I feel like im asking question after question at the moment but im slightly concerned around Thors food. He has been on wainwrights since we had him (four week, and was transitioned from acana (i think)). He was eating ok until we tried him with the duck version and he really didnt like it. Ever since he has been off his food, still eating but proably 200-250g instead of the minimum 300g he should be having. I asked our dog walker if she could recommend anything and she said the only one she recommends is royal canin. Ive had a look and we can get this close to home. Price wise, wainwrights when the offer is on (every other month) would cost 75p per day and he will eat if we mix some yoghurt in with it but i am wary of doing this too often and have only done it twice. Could this also be the reason that he is off his food? Because hes had a taste of it with yoghurt? The royal canin would price up at around £2 per day and i am sure i have heard good things. Basically any anecdotal advice from anyone? My partner is wanting to keep on the wainwrights to see if its just the taste he is trying to trust again, but im not so sure and dont want him to lose weight/not put it on at the rate he should be.
Bailey is a fussy eater - of kibble that is...human food however!! We've been through several different foods and at the moment Bailey likes Taste of the Wild (fish one). He has also never been a guzzler of food, more a grazer, but put a bit of grated cheese, bits of chicken or anything else in his bowl under his kibble and magically the kibble is scoffed in one sitting! We watch what we put in and it is an occasional treat rather than at all times, but I've found he will eat just plain kibble eventually....sounds harsh and breaks my heart at times, but I want a fit and active dog not an overweight one so have to be strict sometimes
We, too, are on Taste of the Wild Seafood - the puppy one. We had such trouble with her digestive system for the first few months and this one totally agrees with her. We'll switch to the adult version when she is a little older.
One question - i am going to get a new pup in Jan. The breeder uses a puppy food which from what I read is not very high quality and I recon I should change it. So can I change it immediately or should I buy a small packet of the food that breeder is using and change it over a period of time - say 4-5 days - by mixing old with new.
Our breeder sent us home with a puppy pack which included a small bag of the food she was using. Later we learned it was sponsored by the food manufacturer - it didn't cost her anything. You could ask your breeder if she has a similar setup.
You should keep feeding the food your puppy is on for at least a couple of weeks. I want to change my pup's food, too, but will use up the bag the breeder sent me home with first. Then, to avoid upset tummies, you should change it over a period of 7-10 days.
The first thing to do when considering changing food is look on the back of the packets! So many times on the forum I read someone is feeding X, has read it's poor quality, so is going to switch to Y. Often, out of interest (and because I'm me, I suppose ) I look up the two foods and see there is basically no difference! Poster usually switches then is very much happier with the new food..... I like some Royal Canin foods. They do many, many, many different types - so it's not possible to give you one view on 'Royal Canin'. One of the reasons I particularly like the range is because I have a dog with a sensitive tummy, and I can always find a formulation that suits him from Royal Canin and I like their research programmes. Absence that reason, I don't feed Royal Canin. My new Puppy is on Orijen. Which is horrifically expensive but suits her very well.
I'm switching away from RC for Luna, because I don't like how vague their ingredients list is in this particular food ("animal fat", "animal protein (hydrolyzed)" - what animals?) and they weren't able to answer my questions. She's enjoying it and seems to be thriving on it, but I would prefer to have her on a single protein source food so that, if there is ever a future problem which may have dietary roots, it's easy to switch out to something with a completely different set of ingredients to rule the food in or out as the source of the problem. Of course, there may never be any problems, but with a good variety of single protein/carbohydrate foods out there, I'm sure I'll find one that suits her