What to feed my pup ?

Hi everyone, new to the forum, finally plucked up the courage to ask a question lol !

I got my puppy a few days ago & can't make my mind up what sort of food to give him. He's an 8 week old Boston Terrier. The breeder had him on standard mixer & canned butchers tripe but my vet said to get him onto a better diet.

I was thinking about dry food but as you know there are loads of different types out there ! I know it's all a matter of personal choice but I would value your opinions !

hi there and welcome.

i have parson russell terriers and i feed them on beta puppy/junior and adult it is a comlete food i have found they love it it is not dry like some foods it has like an oily feel to it. it comes in small bags or large sack.

i have noticed since mine have been on this there coat looks great and healthy and they seem much more content in them selves.

you could give that try most places sell it i get mine from P@H.

good luck and let us now how you get on.

just remeber that when changing a food over it must be done slow so they dont get an upset tummy, you have to add a little at a time and reduce the other food it takes about a week to do. good luck.

sam

Personally I would find one that does not have artificial additives. There are several to try such as Burns, JWB and Arden Grange. I use Arden Grange. It's also best to find a food you like and stick to it. Keeping chopping and changing can cause a fussy dog.
Becky

Puppies enjoy cereal sometimes too..porridge oats or weetabix is good for them. The pets at home own brand dry food doesn't contain additives and is a lot cheaper than some of the others. For tinned food I like Hi Life puppy.. again no additives just chicken and rice, but Pedigree tins no longer have colours or preservatives and I find vg. If he gets diarrheoa, give him boiled rice and chicken until his stools are firm again.

Can I just say whatever you are going to feed him on introduce it gradually as a change of diet even to a better one can result in the puppies digestion being upset. Personally I wouldn't change his diet for another week as he needs to be completely at home with you & his surroundings first. This will give you time to look locally & see what foods are available, check the ingredients for added chemicals etc then get a few samples of different ones & try them. Add a bit at a time of one until it is the bulk of what he is eatingi f he likes it , & is thriving on it then problem solved. If he doesn't do so well, try another.I personally use Royal Canine & swear by it but I've never had a boston & some foods & some problems with foods are breed specific.There is someone on here I think who has a boston hope they can help you more.

Hi there, congratulations on your new pup and welcome to Dogsey!

You might find this useful:
http://www.dogsey.com/showthread.php...ght=puppy+food

I started my puppy on the breeder's recommended kibble, which was Beta Puppy but very quickly began substituting cooked meats, rice and veg for meals. I now feed mainly raw but also some cooked meats.

In retrospect I would now cut the dry food asap and go straight to cooked and then onto cooked/raw but that is just my opinion.

There are some good wet foods around if you don't want to worry about cooking or handling raw, such as NaturesMenu and Nature Diet.

Also there is stuff such as tinned sardines in oil, tuna in oil, tinned salmon, etc.

choose a good puppy complete diet ie PURINA ,EUKANEBA ,SCIENCE PLAN ,they'e not cheap, but they're well balanced, and remember and worm him regularly , ask your vet for advice on this

Hi Debs and welcome to Dogsey.
If you have only had your puppy for a few days I would stick to the food the breeder had been feeding and wouldn't change anything just yet, give your puppy a couple if weeks to settle or too many new changes at one time could upset his tummy.

If you are intending to change your puppy from meat and mixer to a complete food this needs has to be done very gradually over a couple of weeks by substituting a little of mixed meal for the complete food. Remember complete food is dehydrated and your puppy will drink and urinate more until his body adjusts to it.

I personally prefer to feed fresh food to a puppies, if I was feeding 'complete' I would go for one of the small manufacturers like the brands Becky has suggested rather than a mass produced foods by one of the multinationals, their foods tend to be full of additives .

Added The companies mentioned above tend not to sell their foods in the large pet food shops, they all have websites where you can request samples and find the nearest stockist. Small local pet shops will be able to order these brands for you from the wholesaler.

Spent a week changing Rocky over to beta puppy but he's not impressed with it, he leaves most of it. If I mix something in with it ( scrambled egg, tuna, chicken etc ) he eats more but with him being a puppy I am not keen on upsetting the balance of the complete food. He obviously isn't enjoying it,
bit stuck now as to what to do.

What about mixing in some tinned puppy food over a week and then go on to tinned altogether. They don't all take to dried food. Mine didn't and I just had to change to something else as he refused to eat it. Also what he did eat gave him terrible wind!! If you are worried about the teeth aspect of feeding soft food you can get him plenty of chews for that)