best brand of puppy food?

[B.B.'s mom]

It was suggested to me to feed my puppy ( by the way..he finally got a name! its Beebee!) anyway, they suggested that i feed him dry puppy food soaked in hot water for 10 minutes. when can i stop doing that and just give it to him dry. and what do you all think is the best brand? also..is it too early to give him puppy treats? i want to teach him to sit, but i don't want to start too early and traumatize the poor baby.
by the way, i just want to say a million thanks to all the people who have answered all my questions ( and didn't judge me when they found out where my puppy came from) this is much better than reading a "how to raise a dog" book. i feel lucky to have found you ( seems like friends instead of strangers) and hats off to the creator of this site.
ps. is there anyway to cahnge your user name? i won't be a new puppy owner forever and would like to change it to beebee's mom.

[Crossfire Bulldogs]

Well hey there Beebee's mom!

It really depends on the pup but I'd say it would be safe to at least have a mixture of dry & moist by now with your pup. You want to start off slowly taking the soft food away and adding more hard kibble as time goes on.

Watch your pup when he eats, if he does well with the mixture of dry and soft then give him a few days to get used to it and then add more dry. If your pup seems to have a difficult time with it then reduce the amount of dry.

It isn't too early to start giving puppy treats or begin training as long as both are done in moderation. Make sure the treats are fairly bland rather than rich so as not to cause loose stool and train only for a few short minutes a day to start with. Your pup has a very short attention span when young but it will increase as he gets older.

[milo]

wELL I USED....
Beta, that did work the food made Lucky un well,
Pedergree,It was to rich,
Iams, To expenstive for a big bag and it was small porchion's
Wafcol,Thats great but had slight diarohea and sickness but srill on that sort of,
And Chappie wet food which hes on now coz i took him to the avet and said put him on dry to see how he is and hes fine on that hes been on that for 4 weeks now mixed in with Wafcol!!

[LabLuver22]

OK, here are some good brands. You can find them in some feed stores and independent pet supply stores (not Petsmart or Petco....with a few exceptions), and online:

Wellness
Innova
California Naturals
Drs. Foster & Smith
Chicken Soup
Back to Basics
Nature's Variety
Natural Balance (Petco)
BLUE (Petsmart)
Solid Gold
Canidae
Premium Edge

If you are wondering why I didn't recommend "superpremium" brands like Science Diet, Iams, Eukanuba, etc., .........well, that's a long post. I'll post it if you want to know.

[ralphie]

I use Pedergree Healthy Start,pup really likes it!!Someone here said this wasn't good food,why?My puppy is getting big and strong!!

[gaddylovesdogs]

If I had a pup right now, and was going to feed kibble and/or wet, I'd definitely feed Wellness puppy food. I don't think there's a better puppy food out there, LOL!

Moistening food isn't bad, its usually for pups and seniors.

[mjfish]

Hello! New poster here, but I would like to throw my 2 cents in as I have been reading a lot about canine nutrition lately.

new dog owner--The foods that LabLuver22 posted ARE the 'Superpremium' foods...the others mentioned like SD, Iams, etc. are only considered 'premium', and most will say that's not even true. That being said, you will need to feed whatever your dog does best on, but hopefully you will find one of the superpremiums that does the trick. You will find that most of the superpremiums have a small kibble size, so it should be fine for a puppy to chew.

You will find that many feel you do not need to feed puppies puppy food at all, just buy one of the superpremiums that are for 'All Life Stages' and feed a little more to a puppy as compared to an adult. Check the calcium and phosphorous (sp?) levels--ideally the calcium should be between 1% - 2% (closer to 1% if possible), with the phosphorus percentage being a little lower than the calcium. This allows for nice, even, slow growth which is especially important for larger breeds, but still important for all breeds.

You can start training very early, but do it in very short increments. Best of luck with your new pup!

ralphie--Pedigree is not a very good food for multiple reasons, but it is up to you if you want to switch or not. An easy way to think of it is this--you can feed your kid McDonald's every day...they will eat it, they will grow up, and survive on it. But would you really want to do that to your kid? Probably not. Same thing with the dog foods like Pedigree and others...while they will like it and survive on it, but there are other foods that are better for them. You WILL see the difference, trust me. How can I say this you ask? Because I used to feed Pedigree too *gasp*

[LabLuver22]

Here's a comparison of Pedigree to some of the brands I recommended:



Pedigree® Complete Nutrition Dry Food for Adult Dogs

Ingredient Name




1. Ground Yellow Corn


2. Meat Meal/Meat & Bone Meal


3. Ground White Rice


4. Chicken Byproduct Meal


5. Corn Gluten Meal


6. Animal Fat


7. BHA/BHT


8. Natural Flavors


9. Peas


10. Wheat Mill Run/Middlings


11. Salt


12. Whole Wheat Flour


13. Caramel Color


14. Wheat Gluten


15. Vegetable Oil

Click on an ingredient for more details.






Innova Dog

Ingredient Name




1. Turkey


2. Chicken


3. Chicken Meal


4. Ground Barley


5. Ground Brown Rice


6. Potatoes


7. Natural Flavors


8. Ground White Rice


9. Chicken Fat


10. Herring


11. Apples


12. Carrots


13. Cottage Cheese


14. Sunflower Oil


15. Alfalfa Sprouts


16. Egg


17. Garlic


18. Taurine


19. Vitamins/Minerals


20. Viable Naturally Occurring Microorganisms

Click on an ingredient for more details.




Product Details


Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul(TM) Adult Dog Food

Ingredient Name




1. Chicken


2. Turkey


3. Chicken Meal


4. Turkey Meal


5. Ground Brown Rice


6. Ground White Rice


7. Oatmeal/Rolled Oats


8. Potatoes


9. Pearled Barley


10. Ground Millet


11. Chicken Fat


12. Duck


13. Salmon


14. Dried Egg Product


15. Flaxseed


16. Natural Chicken Flavor


17. Carrots


18. Peas


19. Apples


20. Dried Skim Milk


21. Cranberry Powder


22. Rosemary Extract


23. Salt


24. Chicory Root Extract


25. Vitamins/Minerals

Click on an ingredient for more details.






Wellness Super5Mix Puppy

Ingredient Name




1. Chicken


2. Salmon Meal


3. Menhaden Fish Meal


4. Oatmeal/Rolled Oats


5. Barley Flour


6. Ground Brown Rice


7. Canola Oil


8. Tomatoes


9. Flaxseed


10. Peas


11. Carrots


12. Sweet Potatoes


13. Bananas


14. Apples


15. Pears


16. Garlic

Click on an ingredient for more details.



1. Ground Yellow Corn

OK, first of all, a grain should NEVER be the first ingredient. Although dogs eat meat and plants in the wild, the majority of their diet is meat. So meat should always be the first ingredient.

Besides, corn is very difficult for dogs to digest. It gets all pooped out, which means the dog gets very little nutrition from it.

2. Meat Meal/Meat & Bone Meal

Ewww. Animal parts should ALWAYS be specifically labeled. Generic terms like "meat & bone meal," are a good indication that roadkill and even euthanized cats and dogs are included! (and that's legal!)

6. Animal Fat

Ditto

4. Chicken By-Product Meal

By-products are not a very good source of protein. They are harder to digest and much less palatable than muscle meat. Pet food companies only use by-products because they are a cheaper source of protein than muscle meat.

7. BHA/BHT

This has been suspected to cause cancer in dogs.


13. Caramel Color

Coloring? How ridiculous! No dog needs artificial colorings in their food. Plus, if your dog has an accident, it will stain the carpet.

[ralphie]

Is Hill's prescription diet Canine p/d for large breeds a good puppy food?Got a free bag from my vet.I think I am taking my pup of pedigree,but I don't know what to switch to!The hill's is about 70$ for an 18 kg bag,thats a little steep!Does wall mart sell any good puppy food?This is where I got the pedigree,big bad good price

[Crossfire Bulldogs]

Ralphie ~ To be honest I shudder when I read that someone is feeding Pedigree, Hills or some of the others. If you find corn in the top five ingrediants your looking at a food with fillers as well as one with a known allergen to dogs.

I know its super confusing when your vet is the one handing you a bag of Hills and you think to yourself, "It can't be bad if my vet supplies it.", but, did you know that the vets that promote and sell Hills are given a kick back for every bag they sell and a yearly payout for keeping the food in their office? There are several veterinary schools that also use food products such as Hills & Pedigree, why you ask, not because its a good food but because the company provides grants and scholarships as well as funding for the school.

I agree that what works for one dog or breed may not work for another and that you do need to feed what works best for your dog but, with so many good foods out there why subject your dog to low grade brands? jmo

[Crossfire Bulldogs]

As for cost...the old saying of " you get what you pay for" holds true.

[ralphie]

Name some brands that are good in price and the health of your pup Please!!!!!! Is Puppy Chow any good?

[Crossfire Bulldogs]

There are many out there:

Wellness Super 5 puppy mix

Innova

Canidae

Many, many others....out of the three listed I think anyway that the Canidae is the least expensive but don't quote me on it.

[LabLuver22]

I posted some at the beginning of this thread. Some aren't too expensive (i.e. Chicken Soup, Drs. Foster & Smith) although they are more expensive than Pedigree.

SD is WAAAYYY too overpriced. If you compare the average Science Diet formula to something like Pedigree or Dog chow, you'll see they're not that different.

[ralphie]

Originally Posted by LabLuver22

I posted some at the beginning of this thread. Some aren't too expensive (i.e. Chicken Soup, Drs. Foster & Smith) although they are more expensive than Pedigree.

SD is WAAAYYY too overpriced. If you compare the average Science Diet formula to something like Pedigree or Dog chow, you'll see they're not that different.

Pedigree is the food the breader was feeding,that is why I am.I just want something around the price range that is better for the pup!It can cost a bit more!!