Puppy food recommendations

T

TPO

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I've just got an 8wk old working cocker.
He came with 5kg of his current feed and has been getting 250gm a day.

I'm looking to (very gradually!) change him onto something "better" suited (imo)

This is the ingredients of his current feed.

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I have a few ideas already but as I've never fed a cocker pup before I thought I'd ask on here first to check my thoughts align with others.

Here's the best puppy in the world (?) who the recommendations are for

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bonny

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He’s very cute ? not much help I know, I kept my puppy on the food that he came with until it was finished and now give him Arden Grange and tinned food.
And bananas, he would kill for a banana !
 
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CorvusCorax

CorvusCorax

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It's not terrible.
My current one came on Happy Dog and we've tried Autarky and that generic fish one in the brown bag, all three are on Markus Muhle NaturNah and I really rate it. Good deal for 2x15kg bags on Zooplus.
 
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TPO

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I don't think it's an awful feed at all. Just that "poultry meal" is floor sweeping and bone.

I saw all the breeders dogs and they are all fed on the same brand. All in excellent condition and hill fit. I was just looking at higher quality feed.
 
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EventingMum

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Lovely puppy!

Our 11 week old puppy came with Ava tinned food and mixer which comes from Pets at Home. It rates quite well on the All About Dog Food site but the meat was only available in big cans which wasn't great for a Jack Russell so I've stayed with the Ava kibble and changed to Naturo grain free puppy trays which have an 86% rating on the website. Our puppy seems to be doing well on this regime.
 
HeyMich

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We've had our Springer/Lab puppy (7 months) on Skinners Field & Trial, the Puppy (wet cartons and dry kibble) and now the Junior. She's healthy, bright, has a shiny coat and loads of mischievous puppy energy. I'm not sure how the food rates against others, but she's thriving on it so we'll carry on just as we are.

And yes, gorgeous pup TPO, huge congratulations!
 
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Escapade

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You can’t determine quality just from an ingredients list, unfortunately.
Pinkvboots said:
I didn't think it was great either 26% meat is rubbish I feed Naturo trays as well and my JRT loves it and looks good.

Lovely puppy though ?
Click to expand...
Poultry meal is a dry, dense ingredient. A random Naturo recipe with 60% Chicken, for example, is the initial weight of chicken before cooking, so including water content. which is probably about 75% of that? How is one rubbish but the other not?
 
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TPO

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Escapade said:
You can’t determine quality just from an ingredients list, unfortunately.

Poultry meal is a dry, dense ingredient. A random Naturo recipe with 60% Chicken, for example, is the initial weight of chicken before cooking, so including water content. which is probably about 75% of that? How is one rubbish but the other not?
Click to expand...

But meat MEAL is different different from meat. This feed is 26% meat MEAL and there are better feeds out there.

I'm not saying that this is a terrible feed, it can't be because the breeders dogs all looked fantastic and are in hard work. As I just have the one dog I was looking for something else.

I've picked a new feed that he won't be (very very gradually) switched over to for another couple of weeks to let him get settled.

Thanks again for the replies
 
Pinkvboots

Pinkvboots

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Escapade said:
You can’t determine quality just from an ingredients list, unfortunately.

Poultry meal is a dry, dense ingredient. A random Naturo recipe with 60% Chicken, for example, is the initial weight of chicken before cooking, so including water content. which is probably about 75% of that? How is one rubbish but the other not?
Click to expand...

Maybe not but the list doesn't sound great to me so I would feed something else.
 
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Mynstrel

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Our wocker developed a sensitivity to chicken after a couple of months of us having him and went on a fish based diet, something to bear in mind if you do change
 
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Mynstrel

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TPO said:
But meat MEAL is different different from meat. This feed is 26% meat MEAL and there are better feeds out there.

I'm not saying that this is a terrible feed, it can't be because the breeders dogs all looked fantastic and are in hard work. As I just have the one dog I was looking for something else.

I've picked a new feed that he won't be (very very gradually) switched over to for another couple of weeks to let him get settled.

Thanks again for the replies
Click to expand...

This is where I get confused with good and bad in dog food, we look for meat because meat meal is bad to us but their wolf ancestors would eat the whole animal, bones, intestines, feet, stomach contents, the lot. Its a minefield.
 
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Escapade

Escapade

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TPO said:
But meat MEAL is different different from meat. This feed is 26% meat MEAL and there are better feeds out there.

I'm not saying that this is a terrible feed, it can't be because the breeders dogs all looked fantastic and are in hard work. As I just have the one dog I was looking for something else.

I've picked a new feed that he won't be (very very gradually) switched over to for another couple of weeks to let him get settled.

Thanks again for the replies
Click to expand...
Meal is different in that it has had the moisture removed, it’s not bad in and of itself. Any ingredient can be good or bad depending on the individual company’s sourcing and manufacturing.
It’s marketing. Fresh looks better to the consumer but may not be the most beneficial to the dog. By weight meal is more nutritious.
 
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Escapade said:
Meal is different in that it has had the moisture removed, it’s not bad in and of itself. Any ingredient can be good or bad depending on the individual company’s sourcing and manufacturing.
It’s marketing. Fresh looks better to the consumer but may not be the most beneficial to the dog. By weight meal is more nutritious.
Click to expand...

Is meat meal in dog food the same as oatfeed and wheat feed in horse feed i.e floor sweeping?

I'm not saying it's bad as such but it's not as good as a complete feed that uses real meat with no fillers or sweeping?
 
poiuytrewq

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Gorgeous little pup! ?
The website linked above is really helpful (and a little addictive!)
It’s not all totally black and white though, I first went off the quality percentage when buying food for Cecil, however many seemed not to agree with him.
Have settled on James Wellbeloved Fish and rice which Is great. Tummy and skin are really settled.
 
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