the retailer for a free measuring cup. (They usually have these behind the counter provided by the manufacturer.) These show you how much to feed based on your dog's size / weight. You'd be surprised at how small the portions can be therefore how long a bag will last. You can actaully end up spending more on the cheap 4% meat stuff as you have to feed so much more of it to provide your pooch with the energy it needs. Plus the hard kibbles of the premium foods lead to better oral health (biggest cause of vets bills is dental work) and more solid, less smelly poos .

Also for all you Nestle avoiders - Purina, who make Bakers, Winalot, Bonio, Felix, Go Cat, Beta, Purina One and Purina Pro Plan are in fact Nestle.

I have brought my now 10 year old lab x collie up on an expensive dog food. She has rarely had any tummy upsets and she has never needed her teeth scaling. Also her shit has always been so easy to scoop up. A winner in my books.
My old dog had terrible colitis and eventually had to be pts due to colon cancer. He was a pedigree (Old English Sheepdog) and he was 14 when he died so a fair innings. The one and only thing that did'nt trigger him was Chappie! Vet recommended it. Yet I can't help thinking that if he had been on the food my present dog is then there would have been far less butt washing and blood every day. I was a child when we got old dog so did'nt get a choice in food.
When I got my pedigree cat I told breeder what food I would feed him (Royal Canin Oriental) and she agreed it was good. She introduced it gradually into his food. She did'nt recommend it as she felt some buyers would not be able to afford it as it was expensive. Yet that did'nt stop them from being good owners. My 11 year old cat who I fed on that diet has also had no medical problems and no dental treatment. My ancient cat who got fed tinned food cost me a fortune in teeth removal!

Runawayraisin, the foods you mention have nowhere near 60% meat content and there are far better foods out there. There are foods which are just as good for half the price too.

midori you're right of course that was a genuine typo. I ment to say around 30% - the result of too much wine and 3 being directly below 6 on the keyboard I assume. I'm not an expnsive dog food advocate or anything so I'm not in the business of trying to mislead MNetters into buying expensive brands. .

I only know this as I worked at PAH for 6 years (grim grim grim) and was sent on a Pet nutrition course. Genuinely though, the more expensive brands have the higher meat and protien content and less has to be fed in order to provide adequete nutrition. We saw graphs etc on how a buying a decent dry food can quickly save you money when compared to buying tins and pouches as you get through so many, the main ingredient of which is water.

PAH own brand was actaully quite good. With 24% meat minimum it is at the better end of the scale and reasonably priced.

Middle of the range stuff like Iams is alright too but the less you pay, the less meat you're getting.

Most important thing is always going to be that it's the right food for your dog!

midori - which foods would you recommend please? I have two labs. We are in Hungary at the moment and we give one Hills and one Royal Canin. Moving back to UK in summer and want to change to the best we can. They will both be on the same then as the kangaroo pup will be over a year old. Less poos good! Less ingredients to cause kangaroo pup to be hyper VERY good!

One of DH's clients owns the one of biggest dry pet food companies in the UK, allegedly one of the better ones. He once told DH how they manufacture the food. I switched my dog to a raw diet later that week.

I LOVE dog food threads!

Advise me: Currntly feeding Royal Canin Bulldog food, its shaped so that the greedy boy doesn't inhale the bowl in a few seconds.

He's perfectly healthy, especially for a Bully although he had some skin allergies last summer. He poos twice a day, he is a little bit on the heavy side because he needs treat heavy training and is very forgetful unless I am holding a nice piece of liver cake in my hand.

Should I investigate Fish4Dogs or Orijen???

Ok, shall I investigate Fish4Dogs, Origen or Autarky for my dogs then? Are these readily avaliable to buy? My Pugalier does the most stinking farts ever, to the point that the children have to leave the room and my Beagle is now a little overweight!!!!!

Cant believe that Ive totally overlooked that Nestle made Bakers!!

I have now switched to using the Pets at Home dry food as I'm skint at the moment. I did say no additives etc etc which is why I chose it out of the cheaper brands. Is it one of the bad ones though?

Sorryt hat should say 'it' not 'i'

Shiney what posh food are you giving him/her?

if you want high welfare standard posh dog food (eg no battery farmed chicken etc), try Burns. It's expensive but a cute little mite like a KC ain't going to eat too much

me and my friend both feed our staffs on it- we joke (ahem) that our dogs eat better than our kids

...every now and then we run out (specially end of the month) and have to tide them (dawgs) over with Bakers for a couple of says. Honestly, they fall on it like vegan kids on a McDonald's

Mine have always been on Autarky. The breeder fed a mixture of Autarky and Beta.

My mate gets it for me from the Feed Merchants for about £13 for 15kg.

Quality-wise it's pretty much average; the important thing is my dogs do well on it.

Thanks SwallowedAfly Will try that then and hope the farting eases