Chunky monkey! :lol:
And I thought my pupkin was big at 8kg at 9 weeks haha.
I'm not using puppy food for him. The dry foods I use are quite high protein, but are relatively good quaility so I'm happy - Millies Wolfheart and Fish4Dogs mostly, with Rocco, Lukullus and Wainwrights wet and raw bits too

What brand(s) are you feeding at the mo?

 

Aww she really is a chunk! Her paws are massive! She's gunna be my big girl! What breed is your pup? I'm feeding her bakers puppy complete and butchers puppy wet food. But after her first trip to the vets they basically said I shouldn't I don't know if they were just trying to sell me their stuff (royal canine) or not but it made me feel like I was being a bad pup mam for not feeding her expensive stuff I know the more expensive the stuff the better quality it is but surely not everyone can afford that? I've always had dogs and all my dogs have Been fed supermarket brands before. But now I've been hearing about feeding her adult food due to her size etc x

 

Bakers is absolutely awful quality I'm afraid, so is butchers, have a look on here, this is an unbiased comparison site:

The Dog Food Directory - now listing 1266 dog foods!

I'm not a believer in life stage foods, and weaned my litter of pups onto Simpson's Premium adult lamb and potato, they did very well on it. I actually raw feed my own dogs, and the pup I kept back from that litter is doing very well.

Your girl sounds about average to be honest, a couple of my Lab pups went to their new homes at 8 weeks of age weighing over 9kgs.

 

Butchers and Bakers are poor quality food. Have a look at

http://www.petforums.co.uk/dog-health-nutrition/305410-updated-wet-dog-food-index.html

http://www.petforums.co.uk/dog-health-nutrition/255727-updated-dry-dog-food-index.html

http://www.petforums.co.uk/dog-health-nutrition/111437-raw-feeding-everything-you-need-know.html

Also, Royal Canin actually have a couple of known carcinogenic ingredients which your vet wont have mentioned.

 

Bless her! Mine is a borzoi, so he's going to be more tall than bulky

You most certainly don't have to feed a really expensive food, but personally I'd stay away from Bakers, adult and puppy. It is a really shocking food; seems like there's more additives in it than meat!
The dry food index on here is a fab starting point for looking at different foods - Autarky, Simpsons and CSJ I believe aren't mega expensive but considerably better in quality than Bakers. (Most vets aren't nutritionists remember, they'll likely try and push whatever food they are supplied to sell. Royal Canin isn't the best and seems very overpriced)

 

Ohh no! I'll take a look at those links thankyou! I'm just stuck on what I should try her on what won't cost me the earth x

 

Aww cute dogs!! It's amazing what they can get away with selling...I've been clues to it and feel bad now ill get researching asap! Due to buy food in soon too! And yeah I think the vet was just trying to sell it to me as it is what they stock x

 

Ohh no! I'll take a look at those links thankyou! I'm just stuck on what I should try her on what won't cost me the earth x

When looking at the wet and dry food index have a look at the daily feeding cost, you might be surprised. Poor quality cheap food has lots of fillers that do nothing for your dog and you generally need to feed more. A better quality more expensive one with no fillers may cost more but you'd feed less so can work out more economical .

 

Just looked at the links and I'm very surprised to see some brands in the red zones which I thought were good quality I.e Harrington, some science plan! Thanks for the advice x

 

It's definitely doing what DirtyGertie says and looking at the price to feed per day rather than just going by price per kg. Often a food that looks very expensive actually works out far more economical to feed than you'd think because of the higher quality and thus dogs needing less of it.

 

Welcome to the mind boggling world that is "dog food " , we are 8 months into puppy hood and are on our third brand due to lack of knowledge of what goes into the food ! Now settled on millies wolfheart, give them a ring they are brill :thumbup1:

 

What is your budget ?

That way we can reccomend foods,however Simpsons is a good food and not much more than bakers.l would go onto the adult food now as it will slow growth down.

 

Everybody has their favourites and what they like to use best.

I don't like complete foods at all, you just don't know what is in them.

I have a bullmastiff who has always been fed on raw tripe and wholemeal biscuits. This has worked well for her and doesn't break the bank.

 

Hello any piccies I love puppy pics



The dog food indexes on here are great as is SixStar for helping find food.. Took me 2-3 attempts to find a food Angel liked but she is now happy

We have her on half NI & half applaws.. It works well having her on a mix & it's no more expensive than having her on all NI or all Applaws

Have a good read & good luck

 

I'm going to make a list of all the foods which are good and get to a pet store! Some of these brands I haven't even heard of! 11 16 Thanks victoria171168 that's what I wanted to know. ..If she should be on puppy food or not I don't have a budget as such, I'll do and buy anything for my pets what's going to be best for them. I guess half the problem is accessibility for me as I don't drive so if I ran out of something that is miles away...its always a bit of a pain really but once I get her on a good food ill be stocking up for sure!! Where do you get all these good brand foods? Would somewhere like pets at home stock them?

 

I'm going to make a list of all the foods which are good and get to a pet store! Some of these brands I haven't even heard of! 11 16 Thanks victoria171168 that's what I wanted to know. ..If she should be on puppy food or not I don't have a budget as such, I'll do and buy anything for my pets what's going to be best for them. I guess half the problem is accessibility for me as I don't drive so if I ran out of something that is miles away...its always a bit of a pain really but once I get her on a good food ill be stocking up for sure!! Where do you get all these good brand foods? Would somewhere like pets at home stock them?

How cute is she!!! :001_wub:

P@H does stock a few of the better brands; Arden Grange, Wainwrights, Fishmongers, James Wellbeloved etc

Some others come direct from the company; Canagan, Millies Wolfheart, Fish4Dogs, Green Dog etc

Zooplus has a good variety of dry foods too, usually for good prices - Applaws, Lilys Kitchen, Acana, Purizon, Lukullus, Taste of the Wild etc
Dry Dog Food, over 40 brands: Free P&P on orders £29+ at zooplus!

Ordering online is usually cheaper than buying from shops, and it means you dont have to lug a 15kg bag around with you :lol:

 

Aww thankyou! She's my little baby won't be little for long though ill get online and order it then! didn't even think of that ha! I know most pet shops online do free delivery once in a while as an offer so will keep my eyes open...now just to pick a brand now! Decisions decisions x

 

Aww she really is a chunk! Her paws are massive! She's gunna be my big girl! What breed is your pup? I'm feeding her bakers puppy complete and butchers puppy wet food. But after her first trip to the vets they basically said I shouldn't I don't know if they were just trying to sell me their stuff (royal canine) or not but it made me feel like I was being a bad pup mam for not feeding her expensive stuff I know the more expensive the stuff the better quality it is but surely not everyone can afford that? I've always had dogs and all my dogs have Been fed supermarket brands before. But now I've been hearing about feeding her adult food due to her size etc x

Bakers dog food is probaly the greatest marketing success in the pet industry, purely because it is marketed at people, rather than at dogs, and its the people that buy the food.

Don't fall for the marketing, bakers is not a cheap food and more 'expensive' foods can actually be more cost effective. With a more nutritionally valuable food you physically have to feed less of it, which offsets the cost. So for example, where £30 of Bakers might last you a month, £60 of Origen would probably last you two months. Look at the recommended feeding amounts of various foods and work out the cost per day for yourself and you will see there is not much difference.

Add in the long term costs of medical problems, vet bills etc and you are quids in, not to mention the benefits in the health, behaviour and temperament of your dog.

 

Bakers dog food is probaly the greatest marketing success in the pet industry, purely because it is marketed at people, rather than at dogs, and its the people that buy the food.

Don't fall for the marketing, bakers is not a cheap food and more 'expensive' foods can actually be more cost effective. With a more nutritionally valuable food you physically have to feed less of it, which offsets the cost. So for example, where £30 of Bakers might last you a month, £60 of Origen would probably last you two months. Look at the recommended feeding amounts of various foods and work out the cost per day for yourself and you will see there is not much difference.

Add in the long term costs of medical problems, vet bills etc and you are quids in, not to mention the benefits in the health, behaviour and temperament of your dog.

Yeah i will definitely take that on board and look at this stuff! thankyou. All tips are getting noted by everyone and and I will become the most dog food savvy person going at this rate hah! X

 

Have a read of Dog Food Logic by Linda P Case. She is a canine nutritionist. Opened my eyes as to many of the myths out there about dog food as she has looked at it all in conjunction with the scientific research that has been done into feeding dogs. I found it extremely useful.

Her chapter on feeding large breed puppies says that the 2 main proven factors connected to what we feed leading to orthopedic developmental problems are feeding too high a calorie content food (ie. the pup grows quickly and is too heavy whilst growing) and feeding too high a calcium level food.

My book is on loan to a friend so I can't recall any more useful info off the top of my head. But it's well worth a read.

 

Butchers and Bakers are poor quality food. Have a look athttp://www.petforums.co.uk/dog-health-nutrition/305410-updated-wet-dog-food-index.html

http://www.petforums.co.uk/dog-health-nutrition/255727-updated-dry-dog-food-index.html

http://www.petforums.co.uk/dog-health-nutrition/111437-raw-feeding-everything-you-need-know.html

Also, Royal Canin actually have a couple of known carcinogenic ingredients which your vet wont have mentioned.

But what bout Candlestick Makers? Sorry couldn't resist.

 

Ohh no! I'll take a look at those links thankyou! I'm just stuck on what I should try her on what won't cost me the earth x

I don't know your Budget, but if I'm right in thinking, Bakers is around £22-£26 per 15kg bag? You can buy a bag of Skinners Duck and Rice, or Salmon and Rice for only a pound or two more than that, and you have to feed less because its got better ingredients/less cereals.

Or if you use the All About Dog Food.co.uk site, you can put in the weight of your dog and weekly food budget and it will give you the best you can afford. You'll probably be surprised what you can afford actually, I was when I first used that site! Mine eat James Wellbeloved with a spoon or two of Butchers.

Had to add, she is absolutely adorable You can get a lot of the better brands in Pets at Home, and if you order online, you can do their Subscribe service, meaning they order and deliver it for you to suit your schedule and the 5th bag is free Amazon do a similar service although you get % off rather than a free bag.

Good luck!

 

Happysaz133...which skinners would you recommend for my pup tho as I've just looked it up and loadssssss of choice lol! It's worse than clothes shopping this! Haha and thankyou! She's cute...but very naughty lol x

 

Its not the calorie count that is always an issue,its the quality of the protein that is important plus you feed less of it as well.

Simpsons deliver with a two hour time slot allocated,also you can change day of delivery if you need to.

I feed a mix of dried foods but also raw to one of mine.

 

Happysaz133...which skinners would you recommend for my pup tho as I've just looked it up and loadssssss of choice lol! It's worse than clothes shopping this! Haha and thankyou! She's cute...but very naughty lol x

Either Duck and Rice, Salmon and Rice or Turkey and Rice. The others are pretty much all grains, and you'll have to feed a lot more and there will be a lot coming out the other end too! :thumbdown: