Puppy food - Page 1

What are your choices for Puppy food?. I,d like to hear what you are using.  

I use Acana all stages

Hi Bob,
I do not mean to hijack your thread,  but it would be really informative if people (especially the experienced breeders) also put the reasons they chose their food.

Turk, what made you choose Acana all stages?

C

  Sure C, no problem. 

• First, I wanted an all stages food for simplicity.  If I could find a food that I can feed from puppy to adulthood I thought that would be best.  For this same reason I didn't want to go raw. 

• Second, I looked at the manufacturer.  I wanted to use a high quality food with best ingredients.  When looking at the various retail brands, most I didn't like.  My final five list = TOTW, Canidae, Orijen, Royal Canin and Acana. 

• Laslty, Acana agreed with my pup. Went 1st with TOTW and 2nd Orijen - both created soft stools for my pup.  With Acana stools are firm, great coat and he's very energetic.   I chose Wild Prarie for the meat/veggie/fruit ratios= 60/40 and the ingredients are of very high quality. Protein was a little high but I was more concerned with calcium/phosphorus ratios which are 1.3/1.1 which is in range for optimum bone growth.    

I feed TOTW (no grain, all life stages) to all of my adult dogs, and split 1/2 and 1/2 with my older puppies.  Young puppies I feed Wellness Puppy -

I used to feed TOTW to all dogs puppy and adult, and never had a problem, but someone recommended I switch puppies to puppy food, because all-life-stages foods can have too-high calcium content (for puppies) which can cause a list of problems including OCD and other boney-formation problems.  So I immediately switched my puppies over to Wellness puppy, mainly because I consider wellness to be a good-quality food and one that offers a puppy formula.

molly

Molly,
How long have you been feeding the Wellness (lg. breed?) puppy?

The animal nutritionist, that owns the Pet food store where I shop, thinks that the Wellness Large Breed Puppy food is the best kibble food on the market for Large breed puppies.

C

I must say I don't spend more than $30 for 40 pounds of puppy food.

I aim for high quality and quantity of animal protein of known species, say as beef or chicken, except for the very small amount of fish meal of unknown species of fish.

For low Calcium level that is just within the range of acceptability, say 1.0-1.2% calcium.

I do not shun chicken by-product-meal at all, no reason to.

Low grain content except some rice.

I don't shun brewers rice as the protein from rice germ is not needed.

Lower fat is OK as I add a small amount of fat to about 16-18% fat

I prefer to add my own fish oil for Omega 3 DHA and EPA. I prefer molecularly distilled kind.

I always rather accurately measure the amount of food to feed my pup and weigh it frequently to adhere to a grow rate target. A GSD pup should look a little too thin for the uninitiated. Ribs should be quite readily felt with very  light touch. 

I do give part of meat that I do not eat. Often chicken meat I consider too fat for myself and chicken  skin .

clc29 - I haven't done much research on wellness as I didn't start feeding it until fairly recently, and then only the puppy food as I'm very happy with my adult dogs remaining on TOTW.  I don't feed large-breed formulas, because (I'm told) they (not wellness in particular, any dog food that offers large-breed puppy formulas) make the large-breed formulas with lower protein and calories, to "slow down" the rate of growth, to protect joints and etc.  I call BS on that - I feed puppy food because I want my puppies to have higher protein and calories which I think they need more than adults.  So I just feed the regular wellness puppy food, not large-breed.

molly

You Guys are well off over in the USA to buy any Dog kibble for the price you pay, for a 40lb bag of Orijen or Acana i pay well over 100 USA dollars a bag
Bob' Feed the Pups on Acana no grain and you will not go wrong with that food, and it is a little cheaper than Orijen
Steve1

My first choice for rearing a pup is a raw diet, comprising about 10% edible bone, 80% muscle meat and 10% fat, sourced from a variety of meats, offals, poultry, fish, whole egg... pups are fed small amounts four times a day, total daily amount not exceeding 4% of their anticipated adult weight. Oh, and fresh, clean water available at all times. 
Reason? Growth rate and weight gain may be slightly slower than on kibble fed pups, but IMO that's no bad thing for a large breed youngster, and my latest youngster to be raised entirely on raw has produced a lean, healthy, active and energetic dog who has been free from the dreaded 'shepherd tummy' - has excellent teeth and gum health, and a lovely, supple skin and excellent coat, no scurfy spots or itchy areas, and can make the transition between different food species without any gut troubles at all. 
I'm lucky enough to live within a 40 minute drive of an abattoir that processes organic meats for humans, so the dogs probably eat better than I do. Getting the dogs food straight from the abattoir keeps the costs right down, too.  All the dogs are fed the same, the only difference being that the puppy food is minced up a bit more, and I add a squirt of Kranch's Salmon oil if I'm feeding a meal like ox cheek that doesn't have much fat attached.

Second choice for rearing would be a completely grain free kibble such as Orijen, I've used it before, and the dogs like it, and it's not full of fillers and rubbish. The high protein in Orijen doesn't worry me as the carb content is low and as long as the pup isn't overfed with kibble ration, it shouldn't be stimulated into growing over-fast, as the pup will be converting the protein into an energy source as it's not being stuffed with carbohydrate.