Olde English mastiff puppy 8 weeks

[Heatherlisi]

Please help ! I am trying to find a good dry dog food for this giant breed. I would love recommendations if anyone can help. I was told to look for a large breed puppy formula for the first three months then switch to adult large breed formula .

 

[Smart_Family]

Mastiffs aren't large breed they are giant breeds. There's a thread I posted about the 2011 Whole Dog Journal's Food list and there is recommendations in there.

 

[tsuch20]

Depends on how much money you have it can get very expensive depending on the brand but hands down if you have the money I would go with Wellness. All natural and has 0 "crap" in it. I myself use Eagle Pack it 20$ a bag less and still contains no by-products, etc. All the goods.

Others:
Hollistic Select
Blue Buffalo( Bad experiences)
Innova
Halo
Etc.

 

[Kellysmithfa]

Maggie is 15 weeks and I researched and researched food. Price was not a consern. She came home on Puppy chow. I put her on eagle pack. She did wonderful. I researched and found there was better. I switched to TOTW. She smelled terrible.( her skin) I just couldn't stand her smell, so I switched to Blue Buffalo. It gave her runs. We are back on Eagle Pack and I am just staying with it. It works for her.

 

[Farakin]

Blue Buffalo is what i use. The red bag.

 

[tsuch20]

Maggie is 15 weeks and I researched and researched food. Price was not a consern. She came home on Puppy chow. I put her on eagle pack. She did wonderful. I researched and found there was better. I switched to TOTW. She smelled terrible.( her skin) I just couldn't stand her smell, so I switched to Blue Buffalo. It gave her runs. We are back on Eagle Pack and I am just staying with it. It works for her.

Same here Blue Buffalo made Marley very sick when on it. I use Eagle Pack as well but if you want the best try Wellness. 60$ + TAX FOR A 35LB BAG THOUGH =/

 

[Kellysmithfa]

ok I have switch so many times I might wait a while

 

[Cash's Mama]

We use Science Diet. It has worked great and Cash loves it. The only concern I have with your post is you said you were told to switch to adult after 3 months. My vet told me to leave Cash on large breed puppy formula until he was at least a year old if not 14 months.....but I'm no expert. I'm a new owner myself.

 

[Smart_Family]

We use Science Diet. It has worked great and Cash loves it. The only concern I have with your post is you said you were told to switch to adult after 3 months. My vet told me to leave Cash on large breed puppy formula until he was at least a year old if not 14 months.....but I'm no expert. I'm a new owner myself.

Please don't be offended by this but science diet is one of the worst foods you can feed. Almost all vets stock and recommend it because Hill's pays for veterinary programs all over. Any food that says "animal fat products" instead of say Chicken or pork or beef can include any kind of animal product and have been found in the past to include roadkill, euthanized animals,etc. Mastiffs are not large breeds they are giant breeds and should not be on a puppy formula period and most definitely not for a year. I know it's hard but most vets have minimal training in nutrition and they go with what they are told to sell which in most cases is science diet. If you would like to switch Cash, I would be more than happy to help you. Most of my information is from a canine nutritionist and after her opening my eyes I have read dozens of books, hundreds of websites and am now getting ready to start school as a vet tech and at some point I will get a degree in small animal nutrition.

 

[Cash's Mama]

No offense taken. But take no offense when I say I trust my vet. And I trust that he won't just encourage me to buy a food because it benefits him. In fact he didn't encourage me to buy any particular food, only to do my research and find what is best for my dog. I'll will do my own research and see if I believe it's necessary to change his food. I thank you for your opinion and advice. I figured I would get this kind of response when I have never even heard of some the foods the people on this forum use. But please take no offense.

 

[Smart_Family]

I'm not offended either and lord knows there's plenty of info out there. A simple google search will pull up all kinds of information. Good luck

 

[leelee]

Raw,raw,raw! Go raw!

 

[Smart_Family]

Raw,raw,raw! Go raw!

I so wish we could go raw right now. Between having no butcher shops or freezer space we're not able to go full time raw right now. We do the occasional raw meal or snack (chicken giblets, duck necks, etc) but I'm so jealous of those who can do raw full time!

 

[leelee]

You know I have to say, it only costs me about $75.00 a week to feed three em's each weighs 210lb,180lb and the newest rescue (who's still young and growing) 160lb. Not too terribly bad! But I do have an ethnic store down the street that tends to have much of what I need at a cheaper price then a main store.

 

[Smart_Family]

See we have nothing, not even a single butcher shop and the regular grocery stores won't sell their scraps, bones, etc. There's one grocery store that we go to about half an hour away that at least packages the livers, gizzards and what nots so when we go there we grab those. The only thing the dog boutiques have around here is prepackaged raw which ends up being wayyyyy too expensive for our tastes so for now it's the best kibble we can find and afford with the occasional raw treat. At least we will be moving soon hopefully so I'm hoping it's to an area where raw could be feasible for us.

 

[PuppyPaws]

Big fan of raw here too!!! It all but totally cured my terrier horrible skin allergies!

To answer your question Heatherlisi, the above listed foods by tsuch20 are all good suggestions.

Also, just as an aside, I have to second Smart.Family's remarks about vets. While I love my current vet and prior to moving here, I loved my previous vet. They were/are both very good doctors and easy to talk to. They have taken their time to answer my questions and have been very knowledgeable about various medical issues my dogs have had, but they have not been very knowledgeable about nutrition or training. Most veterinary programs do not spend a lot of time or study in these areas. My vets haven't necessarily pushed Science Diet on me either, however, they have all stocked it and when asked about food, offer it up as first option.

In addition, I was actually given some (what turned out to be fairly bad) advice from one of my previous Vets, that I really loved. He told me to wait to socialize my terrier mix until after all her shots were completed. I really wanted to start exposing her new things, people, places, and other pets, but he strongly told me to wait. I actually asked him about it every time I took her in for shots. He was concerned she would catch something. I followed that advice, and have often wished I hadn't. Looking back on things and having learned what I now know, I really feel like I did her a disservice. I missed a critical socialization period in her life. While overall she is good dog, she is not as social or socially confident as I want her to be. I learned a huge lesson from this, unfortunately, it came at her expense to a degree. That was about 10 years ago. I have promised myself, I would not do that again. Anyway, I hope I haven't offended you. Just thought I would share my experience.

 

[Smart_Family]

Big fan of raw here too!!! It all but totally cured my terrier horrible skin allergies!

To answer your question Heatherlisi, the above listed foods by tsuch20 are all good suggestions.

Also, just as an aside, I have to second Smart.Family's remarks about vets. While I love my current vet and prior to moving here, I loved my previous vet. They were/are both very good doctors and easy to talk to. They have taken their time to answer my questions and have been very knowledgeable about various medical issues my dogs have had, but they have not been very knowledgeable about nutrition or training. Most veterinary programs do not spend a lot of time or study in these areas. My vets haven't necessarily pushed Science Diet on me either, however, they have all stocked it and when asked about food, offer it up as first option.

In addition, I was actually given some (what turned out to be fairly bad) advice from one of my previous Vets, that I really loved. He told me to wait to socialize my terrier mix until after all her shots were completed. I really wanted to start exposing her new things, people, places, and other pets, but he strongly told me to wait. I actually asked him about it every time I took her in for shots. He was concerned she would catch something. I followed that advice, and have often wished I hadn't. Looking back on things and having learned what I now know, I really feel like I did her a disservice. I missed a critical socialization period in her life. While overall she is good dog, she is not as social or socially confident as I want her to be. I learned a huge lesson from this, unfortunately, it came at her expense to a degree. That was about 10 years ago. I have promised myself, I would not do that again. Anyway, I hope I haven't offended you. Just thought I would share my experience.

Thank you Puppypaws for perhaps phrasing it better than I did. I never meant that your vet was looking out for himself over Cash, only that in vet school there's so much to cover that very little time is spent on nutrition in general, let alone nutrition for giant breeds. My vet also stocks only science diet and when she asked what we were feeding I told her and that we were doing so under the guidance of a dog nutritionist. After a couple more questions she was satisfied and we moved on. Another issue she and I disagree on is the age at which to spay/neuter. Do I hold this against her? No I don't. I met her because I had a very sick foster who I was terrified wouldn't make it and I raced him to her office having never been there before and having not called ahead and they took us right in, were very helpful with questions and explaining everything and they were very reasonably priced. A couple days before on a Sunday when the foster first started showing symptoms I freaked and took him to the emergency vet. They were very rude, had me scared out of my mind and were outrageously priced and all I got out of it was a near heart attack and some overpriced dewormer. It's up to every dog parent to do their own research and make their own decisions on what's best for their dog(s).

 

[allsierra123]

Not to hijack this thread but I see someone saying raw. I am an avid hunter would scraps from my kills be good to give My dog?

 

[leelee]

not to hijack this thread but i see someone saying raw. I am an avid hunter would scraps from my kills be good to give my dog?

yes!!!

---------- Post added at 08:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:57 PM ----------

See we have nothing, not even a single butcher shop and the regular grocery stores won't sell their scraps, bones, etc. There's one grocery store that we go to about half an hour away that at least packages the livers, gizzards and what nots so when we go there we grab those. The only thing the dog boutiques have around here is prepackaged raw which ends up being wayyyyy too expensive for our tastes so for now it's the best kibble we can find and afford with the occasional raw treat. At least we will be moving soon hopefully so I'm hoping it's to an area where raw could be feasible for us.

What a bummer!....

 

[leelee]

See we have nothing, not even a single butcher shop and the regular grocery stores won't sell their scraps, bones, etc. There's one grocery store that we go to about half an hour away that at least packages the livers, gizzards and what nots so when we go there we grab those. The only thing the dog boutiques have around here is prepackaged raw which ends up being wayyyyy too expensive for our tastes so for now it's the best kibble we can find and afford with the occasional raw treat. At least we will be moving soon hopefully so I'm hoping it's to an area where raw could be feasible for us.

What a bummer!....