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Puppy food

G

gamefanz

Well-known member
Toby is 12 weeks old now. We currently have him on Royal canin 33. He is ok with the food but I know its not the best quality. I hear that Cavaliers sometimes have allergies to certain things in food too. So I am on the hunt for a new dog food.
It was suggested to me to try Honest Kitchen. I found a few places that sell it so I went to check it out. I brought home a few samples but honestly the stuff seems strange. I know its great quality food but it looks powdery(of sorts). You add water and serve. I am worried that it would not be good for his dental health without adding dental chews and such. If he chooses not to chew on those then I am afraid for his teeth. Also with it being mushy I wonder if he would get used to that and not want anything crunchy after a long time on it. It is not easy to find especially in smaller towns. The 2 places that carry it here did not have any in stock. One said they only stock it when someone special orders it and the other only carries it because she feeds it to her dogs.
The store also gave me a sample of Solid Gold small breed. I am not sure what to think of it. Its not grain free but I hear its supposed to be a good brand.
I went to the dog food advisor website to look at reviews and such and to tell you the truth it is making me frustrated. I thought of Orijen but some of the reviews were harsh especially with it being 80/20. I don't know what to think about that.
The more I look at brands and reviews the more confused and frustrated I get. I would love to do RAW but I don't know if I am dedicated enough for that and it weirds me out giving raw meat. I know my views on that is not right. My husband thinks it would be very costly.
So I come here to ask, for a 12 week old puppy what brand of food would you feed? Is grain free better for him or regular food?
Thank you
Becky
 
Hi there!
I'm sure the board will be full of many suggestions, but here are mine :) I run a pet supply store that focuses on all natural foods and do consultations all day with customers in regards to their pets nutrition. There are a ton of great options on there, (esp since you live in the US) and quite often it's just a process of trial and error until you find out what works for your pet. Just like people, some can have allergies, sensitivities, etc. The Honest Kitchen is excellent but I agree that it has an odd consistency. I am also not a huge fan of how it looks (kinda like green sludge lol) although the ingredients are great and many people use it successfully with their pets. As far as kibble goes, Solid Gold, Wellness, Orijen, Taste of the Wild, Acana, Merrick and Blue Buffalo are some great ones to look at for starters. Grain free thing is rather controversial and I'd feel ok feeding it as long as the food has wholesome, healthy grains (like quinoa, brown rice, oatmeal etc) and many dogs I know do great on it. Personally, my cavalier does better on a grain free (tends to get runny poos with grains) but again-that's what works for her, they are all different.

I am a big fan of raw feeding and honestly believe it's the best thing you can give your pet. For my 11lb Cavalier it costs me about $35/month for the pre-made kind (I use alot of Bravo and Primal and give raw frozen bones as a treat) so it's really not too expensive when you have a small dog. Polly thrives on it. It keeps her lean, less poops, no more upset tummy, no more tear stains, gorgeous coat, nice teeth etc. I also give her ZiwiPeak on occasion (air dried raw) which is fantastic quality. Her latest thing she has been liking is "Deli Fresh" rolls ( i use the Vital line as it is grain free and closest to her raw diet) which isn't exactly raw but is gently cooked and fresh and she loves it.

Feeding raw really isn't as gross as it sounds, the Bravo Balance is great as it comes in individually wrapped little patties and is very clean and convenient. I am actually a vegan and can handle giving her raw, as I know meat is very important to her diet (I also feed it to my 4 cats) and quickly got over the "weirdness" factor. Hope this helps :)
 
Thank you for your suggestions. So feeding RAW at 12 weeks is ok? Now I know Orijen got mixed reviews because of the 80/20 as far as protein and such, would you feed that to a 12 week old?
I only have knowledge with my Pekingese and he had allergies so it was grain free/chicken free diet.
Becky
 
gamefanz said:
I am looking at the foods you suggested and I think I like Taste of the Wild. Its says its for all life stages. Thinking of trying this one:
http://www.tasteofthewildpetfood.com/products/dogs/dry_food/pacific_stream_canine_formula/
We will be leaving in a bit to go check it out.
Becky
Click to expand...

I switched from solid gold to taste of the wild a few months ago. My dogs have had the pacific stream, the venison, and the now another flavor. They clearly preferred the fish but it's not always in stock here.

You can also order online, amazon has distributors for absolutely everything under the sun.
 
Thank you. I hope it will be good for a 12 week old.
Becky


Soushiruiuma said:
I switched from solid gold to taste of the wild a few months ago. My dogs have had the pacific stream, the venison, and the now another flavor. They clearly preferred the fish but it's not always in stock here.

You can also order online, amazon has distributors for absolutely everything under the sun.
Click to expand...
 
Just an update:
I went into the store and asked several questions. Orijen was not even an option for him, I was told that because of the high protein content it is really better for dogs with very high energy levels like agility dogs. We talked about grain free or regular, which we could choose either or. She did suggest Taste of the wild and evanger's. So I have samples for both. She didn't have any Acana samples but she said that was another good food. I was able to take a look at the RAW options just to see what they are. Its interesting but BOY were they expensive. It ranged from $37 to $68 for 4-8lbs. My husband was not having that LOL And of course we could not leave the store without another toy LOL
Anyway, Thank you for the suggestions everyone. We will be slowly introducing the new food to see how he likes it.
Becky
 
Glad to hear you got some good samples and ideas! The whole "high protein is not good" is very debatable. Raw is very high in protein, as it's almost all meat. There are quite a few breeders out there who start puppies off on raw right away. But whatever works for you! Taste of the Wild is very good. And as far as the prices of the raw go...holy heck, what brands were you looking at?? The 3lb box of Bravo Balance retails for about $12.99. Nature's Variety, about $13.99 (this is for the 3lb bag of chicken medallions. It goes up a bit in price depending on the meats). Primal is a bit more, About $18.99 for a 4lb bag of their frozen turkey and sardine medallions. The prices will differ by a few dollars depending on where you live. You can get a good idea of average prices (or even order raw or other foods) from here

http://search.onlynaturalpet.com/search.aspx?avs|Department=Food&avs|Food+Type=Raw
 
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Hmmmmm I don't remember the Raw brand names. I know I saw bowls, bags and blocks in the freezer. The price list was on the outside. I was listening to her tell me how much puppies should have etc..
I hope he will love taste of the wild.
Becky
 
When we brought Oliver home at 8 weeks, I switched him to Wellness brand puppy food, a grain free kibble. After weeks of stool the consistency of soft serve ice cream, I gave up and switched him to a lamb & rice. Instant fix! I think the Wellness was just too rich for him.
 
yeah I will be watching his poo to see what he does. We are doing this very slowly because we are feeding grain right now so switching to grain free will be a shock to the system.
Becky


StillPooh said:
When we brought Oliver home at 8 weeks, I switched him to Wellness brand puppy food, a grain free kibble. After weeks of stool the consistency of soft serve ice cream, I gave up and switched him to a lamb & rice. Instant fix! I think the Wellness was just too rich for him.
Click to expand...
 
gamefanz said:
yeah I will be watching his poo to see what he does. We are doing this very slowly because we are feeding grain right now so switching to grain free will be a shock to the system.
Becky
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In my experience, grain free can be too rich for an immature digestive system. I won't be trying again until Oliver is older.

What's wrong with Royal Canin?
 
StillPooh said:
What's wrong with Royal Canin?
Click to expand...

Royal canine isn't the worst but for the price, it def isn't the best either. They have some iffy ingrdients like wheat gluten meal, corn gluten meal and yeast. And all of their "Breed Specific" foods are just absurd (like chihuahua diet, yorkie diet, shi-tzu diet etc) The Whole Dog Journal just did an article about this in their May issue, it's such a ridiculous marketing ploy. They have over 70 dry food diets including 15 diff foods for small breeds alone with the silliest foods including things like "Indoor puppy" "Toy Indoor puppy" "Beautycare" etc.
 
We used this food for our Pekingese when nothing else worked for him and it cleared up his issues right away. He liked the food and it helped him so much. It is definitely a brand that I would go to with Toby if what we are feeding now doesn't work.
Becky



ashleighelizabeth said:
Has any one ever used Dick Van Pattons Natural Balance

http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/dogformulas/home.html

This is what my breeder was feeding my puppy, so we have kept him on it for now.... but would love to hear reviews
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raw diet, in our opinion is the way to go.

We switched Chloe's food from Royal Canin to raw diet by a local company www.rawessentials.co.nz and so far we have nothing but very good feedback. She enjoys her food lots more, always looking forward to her twice-a-day meal, her poops now tiny, dry and seems to be not smelly at all. I also notice that her hair slightly silkier and cleaner + eyes less watery. We started off with lamb mix (with ingredients including fish and green tripe) and now we have moved on to chicken necks + green tripe + lamb mix, + dried green tripes as treats. She absolutely loves them. The only change is that we have to feed her chicken necks outside on the deck, which is not at all a problem for us. This wholefood diet is working wonders, and having learnt this through feeding Chloe we also now trying our best to buy as little processed food as we can for us human to consume!
 
gamefanz said:
We used this food for our Pekingese when nothing else worked for him and it cleared up his issues right away. He liked the food and it helped him so much. It is definitely a brand that I would go to with Toby if what we are feeding now doesn't work.
Becky
Click to expand...


Thanks Becky! I had never heard of this food, so it made me a little nervous, but good to hear that others have used it. :)
 
Deciding on food is really the hardest thing, isn't it! A few people on this thread mentioned using food for all life stages (which I do). I always heard puppy food is too high in fat and that all stages is the way to go. Has anyone else heard this?

I'm also concerned about the protein debate so this thread is very helpful! I feed my almost 5 month old pup Nature's Variety kibble (I switch between the chicken and rabbit and occasionally the wet food) and would love to transition to the Nature's Variety raw medallions because they look so handy and out here they are on par price wise with the kibble - and many of the things you've all said here about raw sound great - i.e. that it reduces poop size and tear stains (my pup especially has problems with staining!). But I also have a bit of the ick factor with raw and like many of you I keep hearing that high protein isn't good and I know that the grain free foods tend to be high protein (the Nature's Variety kibble is grain free and has 35% protein). I suppose it all comes down to each pet as an individual? My dog will eat anything - and enjoys everything she eats (from her kibble to the giant slug I had to pull out of her mouth!), but I would love a simple solution on what is best to feed for her!
 
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