# Transitioning New Pup to Better Food



## asuk (Jan 6, 2017)

My pup was weaned to raw at his breeders so yes I think you can feed those foods to an 8 week old pup. The only problem is poodles are smart. Once they have these yummy stuff, good luck in getting them to eat kibble. If it was me, I'd pick a kibble you like to transition your pup too, use it as also part of training treat for at least the first few weeks till he is used to the new kibble. Cooked chicken and cheese are high value treat for milo. I use it when I am teaching him a new trick or when we are practicing off leash recall outside. Cooked eggs are a once in a blue moon thing but I give it with the shell. I add veggies only if I cook for him.

He is on a 50/50 raw and kibble diet


----------



## galofpink (Mar 14, 2017)

I transitioned from Hill's Science Diet to Orijen large breed puppy when I got my spoo. After two months, Shae built up an intolerance and I had to start searching for another food. We fed Fromm with grain for a month or two then switched to Fromm grain free and then switched back to Acana at 11 months. 

In hindsight, I wish I would have switched to a mid-tier food before going to Orijen, as I think we could have avoided the whole 2-month-in-diarrhea debacle by stepping. Orijen was just too rich in the volumes Shae was eating as a growing puppy. 

My advice would be to feed the Beneful for 7-14 days after your puppy comes home. Let it get settled. Then start a very slow transition (take double the normal time, so 14 days) to a mid-tier grain included formula, feeding that for a month or two after transition. Then switch up to a higher quality food. 

As far as varieties, we feed Acana right now. Up to you to decide whether the recent heavy metal content lawsuit is a deal breaker for you. Personally, I think it is a moot point. 

As I said, I fed Fromm before Acana - we had some plaque issues and a couple ear infections when the dogs were adjusting to the grain included formulas. Not all dogs will react this way, of course. Digestively they did well on it.

Dog food advisor is a good resource: https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/

As long as toppers are deemed safe for dogs, generally feeding up to 15% of the daily diet in toppers is not an issue.


----------



## Charleeann67:) (Nov 6, 2017)

Thank you to both of you!


----------



## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

As most of you know I now home cook for my dogs, but Javelin came home on Fromm and I switched him to Blue Buffalo large breed puppy and then BB large breed adult since that was what Lily and Peeves were eating. The Fromm to BB transition was easy with him. When he was a pup I did use kibble for training and also fed at least one meal to him small handfuls at a time while I sat on the floor with him. The other meal(s) were from a puzzle toy.

Be careful with egg shells. Make sure you grind them fine if they are cooked. I would also limit using toppers for a puppy since you need to make sure the pup's diet is nutritionally complete and calorically adequate. Lots of toppers can make that harder to keep track of.

When I switched to home cooked I did it "cold turkey" and it was fine.


----------



## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

I posted the vaccine protocol you asked about as a visitor message. Sorry it took so long.


----------



## MollyMuiMa (Oct 13, 2012)

Beniful is definitely a lower quality food and you are wise to switch but do it slowly! I noticed the Beniful is 24% protein and 14% fat....high quality kibble is much higher in both of these contents and if you try to switch too quickly your pup could end up with soft stools or even diarrhea! GO SLOW An important thing to also look at in a food for a puppy will be the Calcium to Phosphate which should be 1-1. You also don't have to buy 'puppy' food you can get an All Life Stages formula! A good place to research ingredients is on the Chewy.com site....they list the ingredients of every food they sell!


----------



## Johanna (Jun 21, 2017)

I just got Dr. Dodd's book on Canine Nutrigenomics. It is a real eye opener. I'll be changing my dogs' diets after I get a little bit further on in it. My first step, though, is beginning to give my dogs blueberries. They and I now have them every morning.


----------

