# Dog food for newly weaned puppy?



## Stinkbomb (21 July 2008)

In a few weeks we will be picking up Alfie our new puppy. We will of course ask the breeder what food he is on but i wondered what is the best brand for puppy/dog food??

What do you feed your newly weaned puppys on?


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## maddielove (21 July 2008)

I'd continue with what the puppy is being fed on until they are settled. Who knows they may do well on what the breeder is feeding them.
My puppy was being fed Beta puppy junior when we first got him with a little butchers. He gradually went off his food and lost a bit of weight and his growth rate was all over the place (far too rapid)
I did a lot of research into different foods and narrowed it down to James Wellbeloved or Royal Cannin.
He's now being fed JWb (Wheatens are prone to intolerance's and we just wanted to be on the safe side) with a wee bit of butchers wet food. He loves it, is growing steadily and he's much more serene than he was! We weren't particularly bothered by his hyperactivity before but he is much better now.
I also noticed that compared to the beta, JWb is miles less greasy which can only be a good thing.

Hope this helps, good luck!


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## Foxfolly (21 July 2008)

We fed all our pups on Chudleys puppy food, both litters did really well on it, we let all the new owners have a little bag full so that if they had chosen another brand they could change over without a shock to the system. Ours were eating it dry as soon as they got their little gnashers!!

We advised all new owners to get some goats milk to soak the food if the pups got a bit sulky being taken from mum, Goats milk is more easily digested by a dog than cows milk, and they love it so it will usually tempt them to eat!!


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## Stinkbomb (21 July 2008)

Ah thanks, is it best for a newly weaned puppy to eat wet or dry food???

We always fed our adult dog dry food and prefer this really, but want to do whats best for Alfie!!


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## maddielove (21 July 2008)

I think dry is best, esp for teeth.
Wet is generally too rich for sensitive tummies and can be up to 80% water so not perfectly nutrional.
My pup is fussy and wont eat dry by its self (well not every day anyway..he's fine with the odd dry meal) so we mix a couple of wet food chunks (Butchers as this is supposed to have the highest meat content and no nasties)


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## sloulou (21 July 2008)

I have always been told that JWB and Burns are the best dry foods - they both have puppy versions.

Mine came on JWB - which I kept him on for a bit while he settled in - then I moved him onto naturediet and mixer and when he was about 5 months old - maybe a bit younger - we started feeding him a natural diet.

Would suggest you do a bit of research on any brand of comercial food you pick as some are better than others


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## Evadiva1514 (21 July 2008)

We fed Lucy our boxer Nutro puppy food. www.nutro.co.uk Its very expensive but certainly fed her well and helped her grow into a healthy young dog. It is made up of tiny little nuggets/pellets which had to be soaked using boiling water and left to cool. Lucy loved it as it made a sort of mash. When she was a bit older we tried her on a variety of dry foods incl James wellbeloved etc and they didn't seem to suit her stomach, whether this was just her though, i don't know. 

Shes now fed on Chudleys Original and she absolutely loves it. It's very economical, extremely palatable and doesn't upset her tummy.


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## Onyxia (21 July 2008)

Another vote for Chudleys here.
Its the dog branch of D&amp;H which is why I first tried it, the family dogs are now on their dry food and all doing very well(except the cousins who insist on feeding pedigree chum 
	
	
		
		
	


	




 ).

Go with whatever you're breeder is feeding and only switch if there is a reason to.


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## louise1967 (21 July 2008)

My labrador bitch has just had a litter of 8 puppies, well they are 6 weeks this week now.  I weaned them at 3 weeks onto solids as my bitch was detesting motherhood, well she sort of lost interest after the first 24hrs, but we managed to do supervised feeds.  Anyway we weaned them onto Beta puppy soaked and weetabix with goats milk or puppy formula, cows milk is bad for dogs.  They went onto raw tripe at 5 weeks and that is their favorite, but the smell is horrendous, I think I will drop the milky cereal now and will probably just feed dry food with occasional meat as dogs so love their meat.


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## Spot_the_Risk (21 July 2008)

We only use Oscars for ours, www.oscars.co.uk

Try to keep it on a puppy food until it's between 6 and 12 months.  Before changing foods, take your time to read the ingredients.  As a rule of thumb, the more popular a make, the worse it is!  The ingredients can be shocking, the law says that if it says on the bag chicken and rice (for example) ir must contain 4% chicken and 4% rice.  If you stop and think about it, surely it should contain ONLY chicken and rice - not a hope!  And the coloured foods will only have 4% in that particular nugget, so possibly less than 1% meat in the bag.  I could go on and on, sorry!

Burns is good, JWB not as good as it was, Hills, Royal Canin, Oscar, Arden Grange.  A good one which is the right price and sill wheat gluten free is Autarky, they do a puppy dry as well as adult and senior.

Good luck with your puppy, and phots please when you pick it up!


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## Foxfolly (22 July 2008)

We were lucky, our patterdale bitch is a fantastic mum and was still trying to feed the pups regularly until they went, in fact to the point that we were having to keep her away from them to wean them. Ours didn't start on solids til 3 weeks as mum was doing them so well on milk alone! 
We just put hot water on the chudleys puppy food to soften it and let it cool then added a bit of goats milk so it was a lovely slop!! As the pups got bigger and stronger we gradually made the food dryer until they were on just dry food by 6 weeks old. Still gave them some goats milk twice a day along with a constant supply of fresh water.
They occassionally got tit bits of raw meat when the other dogs had it but we prefer the dry food for their teeth! 
I have gone down the road of Iams which was good for my GSD X who had a sensitive belly, but hugely expensive, I now have him on chudleys worker! also my hubby's ex used to feed all the expensive brands when she was breeding borders and retrievers but he is convinced that there is no difference howour pups are growing with them on a cheaper brand.... only difference being in our pockets!!
Good luck with Alfie!! Fun and mayhem ahead I'm sure!!


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## sevenoceans (22 July 2008)

[ QUOTE ]
I have always been told that JWB and Burns are the best dry foods - they both have puppy versions.

Mine came on JWB - which I kept him on for a bit while he settled in - then I moved him onto naturediet and mixer and when he was about 5 months old - maybe a bit younger - we started feeding him a natural diet.

Would suggest you do a bit of research on any brand of comercial food you pick as some are better than others  
	
	
		
		
	


	





[/ QUOTE ]

I did similar to Iggy, He was on JWB but weren't thriving well so moved on to Nature diet with Burns mixer and he loved it, He's now nearly 2 and have Burns (adults) for breakfast, Nature diet for supper, i give him sardines mixed with Burns on sundays!


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## CAYLA (22 July 2008)

I use chudleys dog food...however I always bring puppies up on hills science plan small breed/large breed e,t,c...It's fab for condition and growth all of our large breed rescues and my own dogs have always thrived on it.
You can get science plan puppy meat to mix in with the science plan too.


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## echodomino (22 July 2008)

[ QUOTE ]
My labrador bitch has just had a litter of 8 puppies, well they are 6 weeks this week now.  I weaned them at 3 weeks onto solids as my bitch was detesting motherhood, well she sort of lost interest after the first 24hrs, but we managed to do supervised feeds.  Anyway we weaned them onto Beta puppy soaked and weetabix with goats milk or puppy formula, cows milk is bad for dogs.  They went onto raw tripe at 5 weeks and that is their favorite, but the smell is horrendous, I think I will drop the milky cereal now and will probably just feed dry food with occasional meat as dogs so love their meat. 

[/ QUOTE ]

That's not a good idea feeding just tripe because tripe on it's own doesn't provide enough of what is required for a puppy to grow properly. 

We wean ours onto Royal Canin until they're about a year old then they go onto tripe and a working complete feed. I'd recommend soaking it slightly or leaving a large bowl of water down because dry complete makes them thirsty. We still soak the adults' food - just not as much as you would for babies.

Think you'd be best keeping him on what the breeder has weaned him onto until he's settled (unless he goes off it before, which can happen) and just slowly swap it to what you prefer.

Bet you're dead excited!  
	
	
		
		
	


	




 We'll need lots of piccies!


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## Stinkbomb (22 July 2008)

Thanks everyone!! Lots to think about now!!! Will post pics as soon as we get some!!!


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## louise1967 (22 July 2008)

Oh sorry I must have made that sound bad.  Our pups are fed 5 meals per day, 3 being soaked Beta Puppy, there mother would never eat Royal Canine so I didnt want to fork out all that money again and then them not eat it either.  The tripe is fed once a day and then they have a milky meal at bedtime, fresh water is available at all times.


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## echodomino (23 July 2008)

Oh I see - sorry! 

Yep Royal Canin is expensive, although it's good, I wean the Jack Russells straight onto Pedigree Puppy Chum because for some reason all the litters of JRs that I've bred won't eat the complete feed. The Wire Vizslas' seem to eat anything from the word go 
	
	
		
		
	


	




 lol.

Beta's a good food, the only one I wouldn't recommend is Eukanuba because it's pretty much all protein and not a lot of anything else.


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## Faithkat (23 July 2008)

the breeder should tell you what the puppy has been eating with some sort of fact sheet.  You should carry on with that and only introduce any changes very gradually or you will end up with a puppy with a very upset stomach


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## Dizzydancer (3 January 2012)

When i had my lab pup 4weeks ago. He was on chudleys i wanted him on wet noses as our Newfy has done well on it and nutritionally it is good. I planned to swap him gradually in his 2nd week. But on day 2 he hardly ate his tea day 3 point blank refused. But would eat bits of chicken etc if offered so i swapped him straight over had a few loose stools but nothing to awful and he is now happy and loves his food! A bit too much infact as he is bolting it!
Good luck with alfie i think food choice is purely an owners preferance


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## Cinnamontoast (3 January 2012)

tylerjones553 said:



			I feed Royal canin to my dog it's a good dog food
		
Click to expand...

Really? Says who? The vet?  See the dogfoodanalysis website which disagrees.

Why on earth has such an old thread been resurrected?!


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## CorvusCorax (3 January 2012)

Alfie, who is all grown up, is fed raw and has been for some time, as far as I am aware  just popped in to see if Stinkbomb was getting a new pup


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## EAST KENT (3 January 2012)

All our puppies start off on best beef mince,moving onto the tripe/head meat mix mince with calcium carbonate powder added, all the adults are fed on this meat plus chook carcases.It is as nature intended,the litters look amazing,and every puppy goes to it`s new home equiped with three or four day`s meat supply.


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