what do you start your pups on? (first time puppy owner)

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OH is buying me a lovely Rottweiler bitch for my birthday, who will be 8 weeks when she comes home. In the way of solid food what is best for pup? I'm sure if the breeder is worth their salt they'll tell me all I need to know but just so I have an idea now, what would you suggest?
 
They're dry, when I fed my chi orijen I used to let the biscuits soak until I could mash them, purely because they're quite big pieces compared to his tiny head and he is a greedy sod so I was worried about choke, with ziwipeak sometimes I soak it a little bit with hot water sometimes not.

I found orijen too rich for him though, it is for some dogs, so he is now on ziwipeak which is air dried raw. I'm very much for the raw diet but I didn't want to worry about making sure I was getting the right balance of bone,meat and organ so with ziwipeak it's premade and its dry so I don't have to worry about anything.

But I have a chihuahua, could get expensive on ziwipeak with a rottweiler but you can always replace one meal with raw chicken wing or something, if thats the way you want to go to make it last longer, I believe raw is the best way to go for a healthy dog.

But they're just the two brands I'mfamiliar with, I'm sure others can give you some better advise ! x
 
Human grade beef mince from Tesco,at three weeks,moving onto same blended into Forthglade Menu,and gradually onto beef and tripe meat mix at seven weeks,Add raw chook wings around eigt weeks old.Never ever use dry dog food ,soaked or dry,just good wholesome meat meals and maybe an egg now and then.They look great on it.
 
My mother bred wire fox terriers years ago and the young puppies were always started off with warm milk and weetabix, lean raw mince, boiled eggs and steamed or boiled white fish adding a little bit of soaked puppy biscuit as they got older. I'm not a great believer in feeding completely dry food and especially not to puppies.
 
As you say, the breeder should be your first port of call for this question. Any decent breeder will give you a diet sheet, and also a reasonable amount of the food that the puppy is already on. As long as it is a good food I would keep the pup on that at least for a few days, there will be enough changes in her life when she comes to you without changing her diet too. You can then gradually change to a food of your choice. My pups were weaned on to Fish4puppies, and Freya is still on it now at 5 months old. She looks a picture of health and everyone comments on the shine on her coat so I would certainly recommend it.
I would ask the breeder when you next visit to see the pup what she is being fed on, and if you can have a copy of the diet sheet so you can be prepared. Of course you also have to take and post the obligatory puppy pictures.:D
 
Broke_But_Happy said:
weetabix
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Hollywood said:
My mother bred wire fox terriers years ago and the young puppies were always started off with warm milk and weetabix
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Please don't give cereal based foods :eek: An awful lot of owners have gone grain free because it can cause/exacerbate allergies, as can cow's milk. Goat's milk is better or better still, lactol if the pup needs to gain weight.

Use whatever the breeder has until you decide what you want long term then wean across gradually.
 
Whilst I do agree with you ct, my mother weaned many litters of puppies on weetabix and goats milk, and then they moved onto scraped beef and then mince beef. You never heard of any allergy problems then, so I think it is as much the general way food is processed nowadays that causes the problems.
 
Try raw !! We fed our rottie pup on minced chicken to start off with and we have never looked back she looks a picture of health !! Bet you can't wait rotties are the best !! Do you know the breeding of your puppy?? (only because I am a bit of a geek) :)
 
Tripe and rice is what we fed our latest puppy on :) I'd recommend putting a little warm water over any biscuits and letting them swell a little so they don't swell in the stomach, thats for any dog not just puppies.
 
Contact the breeder in advance and ask how the pup has been reared. If the breeder is a good one they will give you enough food for the first week. If it is a complete feed I'd make sure it was one of the premium quality ones such as Royal Canin, James Wellbeloved, Purina etc. If it is a raw based diet make sure you include some veggies. If it is a raw diet I'd add an all round supplement such as SA37, just to be certain the diet is balanced. Rotties grow very quickly and need a high quality diet, especially during those important first months.
 
Im currently on my 8th pup and over the years we have used various dry puppy foods, the last few all got decent starts on Arden Grange puppy.However I have not yet had a pup that has been 100% solid in the first few weeks. Until now that is. My current pup came on dry food from the breeder and had diarrhoea for the first week. I really wanted to feed raw but it was too much faf, then someone pointed me in the direction of Natural Instinct! ITs fab! It comes ready prepared and all the ingredients are balanced and human grade. Its just like opening a tin of wet dog food. My pup is doing brilliantly on it!!!! Have a look at the website, loads of info.
 
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