Puppy food choice confusion - help!

[Shazz20]

Hello! Me again!
so new pup will be here soon (yay!)... she's a small mix breed - toy poodle x bichon, so a Poochon.

I'm trying to decide on food options & am finding it very confusing. Breeder is feeding pups wellness core at the moment which looks great re ingredients but may be a bit expensive on an going basis.
I've seen people recommend allaboutdogfood website on here so I'll check that out!
But any advice re brands would be much appreciated - esp if u have a similar small breed such as cockapoo/toy poodle/cavapoo.

Also, what size bag of food do people usually go through in 1 month per dog (as I'm not sure so this is also making the prices uninformative)

Thanks so much! Xx

I have 2 similar dogs - 4 year old cavapoo and 12 week old cavachon

Cavapoo was tricky about food and we tried out lots of brands, eventually settling on Lily’s Kitchen. We do mix of wet and dry food. With the puppy we’re currently on 1 tray of Lily’s kitchen each day split across the 4 meals and a small handful of dry Lily’s kitchen into each meal

Ours isn't a tiny dog, more the size of a spaniel.
We use Millies Wolfheart.
They have nutritionalists you can phone/internet chat with for advice. They also do smaller bags you can try before you commit to bigger bags.
Our dog seems to be thriving on it.
There treats are great too

Breeder is feeding pups wellness core at the moment which looks great re ingredients but may be a bit expensive on an going basis
You wouldn’t like what I’m feeding at the moment then!
I feed Fresco dog which is over £3 a 400g tin for most flavours, their dry raw food, sometimes Akela and sometimes natures menu (the country hunter ones) which are cheaper but not by much.
I spend up to £40 a week on dog food for my petite 15kg dog.
£35 is probably about average.

I have fed raw in the past but it can be very difficult finding the space.

I also have a mixed breed pup. Shih zhu x bichon frise. We eventually settled on butternut box and I'm really happy with it. Pup is fussy but he eats all of this and gone is the smelly wind and poos that we got with previous cheaper food he was on from breeder. Cost is about £16 per week atm but will increase as he gets bigger.

Our miniature poodle puppy is on Applaws puppy food and he seems to be doing really well on it. We get it from zooplus online and it’s pretty reasonable price wise.

Our puppy is on Pure pet food, often referred to as “raw without the thaw”. It’s natural ingredients, dried, and then you rehydrate it by adding water. Our puppy loves it. Apparently it has a shelf life of 2 years, and they send it out in 4.5kg bags, on a subscription.

@Derbee

Our puppy is on Pure pet food, often referred to as “raw without the thaw”. It’s natural ingredients, dried, and then you rehydrate it by adding water. Our puppy loves it. Apparently it has a shelf life of 2 years, and they send it out in 4.5kg bags, on a subscription.

Ohhh that's interesting!

Thank you for your reply!

And thanks everyone above too. Annoyingly I don't think I can just post another 'general/overall' reply, but want to say thanks for all the helpful replies! It's clear that there are even more options than I thought! but it's great to hear which are actually being used and that they seem to work well!
Hmm hopefully I can decide soon. I'll start with what the breeder is giving her when she first comes home though, so at least that's one option!

Oh I can do a general reply! 🙈🙈

., again, thanks everyone above for all the helpful replies! It's clear that there are even more options than I thought! but it's great to hear which are actually being used and that they seem to work well!

Hmm hopefully I can decide soon. I'll start with what the breeder is giving her when she first comes home though, so at least that's one option!

@Alonglongway

I have 2 similar dogs - 4 year old cavapoo and 12 week old cavachon

Cavapoo was tricky about food and we tried out lots of brands, eventually settling on Lily’s Kitchen. We do mix of wet and dry food. With the puppy we’re currently on 1 tray of Lily’s kitchen each day split across the 4 meals and a small handful of dry Lily’s kitchen into each meal

Ah okay noted, thanks. & The portion sizes are really helpful to know. Thank you! :)

@Girlintheframe

Ours isn't a tiny dog, more the size of a spaniel. We use Millies Wolfheart. They have nutritionalists you can phone/internet chat with for advice. They also do smaller bags you can try before you commit to bigger bags. Our dog seems to be thriving on it. There treats are great too

Thank you!!

@BigWolfLittleWolf

Breeder is feeding pups wellness core at the moment which looks great re ingredients but may be a bit expensive on an going basis You wouldn’t like what I’m feeding at the moment then! I feed Fresco dog which is over £3 a 400g tin for most flavours, their dry raw food, sometimes Akela and sometimes natures menu (the country hunter ones) which are cheaper but not by much. I spend up to £40 a week on dog food for my petite 15kg dog. £35 is probably about average.

I have fed raw in the past but it can be very difficult finding the space.

Hiya! This is super helpful thanks., £40 a week, oh wow maybe I underestimated prices! And need to reset my expectations Thanks for letting me know. I'll rethink my budget I think - I definitely want pup to be eating healthy and not grain filled rubbish

My cockapoo is on Acana- started on the puppy one and she’s always got on well. She does get extras, bran, veg, a bit of meat, spoon of live yogurt, an egg, with every meal depending on what I’ve got in. The adult food is about £60 for 11 kilo bag which lasts about 10-12 weeks I think.

I use ava brand dried food from pets at home

We mix our Pure with kibble 50:50. I was planning to feed grain free, but the more I read about the potential links of grain free with fatal heart problems, the more I felt comfortable keeping grain in his diet.

@Theoscargoesto

My cockapoo is on Acana- started on the puppy one and she’s always got on well. She does get extras, bran, veg, a bit of meat, spoon of live yogurt, an egg, with every meal depending on what I’ve got in. The adult food is about £60 for 11 kilo bag which lasts about 10-12 weeks I think.

Ahhh that's so helpful, thanks! Especially the sizing ! I was just looking at a 15kg bag of food and trying to work out how long it would last! Thanks again :)

@Amandapanda1

I use ava brand dried food from pets at home

Hi Amanda! This is exactly the brand I'm looking at now. Seems to have a reasonably good nutrition rating, esp the wet food too (if I want to mix it). How long does a pack tend to last you? (Whether 2kg or 15kg etc.)?

Thanks!

@Derbee

We mix our Pure with kibble 50:50. I was planning to feed grain free, but the more I read about the potential links of grain free with fatal heart problems, the more I felt comfortable keeping grain in his diet.

Hiya. Thanks for this! Yea I'm a bit unsure about whether to buy grain free or not so am still exploring! Such a mind field dog food lol Thanks for this info!

Yea I'm a bit unsure about whether to buy grain free or not so am still exploring!
My dog came with grain heavy food from the breeder and I have fed high grain foods of different brands.
They all result in a distinct ‘doggy’ smell and soft, large poos.
I don’t personally think grain is a good thing in dog or cat diets.

The study mentioned about DCM (the fatal heart problem; dilated cardiomyopathy), most of the dogs mentioned were goldens and cockers which can’t make their own taurine as easily as other breeds (lack of taurine is a leading cause of DCM).
Taurine isn’t routinely added to dog food because dogs can make their own usually.
It’s abundant in fresh raw meat but destroyed by air exposure, heat, processing etc.

I forget the number of dogs affected but it was minuscule. Really, truly, absolutely minuscule.
Imo, nowhere near high enough to prove a definite link.

@BigWolfLittleWolf

Yea I'm a bit unsure about whether to buy grain free or not so am still exploring! My dog came with grain heavy food from the breeder and I have fed high grain foods of different brands. They all result in a distinct ‘doggy’ smell and soft, large poos. I don’t personally think grain is a good thing in dog or cat diets.

The study mentioned about DCM (the fatal heart problem; dilated cardiomyopathy), most of the dogs mentioned were goldens and cockers which can’t make their own taurine as easily as other breeds (lack of taurine is a leading cause of DCM).
Taurine isn’t routinely added to dog food because dogs can make their own usually.
It’s abundant in fresh raw meat but destroyed by air exposure, heat, processing etc.

I forget the number of dogs affected but it was minuscule. Really, truly, absolutely minuscule.
Imo, nowhere near high enough to prove a definite link.

Thanks much for this by the way! Super useful to know what effects different foods have on other dogs (re smell, pop texture, shiny coats etc!) Super helpful , looks like I'll be seriously considering grain free! :)