Puppy feeding advice

siennamum

siennamum

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I ave a 12 week lab x patterdale puppy who is a complete darling. She left her breeder at 10 weeks, and was on a basic adult dry food.
Her poos were great, quite firm & not foul smelling and she quickly learned to go in the garden though she was windy so I wanted to change her food to a puppy one. Vet agreed gave me science plan dry food.

Since then her poos have gotten dark, loose and foul smelling and she struggles to stay clean. She is also very itchy, though her coat is great. I don't really want to experiment with different foods and upset her system too much so would appreciate some recommendations.

She is generally really well, shiny full of beans and in lovely condition. Vet is very pleased with her & she is wormed.

I wonder whether her poos also reflect her rather varied diet also, which despite my attempts to prevent it, incorporates a bit of horse poo, twigs, socks, slippers, assorted paper & card and a large number of crane flies.

I'm not sure I would be disciplined enough to stick to a raw diet for her, so would prefer to buy a decent dry food. Maybe I should just move her back on to the food she came with and live with the farts, though surely she needs a puppy specific food?

Here is the obligatory pic:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...=a.39812641198.61117.535976198&type=1&theater

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...0274513516199.322522.535976198&type=1&theater
 
If she did well on the breeders food why not put her onto same brand,puppy version.
(What was she on?i am assuming it was a reputable food.)
She's a lovely pup,I love the shiney blacks!I see lilac collars in her future...LOL
 
We feed raw to our dogs, and our feeding our young pup Natures instinct puppy food, I would not be happy trying to sort out basic raw for a pup, small poos, and a happy pup growing well.
 
The itchiness may well be the massive cereal content of the Science Plan stuff (yuk!).

There is a dry food index stickied at the top of this section, well worth a look, as is the allaboutdogfood website which gives impartial advice. My advice would be never to buy from the supermarket, no food available there is of any worth and is invariably high in cereal, often containing BHT/BHA which are proven carcinogens (Royal Canin, Wagg, Bakers, Pedigree dry, Chappie Dry)

Top notch food and not bonkers expensive as the dog will not be enormous, is Acana or Orijen, no cereal in the latter. Fish4dogs is good, but contains a lot of pea flour (bit pointless) or Wainwright's Fishmonger-less filler, more fish content than Fish4dogs.

You don't need puppy food, it's a bit of a marketing myth and the only difference is normally 1-2% protein (phosphate levels may differ) and smaller sized pieces. It's a recent innovation and not necessary, quite honestly.

For accurate advice, talk to a canine nutritionist, most vets have very little understanding of food unless they have had further training and may well get you to try the food they stock which might be unsuitable.
 
siennamum said:
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I wonder whether her poos also reflect her rather varied diet also, which despite my attempts to prevent it, incorporates a bit of horse poo, twigs, socks, slippers, assorted paper & card and a large number of crane flies.

……..
Click to expand...

By 'varied diet' I initially thought that the changes were of your choice! Not so, the puppy's it seems! All my dogs eat what comes out of the back end of horses and sheep too, and apart from their own excrement being of a fetching green colour, they never seem to come to any harm!

The basic diet for all my dogs is a 'complete' feed. Mostly laziness i accept, but they all seem to do on it, regardless of breed. If I only had one dog, then I too would probably feed raw feed.

Your pup looks and sounds to be fine! :)

Alec.
 
siennamum said:
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Here is the obligatory pic:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...=a.39812641198.61117.535976198&type=1&theater

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...0274513516199.322522.535976198&type=1&theater
Click to expand...
so cute pics !!!
 
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