This is Lucy, aged 8 weeks and 4 days old, our first puppy. She has been home 48 hours and I think she is doing brilliantly! I have been reading the happy puppy handbook in preparation and reading lots on the forum, and so far so good. She had her vet check yesterday and had her first vaccination- she is little at just over 3kg but the nurse and vet were very happy with her. She is eating well, toileting well in the garden with just a couple of accidents and has been dry and clean in her crate overnight. The first night I slept next to her crate in the kitchen, then last night I sat with her until she settled then went to bed. I set my alarm for 3am, she was fast asleep but I took her outside for a wee. She settled until 5.30 when she whined and I let her out for another wee, then she settled back down until we all got up at 7am. She is a playful little thing but also very loving and calm. I carried her onto the school playground this morning where she was fussed over; she took it all in her stride and is now fast asleep! She is currently on beta puppy which I would like to change to a better quality food. I have been reading about orijen and would like to try this, but I have read that pups may grow too quickly? I assume I should feed her the larger breed puppy food even though she is on the small size? Have any of you used orijen for your pups and how do you find it? Many thanks, Helen
Hello, and welcome! What a sweetie! I feed Betsy on Orijen, switched her to it as soon as she came home. Orijen does a large breed puppy food, which is what I use. Orijen is higher in protein than a lot of other kibbles. I prefer to feed higher protein and lower carbohydrates. I do not see why my puppy would grow faster on a higher protein food, unless I over fed her - which I don't, of course. I like this article which gives a good summary, I think: http://ivcjournal.com/feeding-large-breed-puppies/
Thank you, that's very helpful. I think I will try the orijen and keep a close eye on her weight and growth. The nurse yesterday gave her a condition score of 5, so she's about where she should be, so just need to maintain that! How longer period would you transition the food for? The nurse yesterday recommended 3-4 days but this seemed quite quick to me?
That completely depends on the puppy. Some puppies are distressed at leaving Mum, and stress brings on runny poo and so on. The last thing you'd want to do with a pup like this is start switching foods. Betsy was fine, and seemed to be able to eat anything with no ill effects, so I switched foods quite quickly. She was fine. For my older dog though, who has a sensitive tum, I will introduce new protein sources much more slowly. Just swap out a bit of food for the new food at first and see what happens. If nothing, you might be able to continue the switch quite quickly. If it seems to upset the pup, take it very slowly.
Thanks, will try a little bit at a time and see how she goes. So far she has not appeared stressed and no loose stool. She really is a little cracker, though I am a little biased!
Sorry to bombard you with questions- Lucy has come to us on soaked food, is the Orijen OK to soak? Many thanks, Helen
You can soak Orijen, yes. Although there is really no point. One reason breeders soak food is that it's difficult for a puppy to eat the volume of dry food that some brands of kibble provide. Orijen is dense and heavy, and the volume fed is really quite small compared to other brands of kibble so you can just feed it dry. If your pup hesitates then by all means add a bit of water, but I've not found this necessary.
Yay!! She is adorable and looks so much like Nelly who I'm picking up in 8 days! We can exchange tips! Olivia x
Lucy is sooooo cute! All the above re food is spot on. I did old vs new food slowly when Cooper was a pup. You will see in a couple of days how Lucy adapts to the addition of new food. Orijen is an excellent food....expensive but no carbs or added fillers. I used to soak his food but stopped a long time ago.....unnecessary. You have a very exciting life ahead of you with Lucy. You will love this Forum.....will get answers to all your questions....lots of savvy people on it. Enjoy.....
Lucy is just too cute welcome from me and my boy Bailey. Bailey was on Beta when he first came to us - I kept him on the same feed for about a month or so as I thought he had had enough changes to cope with. We then swapped to another brand of food, which I did slowly, then he went off that one and I swapped to Taste of the Wild which he loves - that swap was done quickly by Bailey himself - he delicately picked out the Taste of the Wild food from his other one and only ate that! Good luck with beautiful Lucy - exciting times ahead
Lucy has been enjoying playing in the snow! She is doing very well- I have started slowly changing her food with no tummy upset so far. She is a very settled pup and is sleeping from 10.30pm until 6.30 am in her crate and is keeping it clean and dry- I can't quite believe it- keep waiting my for something to go wrong!
