New Puppy- What brand of food to choose

katie

Hello! I am new here. We picked Ruger out (well he sort of picked us). But anyway, he is currently 4 weeks old and we get to bring him home April 15th, he will be about 9 weeks by then. I was wondering if anyone had any good suggestions on a particular brand of dog food. I know IAMS is good, but I want to hear what other Weim parents are feeding. Please let me know. THANKS Laughing

Phoenix1705 · Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 2:38 pm Post subject:

There are a lot of good posts out there to search through. My weims get 60% Raw and then for kibble they get Canidae Chicken and Rice formula.

Idaviruma · Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 6:03 pm Post subject:

Iams is not really good food, thats what they want you to believe, thats why they advertice it so much, cheap ingridients+lots of advertisement= profit. Instead focus on thinking of how dogs should eat, based on their ancestoral diets, primary carnivorous, with some grasses. Ideally I'd feed raw, but my dog turns his nose up at most of it, except beef and chicken, so I rotate between homecooked, grain free kibble, some canned and raw. The fact of the matter is that most foods sold at grocery stores are useless, they are mainly composed of corn which is a cheap source of protein, difficult for dogs to digest, often a source of allergies, then byproducts(things you wouldnt dream of eating yourself, parts of animals unused by humans, often diseased, or coming from decayed matter, no strict regulatation, often roadkill is used as well as euthanized shelter animals. Then a number of "fiber", which again, has little to no nutritional value, lots of dyes for appeal and of course toxic preservatives.

I'm actually majoring in nutrition and expand the same beliefs to all my pets. Another fact is that most dogs will do ok for the time being on grocery store kibble, I'd say for about 6-7 years, then it begins to take a toll, they slow down, stinky coat, shedding, eye discharge, scratching, couple years later, liver problems, then maybe cancer. The number of diseases in pet animals have increased drastically since the pet food has been introduced, most people are discoured to feed their dogs table scraps and instead stick to science diet, the truth of the matter is that youre better off feeding healthy table scraps like chicken, brown rice and cooked veggies then the garbage they put in bags and label as complete nutrition.
What most people will tell you is that they see huge difference when they switch their animals to higher quality feed, many health issues dissapear, especially allergies, the coats become soft and shiny and not to mention plenty of energy. I'm not saying good food will guarantee that your dog will live to be 20, but at least you're giving them a chance to thrive and be healthy, based solely on what you put in their bowl.

Research is the key, theres plenty of informaton but beware of people who push large name brands, I just stick with using common sense and its worked well for me and my pets.

Idaviruma · Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 6:03 pm Post subject:

I forgot the links
www.dogfoodanalysis.com

http://www.dogfoodproject.com/

wildlifecr13 · Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 7:10 pm Post subject:

we have ours on Canidae all life stages - there was a thread on here with input from people that have tried or are using this - i think 90% positive - we are very happy - zoe doesnt fart now!

weimdawgs · Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 7:19 pm Post subject:

I switched their kibble to Canidae all life stages, too. Except for Jake. He is on all Wellness Grain free now. I have to be careful even with what raw I feed him now. He is very sensitive now.

I like the Canidae for the youngsters though.

weimmom2 · Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 8:30 pm Post subject:

I started my weims on purina pro plan, which worked out great but we recently switched to canidae all life stages because it is a lot healthier and my weims love it and their coats are beautiful!!

jaegertheweim · Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 8:37 pm Post subject:

I can't buy Canidae here (I'm in Australia) so I feed Jaeger Eagle Pack Holistic Select Large & Giant Breed Puppy Food. He is doing extremely well on it and I'm very happy (we had some food issues int he past)

http://www.eaglepack.com/Pages/HS_LGPuppy.html

Have also fed Purina Bonnie and Purina Proplan large breed puppy before but didn't like how he was doing on those

katie · Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 8:39 pm Post subject:

katie · Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 8:42 pm Post subject:

weimdawgs · Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 8:56 pm Post subject:

Gunnar still farts... Puplexed

katie · Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 9:00 pm Post subject:

Sorry, but i have another question. Does Canidae have a type specifically for large breed puppies? Someone mentioned something for "all life stages" but i definatly want my pup to have everything he needs while he is growing so fast. Also i have read in a weim book that suggested giving all kinds of supplements to the dog like cottage cheese once a day, 1000mg of vit-C once a day and a whole list of other stuff????? Is this necessary? or are they saying this because most mass produced dog foods lack essential vitamins and nutriants? Like i said this will be our first puppy and want him to be the best he can be so we are prepared to do what it takes to keep him healthy and strong....since my boyfriend plans on training him to bird hunt and many other activities to keep him active. Thanks again everyone.

Phoenix1705 · Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 9:42 pm Post subject:

I personally would not go with a large breed formula. Yes, growing pups do need extra nutrients but I believe in supplementing that via other RAW food be it yogurt, veggies, raw meat and bones, etc.

jaegertheweim · Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 9:43 pm Post subject:

Phoenix1705 · Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 10:24 pm Post subject:

Actually Anne said it best in a post late last year, if you look at this thread: http://www.weimaraneraddict.com/discussion/my-1st-post-switch-to-adult-food-at-6-months-vt5336.html?highlight=breed

I think that one pretty much covers it for me. Smile

Saves me some typing time!