Very Best Dry Puppy Food If Money Wasn't A Consideration

[Rolls 912]

Hi there.

We have a 8 week old Frenchie arriving shortly. From the moderate research I have done, it appears that they are prone to a few health problems. I figure given their size, I will be able to afford a high quality / premium dog food (not that cost always reflects quality) which will hopefully help their development.

A few have mentioned using "whatever the breeder has used" but I question whether this is a good guide. Most breeders do want the very best for their pups but I also believe the cost would be a consideration for some... i'm sure many use a premium but is it the very best available?

If I could trouble for those in the know, some guidance as to what are the very best two or three brands of dry puppy food available please? I intend to mix this up from time to time with some basic "human foods" that meet the puppy food criteria.

Many thanks

Roland

[VizslaMomma]

Welcome, Roland

Going to give another point of view.

Why not consider feeding RAW?

Maybe have a study of that too.

I am suggesting RAW as I understand Frenchies can have allergies.

Others will add help for you too.

I am going to look forward to photos of your new arrival.

We are photo mad here.

Good Luck with your choices

[VizslaMomma]

To help with your orginal question, I recalled that one of our users does reviews.

Here's his profile.

http://www.dolforums.com.au/user/52531-dave-o/

If you check any of his posts, his signature has links to Pet Food Reviews.

Very interesting reading too.

:D

[JulesP]

The best dog food is one that you dog does well on!

Start with what the breeder is doing or you puppy might get an upset tummy from the change of food.

[Sandra777]

A few have mentioned using "whatever the breeder has used" but I question whether this is a good guide. Most breeders do want the very best for their pups but I also believe the cost would be a consideration for some... i'm sure many use a premium but is it the very best available?

Could be - but I would hope you're not buying a puppy off one of them!

If you have ANY doubts that the pup is coming from someone who puts money above the welfare of their dogs, stop the purchase now.

Otherwise - what the breeder recommends is the ONLY way to go for the first 2-3 weeks, until the pup's perfectly settled in your home. Only them have a good hard look at the pup - is s/he healthy, growing well, no skin issues, no poop issues? If everything is fine then no reason to change.

If I could trouble for those in the know, some guidance as to what are the very best two or three brands of dry puppy food available please? I intend to mix this up from time to time with some basic "human foods" that meet the puppy food criteria.

The best food for any dog is the food it does best on.

Royal Canin is widely regarded as a premium food - made one of mine horribly sick and another refused to touch it.

Black Hawk is widely regarded as a premium food - made all of mine podgy and smelly.

I feed Bonnie Working - widely regarded as a cr@p food. Raise pups on it, my adults get it - they are all sleeky, muscled and 100% allergy and itch free.

Personally I would recommend Nutro or raw.

Edited September 29, 2014 by Sandra777

[oakway]

A few have mentioned using "whatever the breeder has used" but I question whether this is a good guide. Most breeders do want the very best for their pups but I also believe the cost would be a consideration for some... i'm sure many use a premium but is it the very best available?

Could be - but I would hope you're not buying a puppy off one of them!

If you have ANY doubts that the pup is coming from someone who puts money above the welfare of their dogs, stop the purchase now.

Otherwise - what the breeder recommends is the ONLY way to go for the first 2-3 weeks, until the pup's perfectly settled in your home. Only them have a good hard look at the pup - is s/he healthy, growing well, no skin issues, no poop issues? If everything is fine then no reason to change.

If I could trouble for those in the know, some guidance as to what are the very best two or three brands of dry puppy food available please? I intend to mix this up from time to time with some basic "human foods" that meet the puppy food criteria.

The best food for any dog is the food it does best on.

Royal Canin is widely regarded as a premium food - made one of mine horribly sick and another refused to touch it.

Black Hawk is widely regarded as a premium food - made all of mine podgy and smelly.

I feed Bonnie Working - widely regarded as a cr@p food. Raise pups on it, my adults get it - they are all sleeky, muscled and 100% allergy and itch free.

Personally I would recommend Nutro or raw.

Agreed. No one dog food suits every dog. You feed what your dog does best on. This may take time and error.

[Ivory & Beau]

Ziwi Peak is a great food and I'm really happy with it. Wish I could afford to feed Badger on it too.

But as most have said, it will be trail and error.

[Danois]

While your dog is growing then I would be sticking to breeder recommendation. They know what their lines do well on.

There is lots of time for changing diet later and I'd be cautious feeding a raw diet to a puppy if you're not experienced in feeding a raw diet.

[Remarkabull]

Ziwi Peak is a great food and I'm really happy with it. Wish I could afford to feed Badger on it too.

But as most have said, it will be trail and error.

Another vote for ZiwiPeak here. I have bulldogs and mostly feed raw but twice a week they get ZiwiPeak and the LOVE it and do well on it. It is very expensive though :)

[RuralPug]

Sorry, but what others have said is correct. There is no single dry food that is perfect for every dog.

In fact no single dry food or any type of diet is perfect for any dog throughout all of their life stages. Puppies/adolescents/adults/seniors/ dogs in full work or sports/pregnant bitches/lactating bitches all have different needs.

If you did your research and purchased your puppy from a reputable breeder they will have spared no expense in sourcing and recommending the best food for puppy rearing that is best for their lines. If you have doubts about the particular breeder, then possibly you could ask other Frenchie breeders what they recommend for this life stage.

And please don't assume that the most expensive brand is necessarily a better brand than a moderately priced one. It is not always the case.

By the way, 8 weeks is the minimum legal age for puppies to be sold but personally I would have be happier if the breeder had kept the puppies with the dam for at least 10 weeks, just my opinion. Take a little more care to study puppy development so that you know to give the puppy the lessons that he would have naturally learned if he had stayed in his litter another few weeks.

Best of luck with your Frenchie baby - and we would love to see some pictures please!

[Rolls 912]

Thanks for all of the responses - very kind.

Could I ask another related question: we had two Samoyeds who were brought up as puppies on dry food. Once they were older, we found if we gave them human food very gradually (pet friendly) they had very loose stools. I would like theses puppies to be accustomed to a varied diet. At what age should I gradually introduce other foods? 6 months, 12?

Many thanks

[Mjosa]

You follow what the puppy has been reared on and as others have said if it is doing well on it stick to it.

I feed a mixture of raw and Royal Canin for French Bulldogs, yes they have one specifically for the breed, and mine do so well on that.

I rear my few and far between litters right from the start on raw human grade premium mince and soaked Royal Canin Junior, I never feed puppy kibble too much protein for a Frenchie, a top breeder in the UK gave me that information years ago and my puppies have thrived on this, of course as they get older you can introduce other meats, be warned to not give your puppy any pigs ears and things like that to chew as when they get all wet and soggy it can lodge across their wind pipe, I get for the puppies and each one goes to their new homes with one, a Kong which you can put treats into, good for teething and keeps them amused for ages trying to get the treats.

If you want my feeding chart just pm me then you can compare it with the feeding instructions from the breeder of your puppy.

I never feed puppy porridge or Farex, but they do get yoghurt for their supper or a drink of goats milk.

Best of luck with the Frenchie baby.

[Sagittarian]

I may not be understanding you (sorry, haven't had a coffee yet! LOL), but you mention feeding mince and RC Junior, but then say you don't feed puppy kibble as it is too high in protein. What is your preferred protein level for your breed? RC Junior (which is a puppy food?) is about 31-32% protein from memory and beef mince is about 28% protein. We have quite a few customers with gorgeous Frenchies and if high protein (my definition would be 40% plus in a dry) is truly an issue with the breed, then I would like to get more info to make sure we recommend properly.

Sags

:)

You follow what the puppy has been reared on and as others have said if it is doing well on it stick to it.

I feed a mixture of raw and Royal Canin for French Bulldogs, yes they have one specifically for the breed, and mine do so well on that.

I rear my few and far between litters right from the start on raw human grade premium mince and soaked Royal Canin Junior, I never feed puppy kibble too much protein for a Frenchie, a top breeder in the UK gave me that information years ago and my puppies have thrived on this, of course as they get older you can introduce other meats, be warned to not give your puppy any pigs ears and things like that to chew as when they get all wet and soggy it can lodge across their wind pipe, I get for the puppies and each one goes to their new homes with one, a Kong which you can put treats into, good for teething and keeps them amused for ages trying to get the treats.

If you want my feeding chart just pm me then you can compare it with the feeding instructions from the breeder of your puppy.

I never feed puppy porridge or Farex, but they do get yoghurt for their supper or a drink of goats milk.

Best of luck with the Frenchie baby.

[seregil]

With regard to "protein levels", my thoughts exactly Sagittarian, was thinking the same thing.

With regard to assuming the breeder will be feeding the absolute best, I have to respectfully disagree. While good breeders will always be feeding what they consider is best for their puppies, I tend to see that their choice will also be strongly influenced by price!! All of my dogs have come from registered and very experienced show-breeders. Each of my last three purchases where fed either Supercoat Puppy, Bonnie or Blackhawk by their breeders...... personally I don't consider any of these particularly "top of the range". (...... and yes, I know there will be someone out there that says their dog thrives on these foods.....)

I have ended up changing them over after a couple of weeks of settling in to something I am happier with, ingredient wise. One of my current dogs, who was raised on Blackhawk, ended up with all sorts of digestive issues. Not saying BH caused it but he was certainly a whole lot better when I took him off it!!

[Sandra777]

All of my dogs have come from registered and very experienced show-breeders. Each of my last three purchases where fed either Supercoat Puppy, Bonnie or Blackhawk by their breeders...... personally I don't consider any of these particularly "top of the range". (...... and yes, I know there will be someone out there that says their dog thrives on these foods.....)

And personally I don't consider many of the "top of the range" food suitable for my dogs - which is why it's impossible to be pedantic about the "best" food :laugh:

I have a friend to insists Science Diet is the absolute best food and will pretty much rip your head off if you suggest otherwise - despite the fact one of their dogs is constantly itching and looks awful. No point arguing with them though.

[BoxerB]

Agree with what others are saying around feeding whatever is best for your dog, however one thing i will say is that there are some foods with higher quality ingredients than others.

Do some research on what ingredients tend to make up the typical dry dog food, and in turn which ones are seen as higher quality.

Personally i fed Wellness when i was feeding dry food, and stayed away from grain heavy foods, but am now on raw food only.

Also, some imported foods have fantastic natural ingredients, however did some reading which suggested that the importing process can destroy some nutrients.

[LisaCC]

I've said this on a few previous threads but I'm definitely in the "What ever your dog does best on". My lab with IBD could only ever maintain weight on a specific Pedigree Meaty Bites, and we tried everything including raw, exclusion diets and prescription diets. When Pedigree got rid of that type he went down hill on everything except Wellness Senior but it still wasn't as good for him as the Pedigree.

My current dog does fantastically on Earthborn Holistic Grain Free Coastal Catch. So I'm more than prepared to buy the most expensive food, but my lab just did best on one of those regarded as "crap".

[sas]

The only time I would stray from what the breeder has advised is if the food is actually crap. In that case you can do some research and take it to your breeder and I don't think you would find a breeder who wouldn't encourage you to feed a high quality kibble if you could afford it.

Many feed low quality because they have a lot of dogs and it's more affordable NOT because its what the dogs do best on because feeding a dog a $30 bag of dust off the floor isn't what a dog does 'best' on. Generally the only time you hear of a dog doing 'better' on a very low quality food is if they have poo issues, and you'd be better off working with professionals in that area to sort that problem out rather than keep the dog on a barely nutritious food that isn't feeding the dog at cell level.

Edited October 1, 2014 by sas

[Alibi]

I agree with sas. I strayed from what my dogs breeder fed straight away. He was very old school and fed puppy pal and pet mince which looked horrible and I would never continue on with that. She now gets Big Dog Barf, Ziwipeak, chicken wings and necks and lamb flaps, sardines, eggs and healthy left overs. I think saying to stick with what the breeder feeds is to general and its good to do research into what your own beliefs are on feeding your pet as most breeders have many dogs and price often times would have to be a consideration.

[Dave-o]

Hi Rolls,

A dog can do well on any food, although with a poor quality food you run a greater risk of your dog getting sick or having problems in later life. Being aware of the quality and ingredients of a food you're feeding is a big step in the right direction. As said, some dogs take to a food and others don't. There may also be a period of adjustment if a dog is used to one food and then given something different.

Personally I have a selection of dry foods that I feed my BC, and I chop and change. At the moment I'm feeding Earthborn, but also Canidae and Black Hawk of late. Perhaps this will be useful reading - http://www.petfoodreviews.com.au/dry-dog-food/best-dry-dog-food/

To help with your orginal question, I recalled that one of our users does reviews.

Here's his profile.

http://www.dolforums.com.au/user/52531-dave-o/

If you check any of his posts, his signature has links to Pet Food Reviews.

Very interesting reading too.

:D

Thanks :)