11 week puppy - can you recommend me a good food to move to?

[tellmewhenthespaceshiplandscoz]

Hi all

Pooch is 11 weeks this week and came to us 3 weeks ago with a bag of Burns Puppy complete which we rehydrate with water. He wolfs this down however his poos are often quite runny and sometimes a bit mucus-y.

Saw vet last week who suggested Pro Kolin to help settle his tum and firm up poos. This seems to have helped and I've also started to add a little bit of cooked and mashed carrot which he enjoys.

Vet did say the water added to his food could be adding to the watery poos and said we could move him to dry.
Having looked on All About Dogs as suggested here to other posters I can also see that the food he's on isn't actually high on protein which it seems it needs to be more? Also not the highest ranking nutritionally.

The dog food market is huge though, isn't it?!! I'm a jut clueless to be honest but really want to try another food to see if we have more success with it. At the moment it seems his first thing before food poo is a good consistency (I'm able to pick up with poo bag) then after eating they just get more liquidy.

Of he's up to date worming wise too and no signs of anything dodgy in his poos (man - this is what my life has come to ... Shit Watch ).

Any recommendations for what's worked well for your pups to move to?

TIA

I feed Bella and Duke complete raw food. It’s pricey but oh so worth it. Aside from the amazing skin and coat etc my dog has gone from having really smelly farts and about 3 large soft stinky poos a day to 1 (2 at a max) small, solid non smelly poos. Really makes me think about what all the fillers do to them.

We have a 5 year old and 14 week old cockapoos. Both are on raw food - natures way frozen chunks. Puppy loves it and older dog is really healthy. Their poos are unsmelly, easy to pick up and they don't fart.

Wouldn't feed them anything else.

Thanks both - I'll look into raw food although not sure we have the freezer or fridge space

Good lord two puppies 😬 how the F aren't you a gibberish wreck?!!! This is killing me!

Joking, I love him really most of the time

Raw didn't suit my sensitive dog, but after lots of trial and error we founf Forthglade dry and wet worked. The important thing is not to switch too often it can take a while for the digestive flora to adapt.

Our Golden Retriever pup has been on Arden Grange kibble since weaning. She's never had any tummy issues with it. She's six months old now and her poos are bloody enormous, but at least they are firm enough to pick up in one go!

We had (after a few attempts and isssues) Royal Canine Puppy food - not the cheapest but had a 5 month old rescue with numerous stomach issues and was the only one which worked at the time. Admittedly did have to change post 1 year old, but worked very well.

Different food suits different dogs.

I have four all of whom are related and all are on different food/combinations.

One is on on full Butternut Box, one is on Butternut Box and Lily's kitchen bics, one is on Lily's kitchen bics, one is on 50/50 Butternut Box and Farmers Dog.

What breed is he? For some breeds the watering of the biscuits is necessary for digestion when they're very young.

He's a border terrier.

Stupid question but does it matter, provided it seems to suit his tummy whether it's wet or dry? And again stupid question but what's the benefit of doing a mix of both?

I've been reading that apparently the odd bowl of Chappie can sort a upset tum

Some of the smaller breeds can struggle to eat biscuits as they are when they're very young - they need them watered down to soften them a bit.

It's like with separating mum and pups, Chihuahuas (for example) shouldn't really be removed from their mum until they're well over 8 weeks...but Goldies could probably go at 7 weeks (if I am honest) and be fine! All dogs are different in terms of development, even within a litter.

In terms of wet/dry, everyone has different things they swear by for their dog and some will swear by fully raw, some by things like butternut box and some by dry biscuits. Again, all dogs are different - as mine prove all too well! As long as your dogs poos are reasonably solid (they can be a bit wet without it being the end of the world) and 'healthy' then do what works best for them. It can take time to find the right food - some places do offer 'sample' boxes so you don't have to commit to much at once.

After a lot of trial and error, our beagle is on Harringtons. We scatter dry food for breakfast and dinner, and then he gets a mix of wet and dry for his lunch. He absolutely loves it and licks his bowl clean.

Wolfworthy dry food gets good reviews. A lot of them will send you samples for the dog to try. And yes, Chappie chicken and rice variety is recommended by vets all over for upset tummies. So much so that my dad put both his dogs on it permanently and they never had problems again.

This is all really helpful folks thanks ... going to look into those brands and perhaps gradually introduce a new one softened up with water first.

Although I'm pleased to report all of todays poos have been "pick up-able" and he picks the mashed carrot out first then wolfs the rest so I'll keep adding some soft mashed veg to his tea too. It may just be the probiotic so o be interesting to see if things stay this way when we stop that.

It's been a very tiring day at Chez TellMe ... he's been fighting sleep all day and been a right bitey little bugger. I'm soooooo knackered .

We're feeding Years (cupboard) and Different Dog foods. They're not raw, but both score highly in the online dog food bible and he's happy on them. Neither is particularly better than the other, but we don't have enough freezer space to feed DD all the time. Could just do Years, but wanted him to get used to more than one food while a puppy.

Are you crate training him? They get very bitey when overtired, and I used to put my pups in the crate several times a day with the cover over for a proper sleep. If you leave them to doze round the house they can find it difficult to settle as they like to keep abreast of all goings on 😂

We had the same issue with Burns puppy food, like you, the first poo of the day would be fine, always followed by wet puddles of it until the end of the day.

We now use tails.com which is a mixture of dry and wet, and haven't looked back. Everyday is completely solid, his coat looks really shiny and he has a bounce in his step we never realised was missing. I'm a convert!

I feed mine on Canadian dry food, it's all life stages apparently but it suited my previous dogs and seems to suit current dogs, although my old chunky girl is now on the senior/light food and younger two are on small breed Country Game, they often get a few cooked veggies added or a Applaws Topper split between the three of them, but they have good solid poops and appear to be healthy.

I have pup who gets tummy upset if she has anything with chicken in it. Its really common

He’s got runny poo because dogs can’t digest carbohydrate it goes straight through them, that why they shouldn’t be fed any kibble. It also sticks to their teeth and causes cavities as its sugar. Feed raw 100% animal. They do an 80 meat 20 offal 20 bone. It is the best thing for them and will work out cheaper. First choice nutrition is what my dog eats and they deliver

Consider the long term cost and also your lifestyle. I did consider raw feeding, but:
-MIL minds our dog if we go abroad and has her own dogs. Not only would it be tricky to ask MIL to follow defrosting dog food, it would be more difficult to stop her own dogs eating our dogs food
-If we take our dog away, say a dog friendly BnB/cottage etc, there isn't always the guarantee of freezer space for raw food or even a fridge. I'm sure raw feeders have a solution, but I didn't want extra faff.

I wanted convenience and ideally, something I could buy easily. We have an 8kg poodle cross. She has a sensitive stomach if allowed too many tid bits, or sometimes- just for no reason! I keep a tube of that koline paste handy, but soft stools are rarer now she is 3.

I'd always assumed dogs would like a mix of soft food and kibble and be better for their teeth. I actually never considered just 1 option alone! I buy Gentle, cold pressed kibble online. She also has 2 winalot sachets a day. I would much prefer to return her to butchers wet food, but she has refused it, despite having it for the 1st year.

I have a terrier who has quite a sensitive stomach, chicken in particular really plays him up.

I use Butchers tripe tins and the Jollies Lifestage kibble which has a high meat/fish content.

This combination seems to suit him.

There is zero scientific evidence that raw is any better than a decent quality 'normal' food. The only evidence is that the risk of cross contamination of nasties to humans is more common.

I moved my own rescue dog from raw to a quality complete kibble and his poo is solid, small and not stinky. His energy is up compared to raw too.

butchers tripe tins have chicken in now.

We use Millie’s Wolfheart and have no issues, they're really helpful in guiding you to the right one for your dog