puppy food

I want to make sure I understand so I don't step on your toes. You bought a puppy on line? Or from a pet store?

Not from an Ethical Breeder who should and would be making sure you had the information needed for your specific breed. Or from  shelter where they at best could give you a guess on what the breeds involved are? That can make a huge difference in how your puppy should be fed and how the puppy should be raised.

For example my puppy people are not simply paying an arm and a leg for our well bred incredible line and heaavily tested parents.... they are paying for US. For being welcomed in our home for the life of that dog,  for the first  6 months having free training/boarding  in our home, and for $5.00 a night boarding afterwards. For 24/7 access to us for the life of that dog where we walk them through everything that dog will ever need. 

Even just knowing from a shelter the breed or blends of your dog makes a huge difference on what our best advice is to you can be.  What kind of foods your puppy will do best on depends tremendously on it's coat, bone structure, breathing system, current and furtue activity level.

For example our breed begins on Adult food, we never use puppy foods because the proteins are too hot, they create sore joints in a large fast growing breed.  We avoid all Hot Carbs, (corn, wheat soy and white rice) they are things we keep out of our dog's diets since Ridgebacks are a breed that develope lumps and bumps as they get older, most are benign and a lot of them can be prevented by correct diet for the life of the dog. Salmon while a wonderful protein will cause a typically gassy RR. Some RR lines can't tolerate chicken, others find Beef, Bison or Vension to have issues. A Breeder knows what the lines they're breeding can and can't tolerate.  

There are breeds that benefit from a RAW diet, and  Breeds that will eat anything but shouldn't.  Breeds that need to eat 3xs a day and breeds that do better on fewer feedings.  Breeds that may have issues with Bloat so the manner in which they are fed and then excercised are critical. Breeds who will not be exercising heavily and therefore need less calories and breeds you'll have to calorie pack to assure they put on the weight they need.

How about letting us know the breed,  breeds if it's a hybred or the blends you may have been told if you got it from the shelter?  What is the projected size and weight as a grown up? How old is the puppy now?  How long have you had him/her?  What kind of activity level does he/she display. Has it been spayed or neutered yet? Do you walk the puppy on a leash, or play with it in the yard and how often? Have you found a puppy kindergarten class for it? That counts as exercise and cardio too in young puppies.

There are many , many concerns in owning a puppy and I'm sure all of us would happily help you out but we need a lot more information to be of any real help to you. If you don't know the breeds chances are good photos and a weight will help us figure out what we would need to know to make sure they aren't giving bad information.

Feel free to contact me directly for further dietary or training information. for your puppy,  We woud  love to help maimize the success of your furkid's chances in life. The kind of dedication we put into each puppy is the reason we are AKC Breeders of Merit and one puppy away from the Honor Roll with very limited breedings.  Ethical Breeders don't leave you hanging.  And they support Rescued Dogs in anyway possible.

There are some good puppy foods at the store.  The previous poster is obviously an expert, so if you can financially afford to follow her recommendations I think you probably should.  Also, if you have the money, going organic or holistic is a great idea.  If you don't, I think Purina is okay and some of the other top brands are safe.  I think you should incorporate some home cooked food in there as well, like some veggies,  meats, brown rice and other safe foods for dogs.

Nikole Fairview

  If you don't, I think Purina is okay and some of the other top brands are safe.

Nicole -- you may want to hang out in the nutrition section.  In honesty, even if you have to really stretch financially -- going with a better kibble is **way** better than Purina or any of the grocery store foods.

Part of the problem is with their meat sources -- but also, they use meat that has been preserved with BHA, BHT and ethoxyquin which are carcinogens.  It may be tiny amounts but day after day for the life of the dog?  It's one of the reasons cancer is so prevalent in dogs.  I'm not being ratty -- just explaining why everyone so strongly encourages the better foods.

In a lot of states, they don't have to put on the label anything THEY didn't put into the food -- so if they buy their meat at rendering plants the rendering plant has already put the preservatives IN the meat (and usually a lot of them because of the poor quality meat they may get. -- it's pretty nasty to read about it).

 Your idea of adding a home-cooked topper can be a good idea, but if you are going to do that you may want to investigate home cooked (I work in the city a full shift - so I just cook once a week on Sunday and portion it out).  Home cooking isn't cheap either -- but you can do things to cut costs.

There are plenty of puppy foods accessible in the market today. So, it might be hard to select the most appropriate one for your puppy. But your puppy needs superfluous nutritional diets with higher quantity of protein, minerals & vitamins supplements for its rapid growth. For flavor, you can add a little amount of meat when make food for your dog at home. It is also advisable to feed your puppy dry foods as they are comparatively affordable containing superior amount of protein. It is easily digestible without trouble and keeps the dog’s teeth clean & strong.

We just got a 5 month old puppy and have had her going on the third week.  At her first vet visit we were given a New Puppy Kit which contained HIlls SD Puppy food.  We had to start her on that only because I had a hard time finding a corn free puppy food locally.  She was pooping about 6 times a day, now we switched her over to Gold Puppy, which I am now wondering if it is too rich - she has loose stools and yes I slowly switched.

But a better brand of food is worth it all around, health, and mess to clean up.  I will probably swithc her to another brand becasue I feel she should have more former stools.

Good luck with you choice of food, there is a lot out there, you need to research it a bit.

Mydogs

now we switched her over to Gold Puppy, which I am now wondering if it is too rich - she has loose stools and yes I slowly switched.

  First you should make sure it's the food and not something else such as worms or Giardia. Also, overfeeding can cause loose stool. If it is the food, I would switch to something that agrees with your puppy's system.