# What should I feed my New Puppy?



## RylieJames (Feb 3, 2016)

As I stated in previous posts, I'm getting a new standard poodle puppy! I'm trying to figure out what food to feed it. My last standard was on prescription food and custom cooked home meals (cottage cheese, chicken, rice, etc.) due to severe IBS. But with this new pup, I'm certainly hoping he won't have any problems and will be able to eat normal puppy food.

Now, he is currently on purina large breed puppy. I'm not sure if thats a good one or not? I have my two cats on blue buffalo and was thinking about putting puppy on one of the puppy blue wilderness foods?

So, what do you guys think? Purina? Blue? or should I be considering something else?

Thanks!


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## MollyMuiMa (Oct 13, 2012)

EEEK! NOTHING Purina! Go to Dogfoodadvisor.com and look in the 4 or 5 star lists and find either an 'all stages of life' food or a puppy food......
Too many good ones to rec. but I did start Molly on Blue Buffalo & Nature's Variety Instinct but now we change kibble quite often because she has a tummy of iron and has no problems with it......she is also fed raw in her rotation.


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## Shamrockmommy (Aug 16, 2013)

Well I've tried lots of foods over the last 20 years and keep coming back to Fromm. 
Never a problem with it, everyone stays healthy and happy.

Oh, if you're in the US, Chewy.com has great prices and free delivery with $49 spent. 
Very convenient!


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## PhoebeAndMe (Dec 25, 2015)

I'd avoid Blue. I've had one of our vets tell us the animals she sees, cats and dogs, with the most GI issues that are "usually" solvable eat Blue. She said the ingredients look good on paper, but she believes that the mixture they use are not really tested thoroughly. I didn't ask any further because we don't feed that anyway.


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## PhoebeAndMe (Dec 25, 2015)

MollyMuiMa said:


> EEEK! NOTHING Purina! Go to Dogfoodadvisor.com and look in the 4 or 5 star lists and find either an 'all stages of life' food or a puppy food......
> Too many good ones to rec. but I did start Molly on Blue Buffalo & Nature's Variety Instinct but now we change kibble quite often because she has a tummy of iron and has no problems with it......she is also fed raw in her rotation.


My dogs seem to as well as a few of my cats. I was taught switch foods around even from people (safe stuff not like stuffed bell peppers lol) including texture and canned occasionally so if some recall happens or something is discontinued. All three of our vets say use chicken though I'm not convinced of this for an ONLY flavor and one of my cat's breeders said NEVER EVER SWITCH FOOD, but she's kinda extreme and I just nod and smile.


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## justinnum1 (Feb 1, 2016)

my poodle i just got 2 nights ago was on purina puppy chow. i got her blue wilderness puppy and she likes it, right now she is getting 1 cup in the morning and 1 cup at night, here is how it breaks down

70% purina
30% blue wilderness dry
a little bit of blue wilderness wet 
some pumpkin

she likes it. blue wilderness got 5 stars on dogfood advisor


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## Streetcar (Apr 13, 2014)

The large breed part of the food is the good part to focus on. If you switch, be sure it's to a same variety in the new food.

I was once a food snob, and then after feeding my cat excelusively a premium diet since adopting him from the rescue at around 7-8 weeks of age, he developed near fatal urinary tract crystals. After going through all that, major (very) surgery, and over a year of prescription food to stop the crystal creation, I was left having to figure out what to feed.

Remember I'd fed premium (including canned). I'm left with a cat who is super, super picky about what wet/canned food he'll eat, and when he'll eat it. If. Having rotated through every exceptional, premium food, we are now at (in great part)... Fancy Feast. Yes. Grocery store. Never would I have imagined.

Now, cats are not dogs. They are FAR from dogs. I'm the first to say that because really I feel too many fall into the trap of thinking they are the same just in different costumes, and cats in particular suffer from that. A behavior change in a cat means


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## Caddy (Nov 23, 2014)

I'd stay away from purina for sure, the site that Molly suggested is very helpful. Congrats on getting your new puppy, I remember you were wanting to get into breeding. Is this pup the beginning of that?


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

RylieJames said:


> As I stated in previous posts, I'm getting a new standard poodle puppy! I'm trying to figure out what food to feed it. My last standard was on prescription food and custom cooked home meals (cottage cheese, chicken, rice, etc.) due to severe IBS. But with this new pup, I'm certainly hoping he won't have any problems and will be able to eat normal puppy food.
> 
> Now, he is currently on purina large breed puppy. I'm not sure if thats a good one or not? I have my two cats on blue buffalo and was thinking about putting puppy on one of the puppy blue wilderness foods?
> 
> ...


I think that Purina is a reasonable food and I have fed it before out of convenience (a 6-9 month old puppy dog who was traveling to and from his handler's, where pro plan is fed, to finish his championship as a puppy). I got very nice stools on it and much to my surprise ears and coats were in fabulous condition. However, for a long term choice, I much Fromm Large Breed Puppy, NutriSource Large Breed Puppy, or Wellness Complete Large Breed Puppy, to pick a few favorites.


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## Tiny Poodles (Jun 20, 2013)

I think that dogs do tend to do well on purina, and many breeders use it, however I would not keep a dog on it long term because of the low grade ingredients.


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## Mfmst (Jun 18, 2014)

I had a fairly unique diet from Buck's breeder:Infinia grain free turkey and sweet potato kibble and 3-5 chicken necks at night. I had never heard of the kibble - it's only available at feed stores and at the time was unrated on Dogfoodadvisor. So I decided to change it and ended up buying bags and bags of every brand suggested on PF and donating most of them to our no kill shelter. I would love to volunteer Buck as a dog food taster. Fortunately, he always ate his necks. 

We are back to Infinia which was finally rated at 4 or 5 stars and manufactured by Land o Lakes, a subsidiary of Purina. I'm over being a kibble snob, because if your puppy won't eat it... Do try to finesse your puppy into believing his kibble bits are training treats. Sadly, Buck never fell for it


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## Arya's Toys (Feb 24, 2016)

I feed Chicken Soup for the soul.
Here is a list of the puppy formula top 9 ingredients;
Chicken, turkey, chicken meal, turkey meal, cracked pearled barley,
whole grain brown rice, peas, white rice, chicken fat
My dogs have always thrived on it, its not too expensive, I order mine from chewy.com & it gets delivered right to my home.


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## Spot210 (Nov 7, 2015)

I really want my 16 week old standard to stay on Fromm's large breed puppy but it creates such loose stools. I was transitioning him from Wellness large breed puppy cuz he doesn't like the taste of the Wellness, but it gives good stools. So......now what? The first food I gave him was Nature's Recipe, but that gave him loose stools too, so I went to Wellness. I am thinking of transitioning to Wellness Complete Puppy...don't know if that comes in "large breed puppy," though.


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## Streetcar (Apr 13, 2014)

Sorry for going off the rails in my earlier reply; need to not respond when half asleep.

Point was, what is great for one may not suit the other. Some fantastic brands I can't feed my Poodle because they were just too rich for his system. So we've stepped it down just slightly and he gets kibble with some grain in it, and does much better.


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## mom2Zoe (Jun 17, 2014)

fromm is my favorite.


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## mom2Zoe (Jun 17, 2014)

Spot210 said:


> I really want my 16 week old standard to stay on Fromm's large breed puppy but it creates such loose stools. I was transitioning him from Wellness large breed puppy cuz he doesn't like the taste of the Wellness, but it gives good stools. So......now what? The first food I gave him was Nature's Recipe, but that gave him loose stools too, so I went to Wellness. I am thinking of transitioning to Wellness Complete Puppy...don't know if that comes in "large breed puppy," though.




I love fromm, no loose stool.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Javelin came home on Fromm puppy gold, but Fromm is hard for me to find. Therefore I switched him to Blue large breed chicken and brown rice, the puppy equivalent of what Lily and Peeves have thrived on for nearly six years. I had a talk about foods with Javelin's breeder before I even picked him out. She uses Fromm because they give good support to breeders with coupons for new pups, etc. She used to feed Blue but switched because they didn't do that. I had a long chat with a Blue customer rep about the same things recently and he said the company would rather support owners with things like their frequent buyer program than to give coupons for breeders to provide.

I know people are loving beating up on Blue lately, but the bottom line is my dogs are very healthy on it and I won't switch. You have to do what works for you. If you can afford ZiwiPeak, but your dog won't eat it then how does that help you?


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

Spot210 said:


> I really want my 16 week old standard to stay on Fromm's large breed puppy but it creates such loose stools. I was transitioning him from Wellness large breed puppy cuz he doesn't like the taste of the Wellness, but it gives good stools. So......now what? The first food I gave him was Nature's Recipe, but that gave him loose stools too, so I went to Wellness. I am thinking of transitioning to Wellness Complete Puppy...don't know if that comes in "large breed puppy," though.


I've found that both Fromm Gold Large Breed Puppy and Wellness Complete Large Breed puppy create great stools! If you're getting loose stools on multiple pet foods, it could something else in the diet. Lots of puppy owners will get some loose stool from all of the treats used for training and socializing. You could also try a fecal and add some probiotics (fortiflora or proviable are good) to the diet.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

CharismaticMillie said:


> I've found that both Fromm Gold Large Breed Puppy and Wellness Complete Large Breed puppy create great stools! If you're getting loose stools on multiple pet foods, it could something else in the diet. Lots of puppy owners will get some loose stool from all of the treats used for training and socializing. You could also try a fecal and add some probiotics (fortiflora or proviable are good) to the diet.



...and use a portion of the daily kibble ration for training rather than cheese, hot dogs and the like.


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## Arya's Toys (Feb 24, 2016)

What is the best way to transition a puppy to a new dog food?


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## glorybeecosta (Nov 11, 2014)

PhoebeAndMe said:


> I'd avoid Blue. I've had one of our vets tell us the animals she sees, cats and dogs, with the most GI issues that are "usually" solvable eat Blue. She said the ingredients look good on paper, but she believes that the mixture they use are not really tested thoroughly. I didn't ask any further because we don't feed that anyway.


My vet has a sign not to feed Blue, do not know why never ask, but will


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

glorybeecosta said:


> My vet has a sign not to feed Blue, do not know why never ask, but will


Probably because most vets support Purina products and there was the whole lawsuit deal between Blue and Purina. Personally, I put both foods in the same category.


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## seminolewind (Mar 11, 2016)

Sometimes I think all these rumors about Blue have started around the time Purina has put out their own high quality pricier product to be competitive.


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## Viking Queen (Nov 12, 2014)

The lawsuit by Purina against Blue was alleging that Blue food included meat "byproducts" which were not disclosed on the lable. Officials from Blue actually admitted in court that Blue foods did include meat byproducts due to an error in the ingredients which were sourced to Blue. I will not feed a food which includes byproducts. I do have friends who continue to feed Blue and their dogs so far are doing well.

All that said, my dog ate EVO for 13 years and thrived on it. About a month ago she started being really gassy and having runny poo. A very miserable little Spoo. All medical conditions were eliminated as a possibility. I changed her to Acana Duck and Pear and once again she is thriving. I chose the duck formula as I was not sure if a red meat formula which she had eaten for a long time might have become an allergen.

Being a suspicious person, and knowing that Natura foods makers of EVO, had been sold to M& M Mars company I did not trust that the formula had not changed. The pet food store said no formula change. I googled and did some research......potato had been removed from the formula and was replaced by green peas and tapioca starch! Manufacturers are allowed 6 months after formula change to use up the old printed bags, so I was buying and feeding a food which was very different than the original formula.....and different than what was on the bag lable.

Lesson learned, and buyer beware. 

I hope you can settle on a good food which agrees with your kiddo. 

Viking Queen


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## Poodlebeguiled (May 27, 2013)

http://www.poodleforum.com/32-poodle-food/195858-just-one-more-example-why-i-switched-raw.html

I won't tell you what to feed. I'll just tell you what not to feed: Purina. Click on the link above. 

I got so_ fed _up with commercial food and all their lies on their labels, their recalls etc... that I couldn't trust the multi billion dollar industry to care what's best for my dog any longer.


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## seminolewind (Mar 11, 2016)

I think they all change something, and something will go well for years , then suddenly it's not doing well anymore. It's hard to trust anyone.


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## Caddy (Nov 23, 2014)

I whole heartedly agree there are some very bad dog food companies out there, but there comes a point of being fanatical about it. Knowledge and researching is great, but just using a little common sense goes a long way. Do you spend half the time analyzing what you and your family are consuming?


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## bigpoodleperson (Jul 14, 2009)

I love Fromm, and frequently have Draco on it (we rotate brands). It is made here in WI, so very accessible. 

However, it is a food that I often see diarrhea with in dogs at my clinic. Most it is dogs that have been on Fromm their whole lives and just all of a sudden cannot tolerate it and get diarrhea. I have noticed it enough to think it is the food. Just some dogs, not all. I still feed it though as my dog does fine.


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