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More food questions..
by barry
ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
DISCUSSION:
Happy 12 week birthday to you guys, barry!
Otto has eaten Eukanuba small breed dry food for about two months now. He seemed to be an indifferent eater. the other day I gave him samples from Pedigree and Purina Puppy food. He gobbled them down - even though it takes him a lot of chewing to pulverize the larger kibbles. Go figure. I guess you gotta feed them what they like. I am mixing them up with the Eukenuba and he seems happy with this. Anybody got any advise?
valan
Barry - I've been feeding Pedigree dry and canned for several years now with good results. Have found that the puppies aren't crazy about the puppy food but love the adult food (the mealtime and the Lamb & Rice). The canned Chopped Chicken by Pedigree wins the canned contest hands down - it can cause a riot. Have used the Eukanuba before - especially the Puppy - with good results also. But the Pedigree is easier to get.
Vivian
Barry, ask a dozen people and get a dozen answers on this one. There was a great article in Feb. issue Consumer Report on Pet Food--I was surprised to see that Science Diet was not rated that great! I fed my two Maltese Mighty Dog Senior (canned) and they both gobbled it up but my Vet said it had too much fat and Baby ended up with gastritis a few weeks ago. I am now supposed to feed her lo-fat foods and she hates them. We're back to square one-good luck with some more useful responses than mine.
Cathy W.
Hi, Barry! Experimenting with all these different types of food is not a good idea. If your puppy has not already developed a digestive upset, you will be encouraging her to be a fussy eater. Feed her the same food at every meal. It should be a dry food. The Eukanuba or Iams is fine if it is puppy food. You can put a little warm water on the dry, but eventually use less until she is eating it dry. The dry food is much better for the teeth and there is not as much waste.
April B.
Barry-I think this is the most controversal subject regarding a Maltese. I'm getting my little Bailey (in 2-3 weeks!) from an extremely reputable breeder. Probably the best in the country, if not world. Anyway, she recommends Eukanuba small puppy, dry and Pedigree canned. I have done more research that my husband can believe on the subject of dog food. After spending several hours today making homemade dog treats and freezing them for her arrival, I wouldn't want to put something "garbage" in my Bailey. Like I said, after many hours of researching this I have found "SOLID GOLD". It sounds like the best dog food, to me. It uses all Human Grade ingredients. When it says chicken, it means the chicken you and I would eat, not the chicken parts that fall onto the floor, that's in most other dog foods. Anyway, good luck in the issue. I hope you don't have to spend the time I did. I hope Its worth it. P.S. I do plan on feeding what the breeder is using until she gets used to the home and all, but
then? SOLID GOLD Good luck!
Mary
Barry, I feed Buster (6 mos old) IAMS Puppy Food and Puppy Biscuits. As far as how much I follow the instructions on the bag. Check out the Feburary issue of Consumer Reports. It's very interesting. There is an article on Pet Food. If you change your puppys food do it gradually. Mix the new with the old as not to upset their stomach. Canned food is very rich and it is my experience will give the dog the runs. (it did my previous little guy). So I haven't given Buster any canned and probably won't.
Libby & Buster
Hello, I feed my dogs Eukanuba and sometimes Pedigree wet food. They love the Pedigree, but it gives them loose stools so I try to avoid it and stick with Science Diet also. I leave the dry food out all day so they can eat whenever they want to and at night I feed them their wet food. If your dog likes the Pedigree and has no digestive problems maybe you can stick with that food. I'm not sure which is the better one for the dog-Pedigree or Science Diet? Probably Science Diet? Well Good Luck!
Angel
Whatever food you choose, you need to feed a consistent diet, without changing arround, to avoid gastrointestinal problems. Eukanuba is fine (we used that with Puff, but he was gaining weight too fast, so we switched to Science Diet, and he did fine on that). Iams is good too. There is a Consumer Reports article comparing different dog foods, which I haven't actually gotten to yet.. but from what I heard its rather confusing. All I can say for sure is, as long as you have a good high quality diet which your dog will eat and is healthy on, just keep her on that. They really don't need variety as much as we do. (I add variety by switching the little treats they get rather than the food).
Aimee
I use the new pro plan, Lamb and rice when Diva was a puppy, and she really liked it. Also it dosen;t have dye in it or blood, these can cause red staining around the mouth. Some foods use blood in it and it gives the red color to the food. You need to study the content of the food also, different dogs have different needs. but we want to start our puppys off the best we can, and they eat so little, we can afford to buy the best. I never feed caned food.
maryp
in my opinion you should ALWAYS feed your maltese PREMIUM food dry seems better for their teeth but I always mix canned w/wet I like Eukanuba,Pro-plan, chicken or lamb. Pedigree canned is o.k if you mix, by itself will give the runs ! Under no circumstance would I feed Pedigree dry or Sience Diet they are junk. Hills
however makes a vet's diet called a/d prescription, which is excellent for intermittent feeding when you have a problem. Read the label ! If it starts out with corn or soy "you don't"
want it. Also watch for by-product..heads, feet, feathers..yes !! I called eukanuba and they assured me that they do not use these...but many do ! The person who wrote in @ blood in the food
gives them red beards???cooked blood in food does no such thing, but red beets and food color will ! While solid Gold is probably good food, I've tried it on mine ( slowly mixing in ) they all got severe runs from it and I wound up trashing it, when you get a puppy you need to keep it on a very regular schedule and feed the same type food it was on ( hopefully something decent) or switch right away to eukanube /pro-plan puppy, never had a problem. Mr. Diamond of Diamond Co. used to work at Eukanuba, he puts out " Diamond" you can get it at most feed stores, same identical ingredients as Euka but a whole lot less $$
Hope this helps ! I have bred for 8 years !
Renee
I have had Phoebe on Iams Lamb and Rice puppy food and she has been doing extremely well on it, Eukanuba is also very good and has all those lovely vitamins for the coat. BUT - after reading all the posts about the red (beet pulp & tomato, etc...) I went on an all out mission one afternoon to study labels on dog foods! My first thought was that it sould be more important to me that she is properly nourished rather than worrying about the tear stain - but after reading labels in three stores, I am going to switch her over to Pro Plan Lamb and Rice (although I did consider Innova) because it just seemed to have the ingredients that made more sense to me. I don't hold much with canned food as it is high fat and high water content, so have never fed it to any of my dogs.
Leslie R
It was recommended that we feed our girl "Nutro Lamb and Rice" dry dog food, which she has always enjoyed. I also use the "Nutro Lamb and Rice" treats. Prior to the Nutro, she was on ProPlan and never liked that much. Has anyone heard of a special diet supplement called "Missing Link"? I was told that this was the miracle food for dogs coats....but our girl has such a nice coat now, I didn't want to mess up a good thing! Please advise.
Heather
Renee-Thanks for the info. But, boy am I confused now or what? HELP!! I just got back from the pet shop and purchased the Eukanuba Puppy for small breeds, just to start my little Bailey on, but now....who knows what I'll do????
Mary
and the debate goes on...
Marie
As one of the messages today said "and the debate goes on". First, to the question of Missing Link, I have been one of those saying how great it is, as Fanci's bald legs (allergies) are continuing to regrow hair. It is all natural ingredients and is marketed by Jeffers ($11) or most feed stores ($16) per lb (1 tsp per day). Secondly, I am one of those against Pedigree canned food as I almost ruined my sister's litter of Border Collies because it gave them severe diarehhea (sp?). My latest discovery is that Pro Plan has "lamb and rice"...not "lamb meal", and that I agree that it does not contribute to mouth stains. My last suggestion is to buy small amounts of whatever to determine if your pup gets constipated or loose stools (been there,done that)...best of luck to you!
Marti