Dry puppy food and supplements question

augustgen · Mar 22, 2017

Hi all,

Thank you all for participating in the forum and for the invaluable information I am reading on all subjects Dobe!

We are picking up our 8 week old this Saturday following his ear cropping surgery. My breeder has recommended the following for his diet:
Purina Puppy Chow
1 oyster shell calcium tab
1 tbspn raw hamburger
1 tbspn of yogurt
goats milk twice a day until 12 weeks of age
At 12 weeks we d/c goats milk
at 1 yr you can switch to adult Purina Pro Plan

My first thought is that perhaps the puppy chow is not complete enough and that a different manufacturer and puppy formula would be better. Our family eats healthy and my cats have been on a grain free, healthy ingredient diet and have thrived vs my previous set of cats that ate junky dry food. The first ingredient in the formula suggested by my breeder is corn (can be highly allergic), soy is #3 (not healthy for humans and not likely good for my puppy). Perhaps I am a food snob, but I want to feed him the best that I can and minimize any complications due to a less than ideal formula.

Second, I have no problem providing the supplements, if they are needed. I have read conflicting information about supplementing calcium in dogs, for example.

I would greatly appreciate your guidance and input on puppy diet.

greenkouki · Mar 22, 2017

Welcome to DT.

I would continue feeding whatever the breeder is feeding and then you can decide what you'd like to feed him and what works well. I find that a high quality all life stages kibble, which purina puppy chow is not generally considered, will have exactly what your puppy needs and nothing more nothing less. So with a quality kibble supplements are NOT needed. As your dog ages you and your vet may find that giving fish oil or a joint supplement is a good idea.

Supplementing... calcium especially, can bad for growing large breed puppies since most manufacturers put the appropriate content in their foods already.

Rosemary · Mar 22, 2017

Puppy Chow isn't the greatest food out there, but it's far from the worst. And it does have to meet the same nutritional profile that the more expensive foods have to meet, which means that supplementing with something (like calcium) can actually throw off the mineral balance of the diet, and cause as many problems as it solves.

It's usually a good idea to keep you pup on whatever the breeder was feeding them for at least a few weeks.

MeadowCat · Mar 23, 2017

I would not switch from what the breeder currently feeds for at LEAST a month, maybe more like two or three months, no matter how much I didn't like it. It's already a bit stressful on puppies to transition to a new home, so I don't like to add changing their food to that. After that, I think you can slowly change up the food if you choose.

augustgen · Mar 23, 2017

Thank you, MeadowCat, Rosemary and GreenKouki, for your reply.

I will definitely wait at least a month before switching puppy dry food. Sounds like I should not supplement with calcium. Any harm with raw hamburger (1 TBS), yogurt or goats milk?

Dry puppy food and supplements question

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