Hi everyone - I wonder if I can pick your far more experienced minds? I picked up Brodie a week ago and we're all having fun getting to know each other. The breeder had her on Purina Beta Puppy, moistened with the addition of a spoon of mince, which I've continued. She's got increasingly less interested in the kibble and I've been using what she's left behind for training, which is no bad thing. Unfortunately she started to have diarrhoea and last night there was quite a bit of blood in it, so I took her to the vet, who diagnosed colitis. She's now on a 5 day course of antibiotics and on Royal Canin Sensitive wet food, which she LOVES! She has been wolfing it down with far more enthusiasm than she ever showed for the Beta. My question is (I had to get there eventually...!) is when I gradually start introducing kibble again, should I try a different brand, rather than sticking with the Beta? My vet advised to leave the mince behind and just concentrate on a kibble and as neither Brodie nor I are overly impressed with the Beta, is now the opportunity to swap? I was thinking of Canagan...any views or other suggestions VERY welcome please! Thanks so much!
If you want to switch to kibble maybe just stay with the Royal Canin in a kibble formula. It might make the transition go easier.
You have a lot of mis-assumptions to unpack here... I don't mean that nastily, just as a fact...! Puppies which are ill tend to go off their food. Just like people. Inappetence is a symptom of illness. So: Her going progressively off her food, and now (after medication) being suddenly into food again, may very well have absolutely nothing to do with what the food actually is, and everything to do with her being unwell. Does that mean you shouldn't change her food? Not necessarily, it just means that, if you are changing it because she doesn't like it, you may well be making a misassumption there. Putting aside the illness side of things: You need to think about how you are using food with your puppy, and how and whether you are teaching her to value it. Switching foods because your dog or puppy appears not to like the existing food, is 100% of the time not a good reason to switch foods. You will only teach her to refuse what you have first offered her, because you then produce something even better. You will be pandering to food fussiness and 'meeting' it and facilitating it - instead of combating it and preventing it. So, using food for training purposes is an excellent idea - but not using what she has left behind. That is like using food only once she has already eaten what she wants for free, and when she is not going to be that motivated by it - because she can get it for free and has already done so. Instead, train with the food BEFORE and INSTEAD of putting the bowl on the floor. If the pup walks away from the training or turns her nose up at it, then just stop training and tip the food back in the bag. Offer no more food until the next meal time, when again she gets an opportunity to earn it. Food motivation is hugely developed and shaped and created. Not something dogs are just born with. Whether you switch foods should not be decided on your dog and on what they like the taste of, or they will ultimately end up eating only delicately cooked veal, browned for 30 seconds on each side and then hand fed to them in small pieces....... (I kid you not at all, I have had clients create dogs like this. It is not catastrophising, it is reality.) Instead, whether to switch foods should be decided by looking at the ingredient list on foods, assessing the quality of the food and whether you feel it is a HEALTHY choice for your dog, nutritionally speaking. Personally, I feed raw and I believe this is the healthiest option. But, with puppies, I like to use Ziwipeak - it is air-dried raw and I can use it to train with, like a kibble, and thereby create a food motivated dog - it is hard to train, using raw food...
Thanks Jo - that's all really helpful and I really appreciate the time you have put into responding so thoroughly. I absolutely will take on your point about training before - makes perfect sense and something I will move to. I was under the misassumption that I had the only non-food motivated Lab in the world - I didn't realise it was something that was created, rather than pre-developed! I'm not a fan of her existing food from a nutritional point of view, so I saw the opportunity to move on to something healthier. I would like to feed raw but am going to struggle with the fridge/ freezer space needed. I probably need to do more research to see if it is something I can juggle. I'll definitely have a look at Ziwipeak. Thanks again for your time, Nicola
Ziwipeak is a great choice but at first will seem hideously expensive. It is actually not that expensive, because you feed far less of it than a kibble - it is really nutritionally dense with no fillers or carbs. My 21kg lab gets just over half a scoop (provided in the bag) per meal, when we use it. (It's great for travelling, if you feed raw - as raw is difficult to travel with.)
