What brands of dog food would you recommend?

punkchica321

 

jennie_c_d

 Personally, I would NOT start raw for the first time with a large breed puppy, unless you can either buy already balanced raw, or get a consult with a nutritionist. Large breed puppies have very specific needs, and can be ruined with over or under nutrition.

 

So you're saying like until he's older, it'd be best to keep him on a good brand of kibble? 

Yes, I would wait until he is older to start raw. Since he is a mix and he will looks like a large breed, feeding raw right now might not be the best thing for him. I have no experience feeding raw to pups, since Bailey was already an adult when I got him so I cant say for sure.
But yea, feeding BARF when he is older would be fine. Im no expert but Ive been feeding it for a while so I can try to help answer any of your questions about it, feel free to PM me

BlackLabbie

punkchica321

 

jennie_c_d

 Personally, I would NOT start raw for the first time with a large breed puppy, unless you can either buy already balanced raw, or get a consult with a nutritionist. Large breed puppies have very specific needs, and can be ruined with over or under nutrition.

So you're saying like until he's older, it'd be best to keep him on a good brand of kibble? 

Personally, I would. Unless I knew 110% of what there is to know about the BARF diet with a growing large breed puppy, I'd keep him on a good quality dry food.

Okay. :) We were looking at dog foods in a local grocery store today, just to check them out. It's horrible how many don't have good quality ingredients in them. :-/

 And it certainly won't hurt to start giving him a raw, meaty bone once or twice a week, if that is the direction you want to head. It will help him learn to chew his food, and it will keep his teeth pearly white. I just wouldn't do a totally homemade diet for a large puppy, and I've done LOTS of homemade diets. They're just too easy to mess up, with calcium levels and such. Pano is SO painful.

Grocery stores will usually only sell the commercial foods (Purina, Iams, Eukanuba). Are there any feed stores or dog specialty stores in your area? Petco? Petsmart? Pet Supplies Plus? They'll have good quality food.

ETA: Jennie's right. Some raw would be good for him, and the frozen bones will keep him busy and feel good on those puppy teeth.

BlackLabbie

Grocery stores will usually only sell the commercial foods (Purina, Iams, Eukanuba). Are there any feed stores or dog specialty stores in your area? Petco? Petsmart? Pet Supplies Plus? They'll have good quality food.

ETA: Jennie's right. Some raw would be good for him, and the frozen bones will keep him busy and feel good on those puppy teeth.

Yep! We have a few places we can go. Though we'll probably go to our local feed store since they could use the business and their prices tend to be lower. From the website it shows that they sell the solid gold food! :D

Where do you get the raw bones from? 

jennie_c_d

 Personally, I would NOT start raw for the first time with a large breed puppy, unless you can either buy already balanced raw, or get a consult with a nutritionist. Large breed puppies have very specific needs, and can be ruined with over or under nutrition.

x10000

We raw feed most of our dogs, & I'm very comfortable doing so, but Cher is eating kibble the majority of the time because I'm not sure that I can get everything perfect.  A lifetime of orthopedic & health issues, because I didn't get things right, isn't something that I want to risk.

Currently, I am having great luck feeding Cher Precise Plus Large Breed Puppy.  She eats kibble 3 times a day, & then she gets a small raw meal in the evening. 

Previously, I've fed Innova puppy, as well as Solid Gold puppy, & I've been happy with both brands.  Cher's stomach can't handle Innova or she would be eating it now.

I would NOT feed a large breed puppy grain free foods.  Actually, I wouldn't feed any growing puppy grain free.  The calcium levels are, IMO, too high & the risk of causing problems is not worth it to me.

I pick up marrow bones (aka: soup bones), from our grocery store. Other stuff, like turkey necks, I buy at our local feed store (they have a freezer loaded with raw).

 The grocery store. Peices of chicken, beef ribs, pork ribs, lamb peices, etc. My little girls like chicken wings, but they are smallish. You'd want something  like a chicken leg quarter, so it took some time, and forced him to chew.

Yes, this is messy, You want to either do it  on a towel, in a crate, or outside, under CLOSE suprivision.

Starting to give him raw a few times a week would be fine, just like everyone else said its good for teaching him to chew his food, and will keep his teeth clean.

I get all Baileys food from a regular grocery store. Most sell Marrow bones, sometimes labeled as soup bones. His main meats are beef, chicken, and pork. Sometimes he gets lamb, when its on sale. His favorite thing in the world is goat, which the store near me only has once in a while, so whenever I find it on sale I buy a ton of it. He loves all meat.. but he reeeaally loves goat.

Feeding raw can be very messy, at first. Bailey eats on a towl, because he is terrified of crates. When I first started raw I made the mistake of looking the other way for 1 second, and thats all it took for him to run to the other side of the house carrying half a chicken lol
But now, he knows where he "eating place" is. I can hand him a peice of meat anywhere in the house and he will run into the kitchen with it and lay down on his towl to eat it.

If I got a puppy right now, I would most likely feed:

Orijen kibble (large breed puppy or adult, undecided on which at the moment)
topped with some crockpotted meats or the mostly meat canned dog foods
canned fish occasionally
little bits of yogurt and cottage cheese possibly
plus fish oil & vitamin E

And it would get lots of raw bones for chewing.

Plus bits of meat and cheese would be a small part of their diet as training treats.

I've fed Orijen puppy to a few small breed pups I had. I usually use Blue Buffalo. I like both, BB is easier for me to get, and easier on the wallet too.

 I love the ingredient list of Innova, but Ari's stomach couldn't tolerate it unfortunately. It tends to be a really rich food. She's been on California Natural now for awhile. It's got simple ingredients and we supplement with occasional raw food, left over cooked foods, cottage cheese, fruits etc.

I buy my rmbs from kroger. They usually only have 1 or 2 packages on the shelf so I go to the meat counter and ask what they have in the freezer. I usually buy whatever they have in stock and keep it in my freezer. Their rmbs are about $1 for 2 in a package. Super cheap.

I'd like to add something. It's been my experience that puppies who eat a wide variety of foods are generally (not always) able to tolerate more different foods as adult dogs. I think it's a good idea to get a pup used to any kind of healthy food you can think of. Treats of steamed carrots, chicken, beef, cheese, yogurt, pumpkin, bits of fruit (ok and yes, pizza crust as a special exception) are all good. Most whole foods are good additions in treat sized amounts.

I started pups on beef ribs at about 6 weeks old because occasionally (especially if they will be an only dog) they will not like them if they are introduced later.

Hands down top favorite for us here is PetGuard Lifespan (www.petguard.com)  Does not aggrivate the bichons' sensitive skin or cause gas or anything, great food.

Otherwise I'd recommend Innova, California Natural, or Healthwise.