puppy food

[hillfarm]

I have a litter of 6 beautiful pups and was wondering what others fed their little guys, they are going to be 4 weeks old on Friday and are starting to eat ground up, moistened dry food, whats the best puppy food to use? Any bad experiences I should know about? We have never had pups before except those already on food so this is new to me!

 

I only use Purina one kitten on my persians, is purina one puppy any good?

 

Any help would be great,

 

Lisa

[Lenajo]

I hate Purina Puppy Chow. I've never seen a pup on it that didn't get diarrhea and grow strangely.

 

I feed my pups raw. There are some alternative foods I might consider if I couldn't - Fromm's, Eagle Pack, Canidae...others will chime in here. If you are set on Purina at least use Purina ONE or ProPlan puppy.

 

Gentle prod here...the time to get educated about feeding is usually way before the little ones come. You're getting behind here fast. Pups grow faster than weeds. Have you got your socialization plan worked out? Whoand how the pups meet people in the next 4 weeks can make or break them being happy family dogs and/or workers later. Got plans to get the housebreaking started? At 4 weeks puppies are capable of using a litter area instead of their bedding and this can make a difference in their whole lives. Well screened homes lined up?

 

Would love to here "yes" to all this btw Pictures please!

[hillfarm]

I am not set on Purina, but we have very limited choices here, we have only safeway and Big R to chose from the brands they carry and they carry none of those other brands you mentioned. I have them started on the puppy chow and no diahrea so far but I am concerned it isnt' without corn and I Hate feeding corn products to my dogs. Have you tried Iams? Or Diamond they are my only other choices. (the vet carries Iams and maybe canidae I will check)

 

I feed my kittens purina One kitten and they seem to do very well on it, Iams will give them bad diarhea, but then again persians are known for their grouchy tummies.

 

Yes my socialization plans are already in progress, and they LOVE people as do the rest of my dogs. They are already adjusted to the pack and all my dogs baby them. They were raised with a kitten and the cats are in and out of the kennel so no problems there. Even have them sniffing the sheep to get used to the smell.

 

Yes they are using a litter area, sure works out better that way, makes training so much easier.

 

And finally yes again, I have a list of people waitng for them to be old enough to leave, and yes they are WORKING homes, and good people, half of them have recently suffered the loss of an older dog and are looking for a new companion. Just like my persians, who only go to persian experienced homes, they will only go to homes with previous border collie experience and a job to do.

 

The hard part will be giving them up I can see potential in each of them already, they really took after Dad who is sooooo easy to work with he makes it look like I really know what I am doing! Pics will be posted soon, I promise!

 

Lisa

[JaderBug]

I had Jade on Iams puppy food... it was good for a while but then she started getting diarrhea a lot. I thought her runs were being caused by other stuff (she had actually gotten into several things she shouldn't have) but after 3 attempts of putting her on a different food (rice, I/D canned dog food) and then back onto Iams, she kept getting the runs.

[Cool Dave]

I use Kumpi exclusively. FWIW, Evy (at Kumpi) will give you full refund (and don't have to return the unused food) if you or your dog don't like it for any reason. Evy is a spirit filled Christian woman and is true to her word- none of the marketing gimmicks just to get your money. It is more expensive than most but IMO, if you only have 1 or 2 (or you're rich) it is worth the extra cost. And no, I don't have any affiliation with Kumpi! 9 yo Sassy has always devours the stuff from day one on it, and 5 1/2 month old Jonah just wolfs the food right down (which I have to figure out to change)

 

As for lots of puppies, I can't think of a better way to give them a healthy beginning. Oh, and she has Kumpi cat too!

[BustopherJones]

You might want to take a look at this link: Choosing the Best Puppy Food

 

Sidebar: An interesting quote from this site: Did you know that dogs fed a high quality dog food live on average 5 or more years longer than dogs fed lesser-quality food?

[Jeremy86]

I had my pup on purina puppy chow (her breeder's choice) it took me multiple attempts to get her adapted to a new food, but we found that she realllly likes Science Diet's new brand called Nature's Best. It's about the best thing you can get in my neighborhood.

[hillfarm]

They seem to be doing fine on the Purina One so I think I will stick with that, they are fat and healthy, lively too. No loose stools so things seem to be coming along well.

 

I have two who have both blue eyes they are so pretty. both parents carry the blue gene, momma has one blue eye and Daddys sire has two blue in a black mask, talk about haunting looking! One of the pups has bright blue eyes in a black mask so should look just like grandpa.

 

I can't post pics from home (dial up) so will have to wait until I am at work and download my photo program in for a minute just to upload pics! I took 144 pics of them the other day and I think I got 6 good ones, darn creatures just won't sit and pose!! ha ha.

 

Anyway thanks for all the input.

 

Lisa