DOG FOOD- So many choices

[patmos]

Is it not boring for a dog to eat the same type of food for the rest of his life? Here in Mauritius we do not have much choice; We chose Royal Canin Giant puppy professional for our 5 months female corso. But she prefered rice and chicken mixed with some vegetables.

 

[Smart_Family]

Some of the brands have appropriate formulas that you can rotate thru for variation. Most dogs would definitely rather people food than dog food when given the option.

 

[MJR]

Thanks for all the great info. I purchased Acana Grasslands grain free as well as Blueridge beef raw food. He loved the Grasslands(what little bit I gave him mixed with the original nutrisource he has been eating). I will slowly increase the ratio over a week to get him used to the acana grasslands. How long should I wait before I start adding beef and bone raw from blueridge beef? I'm thinking I will let the kibble transition over a week or 2 and then wait another week before I introduce the raw. Does that seem like the correct time frame?

 

[Kahuna]

I put my Dogo on raw cold turkey from the breeder's kibble. Started with chicken and I had to initially up the bone ratio to firm up his stools and I gave him some digestive enzymes to help process the bones but he has adapted wonderfully and is now on beef as well.

 

[Smart_Family]

Thanks for all the great info. I purchased Acana Grasslands grain free as well as Blueridge beef raw food. He loved the Grasslands(what little bit I gave him mixed with the original nutrisource he has been eating). I will slowly increase the ratio over a week to get him used to the acana grasslands. How long should I wait before I start adding beef and bone raw from blueridge beef? I'm thinking I will let the kibble transition over a week or 2 and then wait another week before I introduce the raw. Does that seem like the correct time frame?

The grasslands is pretty high in calcium so I would feed only as much as the bag says to feed. If you wanted to do the occasional raw I would do it as a separate meal and not in addition to the grasslands. An ideal transition from one kibble to another would occur over 9-15 days depending on how the pup did during.

 

[MJR]

Thanks. I noticed the calcium was 1.8 and on the highside. My friend and owner of the store,said they will eat less of this food since it has more nutrition vs others with fillers. I'm thinking 2-3 cups total during 3 feedings. Mufasa is just under 20 lbs at 11.5 weeks. Does that see like a normal weight to age ratio. I put it in a puppy to adult weight calculator and it said he would be 65 lbs. Thats crazy so I didn't put much stock in it. It asked for the birthdate, breed, and current weight. I don't trust it.

 

[Smart_Family]

There's no real way to calculate how these big guys grow. The best guesses some people have gotten is their weight at 6 months times two or averaging their parents weights. Hmmm the Acana website says its 2% calcium but regardless just don't over feed it. I'd definitely wait to add any raw if you can until he's fully transitioned onto the grasslands. He'll definitely eat less of that than many of the kibbles you'd find in the grocery store or Walmart but even on some of these awesome foods the pups need more because they are growing pups. If you find him to still be hungry a lot after you go thru two bags of the grasslands you can do the Pacifica which has lower calcium so you can feed a little over the recommendations.

 

[Daniel]

Hunter was so picky about kibble. He is now thriving on raw.
Wellness kibble gave him diarrhea and so did blue buffalo and taste of the wild did too. His coat is amazing and he doesn't shed as much on raw. He isn't a big eater but he eats all of his raw food

 

[Smart_Family]

Raw is great but not feasible for everyone. I would love to feed raw but I can't for numerous reasons. I hope to be able to at some point in the future though.

 

[Kendra9485]

I feed Professional large breed puppy. It may be difficult to find depending on ur location but it is rated a 4/5. It is also relatively inexpensive and with 4 large breed dogs and I had to search high and low for a quality food that doesn't break the bank. I also had a long long conversation over the to feed large breed puppy food or just feed adult food. Although it would have been much easier to just feed adult food I chose to feed puppy food, not to say he doesn't finish his and then go eat the other dogs food too. Lol

 

[Smart_Family]

It's not that feeding puppy food is bad, it's just unnecessary. Some people have always done it so they prefer to but IMO its a marketing gimmick. Most puppy formulas are almost identical to the adult formulas but have you feeding more and are often more expensive. Plus the large breed thing bugs me because most of the mastiff breeds are considered giants not large breeds and the few giant foods that exist aren't that great for our big guys. Also for some reason most puppy foods have chicken and/or grains which many mastiffs also don't do well with so again I'd rather avoid than cause issues in immature digestive systems. Again just personal opinion and experience and many on here have had opposite experiences.

 

[MJR]

I agree with Smart Family. After speaking with my friend, he told me his store sells mostly all life stages food . He sold me the puppy nutrisource because the kibble size was very small compared to other brands. I am going grain free Acana Grasslands with a mix of raw. The site dogfoodanaylsis.com had grasslands listed at 1.8 for calcium. I will be sure to feed correct amounts as to not cause excessive growth. He sells his blueridge beef products for $4-5 a "loaf". Pretty inexpensive I thought vs Instincts $20-24 bags. Sure they are smaller, but I tried the Instinct raw and my dogs didn't eat it fast enough before it expired(30 days).

 

[MJR]

Also Mufas weighed 23 lbs today. He's growing every second and not quite 12 weeks(friday).

 

[Ralo]

We started with Taste of the Wild then switch to Holistic Select because he was having a lot of gas and now we use Fromm 4star