New Puppy

[murphyzoo]

Hey everybody! My grandparents just got my cousins a beautiful female yellow lab puppy, she is only 8 weeks old. I am going with my aunt to buy all of the supplies needed for her when she gets here. I was told that the breeder had the puppies on Purina Puppy Chow. I know that that food isn't the best thing to come around, so I am trying to get her to buy the good stuff. I was thinking about Solid Gold Puppy Food. I was told by my best friend, who is a manager at the local Petco, that this would be the best for her. Anybody have any other suggestions? Any would be greatly appreciated by everyone! Thanks!

[rannmiller]

Solid Gold is good stuff.
Of the other brands sold at PetCo, I also really like:
Wellness
Natural Balance (not as much for puppies though)
Pinnacle.

For brands not at PetCo:
Innova
Ziwi Peak
California Natural

Personally, Wellness and Innova are my favorites, especially their grain-free formulas (Core and Evo, respectively).

[BoxerMommie]

Solid Gold is good stuff.
Of the other brands sold at PetCo, I also really like:
Wellness
Natural Balance (not as much for puppies though)
Pinnacle.

For brands not at PetCo:
Innova
Ziwi Peak
California Natural

Personally, Wellness and Innova are my favorites, especially their grain-free formulas (Core and Evo, respectively).

I agree. Although the grain free formulas are NOT for puppies, so this would be something to consider after your pup turns a year old if you wanted to go that route I would recommend Wellness Core. Personally I like California Nutural (just have to be careful of the low fiber content if your dog needs a high fiber diet), Innova, and Wellness, Solid Gold, and Natural Balance.

[rannmiller]

Crap I completely forgot about Orijen! I love that stuff too!
Why shouldn't puppies have grain free?

[BoxerMommie]

Crap I completely forgot about Orijen! I love that stuff too!
Why shouldn't puppies have grain free?

Because as far as I am aware all say not suitable for puppies under 12 months. I believe the calcium ratio is too low or something along those lines. But I doubt a company would disclude a whole generation of dogs if it didn't have to for one reason or another. I know Wellness says that it isn't suitable for dogs under 12 months and I believe Evo does as well.

[RawFedDogs]

Because as far as I am aware all say not suitable for puppies under 12 months. I believe the calcium ratio is too low or something along those lines. But I doubt a company would disclude a whole generation of dogs if it didn't have to for one reason or another. I know Wellness says that it isn't suitable for dogs under 12 months and I believe Evo does as well.

No, EVO is great for puppies. The calcium amount is good. The protein is basically all animal based protein. The following is from their website.

"Animal feeding tests using AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Officials) procedures substantiate that EVO Dog Small Bites Dry Dog Food provides complete and balanced nutrition for all life stages."

Puppyhood is a life stage.

If I had to feed kibble to a puppy or dog, EVO would be it.

[LoveNewfies]

If I had to feed kibble to a puppy, it would be Orijen Puppy. The amount of calcium in EVO, and most of the grain free kibble on the market, is too high for puppies. Up until puppies reach a certain point in their development, they are not able to regulate how much calcium their body absorbs. When too much calcium is given, too much is absorbed, greatly increasing the risk of bone and joint problems.

[BabyHusky]

I was told the same thing regarding EVO. I was planning on putting my new pup on EVO along with the older dogs, but I was told that I should have her on reg Innova until she gets about 1 year, then slowly switch her.

[rannmiller]

If I had to feed kibble to a puppy, it would be Orijen Puppy.

I'm with you on that one! They even have a puppy formula, so I'm pretty sure it should be good for puppies. *shrug* my friend just switched her dog from raw back to kibble because she said it was too inconvenient with how much she traveled (whatever, I wasn't going to fight with her about it) so we did some research, narrowed it down between EVO and Orijen and decided to go with Orijin. I'll probably recommend she switch between the two every couple of months so her dog can get some variety, but yeah, Orijen. I like them both.

[DaneMama]

Watch out with this!!!

I have done excessive amounts of research on nutrition for large and giant breed dogs, considering that I have two Great Danes and one honorary Great Dane mix.

I have read, and heard, from many different sources that large and giant breed puppies should not be fed regular puppy food or any food that has high in nutrients. Any grainless food falls into this category. I am not saying that grainless is bad, its just not formulated right for large and giant breed puppies. Smaller breeds do not have to worry about this problem so much because they do not do as much growing. It is just too nutritious in plain english. Large and giant breed puppies cannot handle this overload of nutrients, vitamins and minerals.

If a excessively nutritious food is given to a large or giant breed puppy, there is a risk of certain bone disorders. There is some discrepency on what exactly causes bone disorders, such as hypertrophic osteodystrophy or HOD which is the most, but it definitely is linked to over nutrition. Some say that it is a deficiency in vitamin C and others say that it is too high in calcium, protein, and calories. HOD is a disorder that affects puppies 2-6 months of age and is characterized by swollen, painful joints occurring bilaterally, usually in the forelimbs as shown here.






Some say that this excess amount of nutrients makes them grow too quickly and therefore grow inappropriately. I have personally seen many dane puppies come into the RMGDRI and to my work with HOD, guess what they were being fed? Regular puppy food or a grainless food. Their owners thought that buying the most premium food on the line was the best, or that they just didn't know the risks involved with puppy food. There is some research that shows that puppy food in general is not really needed....

I am raising a litter of dane puppies as we speak and I have ever prospective home sign a contract that they will not feed their puppy a high protein, high nutrient food until they are at least a year old for this very reason. It is what I learned from my mentor, a Great Dane breeder with 30 years under her belt. She told me that a high quality, premium adult food is enough for a growing puppy, but it must be low in protein and phosphorus and what I mean by low is less than 25% protein.

Please do your research, information is really easy to find on the web....

My adult dogs are on EVO!!!