When to start puppy on dog food??

Hi, i have a lab puppy of 6 weeks+/45-50 days old. I have been feeding him cerelac (which is a baby food) but started feeding him dog food pedigree professional range pup starter kit. He doesn't like its taste so i added a bit of boiled egg and hez enjoying it now.
Now the question comes is this the right age for starting him on dog food for all meals or its early??
Many of my friends are advising against it but my vet says i need to shift him from baby food to puppy food now - its my first pet so i have no experience so far and i love him so dearly just like my baby so dont want to make any mistakes. So need advice here please --
- when exactly to start dog food and how?
- which puppy food you people would suggest??
- when you started calcium, multivitamin, liver and digestive syrups??

 

Hi Ana, welcome to the forum. Since your pup is quite young, I don't feel comfortable trying to suggest anything - I think you should definitely follow the advice of your vet (if you trust her, and if you don't, then I'd suggest looking for a new vet and consulting them!) regarding how to do it. Others in the forum may have better advice - I've only ever had an 8 week old puppy who came to me on kibble already.

Regarding how to choose, it depends where you're located and what is available. One commercial puppy food is probably much like the other - if your pup does well on it, that's great, and otherwise you might need to work around seeing if he has any allergies, etc. For now, I'd choose something by looking at the frequency of recalls for that specific brand (in North America, anything manufactured in "Diamond" factories have a bad reputation for being recalled). I fed Maisie Acana, but then thought the claims they were making about it were kind of unsupported by science and I felt a bit taken in, as it's quite expensive and there's no real research saying it's much better than another kibble. She's been switched to turkey and salmon small bites Canadian Naturals, which also is a bit "holistic" and silly that way but she's doing very well on it (better poops) and it's about $10 cheaper for 2 lbs more, so that's good. So kind of decide based on ingredients/price/manufacturer but don't stress too much.

I've never given Maisie calcium, multivitamin, liver or digestive syrups. I don't think her breeder did either (or at least she didn't mention this to me?). Maisie gets a hip and joint supplement daily (Zukes brand, glucosamine and chondritin) because studies have shown it's not harmful and I think may be helpful. So why not, as she likes the treat.

Hope some of that was helpful!

 

Thanks maisiesmomma2 for your promt reply.
Yeah you are right i should follow the advice of Vet and i was doing this but few of my friends said no its too early and all and i got confused. Iam based in India and here people have a trend to feed their puppy human food in the starting months like milk bread chapatis etc which i dont think are made for dogs. So i dont want to go this way.
If your 8 week pup was on kibble already then this means he/she must have started on it a bit earlier around the age my pup is so i think feeding him dog food is ok but all the meals or just few meals is a question now.
Also earlier his poop was soft and moist but now after i started dog food it has become darker in color and harder and not moist at all--- is this ok???
And wheneven i take him in my lap i see his hair all over my clothes-- is this normal??
Im sorry m asking too many questions but i dont have anywhere else to go as of now as my vet is out of town for few days.
P.S.
And for the syrups- he dont like them at all and i have to force feed him the syrups -- any better way to do this so that he dont run away from them?

 

Hi Ana,

I appreciate that you are facing some challenges with your puppy but our forum policy is that members are not allowed to ask for advice on caring for underage puppies - that is, puppies under 7 weeks of age. A puppy of under 7 weeks is too young to leave its mother and littermates.

You can read the forum rules here. Here is a link to an article that explains the reason behind the forum policy.

I know that this will be difficult to hear but the best thing you can do for your puppy is to take him back to the breeder so that he can stay with his mother until 8 weeks of age. 8 weeks is the right age for a pup to leave its mother. if that is not possible then continue to seek the advice of your vet.