Choosing Puppy Foods

Picking up my wee girl in 4 weeks (cannot wait). I know I have to keep her on the breeders food for a week or so but would like to be organised for when/if I want to change food.

Has anyone used Eukanuba Puppy before? I have done some reading on it and it seems pretty good.

Regards

Danny

Hi, how exciting!! I use Eukanuba mixed with a small tin of tuna twice daily, his coat is so healthy and he seems to love it. Cant wait to see some pics !

Hi! What does the breeder use now? How exciting

Great news about the puppy, you'll love her!

As far as Eukanuba is concerned, it receives quite a mediocre review with disappointing results for it's nutritional analysis on dog food advisor:

http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/eukanuba-dog-food-customized-nutrition/

My little lad was on Beta puppy when i got him, and again like 99% of processed foods, it received poor reviews and low scores for nutrition. Vets like to push these products because they earn commission and ive since discovered, that they learn almost nothing about canine nutrition when qualifying...That was information received directly from my own vet.
After much research i decided to feed Spike on a raw diet. This food is the same price as processed dry foods and is readily available in prepacked and canned products, or you can opt to put the dog's meal together yourself.
Since Spike went onto a raw diet, his coat was transformed in about a week, his stools became much smaller (due to better absorption of nutrients), no farts and best of all, he started to gain a good kilo a week in lean body weight.

funkyrimpler wrote:Great news about the puppy, you'll love her!

As far as Eukanuba is concerned, it receives quite a mediocre review with disappointing results for it's nutritional analysis on dog food advisor:



My little lad was on Beta puppy when i got him, and again like 99% of processed foods, it received poor reviews and low scores for nutrition. Vets like to push these products because they earn commission and ive since discovered, that they learn almost nothing about canine nutrition when qualifying...That was information received directly from my own vet.
After much research i decided to feed Spike on a raw diet. This food is the same price as processed dry foods and is readily available in prepacked and canned products, or you can opt to put the dog's meal together yourself.
Since Spike went onto a raw diet, his coat was transformed in about a week, his stools became much smaller (due to better absorption of nutrients), no farts and best of all, he started to gain a good kilo a week in lean body weight.

My partner is all against RAW diet but I would like to give it a try as it definitely seems to be the best way to go. What pre packed meats do you use? I was looking at the little frozen blocks in Pets at home last night and seemed good value for money. Can you put a pup straight on to this?

hi - Buddy is 7 months and I started him on the natures own blocks and nuggets when he was about 12 weeks - I started with the nuggets as I could give him one or two mixed with the breeders food( I got him at 10 weeks) and slowly increased them to replace the breeders food - now he has half a mince block with some kibble twice a day - sometimes he asks for some lunchtime and I just give him some of the half I would give at night with no kibble - it is good value for money and his coat is shiny and healthy , he seems to stay full longer than when on kibble only . Buddy isn't keen on it totally raw so I just warm it slightly in the microwave before I mix it with the kibble and let it cool down before feeding . You can also get it delivered in bulk if you cant get to pets at home.

smudge95 wrote:hi - Buddy is 7 months and I started him on the natures own blocks and nuggets when he was about 12 weeks - I started with the nuggets as I could give him one or two mixed with the breeders food( I got him at 10 weeks)  and slowly increased them  to replace the breeders food - now he has half a mince block with some kibble twice a day - sometimes he asks for some lunchtime and I just give him some  of the half I would give at night  with no kibble - it is good value for money and his coat is shiny and healthy , he seems to stay full longer than when on kibble only . Buddy isn't keen on it totally raw so I just warm it slightly in the microwave before I mix it with the kibble and let it cool down before feeding . You can also get it delivered in bulk  if you cant get to pets at home.

The fact these are premade and small blocks would suit be as I do not have a big chest freezer to keep raw meat in.
You are saying you feed Buddy 1 block a day, does that not work out quite expensive? Do you ever mix with things other than kibble or do you find that the blocks have enough nutrition Buddy needs?

I tend to work on one block a day but some days this is split across three /four meals ,   some days he doesn't eat it all and I give the next day -I would start on the nuggets until your puppy is older and eating bigger meals  - some days I mix with kibble so I cut down the amount of block I use,  the food does carry all the nutrients needed but I like to mix his diet a little so he does not get bored , so some days I mix a little pasta to it , another I may give tuna instead of the meat , adding an egg is another option , you just have to be careful while they are young as changing the food can upset their tummies best to wean onto the nuggets and kibble  and then slowly try other foods  .. its really dependant on your pup you will get used to how much they need to eat - when very young they can need up to four meals a day and obviously at that age the meals are not huge. so the nuggets are a good idea,  - some days Buddy eats very little, he is not a lover of kibble at all,  I liked the nuggets as  you can judge the amount you are feeding each meal and can see when it needs to be increased .. it can be trial and error with a pup to find what fits .. it will all fall into place I am still trying Buddy with new things - some work some don't..Good luck , cant wait to see some pictures of little one..

Thanks for the information, I was going to gradually wean her from her breeders food onto chicken by trying some of the minced chicken and chicken wings/legs as I have heard this is the best meat to start with when trying raw feeding. If this works then I will gradually introduce other meats into her diet.

yes that's the best way to go - try natural treats to Buddy loves tripe sticks and cows ears.. just don't give too often when young as can make them a bit smelly and upset their tummies . Natures own do bags of loose dried chicken mince you can just defrost the amount you want that way - get her a Kong too you can fill that with lots of fresh goodies and it will keep her occupied - I put Buddies mid morning snack/meal in his whilst I am a work by the time he has eaten it and had a nap I am back..

Hi Danny,
I think most people that are against raw feeding actually know little about it, or have heard a lot of the nonsense around on the internet.
To make things absolutely fool proof you can buy prepacked raw food from various companies. I used natures menu, but there are several others. Once you start them on the complete meals you can then learn about how to 'go it alone' if you fancy it..It's very easy, trust me..I was VERY worried about Spike not having a full, balanced diet, or having deficiencies in his nutrition, but the beautiful truth is even if you were not feeding the 'ultimate' balance of raw food, it would STILL be far, far superior, healthier and without all of the cereals and utter cr@p found in artificial food.
There's a reason why dry food will a) never go off, b) never rot, c) never get eaten by rats or mice when left in the garage...It's like eating an iradiated ready meal.
Also, dogs are CARNIVORES..not omnivores as we all think...I've exhaustively read numerous academic articles on this topic..Yes, they can tolerate vegetables and fruits, such as when they would eat the contents of the stomachs of prey or carrion, but they have evolved to eat meat and bones..they are intolerant of cereals (the bulk of dry foods)...they simply cannot digest them...
Dogs do not even possess amylase in their saliva (an enzyme essential for digesting sugars), and there is much conjecture as to whether dogs even require carbohydrates in their diets...
Give raw a go mate, it has transformed Spike's coat, and even though he's a baby, his body is absolutely solid.

Will definitely be giving it a go, doesn't actually work out that much more expensive to feeding dry (maybe about 20p a day). 3 weeks on Sunday until I pick her up, starting to price and buy everything and looks like my bank balance is going to take a hit lol.

lol the initial outlay is a bit ..but once you have your little bundle home you will forget all about it - I find every time I go past a pet shop I have to buy buddy something ! he is in destruct mode at the minute so we are short of toys- any excuse

I started Maya on a BARF diet today, i used to feed her James Wellbeloved kibble, but after reading so much on the subject of raw, thought i would see if she liked raw.
So i went ahead and ordered some pouches of James Wellbelloved Turkey and Rice, 10 x 150 gram, and some Natures Menu Chicken and Lamb, 8 x 300 gram.
The order arrived today, and i just fed Maya one of the JW, and she wolfed the lot down in seconds It`s good to know that she enjoys raw, and i feel better because of all the goodness she will now be ingesting. I will try her with some of The NM for her supper, and hopefully she will like that as well

Buddy loves the James wellbeloved pouches- when he is being fussy one of those in his kong and he is well away - he had one lunchtime today - he loves natures own tripe mince - smells awful but he loves it

smudge95 wrote:Buddy loves the James wellbeloved pouches- when he is being fussy one of those in his kong and he is well away - he had one lunchtime today - he loves natures own tripe mince - smells awful but he loves it

Yeah, as i said Carol it`s good to know they are getting all they need with BARF, instead of the usual crap what is on the shelves, all my past dogs were fed on that crappy tinned stuff, and i just wish i knew then what i know now.

Hi there anyone transitioning their puppy to raw this may be beneficial to you all https://staffy-bull-terrier.niceboard.com/f125-staffordshire-bull-terrier-raw-food-diets. There are a few threads from forum members dogs that feed their dogs a raw diet.

I've just bought " Evolution " - gets great reviews and is available at Pets at Home. Stitch gobbled his first bowl down. It's quite expensive though as no rubbish fillers ( apparently ).

I also feed him a little bit of chicken, turkey, tuna or minced lamb with each meal or sometimes just a little bit of doggy gravy. My local Tesco often sell meat at 25% of the price if you know what time to stalk the discount section lol ( and I do ! )

I have just been made aware that our pup will be fed on Bakers . Cannot wait to get her home and get her on proper food . Been told she is 1.3kg at 17 days.

Oh dear bakers

i feed raw and have with millie since she was a pup, she is one healthy little pooch and very muscular, i started off on the natures menu nuggets in the 1kg bag as i find the quality of meat is better than the blocks, but now i do bulk orders of things from a raw meat supplier and make my own up
heres a pic of my girl :

And how beautiful millie is

I've got Mav on "Akela" (http://www.wholeprey.com/akela-80-20-dog-food.html) the reviews seemed really good very high protein, human grade ingredients, no wheat or cereal etc and the amount I need to feed/it's vat free works out cheaper than most.

His arse does stink though lol, I'm looking slightly into raw but like how I can feed kibble, Mav has small amount of kibble and wet in a slow feed bowl for breakfast and his lunch and dinner I give in a treat ball, gets him using his brain and smell. And it makes using kibble when training easy as can just take it out of his daily feed.

I would of thought a kong with raw unless it's frozen would be emptied in no time?

I've been researching through the night, I work nights

from what I've been reading bones are important in raw feed, and the point of raw feed is that the dog doesn't really digest the non meat parts of food very well, and are not required.

Natures menu seems to either be just meat mince, just meat mince with veg, or whole parts cuts of animal.
there's no list of offal or bones on the nutrition which from what I've been reading is very important in the balanced RAW diet?

am I missing something?

Patrick84 wrote:I've been researching through the night, I work nights

from what I've been reading bones are important in raw feed, and the point of raw feed is that the dog doesn't really digest the non meat parts of food very well, and are not required.

Natures menu seems to either be just meat mince, just meat mince with veg, or whole parts cuts of animal.
there's no list of offal or bones on the nutrition which from what I've been reading is very important in the balanced RAW diet?

am I missing something?

I don't think the nuggets alone are a balanced diet, they also sell things on the bone which I would also feed (chicken wings/necks/carcasses) to start with then move on to beefy bones as her stomach gets used to the raw diet.

kattie wrote:i feed raw and have with millie since she was a pup, she is one healthy little pooch and very muscular, i started off on the natures menu nuggets in the 1kg bag as i find the quality of meat is better than the blocks, but now i do bulk orders of things from a raw meat supplier and make my own up
heres a pic of my girl :

She looks so healthy, how much were you feeding her when she was a pup? Were you also feeding bones?

She is now fed 450g a day she weighs 12.5 kg, I am a dog walker and we cover a lot of miles in a day so she's fed a little extra . when you get your pup weigh them and then go on the natures menu site and they have a good weight to feed ratio on there that's what I did, yeah I did feed wings I found the best when she was tiny was wing tips she loved them and they are a good size and chicken wings as she grew a bit bigger and now she has all sorts, you can feed lamb ribs as well as they quite sift and spongy hope this helps

That's supposed to say soft*

natural instinct do they frozen wing tips in a block in most pet stores, also small fish like white bait are great to start introducing whole prey as they are tiny

kattie wrote:She is now fed 450g a day she weighs 12.5 kg, I am a dog walker and we cover a lot of miles in a day so she's fed a little extra . when you get your pup weigh them and then go on the natures menu site and they have a good weight to feed ratio on there that's what I did, yeah I did feed wings I found the best when she was tiny was wing tips she loved them and they are a good size and chicken wings as she grew a bit bigger and now she has all sorts, you can feed lamb ribs as well as they quite sift and spongy hope this helps

Just seen a video on youtube of a 6 week old pup eating wing tips, think I might start on this with chicken mince for the first week or so then start introducing turkey, fish and some red meats into her diet.

Mines loves the raw tripe blocks, pity it stinks the house out defrosting it. The things we do for them

sounds like a good plan, yeah i would say mince and wing tips is a good place to start , good luck with your puppy

The natures menus all is included dnt know about offal tho

Kattie, can you let me know who your meat supplier is? I'm trying to find a reliable source..Butchers aren't too well up on stocking the blood, guts and gore i require!
My preferred raw diet is the 'prey' model...80%muscle, 10% bone and 10% organs..no need for veggies at all..(dogs CANNOT digest them..they literally go in and come out the same)..
I know some people here recommend the so-called 'raw kibbles'...but i wouldn't go near them...dogs need to chew, tear and rip their meals up, and need to chew, chew, chew meaty bones....ANY kibble in my view is utterly unnatural...It's like eating Macdonalds your entire life.

Pure raw has its place Si for sure, however, not all of us have the ability or stomach to go entirely raw as you suggest. Personally I make a compromise between decent food, including kibble and tinned with raw treats.

Kibble has its place as long as it's well made but I do agree that a certain amount of raw is good.