How soon to switch off from breeders' food brand?

Hi,
I will be getting our first puppy in three more weeks. He will be 8 weeks old by then. This will be our first dog so I've been reading and learning a lot.

I've been particularly interested in learning about dog nutrition, I've been reading food reviews and learning how to analyze dry food labels.

Eventhough I still have lots to learn, I've read enough to conclude that the food brand (Iams) that is being given to the puppy by the breeder is of average-to-low quality in terms of nutritional value.

I also know that it is important to keep the puppy on the same food as the one given to him by the breeder.

So my question is this:
When is it appropriate to begin transitioning my puppy from the breeders' brand to a healthier brand? (both are dry food)

Best regards

Hi Jorge and welcome to Dogsey I would give the puppy a couple of weeks to settle in first (because the stress of changing homes can upset a puppy's tummy ) then gradually substitute a little of the food the breeder recommended for the new food changing it completely over a number of days.

If it is a large breed, I suggest sticking to the puppy chow it is on to 4 months and switching to an all life stages food. Doing so slows growth allowing joints to develop under less stress. For the same reason, keep the puppy lean. Your dog definitely should be narrower at the waist than the hips and chest. You should be able to easily feel the ribs, but not see them. Each dog is different. Standard recommendations are a good place to start, but each dog must have its food and exercise adjusted to its individual needs.

As for Iams, it is about as good as anything. Let me assure you the service dog schools know a lot more about producing healthy dogs that anybody else. Iams may be the most widely used brand. The well educated, highly experienced professionals managing the programs don't buy the junk science and emotional appeals you commonly find. They have thousands of dogs to watch develop and follow through their entire life. The schools also have to replace the dogs when they are no longer healthy enough to work at the price of an automobile.

For different, more rational, science based view, read through http://www.woodhavenlabs.com/articles2.html#nutrition and http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2009/07/pet...trition-myths/

Others will disagree with my post, but they don't have a shred of scientific evidence to back their views. I don't bother to argue with them since presenting facts to those making emotionally based decisions.

Hi there Jorge

I agree with Minihaha's advice - this is pretty much the way I went about it when my dog was a puppy. Have lots of fun with your pup.



The information given below is not based on a any 'science' but is based on someone's opinion. It is perfectly fine to give an opinion but I do wish people wouldn't band the word 'science' about so loosely.

Labman:
For different, more rational, science based view, read through http://www.woodhavenlabs.com/articles2.html#nutrition and http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2009/07/pet...trition-myths/

Labman when quoting your sceptic vet you really should remember to tell people he belongs to a company called Regulatory Discretion, Inc., a consulting firm for the pet food, animal feed, supplement and related industries . He also writes for a pet food journal in the USA so is not not what I would call an independent adviser.

I can find many vets and articles stating that a lot of complete food is full of crap, this is born out by the hundreds of dogs who have died or become ill in the USA from eating pet food contaminated with toxic substances.

Fortunately Dogsey members are intelligent enough to realise that what goes into a dog's food affects its health and well being and they wisely check the food ingredient.


Here is some information on pet food ingredients

http://www.acreaturecomfort.com/truthaboutpetfood.htm


http://leda.law.harvard.edu/leda/dat...Patrick06.html

Thank you all for your comments, including the off topics ones since they forced me to read more and learn on the subject.

Labman: I agree with you in the fact that there is a lot of emotional issues surrounding this topic. On the other hand, I do believe that there are some brands that are better than others.

The fact that the service schools use one particular brand to feed thousands of dogs, only says that these guys find such brand adecuate for THEIR purpose, nothing else.

For example, it would be a mistake (in my opinion) to conclude that nuggets and french fries are healthy food to feed your ONE AND ONLY CHILD just because public schools feed thousands of children with nuggets and fries.

The school's objective is to proveide meals within an certain budget and nuggets and fries are a very cost effective way to accomplish this... it serves THIER purpose adecuately. The fact that schools feed thousands of children without them becoming ill by consuming said foods does not make the schools nutricion experts, much less an example to follow at home.

Back to the off topic,

I for one, still would like to see a long term, scientific and statistically relevant studies comparing diets from two litter mates; one fed with brand A, one with brand B and why not, a third fed with the "ideal" price-no-object, home made, breed specific recipe. And then compare the results.

One other thing, I acknowledge the fact the breeder of my puppy knows much, much more about the adecuate diet of her puppies than what I will ever learn by reading on the internet.

Having said that, there might be better brands out there not readily available to my breeder for logistics, practical or economic reasons.

Anyway thank you all and please comment.

I got my pup on a Friday and started to wean him off the breeders food (Beta Puppy) on the Monday.

He took to it really well, and within a few days he was completely off his breeders food and onto Fish4Dogs puppy food, which he loves.

First, I agree that service dog trainers probably are highly knowledgeable about the best dog food... for THEIR dogs. Remember, these are usually certain breeds - larger with different potential health problems, ie: hip dysplasia. Not all dogs face the same health issues or have the same demands put on them.

In my opinion, the best person to ask about proper nutrition for your specific puppy is your vet. Thereafter, make sure the sources that provide you with scientific facts are not likely to be biased in their opinions and research.

As far as transitioning your puppy from one food brand to another, generally you begin swapping out some of his regular food with the new food. This is usually done in thirds. Within a week or so, your dog should be able to easily switch over to the new food.

And yes, wait a week or so until he gets accustomed to his new home. You don't want to make too many changes to his life all at once. Give him time to adapt to them at his own pace.

From my experience, however, my dogs soon transition to their new home within 3-5 days. As far as food changes go, I've never had a problem simply swapping out all at once.

We tend to put our own taste issues on our dogs, when in fact they could care less as long as it doesn't taste or smell rotten and that it satisfies their hunger.

Sylvia

my pups came with beta dry food....and i am giving them pedigree puppy with beta...is beta a good food? xxx

Are you the one that brought this up in another thread? As I said there, likely the Beta is as good as the Pedigree, and I see no reaso to switch. I guess if the Beta is outragusly exoensive or hard to find, you could switch.

The suggestion in the one post about ''scientific information'' brought a smile to my face. I find most of the people discussing dog food on the net have no use for science.

I found this very interesting, http://www.dogfoodscoop.com/evo-dog-food.html They are lowering the rating of a dog food just because P&G bought them out. Sounds more political than scientific to me.