Puppy Diets

[RSbunny]

Well after the long weekend (the last weekend in January...it's Australia day) I'm going to start searching for my new puppy. I've never owned a puppy puppy before (my first dog Cindy was 8 months old when we got her and Nacho was four months old) so I want to know what I should feed her. I personally don't like pre-packaged pet food as the best we have on offer here is Eukanaba, IAMS and Science Diet. I prefer to make up my own recipes but need to know if a puppy will require any special needs. I started Nacho on a homemade diet when he hit about a year cause he was sooo skinny and he just couldn't put on weight. I fed him a bowl of dry food in the morning (he was on advanced pedigree dry food for small breeds....he was a large breed but had a habit of eating food whole so the small stuff went down better...towards the end I changed him to eukanaba but he eventually went off his dry food and was given nice meaty bones for breakfast instead) and in the evening he got his home cooked meal....the ingredients were mince (cheapest human stuff I could find...I was not cooking up dog mince!! He usually ended up with a hamburger mince) frozen vegies and rice all mixed together with a nice spaghetti sauce for me cause I hate the smell of mince and that disguised it when I re-heated it. I used to make up a big batch and freeze it all...I'd get about 10 meals per batch. I also used to add calcium powder to his meals as well to make sure he was getting enough of that. This diet worked wonderfully on him and he came to a nice healthy weight...he put on about 3 kilos on this diet which was perfect!! My mum's dog is on the same diet and she lost weight on it cause she was full....that awful tinned stuff that is mostly water wasn't filling her so she'd fill up on treats instead! I know that puppies have different requirements to adult dogs and wanted to know if this will be okay. also should I give my puppy puppy milk? I will have to buy advanced pedigree cause that's the only puppy milk we get. If I should give it puppy milk at what age should I stop??? I'm open to all suggestions here but purchasing dog food is not an option cause as you can see we don't have much choice and I'm not too keen on these products. I also want something that isn't going to be too expensive cause my b/f will kill me!!! He agrees with me having animals and is happy to pay for all of their vet needs but complains everytime money is spent on the animals so it's more for my sanity than anything else!!

[RSbunny]

Anybody have any ideas??? I know most of you feed your dog stuff that you buy from the pet store but as you can see above...my options are limited. I don't like feeding my dogs just dry food....I like to give a bit of variety...it's not really the BARF diet either. My food gets cooked and i use meat more so than chicken although it will get left overs from us (we are fussy and only eat the breast....no bones there!!) I know I can talk to my vet about this but I'm concerned that they'll try and sell me science diet....like you all say as a vet you don't have to learna about that and it is the best thing on offer here!

[dappledoxie]

I'm not really sure of any advice for you b/c I have always fed dry food. I would like to feed wet food to Rebel that way I can feed him and he actually eats it, lol. Right now I have to let Rebel have a bowl of food at all times, cuz he just eats when he wants to. I want to start feeding the dogs at set times once I move into the apartment. Good luck though, hopefully someone will come along with some good advice for you. Sorry I don't have any,

[jmb9101]

You are pretty close to the BARF diet, why dont you just do that all the way? That diet is supposed to be great for them. Better than any bagged. If you prefer to have some bagged, you could always try ordering it online. There might be a site that sells Wellness or Canidae, and those are both very good brands.

[Synchronicity44]

My vet reccommended dry food, especially to keep teeth clean, But I usually treat a can of wet food on sunday nights

[RSbunny]

the probem with oredring online jmb9101 is that is is going to cost me a fortune....by the time the currency gets changed and they ship it to aus....well dog food isn't light as you know. I've been asked to pay $60 shipping fee from the US for a $20 t-shirt! Needless to say i didn't get the shirt! I might take a look into the BARF diet some more and see what I can find about doing it for puppies. Thanx!!! Anyone else that has any other ideas please feel free to post! i'm exploring all my options here!

[RSbunny]

ok so here's what I'm thinking...I've been researching the BARF diet a bit more and to be honest it looks like a whole heap of work!! I know that sounds terrible but I don't even put that much effort into my meals!! I also don't have much of a kitchen and it would be nearly impossible for me to get it all prepared. So I'm thinking of sticking to the same diet I had for Nacho...giving my puppy dry puppy food in the morning (even though I don't think it's the greatest...I want to make sure my puppy gets all the nutritional needs) and feed it some raw vegies throughout the day as well. Nacho loved munching down on a carrot or piece of brocolli as a treat. Or I could supplement the dry food for meaty bones (which I would give a couple of times a week anyway if I stick to the dry food). what do you think?? I could also add some potato into the meat mixture as well if that would help with nutrition. Should I add anything else??

[RSbunny]

synchronocity I know dry food is better than wet food for dogs but we just don't have the top brands! It makes me question whether they truly are better here!

[Deja]

Carmen - my personal opinion is (and this is just my opinion so you can throw it in the garbage if that is what it sounds like ) -

Dog and Puppy diets are best left to the experts. A lot of time and research has gone into developing the proper balance of nutrients nescessary for the proper growth and development of our beloved companions. I fed IAMS or Eukanuba for years before doing some research and upgrading to Wellness. I personally would feed IAMS or Eukanuba over preparing meals which may not contain everything a growing puppy needs.
You can always add suplimental vitamins and minerals as per your vet's advice.

I know that with all the information available and all the premium human grade brands on the market today that people are taking advantage of the ability to put their dogs and puppies on "healthier" diets. Personally, if IAMS/Eukanuba was my only choice as far as manufactured diets - I'd feed Eukanuba. My dogs did well on it for years and years.

When it concerns a young pup - I believe that proper nutrition is vital - Maybe I am missing something here but I don't understand how you could possibly properly nourish a puppy on a home made diet.

I would not suppliment with Puppy Milk because once the pup is weaned even specially prepared milk products can upset the natural flora of the gut and cause gastric distress in the form of excess gas and diarrhea.

There are products such as Nutri-Cal (comes in a tube and looks like brown gel-like goo) that can provide extra nutrition, stimulate appetite and provide extra calories if the young puppy isn't eating enough. I don't know if these products are available in your part of the universe

Anyway - all that said - I'd seriously consider sticking to a manufactured diet. It is caloric consistant, and has the protien and fat content that keeps blood sugar levels stable and provides the nutrients needed for proper growth and development. Diet and nutrition can play a big part in behavior and temperament too. Fluxuating blood glucose levels can cause all kinds of problems.

The good old cooked hamburger with some boiled rice and canned pumpkin is a good way to suppliment and stimulate a poor apetite too.

I could be totally full of you know what But that is just the way I feel.

I know you want the very best for your pup-to-be - just the fact that you are already considering all these things before you even bring him or her home is great.

OK- I opened my big mouth - and if I put my big old foot in it I apologize

[RSbunny]

No Deja thankyou for your advice...I was comfortable feeding Nacho on home made meals as an adult cause I know that they require different nutritional needs and I was confident and so was my vet that I was doing a better job for Nacho's needs than what I could buy for him at a store. Puppies are a whole new concept for food and I've never owned a young pup so I need to know as much as possible!! I'll be quite happy to not have to slave away in the kitchen preparing meals!!lol I fed Nacho on advanced Pedigree Puppy (can you believe that that was all that was available for pups until about 6 months ago....we are sooooo far behind!!lol) and it was pretty useless for him. Ok so unless someone else posts with a different idea again I think I will feed my pup on Eukanuba (glad to hear some successful stories with it!) for puppies and see how she goes. If she seems to be lacking in nutrition then I will add a couple of meals a week of cooked mince, rice and canned pumpkin to help aid that. (with the approval from the vet of course!) Now should I feed her three times a day at first or will twice be enough?? I want one meal to be a meaty one...I know the dry stuff is better but I'd hate to eat biscuits all day!lol I know I know I'm a dork but none of my dogs (all two) have ever been that into dry food. I know that it depends on age with the three meals a day thing so at what age should that be stopped?? I will still feed her bones and chicken necks as a treat too cause I do believe that they are a vital necessity in any dog or puppy's diet.
and no Deja we don't get Nutri-Cal in this part of the universe!!! We only got pay-tv four years ago that's how far behind the times we are!!lol Anyway back on track...I was given a smaple of a 'new' brand that has just come into the pet supply shop I buy everything at and it's called Nutrience...is this stuff good, crap, what??