I'm thinking of changing the dry food I give to my puppies. For years I've used Burns, but it does have a reputation for dogs not putting on enough weight or poo eating. What other good quality foods do other breeders use? I would like to find a make that is good quality, easy to buy but not too expensive that new owners struggle to afford to continue using it. Any suggestions?
What dry food do you wean your puppies onto
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What about fish4dogs? Any opinions on this? Hear it quite a lot.
I was thinking of Fish4Dogs too, but the thought of a house smelling fishy is a bit of a put off
I like the idea of potato in it instead of rice. A friend of mine uses Simpsons premium grain free, but I think you can only order it online, so don't think it would be practical for most new owers to continue on.
I like the idea of potato in it instead of rice. A friend of mine uses Simpsons premium grain free, but I think you can only order it online, so don't think it would be practical for most new owers to continue on.
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I'm afraid I don't like Royal Canin, and I don't feed kibble but I do read up on it and try to make myself aware of the ingredients. These are the ingredients for the Labrador junior:
rice, dehydrated poultry meat, maize, vegetable protein isolate*, maize gluten, animal fats, hydrolysed animal proteins, minerals, beet pulp, fish oil, vegetable fibres, soya oil, fructo-oligo-saccharides, psyllium husks and seeds, hydrolysed yeast (source of manno-oligo-saccharides), hydrolysed crustaceans (source of glucosamine), borage oil, marigold extract (source of lutein), hydrolysed cartilage (source of chondroitin). ADDITIVES (per kg): Nutritional additives: Vitamin A: 24300 IU, Vitamin D3: 800 IU, E1 (Iron): 40 mg, E2 (Iodine): 2.8 mg, E4 (Copper): 2 mg, E5 (Manganese): 52 mg, E6 (Zinc): 198 mg, E8 (Selenium): 0.1 mg - Technological additives: Pentasodium triphosphate: 3 g - Preservatives - Antioxidants. ANALYTICAL CONSTITUENTS: Protein: 33% - Fat content: 14% - Crude ash: 7.3% - Crude fibres: 1.7% - Per kg: Calcium: 9.9 g - Phosphorus: 8.3 g - Manno-oligo-saccharides: 0.5 g. *L.I.P.: protein selected for its very high assimilation.
The first ingredient is going to be the largest proportion, and that is rice, unfortunately they don't tell you %'s, which is a bit of a niggle to me, if they aren't willing to put what percentages there are, is that because they are bad? I'm not sure why they're putting maize gluten in there, as dogs don't digest cereals very well, and gluten is something that dogs can be intolerant of, the same as humans. Any guess as to what the animal fats and hydrolysed animal proteins are? Beet pulp is a filler which a lot of foods have in, a lot of the additives they list are found naturally in many foods, so I'm not sure if they're added or added by default.
The OH weans his pups onto RC and is thinking of possibly changing, they do ok on it, but they are never firm and he's had a few problems over the years with it. The cost is also prohibitive, the first website I clicked on lists £16.49 per 5.5kg, and the rrp is over £50! I don't know what the price would be on a breeders scheme as I've never joined.
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I can only comment personally on the one litter where I weaned pups onto the adult variety of Simpson's Premium Lamb and Potato, ingredients are:
Dried Lamb*, Deboned Lamb*, Potato, Beet Pulp, Lamb Fat*,Brewers Yeast, Lamb Gravy, Dried Egg, Salmon Oil, Minerals, Linseeds, Vitamins, Yucca Extract, Cranberries, Nucleotides, Mannanoligosaccharides (MOS), Fructooligosaccharides (FOS), Glucosamine, MSM, Chondroitin.
It does give the percentages on the bag, it's a niggle that it isn't on the website again (so maybe RC aren't bad but it'd be nice if they all had them on) but I haven't got one any more, the lamb content is 46%. The pups did brilliant on it, and I got a breeders discount for all the puppy owners, the puppy version is more expensive, but I simply don't believe in life stage foods, and the adult version is easy enough for Labrador pups to cope with. It costs £30.20 for a 15kg bag on the breeders scheme.
rice, dehydrated poultry meat, maize, vegetable protein isolate*, maize gluten, animal fats, hydrolysed animal proteins, minerals, beet pulp, fish oil, vegetable fibres, soya oil, fructo-oligo-saccharides, psyllium husks and seeds, hydrolysed yeast (source of manno-oligo-saccharides), hydrolysed crustaceans (source of glucosamine), borage oil, marigold extract (source of lutein), hydrolysed cartilage (source of chondroitin). ADDITIVES (per kg): Nutritional additives: Vitamin A: 24300 IU, Vitamin D3: 800 IU, E1 (Iron): 40 mg, E2 (Iodine): 2.8 mg, E4 (Copper): 2 mg, E5 (Manganese): 52 mg, E6 (Zinc): 198 mg, E8 (Selenium): 0.1 mg - Technological additives: Pentasodium triphosphate: 3 g - Preservatives - Antioxidants. ANALYTICAL CONSTITUENTS: Protein: 33% - Fat content: 14% - Crude ash: 7.3% - Crude fibres: 1.7% - Per kg: Calcium: 9.9 g - Phosphorus: 8.3 g - Manno-oligo-saccharides: 0.5 g. *L.I.P.: protein selected for its very high assimilation.
The first ingredient is going to be the largest proportion, and that is rice, unfortunately they don't tell you %'s, which is a bit of a niggle to me, if they aren't willing to put what percentages there are, is that because they are bad? I'm not sure why they're putting maize gluten in there, as dogs don't digest cereals very well, and gluten is something that dogs can be intolerant of, the same as humans. Any guess as to what the animal fats and hydrolysed animal proteins are? Beet pulp is a filler which a lot of foods have in, a lot of the additives they list are found naturally in many foods, so I'm not sure if they're added or added by default.
The OH weans his pups onto RC and is thinking of possibly changing, they do ok on it, but they are never firm and he's had a few problems over the years with it. The cost is also prohibitive, the first website I clicked on lists £16.49 per 5.5kg, and the rrp is over £50! I don't know what the price would be on a breeders scheme as I've never joined.
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I can only comment personally on the one litter where I weaned pups onto the adult variety of Simpson's Premium Lamb and Potato, ingredients are:
Dried Lamb*, Deboned Lamb*, Potato, Beet Pulp, Lamb Fat*,Brewers Yeast, Lamb Gravy, Dried Egg, Salmon Oil, Minerals, Linseeds, Vitamins, Yucca Extract, Cranberries, Nucleotides, Mannanoligosaccharides (MOS), Fructooligosaccharides (FOS), Glucosamine, MSM, Chondroitin.
It does give the percentages on the bag, it's a niggle that it isn't on the website again (so maybe RC aren't bad but it'd be nice if they all had them on) but I haven't got one any more, the lamb content is 46%. The pups did brilliant on it, and I got a breeders discount for all the puppy owners, the puppy version is more expensive, but I simply don't believe in life stage foods, and the adult version is easy enough for Labrador pups to cope with. It costs £30.20 for a 15kg bag on the breeders scheme.
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dinky's pups were weaned onto james wellbeloved puppy with wainwrights puppy trays
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We had problems swapping over to Junior with RC hence using AG last time, lots of my breeder friends had the same problem and complained, they sent out the area manager to see me, he waffled on about salmonella etc. and that no body else had complained (which I knew was a lie) he sat here for hours showing me Powerpoint presentations, I knew it was the food, but he was basically blaming my dogs, strange it didn't happen with AG!!
My dogs are fed mainly a raw diet, but puppy owners don't want the 'mess and inconvenience' of raw so my pups get a bit of both before leaving, then it's up to the new owners what they want to feed.
For Labs on the breeders scheme the cost is:
Lab Junior Pro 16kgs £41.00
Lab Pro 15kgs £37.40
Lab Breeding Pro 15kgs £37.40
Mine are fine on starter, it's when you try to swap them over to Junior which I like to do a week or so before going to their new homes, even doing it very slowly they still end up with very upset tummies
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Why would the house smell fishy if you feed fishy complete! My dogs either eat Fish4dogs or TOTW pacific stream and the house doesn't smell because food is stored in an airtight storage bin! Also have about 5kg of F4D treats in the house and you can't smell them unless you take the lid off of the tub they are stored in. :lol: Once they've eaten their meals there's no smells and as long as pups do well on it does it matter?
I like wainwrights salmon and potato, Alfie was weaned onto this and I continued to feed it him until he wa around 1 year old. He did really well on it and never had a poorly tummy. It's an ok food for an ok price but only available at pets at homes.
I'm not a breeder btw.
I like wainwrights salmon and potato, Alfie was weaned onto this and I continued to feed it him until he wa around 1 year old. He did really well on it and never had a poorly tummy. It's an ok food for an ok price but only available at pets at homes.
I'm not a breeder btw.
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I've never had that problem with rc, but I do the swap slowly at 8-9 weeks ready to go at 10+. So I suppose I have a bigger window for the swap than big breeds?
My girls get a rc and raw diet and they are in beautiful condition, and Yorkie rc is the only food my mums bambi and missy will eat!
When you mix dry food with warm water it brings out the smell - very fishy!!!Why would the house smell fishy if you feed fishy complete! My dogs either eat Fish4dogs or TOTW pacific stream and the house doesn't smell because food is stored in an airtight storage bin! Also have about 5kg of F4D treats in the house and you can't smell them unless you take the lid off of the tub they are stored in. :lol: Once they've eaten their meals there's no smells and as long as pups do well on it does it matter?
I like wainwrights salmon and potato, Alfie was weaned onto this and I continued to feed it him until he wa around 1 year old. He did really well on it and never had a poorly tummy. It's an ok food for an ok price but only available at pets at homes.
I'm not a breeder btw.
As my pups are brought up in my lounge I'm not sure it will go down well with my family!!!! It's a shame as the ingredients look good.
I think I'm swaying to Arden Grange at the moment - cost/easy to mix up/easy for new owners to buy it ....
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Mine are all completely raw, but they are dustbins tbh, and Tau didn't mind one bit helping clean up the kibble I weaned the pups onto. I used kibble for the same reasons as you, because people aren't willing to raw feed, and if they aren't at all enthusiastic about it, my feeling is it's better to feed a good quality kibble as you aren't to to spend time finding good suppliers of meat and bones, and make sure they get the sort of foods they need.
That's a lot more expensive then than the Simpsons, I can only see puppy packs in 1kg, which is £3.00, but you do get a discount the more bags you buy with a lot of their stuff so I'm not sure how expensive it would be in comparison to a 15kg bag of the adult stuff. There is generally so little difference in the ingredients I have never thought it was worth bothering with the puppy and life stage foods, goodness knows why RC feel different breeds require different diets, all seems a bit OTT to me. Mind you, having said that, if it works for your dogs then that's what matters!
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