hi all! I am new to this forum as i'm about to become the mother to a beautiful Fox Red baby girl (in 13 days but who's counting??) My boyfriend and I are first time dog owners (I grew up with labs in my family, he has never had a family dog) but this is my first dog that won't be my parents first. I have gotten everything ready for her except for her food. She is currently being fed Diamond puppy food- does anyone have yay or nays on this? I am going to switch her over to organic food probably somewhere down the line but I'm wondering if I should continue to feed her what she's been eating as not to mess up her little tummy? Thanks all and I'm so excited to be here, I'm a nervous wreck that I'm going to mess something up! Kate
Hi and welcome Your breeder should give you some food when you bring her home. You should definitely keep her on that food for at least a couple of weeks while she settles in. When you want to switch, do it slowly, over ten days to two weeks, to reduce the chance of tummy upsets.
Hi and welcome from me and my fox red boy Bailey. Exciting times for you! As @snowbunny says when you do swap food make sure you do it slowly and only once pup has settled in. Oh my you will have a busy Christmas with a new pup in the house! Enjoy
Okay, thank you so much! I don't mind buying it but I will probably just start her off on that and then once that bag starts to run low I will begin the switch. Should I mix them together? do you know what the ratio should be? I appreciate your expertise!
welcome to the forum! A change of food over 7 to 10 days would be reasonable. I think I did it over 2 weeks. No hard and fast rule - something like 1/4 new to 3/4 old for one meal, then two then three meals, then 1/2 new to 1/2 old etc. Slow it down if you notice any poop changes, but that should be slow enough. jac
My vets advice on changing food was:- Day 1 and 2 75% old and 25% new Day 3 and 4 50% and 50% Day 5 and day 6 25% old and 75% new Day 7 100% new food Following this advice I've never exorienced problems with a food change and still follow the routine for diet change with older dogs.
Okay thank you both @Jojo83 @drjs@5 I will try it out and keep an eye on her poops. Also, here is a pic of her and her siblings- I am not sure which one we have yet (the breeder keeps one, so she gets first choice and will choose which female she keeps and we get her second choice). She is helping to pick one out that is best for our lifestyle (we both work full time but I have an adjusted schedule, 11:30am-8pm) so I am able to be with her in the morning. I am slightly worried about leaving her during the day, even for a few hours. I would love to be able to take work off but I cannot at this time and am worried she will be scared without me or my boyfriend around. We plan to leave her alone for no more than 3 hours at a time, which I'm guessing she will sleep anyway... Anyone have experience with this? I will be posting this in a different forum as well but thought I would ask you all first! @snowbunny @Samantha Jones
Are you leaving her on her own from the start? Is there anyone that can pop in and play with her and take her out? At such a young age when toilet training them you really need to take them out after every meal, every playtime, every sleep - yes puppies sleep a lot - I was lucky in that when Bailey was tiny I could take him to work with me and my OH took early retirement just before we got him - so he was never left on his own to begin with. We then built up time that Bailey was alone - literally from a few minutes (him in one room and us in another room) to now we can leave him for four or five hours lounging on our bed - but he is nearly 22 months now (I hate saying nearly 2 years old - time has gone so very fast!). About three weeks after Bailey arrived we had a previous engagement that involved us being out all night - so my sister looked after him for the night and we have only left him overnight with her once (it is an annual event that we attend that involves an overnight stay). Have a read of this on the main site https://www.thelabradorsite.com/combining-a-labrador-puppy-with-full-time-work/ lots of useful tips for you there. Good luck x
