Author Topic: Second question- puppy food  (Read 8420 times)

Offline SadieA

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Second question- puppy food
« on: September 16, 2007, 06:54:52 pm »
before we got him, I tried hard to find a good quality food for Sam. I considered going straight to adult food after someone recommended that to me to slow growth, but ended up settling on a puppy food Nutro Choice Puppy Lamb and Rice. I chose this one because it has relatively few bad-sounding ingredients, and also because it doesn't have any corn products, which I had read are mainly used as cheap filler, and not that great for dogs. The ingredients are:

Dried Lamb Meat (min. 27%), Ground Rice (min. 26%), Rice Bran, Rice Gluten, Rice Flour, Beet Pulp, Poultry fat, Sunflower oil, Potassium Chloride, Dried Kelp, Dried Egg Product.

So my concern is, this not being a large-puppy formula, should I actually be feeding him something lower in protein? I chose this one because I LIKED the sound of high-protein, high-rice, not-a-lot-of-anything-else food. But any advice is appreciated!

Offline People Whisperer

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Re: Second question- puppy food
« Reply #1 on: September 16, 2007, 06:59:23 pm »
The main concern with this food is that it has only one meat source "Lamb". Puppies do need variety of meat sources and lamb is NOT easily digested even by adults.

I try to avoid foods with Beet Pulp in it  :)
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Nicole

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Re: Second question- puppy food
« Reply #2 on: September 16, 2007, 07:09:33 pm »
Hmmm...Well, I'm certainly not a food expert. However, I've picked up a few things here and there. Defintiely look for a thread called "Holly's Food Dissertation" Its got all the info you'd ever want and need about canine nutrition.

The standard rule of thumb is a low-protien diet for giant breed pups. You don't want to put too much muscle mass on their skeletal system too quickly. (you already know this, though)

As far as multiple meat sources, I've actually heard the opposite. You want only one to prevent or identify allergies. If your dog is going to have an allergy as a pup, its harder to identify what the source is if there are multiple protien sources. But, I could be wrong on that.

There are many good foods out there and you need to just find one that works best for you and your pup. This is a great place to ask questions, though.

Offline People Whisperer

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Re: Second question- puppy food
« Reply #3 on: September 16, 2007, 05:20:05 pm »

As far as multiple meat sources, I've actually heard the opposite. You want only one to prevent or identify allergies. If your dog is going to have an allergy as a pup, its harder to identify what the source is if there are multiple protien sources. But, I could be wrong on that.


Different meat sources have different amino acids such as lysine, taurine, etc. so if you feed lamb only formula your dog will eat taurine only and it can cause some damage. If you research "lamb formula" you can find various studies that have proven negative effects of "lamb and rice" formula.

If your dog has any signs of allergies you should identify what causes it first and then choose the diet and certainly not avoid multiple proteins just in case your dog might be allergic to it  ;)
"To once own a Great Pyrenees is to love and want one always."
Mary W. Crane

I don't suffer from insanity; I enjoy every minute of it :)


Nicole

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Re: Second question- puppy food
« Reply #4 on: September 16, 2007, 05:22:16 pm »
I agree about the lamb. It shouldn't be your sole source of protien because of the taurine issue. But, I'm just saying in general, a single source is better for allergy ID.

Offline People Whisperer

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Re: Second question- puppy food
« Reply #5 on: September 16, 2007, 05:23:39 pm »
I agree about the lamb. It shouldn't be your sole source of protien because of the taurine issue. But, I'm just saying in general, a single source is better for allergy ID.
Yap, I am with you on that one  ;)
"To once own a Great Pyrenees is to love and want one always."
Mary W. Crane

I don't suffer from insanity; I enjoy every minute of it :)


Offline SadieA

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Re: Second question- puppy food
« Reply #6 on: September 16, 2007, 05:41:35 pm »
This is interesting, I didn't know that about the lamb. I have to admit, in addition to the puppy food, we've made up a little tupperware full of cooked beef and carrots- just ground beef and carrots cooked together, nothing fancy- and I've been giving Sammy a couple spoonfuls of this along with his puppy food. I was under the mistaken impression that the more meat, the better!

So now we have two things- on the plus side, he's not actually only eating lamb as his protein source. On the down side, his protein intake is even higher that you'd think from the amount in his puppy food, which probably means he's getting too much, then. Hmm. I may try the large-breed formula next bag, but I was really turned off by the amount of corn-product sounding things in there, and just cereals and grains in general. Am I wrong in thinking I don't like the sound of a food that lists cereals high on the ingredient list? Would you all say you prefer chicken-based foods? beef-based? some combination thereof?

Thanks!

Nicole

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Re: Second question- puppy food
« Reply #7 on: September 16, 2007, 05:54:32 pm »
You're right about the grains being listed as one of the top ingredients. You don't want that.

Giving Sammy some cooked beef and carrots is perfectly wonderful! Don't feel bad about that. My thoughts (I could be WAY WRONG on this) is that the protien in the kibble is more "concentrated" than some cooked beef.


Offline SadieA

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Re: Second question- puppy food
« Reply #8 on: September 16, 2007, 06:11:50 pm »
I've looked at those posts in the food forum, and sadly, don't think I have access to many of those. The ones that seem to have a happy following- solid gold, california naturals (which a friend with a Berner uses and loves), canidae, wysong-- all of these are as far as I can tell not available in this part of France.

The "best" foods I've seen in my searching are definitely these Nutro Choice ones- I don't know if that is the same as the Nutro Natural kibble I saw discussed in the food forum. Other brands I can get here include Royal Canin, various Pedigree types, ProPlan and Hills Science Plan. Interesting thing I've noticed is that even brands that you can get here as well as in the States don't necessarily have the same names here, or the same ingredients! mysterious.


Offline People Whisperer

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Re: Second question- puppy food
« Reply #9 on: September 16, 2007, 06:22:30 pm »
I've looked at those posts in the food forum, and sadly, don't think I have access to many of those. The ones that seem to have a happy following- solid gold, california naturals (which a friend with a Berner uses and loves), canidae, wysong-- all of these are as far as I can tell not available in this part of France.

The "best" foods I've seen in my searching are definitely these Nutro Choice ones- I don't know if that is the same as the Nutro Natural kibble I saw discussed in the food forum. Other brands I can get here include Royal Canin, various Pedigree types, ProPlan and Hills Science Plan. Interesting thing I've noticed is that even brands that you can get here as well as in the States don't necessarily have the same names here, or the same ingredients! mysterious.


It is the same thing in Russia! I remember when the dry food was introduced it was really crappy brands such a Pedigree and Royal. I am not sure about present situation but from what I know most of the people feed home prepared diet.
Also, my husband said that russian coke and Marlboro are much better than in the USA  ???
"To once own a Great Pyrenees is to love and want one always."
Mary W. Crane

I don't suffer from insanity; I enjoy every minute of it :)