# Suggest a puppy food, please?



## Kalhayd (May 4, 2016)

Our 11 week old golden grew quite accustomed to chicken(boiled) when she was ill. We finally are at a place where she will eat actual puppy food- but she seems to much prefer our seniors food(which is for weight loss so not exactly where we want to go!)


Anyway- she does 1 cup of Purina Pro Puppy(chicken & rice) and 1/2 a 12 ounce can of Nutro Ultra Puppy mixed in at each meal. Over the last few days she seems to be snubbing the food unless we add another goodie in(cheese, yogurt, the coveted chicken!). 


I'd like to try something that is maybe lamb based(as this is our older dogs and she always wants it!) but it has to be chunky(she won't eat ground) and ideally puppy(she is still trying to catch up weight wise from a HUGE loss when she was sick!)


Any foods that meet that criteria? Not overly concerned with the price- but I'd like it to be high quality, but not insanely hard to find.  


And I *could* cook for her- but as selfish as it sounds trying to avoid that as our lives are so busy keeping her out of trouble, shuffling work, school, etc! 


Thank you!!!


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## ArchersMom (May 22, 2013)

Have you looked at Fromm? We order online from Chewy since we can't find a good variety locally but it's not too expensive and all of our animals love it. Even my mom's super finicky cat likes it and she tried dozens of natural foods for him. They have a good variety of flavors and grain free or regular.


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## Kalhayd (May 4, 2016)

ArchersMom said:


> Have you looked at Fromm? We order online from Chewy since we can't find a good variety locally but it's not too expensive and all of our animals love it. Even my mom's super finicky cat likes it and she tried dozens of natural foods for him. They have a good variety of flavors and grain free or regular.


I haven't. I will look now to see if they have the chunky for wet food. She will not eat the dry food plain(and right now cannot afford for us to be stubborn with her) and hates the ground wet foot. She is a Diva.


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## MattiDaddy (May 27, 2016)

We use Royal Canin Puppy food for Golden Retrievers. Matti loves it.


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## Rob S. (Feb 2, 2014)

Abady Granular for Large Breeds


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## Kalhayd (May 4, 2016)

ArchersMom said:


> Have you looked at Fromm? We order online from Chewy since we can't find a good variety locally but it's not too expensive and all of our animals love it. Even my mom's super finicky cat likes it and she tried dozens of natural foods for him. They have a good variety of flavors and grain free or regular.


Is there a benefit to the Fromm grain free? She's not on grain free now, and no issues noted yet. I'm hoping to get yo a place where she will eat kibble without wet & enticers thrown in. 

Fromm seems to have awesome reviews.. Think I'll grab a small bag! I could probably feed 1/2 the pups on the forum with the amount of foods in our pantry. Sigh!!


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## ArchersMom (May 22, 2013)

If she's doing fine without grain free, I wouldn't switch. The grain free is really intended for dogs who have allergies or sensitivities but it's also a very popular trend right now and some people think it's better. From is a good food though and not full of corn or other fillers just because it has grains. Teal came home on the Gold large breed puppy. Eventually I switched all of our dogs over to the Gold Large breed adult. You could try wetting her dry food with warm water to make it a bit softer. That helps with the picky cat and it'll be easier on the wallet than cans of wet food.


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## Kalhayd (May 4, 2016)

ArchersMom said:


> If she's doing fine without grain free, I wouldn't switch. The grain free is really intended for dogs who have allergies or sensitivities but it's also a very popular trend right now and some people think it's better. From is a good food though and not full of corn or other fillers just because it has grains. Teal came home on the Gold large breed puppy. Eventually I switched all of our dogs over to the Gold Large breed adult. You could try wetting her dry food with warm water to make it a bit softer. That helps with the picky cat and it'll be easier on the wallet than cans of wet food.


Thank you. Fingers crossed. This girl needs to throw me a bone(pun intended!)


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## Ffcmm (May 4, 2016)

wellness large breed puppy!


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## Sirfoulhook (Dec 2, 2011)

I'm going to put in a vote for Merrick grain free. Look at ratings on dog food advisor dot com. 5 star dry kibble mainly meat


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## Kalhayd (May 4, 2016)

Thanks everyone! 

Our vet actually suggested we avoid grain free if she doesn't show any negative reactions to grain. She says the higher protein, grain free diets, can lead to obesity. 
After trying many.. We went with Nutro Ultra Puppy & she seems to do well on it and enjoy it!


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## Cpc1972 (Feb 23, 2015)

Kalhayd said:


> Thanks everyone!
> 
> Our vet actually suggested we avoid grain free if she doesn't show any negative reactions to grain. She says the higher protein, grain free diets, can lead to obesity.
> After trying many.. We went with Nutro Ultra Puppy & she seems to do well on it and enjoy it!


That's interesting about grain free. I think chloes PPP has same protein as the large breed regular. But maybe puppy foods that are grain free have to much. Chloes is adult formula. True though if they don't have problem with grains. We just did it because at time it was only PPP that was lamb.


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## Kalhayd (May 4, 2016)

Cpc1972 said:


> That's interesting about grain free. I think chloes PPP has same protein as the large breed regular. But maybe puppy foods that are grain free have to much. Chloes is adult formula. True though if they don't have problem with grains. We just did it because at time it was only PPP that was lamb.




We just switched her to grain free. She has been itching a lot. We're trying Taste of the Wild Puppy Formula (Bison & Venison). So far she likes it- but that usually last a few days and then she snubs again. So we shall see. She was flat out refusing the Nutro and the Purina Pro Puppy and the Fromm. LOL.


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## GoldenFocus (Feb 28, 2016)

Castor & Pollux Organix Puppy food. Chicken kibble is the one my new pup is eating. Of course she loves it....she also loves anything I happen to be eating at the time (I try to not to give in and share).


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## Altairss (Sep 7, 2012)

Tink was raised on Wellness LB puppy and did well on it. Blitz is on Orijen large breed puppy and loves it. Actually so does Tink she tries to steal it as does my girlfriends extremely picky golden. I had it in my bait bag when I ran into them and he all but climbed me like a tree trying to get it. She plans to give the adult version a try with mr picky. Hope you find something that works it can be tuff to find one that is both good for them and that she will eat.


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

For getting dogs to eat, you can try some canned tripe. It's stinky, but that's why dogs like it.


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## Kalhayd (May 4, 2016)

Loisiana said:


> For getting dogs to eat, you can try some canned tripe. It's stinky, but that's why dogs like it.


Just add this to the dry food? She is the worlds pickiest puppy! Even when I add wet she still only eats a few and runs off. She will eventually eat when she is super hungry- but since she is so young it worries me letting her skip meals. :|


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

Kalhayd said:


> Just add this to the dry food? She is the worlds pickiest puppy! Even when I add wet she still only eats a few and runs off. She will eventually eat when she is super hungry- but since she is so young it worries me letting her skip meals. :|


Yes, scoop some on and then mix it all up. I'd start by feeding several smaller meals.


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## GoldenLabMix (Dec 3, 2015)

If you end up trying others, I will add a vote for Merrick grain free. It's what we started with and he had no issues. I tried a couple of other similar quality foods, very slow introduction, and it always led to very loose stools. I know he doesn't have any profound grain issues as I can give him a milk bone daily without issues. But who knows. I was able to switch him to Whole Earth Farms grain free, which is Merrick's cheap food. NO issues with that switch. I believe Merrick also makes Castor and Pollux. As for getting him to eat it...he's never refused any food ever so... I can't say it tastes better or worse than anything else.


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## BaileyzMom (Nov 26, 2015)

The breeder started Bailey on Purina Pro Plan LBP. We slowly changed her over to Chicken Soup for the Soul LBP. Soon after her stools got soft and we were diagnosed with Giardia. Had a course of Metro whatever (can't remember the name) and they kind of firmed up then went right back to soft. The vet suggested that perhaps we needed to look at the source of the protein and though maybe chicken was too much for her. I started looking at the label and realized the Chicken Soup has like 6 different sources of protein. I still had some of the Purina PP LBP left over and switched her back cold turkey. I know you aren't supposed to do that but trust me when I say her stool couldn't get any worse - she was basically spraying the backyard. Amazing, stool went completely NORMAL after the very first meal. So we stick with that now  

I was away from the forum for a bit and completely missed Dora's grand entrance to your family. I am so glad she is home and healthy now. I read all 80 some pages of her "story" the other day and balled the whole time even though I knew it had a good ending!


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## terroh8er (Jun 18, 2016)

Science Diet LBP, Purina Pro Plan LBP, and Royal Canin Golden Retriever Puppy. Grain-free food is not a good choice in the vast majority of dogs.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


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## Kalhayd (May 4, 2016)

terroh8er said:


> Science Diet LBP, Purina Pro Plan LBP, and Royal Canin Golden Retriever Puppy. Grain-free food is not a good choice in the vast majority of dogs.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


Trying grain free and chicken as not the main source as she is itching like she has a flea infestation.


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## Altairss (Sep 7, 2012)

If she has a sensitivity to chicken check your foods carefully. Sparkles was very intolerant of chicken. I had to really search for a food that had no chicken in at all. I had to learn to carefully read all the information on the bag as while bags often promote another protein source such as lamb, they still had chicken either as a fat, cartilage or a second protein source and Sparkle could not have it in any form. For her I feed pinnacle duck and sweet potato. I know acana and orijen have some that did not have any chicken in it as well.


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## Kalhayd (May 4, 2016)

Altairss said:


> If she has a sensitivity to chicken check your foods carefully. Sparkles was very intolerant of chicken. I had to really search for a food that had no chicken in at all. I had to learn to carefully read all the information on the bag as while bags often promote another protein source such as lamb, they still had chicken either as a fat, cartilage or a second protein source and Sparkle could not have it in any form. For her I feed pinnacle duck and sweet potato. I know acana and orijen have some that did not have any chicken in it as well.


When she recovered from being sick the ONLY think she would eat was boiled chicken. I think that is what started this mess with her uber picky palate. The TOTW she has now is Bison & Venison- but she isn't crazy about that either. I have come to realize it isn't the food; it is her being insanely picky. Sigh. Today we did 1 cup of TOTW puppy with 2-3 TBS of Wet Wellness Puppy. She ate some(mostly skimmed the top) I then hand fed her some, she gobbled the rest up. I obviously cannot hand feed her- so I have no idea what to do to entice her without loading it with extra goodies. And I am not against going fully canned(she will gobble it up then, too!) but the better foods are nearly $3 can and they say she'd need about 3-4 cans a day given her size(30 pounds!). 


I *think* I just really need to offer and ignore if she doesn't eat- but it makes me cringe as she will go days only eating about a cup! :/


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## skeller (Mar 5, 2008)

Life's Abundance... PM me for more infor


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## MollieGirl (Aug 8, 2016)

Ffcmm said:


> wellness large breed puppy!


Our pup loved Wellness Large Breed Puppy!


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## marcyd (Apr 5, 2016)

Life's Abundance has fruits and veggies in its formulas which has given our pup chronic diarrhea. We will be switching off.


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## Golden71615 (Jul 8, 2016)

We fed our Golden Blue Wilderness Breed Puppy, it is grain free and we'll reviewed on Dog Food Advisor. Our Breeder recommended that we feed her a 4.5 star dog food. She has been doing great on it. Our Breeder said Goldens grains can cause allergies.


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## Kalhayd (May 4, 2016)

We're doing TOTW and she's eating it and stopped itching like she was infested with fleas.


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## Golden71615 (Jul 8, 2016)

We are feeding our two 8 week old Goldenschool. Blue Wilderness Large Breed puppy. We have had Goldens in the past and we noticed that grains gave them a sensitive stomach. Our breeder only wants then on puppy food for 6mos of age then we are switching them to Fromm 4 star nutritionalso game bird. Which is 4.5 star on Dog food Advisor.


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