Fresh or dried food for poodle pup

[threadneedle]

He is 13 weeks old and pretty tiny, 1.8kg.

The breeder gave us a bag of his usual dried food, but I've noticed that he gets hiccups after eating and I can feel his tummy pulsating. It lasts a few minutes after eating and then he's leaping around again, literally!

We have enough of that left for a few days but I need to get something then.

Cat is thriving on Royal Canin Persian food and I was thinking of getting their poodle food but I noticed a huge fresh food section in the pet shop so I'm wondering if that would be better.

TIA

royal canin is rubbish. There are a few really good dried dog foods about- look at barking heads, Arden grange, essentials, forthglade to name a few.
fresh can be a pain if you need someone else to look after your dog- and you can need quite a bit of storage. The forthglade complete trays can be a good compromise

Try a slow feeder as well.

I’m considering Forthglade or Wolfworthy for our new pup, who will be a bit smaller than yours.

I’ve ordered the Forthglade puppy starter pack to try in the first instance and if he doesn’t settle on that have a sample of Wolfworthy to trial.

I was considering Different Dog fresh frozen, but storage is an issue for me (which is why I no longer feed raw) and it’s easier to travel etc with dried/kibble. I might do a bit of both if he doesn’t turn out to have a sensitive stomach. Maybe DD toppers with one of the decent kibbles.

My reason for looking at Forthglade and Wolfworthy are that, after it becoming really difficult for some people to get hold of their dogs’ food during the pandemic and post Brexit, I want a British made brand to try and safeguard against supply issues. The other one I liked the look of was McAdams, but it’s pricey compared to the other two.

My puppy got hiccups after eating. It settled down after a week or so. All my dogs have been fed dried food (kibble), with a little tinned food and a drop of water to make a gravy when they were very young.

I have poodles. Great choice!

My puppy used to wolf her food down and get hiccups so we got her a slow feeder (bumpy bowl making it harder). They all were huge for her but it just meant the food was spread around more.

I feed mine Eden small kibble. They do like a bit of juicy food mixed in though. I wish they'd just have it plain because it would make training easier.

Scatter feeding is also great for kibble. Just fling it round the floor. Or hide the kibble around the room. Poodles like to use their brain so they enjoy a good sniff and search.

Also a king wobble thing where they have to poke it to her food out.

The best food for your dog is what you can afford and what the dog will eat.

Thanks for all these great ideas, much appreciated, I'll try your suggestions for slowing down his eating and hopefully that will help the hiccups.

He is absolutely adorable and so smart, we've only had him a week, but he loves his crate and is sleeping well. Not so great with the toilet training, probably our fault for not taking him out frequently enough.

If only the cat loved him as much as we do, hopefully she'll at least learn to tolerate him!

Try raw food it's the best nutrition. Dried food tastes like cardboard too

My dogs have always had dried. Perhaps a bit of fish or something with it occasionally to liven it up but they are more than happy with it, healthy (previous ones lived to 12 and 14 with barely a vet visit)
it’s so much easier for traveling etc.

Slow feeder a good idea or giving him some of the portion over the day as training treats

My 2 girls have a tin of meat in gravy between them in the morning and kibble evening. They seem happy.

Dry food is fine if your dog is happy to eat it, but many prefer the texture and taste of wet - so it's often a case of experimenting!

We feed our dog Harringtons - a mix of wet and dry. Their dry doesn't score amazingly but their wet is really good so I figure overall it's probably a decent enough diet.

But most importantly - he wolfs down his meals, has a shiny coat, healthy teeth and good solid poos. When we tried some of the more expensive stuff, he ended up with the runs - even after switching him over slowly.

Generally the higher quality the food, the less you need to feed, so it's not necessarily as expensive as it first appears, but of course your dog has to like it too 😁

I have just moved my poodle cross from Barking Heads to Millie's Wolfheart as the former was £70 a bag. When we first bought it, 5 years ago, it was £48.

Personally I would ask your vet. My vet said Royal canin was a good food. He studied dog food and the nutrition side for a few years. I personally would not feed raw. My vet also would not recommend raw that why initially my dog when adopted had so many stomach issues.