# Puppy Food



## JasonB (Aug 21, 2015)

Hello! I am new to the forum and this is my first post. I have a 3 1/2 month old golden and I am looking to change his food. He is currently eating Purina Puppy chow, but I am looking to go in the direction of something more natural with real meat/better protein to fat ratios/ etc. Merricks puppy formula was recommended to me. Does anyone have any suggestions or reviews on what foods worked best for their puppies? Thanks! - Jason & Tito


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## Charlotte'smom (May 22, 2014)

Welcome! I have had great success and have been very happy with the Fromm line of foods, most specifically the Gold Line. Whatever you choose to change to I find that a very slow transition always works best. Good luck!


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## Cpc1972 (Feb 23, 2015)

What about a large breed puppy food. Purina pro plan or nutro are both readily available at pet smart.


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## JasonB (Aug 21, 2015)

Hello all! I am new to the forum and have a 3 1/2 month old golden. He is currently on Purina Puppy Chow but I am looking to transition him to another food ASAP. The Fromm gold line was suggested to me. Fromm has a puppy formula. Does anyone have any experience with the Fromm Gold Puppy? At what age should you transition the pup to a large breed formula? Thank you!


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## WiggumsMom (Aug 4, 2015)

We feed Orijen Large Breed Puppy to our 5 month old. He does great on it.

However, I do know a lot of people on this forum have expressed that this food can be a bit too rich for a lot of puppies, and they end up having issues with their stool.

If we didn't feed Orijen, we would be feeding Fromm.


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## JasonB (Aug 21, 2015)

It looks like I am going to be leaning towards Fromm. Thank you for the suggestions!


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## Melfice (Aug 4, 2012)

Yeah my pups were raised on Fromm's Large Breed Puppy food. They did great and I really like the brand. I still feed Fromm to my dogs today too. 

Very good company and product btw


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## jnjmc (Mar 31, 2015)

I switched Charlie to Orijen Large Puppy when we brought him home from the breeder (who fed Pro Plan). I've been focusing on slow growth and chart his weight, which has shown almost perfectly linear growth. He's lean with obvious muscle definition, has a beautiful shiny coat, and poops like a champ!  He also seems to love it so we can use it as training treats as well. He's now almost 5 months and I am starting the transition over to all life stages Orijen Regional Red.


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## Melfice (Aug 4, 2012)

JasonB said:


> It looks like I am going to be leaning towards Fromm. Thank you for the suggestions!


Fromm is a great dog food, and your pup should do well on it


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## JimboGG (Jul 15, 2015)

I'm currently feeding my 4 month old puppy Orijen Puppy Large Breed. He has solid stools and is a good weight. I feed him 3 times a day meanwhile following the guidelines on the side of the bag. I know Orijen offers a frequency program that states that when you purchase your 12th bag the 13th is free. I order mine online and they keep track of the number of bag I purchased for me. 
Some sites give discounts (like 5%) if it is a auto-ship order.


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## JimboGG (Jul 15, 2015)

jnjmc said:


> I switched Charlie to Orijen Large Puppy when we brought him home from the breeder (who fed Pro Plan). I've been focusing on slow growth and chart his weight, which has shown almost perfectly linear growth. He's lean with obvious muscle definition, has a beautiful shiny coat, and poops like a champ!  He also seems to love it so we can use it as training treats as well. He's now almost 5 months and I am starting the transition over to all life stages Orijen Regional Red.


I'm sure Orijens Adult food is okay for all life stages. Someone on the forum contacted Orijen to see whent he best time to switch was. Here was their response:


92GTA said:


> *EDIT: *Here is the official response from Orijen:
> 
> Hello Alex,
> 
> ...


I plan of feeding Jax all the flavors on a rotational diet between the Orijen flavors. I emailed Orijen and this is what they said:

"Feeding a rotational diet with any of our different formulas is a wonderful idea and often something that we will suggest. Changing up the formulas prevents your dog from getting tired of eating the same thing. There’s really no right or wrong way to feed a rotational diet. Most people choose to do this by the bag, so when they have finished one formula for the next bag you would purchase a different one. That keeps it simple. The first couple times you do it I would mix the food 50/50 just to make sure everything is okay. After that you should be able to change at will. You can change the flavours at each meal, or change the flavours every four months. It really doesn’t matter how you do it, it is very healthy for your dog to be eating a variety of proteins!

I hope this information is helpful. If you do have any other questions or I can be of further assistance please do write back.

Warm Regards,

Ruth 
Customer Care
Champion Petfoods LP"


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## anamcouto (Aug 15, 2015)

*Also on Orijen large puppy*

We also changed Ella to Orijen Large Puppy, she came from the pet shop with huge food bag of unknown Chinese dog food, because at that time we were in the midest of changing apartments I decided to feed her from that bag until the end so that it was one less thing for her to adapt to in the first weeks.
Then we changed to Royal Canin medium size breed and Hills puppy until we managed to order Royal Canin Large Puppy we are now very slowly transitioning to Orijen Large Puppy. One thing is granted, the size of her stools have been decreasing with each "upgrade" on the food quality.

I've been trying to increase slowly the quality of her food, the level of protein, lower the fat and increase the quality of the protein origin.
Not sure if we are on the right track yet because of an injury she suffered (anti-inflammatory is making her have soft stools and very little appetite but hope to figure it out this week)

The food issue is so hard to get right, so much information and so little knowledge.


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## Tigger's Dad (May 10, 2015)

Tigger is on Taste of the Wild salmon formula. He does great


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## msheidiann (Jul 17, 2015)

I am debating on which food to feed our pup when we bring her home in November. The breeder mentioned Royal Canin large breed puppy, but some recent reviews on amazon indicate a change in ingredients (not for the better). Has anyone heard that?

Other options for me are Fromm and Origen. Opinions?


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## Cpc1972 (Feb 23, 2015)

msheidiann said:


> I am debating on which food to feed our pup when we bring her home in November. The breeder mentioned Royal Canin large breed puppy, but some recent reviews on amazon indicate a change in ingredients (not for the better). Has anyone heard that?
> 
> Other options for me are Fromm and Origen. Opinions?


Your going to get a lot of opinions on dog food. Because some dogs do well on a food while others do not. It doesn't mean it is a bad food. Just means pups are different. Some pups don't do well on some of the best foods out there like Origen. Just find a good food your pup does well on and is within your budget. That is usually the food that is best for your pup.


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## SunnynSey (Jan 17, 2015)

I had a good experience when feed Royal Canin Maxi puppy, but have to admit I changed them over to Proplan after 1 year of age. I know a lot of people prefer to feed adult food vs. puppy food when they get homes, but I would recommend you keep the puppy on the same food the breeder sends you home with for at least a month or two and then do a very gradual switch to the food you decide on.


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## msheidiann (Jul 17, 2015)

Thanks!!I appreciate the feedback.


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## anamcouto (Aug 15, 2015)

*The ultimate challenge: what to feed our puppies?*



msheidiann said:


> I am debating on which food to feed our pup when we bring her home in November. The breeder mentioned Royal Canin large breed puppy, but some recent reviews on amazon indicate a change in ingredients (not for the better). Has anyone heard that?
> 
> Other options for me are Fromm and Origen. Opinions?


Do some research about the most popular foods around here, pro plan, Royal Canin, Hills all have a lot of by products and carbs = lower protein levels
Orijen, Acana, Now, Go, Horizon, Pulsar are all rich on proteins levels and much lower on carbs, made out of whole prey not meat by products, no gmo, less chemicals or non at all.
I believe I wrote in order of which has more protein which coincides also with the price. Orijen seems to be the most expensive brand in the market.

Consider that higher carbs levels seems to be linked with allergies now so common in Goldens's and that years ago were not so much, also related with other problems such as cancer according to a lot of the most recent studies. 

Consider also that these are hunting dogs, think what they would be eating if out there.

Ultimately is your dog that will decide, note that when changing to a higher protein level food your dog will have more energy, and will go trough a "purge" of his system so you can expect running eyes for a couple of days, loose stools even if you do the smooth transition of food, all seem bad signs right? Give it 1-2 more weeks and you will see the difference of a more active dog even with less amount of food, skinnier coat without washing just brushing.
Orijen for example advises different amounts of food for active dogs and couch potatoes, interesting right (more info than most brands)?!

I feed Ella (6 1/2months) Orijen (large breed puppie and six fish) I would love to try Acana because is slightly less rich in protein and a bit cheaper but haven't found it yet in Macao.
In the end my baby girl is not hunting the entire day chasing ducks but I still want the best I can get for her.

Final note, my dog comes from an unreputable breeder and we live in a place where anything you can think you need for such a big dog is almost impossible to find, we have super high rate of parvovirus and other similar diseases. I can tell you I'm not the most careful person when exposing my dog to the exterior world however I can tell you also that compared to neighbors my dog only had to go once to the vet because of a small paw infection result of a micro cut on her paw right after we got her, the vet thinks it happen just before she came to our house. She never had any ear problems or skin problems and she swims in the river that comes from China, as you can imagine is not super clean for sure.

I believe if you feed them right although is more expensive it will save on the vet bills:crossfing


PS - You should consider also what kind of treats you give to your pup, I'm getting shocked with my findings when researching, most of the treats seem to be packed with really bad chemicals, or really poor quality meat by products. What's the point of investing on good food if them we spoil them with junk food:doh:
This is also a note to self, I'm now trying to find the good snacks (for the time being apples and carrots seems to be the wisest choice together with the occasional peanut butter)


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