Artemis Fresh Mix

[Sticks1977]

I spent considerable time a month or two back wondering what food to switch Henry onto (a chocolate labrador) as he was fed Supercoat Puppy from the breeder when we picked him up at 8 weeks.

I left him on the Supecoat Puppy food for his first 2-3 weeks at home and then decided on Artemis Fresh Mix - Medium/Large Breed Puppy dry food. I have slowly switched him over to Artemis - over a three week period - and so far he seems to be doing well on it.

I am wondering though - do any other DOL forum peoples feed their dogs this food? are you happy with it?

I notice with Henry - his #2's are mostly solid when they come out but seem to have a bit of a caramel light brown colour to them.

I have noticed recently though that his last #2 before dinner (around 2-3pm when dinner is at 6pm) is a little bit runny and soft and he is given nothing else to feed on through the day - although Henry is a bit of a cattle grazer eating grass every now and again!

Henry is fed 3 cups of Artemis per day (1.5 cups in the morning and at night)

With the previous labrador I had (Fraser) he started on Advance, then I switched him over to Hill's Science Diet (before I knew much about dog food, and was a retail pet shop buyer), then lastly onto Royal Canin Labrador.

Should there also be anything else that I should add to Henry's diet? perhaps some vitamin or oil supplements?

Thanks for reading - I just hope that I have Henry on a decent food as the reviews on Artemis have been positive from what I have seen.

[poodlefan]

I personally think dogs benefit from raw meaty bones in their diet - whether they have a raw or a processed one.

I'd be adding some chicken wings as a substitute meal. Perhaps at least 1 meal in three. You could vary the RMBs too.

I think chewing bones is important for mental as well as physical wellbeing.

I'm not a fan of all kibble diets.

[Serket]

Artemis should be balanced in terms of vitamins/minerals on its own I would think. I feed Artermis to my GR, although she has never been on that much per day - 3/4 cup morning and night up until around 7 months, and now 1 cup morning, one cup at night. If you add extra food anywhere you should reduce the dry at mealtimes of course - her total intake of food per day is a bit higher than the 2cups with training treats, etc though.

She gets the occasional sardine, some yoghurt, some chicken frames or drumsticks or wings (+ training treats, of course), but nothing else aside from that and she seems to be doing very well.

[Chocolatelover]

Hi Sticks 1977,

I feed my boy the Artemis Fresh Mix (puppy). He is an eight month old choccy lab I have fed him this since he was eight weeks and he has been great on it (maybe a bit too much energy??) :D

I give him a cup in the morning and a cup in the evening and but he also gets a beef soup bone (during the day when we go out), and a variety of yoghurt/sardines/egg/vegies/ etc mixed in to his dry. Sometimes I substitute it for the K9 natural freeze dried food, just cause he loves it sooooo much. I kind of balance how much I give him with his activity levels too.

I think its a great food - although it would be good if the kibble pieces were a bit bigger. He just seems to inhale it!! I usually mix it with a bit of natural yoghurt and put it in his kong just so it lasts a bit longer than two seconds!!!!

Hope Henry grows up to be as gorgeous as Fraser was!!!

PS I agree with Poodlefan - the enjoyment they get from a bone is amazing. I have actually read that the chewing makes them release a horomone (serotonin maybe????) that makes them feel happy and content. I get the soup bones cause it's the only thing that lasts more than ten minutes!!!!!