changing food for Coco

Hi! I would REALLY appreciate any help with food for my 12 week old cav Coco. She has been eating the kibble that the breeder suggested since she came home at 8 weeks, but I don't like the ingredients. Is it too early to change her food? (She isn't having any bad reaction to it, but I think she will do better on something else.)

I've been trying to read all that I can about choosing healthy dog foods, but I am still confused! :? From the ingredients and all I've heard, I feel Innova is great. Innova EVO dry has higher protein (42%) and lower carbs compared to regular Innova dry(24% protein), right? This is probably a very basic question, but I got to ask, do dogs/puppies have very little need for grains/carbs?

I noticed many people also give canned food. Is this okay for cavaliers? I thought it was bad for their teeth. If it provides nutritional variety and perhaps another protein source, would it be a good idea to add it to the kibble once in a while?

I would like to give Coco the best food I can give her! I've been adding a little apple, sometimes mashed banana, and once shredded carrots to her food. I'd love to add meat, more vegetables, yogurt, and whatever else is good for her. Any advice on how much or what to add? I don't want to overfeed her, because she LOVES her food and is ALWAYS searching for more.

THANK YOU so much for reading and any advice! :flwr:

Hi Coco's Mom, I feed King Innova Evo dry mixed with either Innova Evo canned or Vets Choice canned http://www.vetschoice.com/products.php?showLevel=he_canned mixed wit a lil Natural Balance food roll http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/dogformulas/DFRolls.html . I sometimes mix in a different canned food for variety or give him Dr. Harvey's dog food mixed wit it. http://www.drharveys.com/dogs/caninehealth.asp

Ok as the canned food being bad for their teeth, I believe is if canned food is all the dog eats then their teeth will got rotten...Not sure if it's true just what I've heard. I mix the canned for King as an appitiete stimulant, to entice him to eat his food. Otherwise King will let his food sit there until I take it away. So if it gets him to eat I'm for it, but I will only feed my King high quality foods

Since Coco has had 4 weeks to settle in already, there should be no problem in very gradually changing her food. You can do this by adding a very small amount of the new food to her current food and slowly increasing the ratio of new food over 2 weeks or so to be safe. Changing over quickly is not recommended, or diarrhea can result.

There are plenty of good foods, but I would stick with the smaller kibbles like Royal Canin or Innova Evo with a small pup. I don't think Evo was available when mine were pups, so I fed them Royal Canin for awhile. There are other good brands too, but I don't know the kibble sizes of them all. If your pup is sensitive to new foods, California Natural is a good choice, even though the kibbles are not tiny, we have fed that too.

I sometimes give mine canned food mixed with kibble. Poop is a little softer with canned, just so you won't be surprised.

Karlin has posted some information about adding vegetables, etc. to the kibble, so check out the Caring for your Cavalier forum.

If you brush your puppy's teeth, you shouldn't have to worry. Besides, some folks here on the site say there is nothing wrong with canned food. Their teeth should be brushed no matter what they eat. Make sure you use a toothpaste for dogs, NOT humans! Most puppy training classes will show you how to brush teeth and trim nails, among other things, so you might want to sign up for that when all vaccinations are finished! :flwr:

Cathy good point with the teeth brushing, if you start young your pup will get used to it so you won't need to fight with an older dog stressing them out

We got our pup at 8 weeks (he is now 16 weeks). The vet gave us Science Diet which he seemed to like but I had heard bad reports about. I have since switched him to Royal Canin and he likes this too (although I think he just loves food, period!).

After reading about diets on this site, I started to introduce some "real food" into his diet when he was approx 13 weeks. He has a teaspoon of Cottage Cheese with his dry food in the morning; a home cooked lunch which can be anything from boiled chicken with brown rice or pan cooked ground beef with a variety of veggies (potato/peas/carrots/broccoli/butter nut squash etc); then a small amount of dry food for dinner. Every now and then I put some fish oil over his food, but this really makes his breath smell.

Hopefully, I am not over feeding him. He seems healthy and happy enough, and his poop is always firm, even when he has "real food".

I am by no means an expert on Cavaliers, as this is our first, but judging by our little fellow, their tummies seem to be able to handle a little more variety by 12/13 weeks.

Thank you so much for responding! I really love this board. :flwr:

Aaron, those dog foods sound good, especially the Evo and vet's choice. I'm going to have a look for the vet's choice. I'm actually living in Canada now so I'll have to look for that food. I would only give canned food once in a while, so it's good to hear that it'll be okay for her teeth. I slowly started getting Coco used to toothbrushing - I just introduced her to the toothpaste yesterday and she loved it! I was so happy!!
Cathy Moon- I'm glad I can slowly change her food now. I think I will go with Innova. Later on, Ill try mixing canned with her kibble for variety. When she's a bit older, I may alternate between a couple different brands of kibble to give her a variety of protein sources. I will keep California Natural in mind. I had a look at Karlin's post about adding food to kibble- thank you for referring me to that. :flwr:

Does anyone know if dogs have very little need for grains/carbs? Also, can anyone tell me why puppy food is often not recommended for puppies?

I think it's something to do with encouraging very fast bone growth, but I'm not sure. I'd like to know this too. I think I'll be given RC for puppies when I get my pup, and I'm planning on getting RC for Holly anyway. Should I just get one adult RC bag then??

I'm not sure if you have Eagle Pack in Canada....but since I switched my dogs over to the Eagle Pack holistic select chicken meal and rice, they eat better, their stools are better, and their coats are nice and shiny. Before that I had tried a couple others, I know it isn't good to switch a lot, but we were having troubles with loose stools.....no more loose stools now. But, it all depends on the dog.

Lisa_T said:

I think it's something to do with encouraging very fast bone growth, but I'm not sure. I'd like to know this too. I think I'll be given RC for puppies when I get my pup, and I'm planning on getting RC for Holly anyway. Should I just get one adult RC bag then??

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When ours were pups, the breeder told us to get Royal Canin Adult 27. It is for small breeds.

My vet told me to keep King on the puppy food until he was bout 6-8 months of ago that's usually the age when their pretty much fully-grown just need to fill out more. As far as the grains/carbs I'm not enitrely sure if they do or not, but in the wild wolves and wild dogs gets their grains/carbs from the animals that the eat and probably rarely eat plants unless there was mayb a food shortage or something...

I know my King I have to say is very omnivorous, not so much carnivorous like most people would think dogs are.... He eats more fruit, veggies, cheeses, and rice/cereals then meat.... I mean he gets his meat from his dog food and dog snacks, but all the other snacks he gets are fruits,veggies, and cheese

I just took Coco to the vet for her second booster shot. She is also advising puppy food. I've heard arguments from both sides, so I've got to just decide for myself what she should be on. :? It's difficult because I can see advantages to both sides.
Thank you for your advice!