# What food did you feed your pup!?



## Adrienne.g (May 15, 2016)

What i meant was are foods with high protein too rich for pups?


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## Ffcmm (May 4, 2016)

My 5 month old puppy is on wellness large breed puppy! I think the protein percentage of that is 26%


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## Adrienne.g (May 15, 2016)

Do you feed grain free?


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## GoldenRetrieversAlberta (Dec 15, 2014)

We will be feeding a raw diet to our pup. I've heard good things about orijien and Acana, though.


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## Sweet Girl (Jun 10, 2010)

I am a big fan of Pro Plan. It is not too rich at all - and has balanced nutrition. Many people who compete and breed their dogs use it. My dog has thrived on it. She ate Large Breed Puppy, and now is on Adult Chicken and Rice (which is Sport 26/16 in the US).


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## Adrienne.g (May 15, 2016)

So i went today and bought wellness at petsmart thats all they had along those lines. Very limited selection i may go to another store to try orijen or acana but i will update how this goes. I almost bought pro plan!! I fed my first pup this and she did great but when i did look up the ingredients it just seemed to be a not so good food.


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## ArchersMom (May 22, 2013)

Which Fromm was the breeder feeding? My youngest puppy has eaten Fromm her entire life and done wonderful on it. She ate the Gold Large breed puppy formula. Whichever food you choose, make sure you transition over slowly over the course of a few weeks. You don't want to cause her tummy stress on top of the stress of being in a new home.


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## eheinricher (Feb 27, 2016)

My 15 week old has a very sensitive stomach. After a couple of bad choices we ended up with Acana Lamb and Appple. She loves it. She has nice solid output ... finally. The woman who recommended the food said it is her go-to food for golden pups with sensitive stomachs. Good luck!


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## LUCKYme (Mar 29, 2015)

Many people have misconceptions of Purina but it is one of the very few dog foods on the market that have lifelong studies. Meaning they know how their products will effect dogs over their lifespan. Other foods that have the resources to compile this information include Science Diet and Royal Canine. With that being said, I feed Taste of the Wild which works great for my dog. All dogs are different so it is important that you work with your vet to find the right product for your specific dog  Congrats on your new puppy!


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## Swampcollie (Sep 6, 2007)

Adrienne.g said:


> Soo i am finally picking up my puppy in 3 days, and i have been on the internet obsessing about food that would be good for her. Shes an english golden creme retriever and my breeder had her on fromm but all the puppies got diarrhea so she switched i will ask her what shes feeding them tomorrow but im just wondering if foods like fromm are too rich for puppies? I am interested in canidae orijen or acana. But im wondering if i should feed her something with a little less protein like pro plan? I've just heard horror stories about purina. What do you guys think is good for golden pups? What worked for you?



I would not be too quick to change foods. Stay with the food the pup is used to eating. Moving to a new home is difficult enough as it is, don't add a food change too.

Having bred Goldens now for more than three decades, I can tell you that the "grain free" and "ultra premium" diets are far more trouble than they're worth. Don't go there unless your Vet has told you there is a specific need to do so. Your pup will be far happier with a consistent diet. 

When you hear people speak of horror stories or bash "Purina", you need to pin them down a bit and get them to be a little more specific. Nestle Purina makes over 400 different formulas (and several brand names) of Dog food alone, not to mention all the other diets for different animals like cats, rabbits, monkeys, gerbils, etc. There are millions of animals that are fed products from Nestle Purina every day and the vast majority do very well.

Nestle Purina, Iams/Eukanuba, Nutro, as well as many other companies make lots of different products. Some are very good, some not so much. You won't know how your dog will do with any of them until they try one for a couple of months. 
Don't fall for the ingredient panel "rating game". The only meaningful way to rate the quality of a food is to measure the "Results" it delivers when it's fed to a real living dog over a significant length of time (years).


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## Cpc1972 (Feb 23, 2015)

We feed proplan. Remember this is not a grocery store food. It is purina high end dog food. Nutro is also a good food. Our pup for some reason was itchy on it. But out first golden did great on it. Chloes coat is so soft and shiny on proplan.


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## Ljilly28 (Jan 22, 2008)

Fromm Puppy Gold Large Breed


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

> I would not be too quick to change foods. Stay with the food the pup is used to eating. Moving to a new home is difficult enough as it is, don't add a food change too.


^ This.

Regardless of what the breeder feeds the dogs, really make sure that you are not switching too fast to something else with a very young puppy. Wait until they are older and wean him onto the other food. 

My Jacks - I got a big bag of dog food from the breeder when I picked him up. I have NO IDEA what this food was at this point, other than it came in a black bag and had to be special ordered as it wasn't sold in stores. 

The nice thing about this arrangement though was by the time I got down to the bottom quarter of the bag - it was a good time (he was 4-5 months old) to switch him to my preferred food at the time. At that time, all my dogs were eating Nutro brand products. 

Jacks never got sick.

Bertie - the breeder gave me a small bag of PP puppy food to tide me over until I picked up another bag of the same (or if I wanted to wean to something else). I decided to keep him on the same food until he was 4-5 months old, since that worked with Jacks. I switched him to adult food, but kept him on a mixture of Nutro Ultra or Merrick (whatever I was feeding Jacks, I bought different bags of food depending on what was on sale or my mood when shopping) and PP Performance for the next 2 years. 

And no diarrhea, vomiting or anything for him. So again, it worked waiting until later to introduce anything different.

Grain free stuff - I don't have a problem with it, but not convinced it's the best for coats. My guys have good coats, but they look better when feeding regular kibble. I sometimes feed a mixture of grain free and regular kibble.


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## Ffcmm (May 4, 2016)

Make sure you switch slowly  my puppy was originally on ekunaba lamb and rice puppy, and I switched over a week to wellness large breed- that still wasn't enough and she had soft stools for about 5 days. 

Had a bit of blood once too so I was all worried, got probiotics and she was significantly better. 

Her poops are to this date, good looking firm poops! Much better than they were when she was still on ekunaba by her breeder. 

Good luck  I love how she is on wellness! I personally Wouldn't change food too often as it's probably traumatic on their puppy digestion.


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## Adrienne.g (May 15, 2016)

Well shoot! Lol i asked my breeder what food she is feeding her and i didnt get a response till yesterday.. so she is on canidae and i get her in 2 hours do you think i should run down and try to swich to her current food really fast? She didnt say which fromm she had them on. Thank you! And i figuredfigured grains wouldnt hurt i hear that yes dog ancestoral diet was mostly meat but as weve bred them their diets have changed i dont see harm in grains as long as most of their diet is meat.


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## golfgal (Dec 31, 2013)

Food is a funny thing. I'm familiar with Proplan as that's what the service dog orgs use. Great coats, healthy dogs, etc. Everyone told me it wasn't great food and there was better food out there. Current puppy Ranger was on Merrick but rescue was concerned as he didn't eat most of it. Was given some for when I took him home. Lots of people I know highly recommended Nutrience so I was going to try that since Merrick isn't that easy to get here. Wasn't eating Merrick (looked like rabbit food honestly). Wanted what Murphy was eating. Started transition to Nutrience but still had to coax to finish food. 

Offered Merrick and Nutrience and scarfed down Nutrience so that seemed a go. Thought great, he's eating, first hurdle solved. Didn't quite have diarrhea but was never solid. Couldn't believe how much would come out of this puppy. And the gas from Nutrience. Wow. Room clearing. 

Started adding in Murphy's Proplan (only had adult on hand), instant improvement in stools. Still scarfing down food. Got Large Breed Proplan Puppy the next day. Regular schedule and good stools. 

Have to say whatever people say about Proplan, can't argue with the results. Murphy always got complimented on his coat and how handsome he looked. Other guide dog puppies I was around, same thing. Lots of breeders use it so I figure it can't be that horrible. IMHO.


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## Kalhayd (May 4, 2016)

Our breeder has our puppy on Eukenuba, too. We bought that & Purina Pro large breed. Per reading this thread we will keep her on the Eukenuba for awhile and slowly transition her to the PP


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## Adrienne.g (May 15, 2016)

Soo i brought her home last night!!  i ran to the store right before i got her to a private owned food store looking for canidae he didnt have it but he did have acana and orijen and i got acana!  even though thats not the food she was eating her stools are great! Now the kibble is pretty big for her right now should i cut it or soften it?

Here she is! Her name is roxy and shes seven weeks old!


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## Adrienne.g (May 15, 2016)

It wont let me post a picture! I will post one later


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## Adrienne.g (May 15, 2016)

Love this girl! Shes so sweet and so calm ive never met a puppy so behaved! She is playful of course though


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

How old is she?


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## novamae (May 20, 2016)

I would definitely recommend Orijen. In my opinion it's the best one out there but it also depends on your dog. My golden is a year old and I've had him on 3 different brands and orijen worked the best for him. His coat is the shiniest it's ever been and he loves the taste! I had him on blue which gave him really bad dandruff but now that I've switched he has no dry skin. It is quite pricey but the way I look at it is if you buy quality food it will most likely prevent future health issues. 

Good luck with your new pup!  Here is mine


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## novamae (May 20, 2016)

Just saw the pictures of Roxie she is SO cute!!!


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## Adrienne.g (May 15, 2016)

She is a cutie! She's seven weeks old. My breeder dedided to do it at 7 weeks, because at 8-12 weeks they are said to be in their fear stage and anything that happens in this period can last. Which i agreee with she is so confident! Not timid at all, a little too confident! Lol shes always jumping off anything that she can! I may try orijen, she eats but not a lot of her food.


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## JimboGG (Jul 15, 2015)

I'm feeding Jax, Orijen large breed puppy an we love it. He's been doing great on it since week 11, now he's a year and two months. Keep in mind Orijen and Acana just opened a new plant in Kentucy and will have new formulas based in USA, though their Canada formula is award winning and great, change is always scary. If I wasn't feeding Orijen; I hear many people on the forum here highly recommend Fromm Gold brand.


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## novamae (May 20, 2016)

Adrienne.g said:


> She is a cutie! She's seven weeks old. My breeder dedided to do it at 7 weeks, because at 8-12 weeks they are said to be in their fear stage and anything that happens in this period can last. Which i agreee with she is so confident! Not timid at all, a little too confident! Lol shes always jumping off anything that she can! I may try orijen, she eats but not a lot of her food.


Aw! And I agree with that as well as long as it's no younger than 7 weeks! I got my Doberman at 7 weeks and she is totally fine! Good luck with your pup and finding a food that works!


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## Adrienne.g (May 15, 2016)

I was thinking is she eating less because acana is a very rich food?


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## BeautifulZeus_0614 (Feb 18, 2016)

Congratulations!! Enjoy you baby while he is a baby, they grow up so quick!
I feed my golden puppy Taste of the wild High Prairie puppy formula with bison. When I first got Zeus he was on Purina Puppy Chow and later we found out that it was either the wrong one that the breeder told us or it was making him sick. 
Either way we had to switch him to a grain free food such as Taste of the wild. 
In my opinion I did not like the Purina puppy chow.
I strongly recommend Taste of the Wild! It is such a great food and we have all of our puppies on it and are doing great on it. (golden retriever, badger great pyranees, and a pyrenees mix.)
The only issue I am having with my golden on it is that his poops are starting to get softer. He is 4 months old and this just started about 3 weeks ago. We found out that he may have an anal gland problem. So I've been adding more meat and some "fruitables" canned pumpkin in his diet and that's been helping a lot. 

I hope you find this helpful.


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## Adrienne.g (May 15, 2016)

That is helpful!! I will note thatthat for future. I wish i wouldve known that for my other dog! Her stomach is suprisinlgy lined with lead or something! I switched her food with no break in and she has always had hard stools. I fed my previous puppy pro plan and she always had soft loose stools!! Switched her and she was fine. I think it might work for some dogs but it just didnt work for us either


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## Adrienne.g (May 15, 2016)

Ive been feeding her "the honest kitchen" food my breeder gave me and its only food she will finish! Or even get super excited about it! I urge you guys to check it out it is soo good for your doggies! I would give it as a once in while thing as it can get expensive, its just my puppy wont eat her kibble!


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