Puppy Food

corbinam

corbinam

Moderator
Realized yesterday that I know a lot about dog food (I think?) but not a lot about puppy food.

So here are my questions:

What do you feed? Why do you feed it?

Is high protein okay (in your mind) for a puppy?

Grains for puppy--yay or nay?

Puppy food vs. all life stages. Does it matter? What's the difference?


Enzo is currently on Life's Abundance (all life stages, 26% protein, chicken as the protein) and I'm not loving how he's doing on it. He poops a lot, and it's mostly soft-ish. Also, our vet said he wasn't producing a lot of good flora and sometimes they look to changing diet if that happens.
 
Looking forward to the replies - trying to decide what to feed my new guy when we bring him home. Growing up it was a no-brainer: puppies got Purina Puppy Chow. Things are a bit different today...
 
well, 3 puppies later.....
back in the day (2010), Cranberry came with TOTW- at that point, marketed as an all life stages food. He stayed on that until the big Diamond problems....

Jocu came on Pro Plan- can't remember the exact formula now.... but I switched him to Halo Puppy food maybe 2-3 months after I got him.

Destin came on Blue Buffalo Longevity and stayed on that until maybe 10 months when I switched him to whatever the big dogs were eating. Coincidentally, about the same time that Blue stopped making Longevity......

kinda glad that I don't have to find a puppy food at the moment.......
 
I am going with Acana Ranchlands. If the shepherd and the sheltie tolerate it just fine, the puppy will do just fine on it.

That's going to be my final answer. I hope.
 
Puppy's benefit from higher fat and higher protein diet. I'm not a fan of all life stage diets.

And I think all dogs do well on a grain free diet. But any high quality diet is fine too. I do think the grain free results in better processing...less bulky stool and less diarrhea. Do check fibre content. I think 6% is a good number, if I remember right

For Shelties, some of the grain frees are too high in protein to my liking, but that is a personal bias I like to keep it under 30%. I like TOTW and Now! Because it is moderate. Wellness Core is as well, as I recall.

I'm not a fan of all life stage food. Different ages have different needs.

So final answer....I would go with a puppy food at least till 10 months.
 
I feed my girls Fromm Grain Free and have been very happy with the results. I started out not thrilled with it, but it has grown on me and my girls currently are doing great with it.

If at some point I find myself in a position that I would need a puppy food, I would go with the Fromm Puppy Gold :wink2:
 
I am definitely liking the looks of Fromm Puppy, but also have found Solid Gold Hundchen Flocken Puppy that looks good.

I like the Solid Gold one because there isn't any chicken in it.

I guess the trouble is that I have no idea what is making Enzo's poops abundant (:ick) and soft.

Is it the fiber? Both are low ~3.5%
Is it the protein? The food he is on now is all chicken. Fromm is duck and chicken, Solid Gold is lamb and fish.
Is it the grains? I have yet to find a puppy food (not all life stages) that is Grain Free.
 
I couldn't find a Fromm recipe that fit the shepherd or I would have that as a contender.

Solid Gold was recommended to me eeooonnns ago. That was before all the auto ship and it was really hard to find locally.

I have not had any time since 2002 that I have not had one dog intolerant to chicken. Sigh.
 
corbinam said:
I am definitely liking the looks of Fromm Puppy, but also have found Solid Gold Hundchen Flocken Puppy that looks good.

I like the Solid Gold one because there isn't any chicken in it.

I guess the trouble is that I have no idea what is making Enzo's poops abundant (:ick) and soft.

Is it the fiber? Both are low ~3.5%
Is it the protein? The food he is on now is all chicken. Fromm is duck and chicken, Solid Gold is lamb and fish.
Is it the grains? I have yet to find a puppy food (not all life stages) that is Grain Free.
Click to expand...

I am wanting something I can get at PetCo, so leaning towards Solid Gold. But since I'm switching Toby to Canidae maybe I should feed the new pup their formula?
 
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