puppy food

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puppy food
by Linda
ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
puppy foodI just got my maltese puppy today and he is sitting in my lap right now! What a love! The breeder starts her puppies on a mixture of 3 dog food manufacturers and then figures the owners will gradually go to one. The vet has no preference. My first maltese did fine on Nutro (and had a moderate amount of tear stain). Does anyone find any brand either particularly good or even bad for our babies? Do any seem to help tear stain? The mix the breeder uses is Biljack puppy, Iams puppy, and Pedigree puppy. I also seem to hear about many people using Eukanuba. I will gradually include more of whatever food is deemed best. I would love to hear peoples' comments. Thanks for your inputs.

DISCUSSION:

In the meantime, I found a site that gave a lot of info about commercial dog foods. It was quite disheartening. For anyone who is interested here is the internet address (tried to get hyperlink , did not work) http://www.api4animals.org/petfood.htm Still would like to hear recommendations for a quality pet food.
Linda

Linda, there is alot of discussion on what is better ....I personally like the IAMS Puppy Food and so does Buster. This is a project you could research forever and I am sure you will get alot of different answers/opinions. Good Luck.
Libby & Buster

Hi! My name is chi, and I have a ten-month-old female maltese at home. I feed my dog dry food, and I haven't fed her wet food because it is not good for her. Moreover, I feed her "Science Diet." For me, I think this is the best dog food for puppy, and if you want to buy this brand of dog food, then you should buy "small bites" because there is regular size and small bite that you can choose. Actually, tearstaining is the main problem to maltese. May be you can put some starch powder around your pup's eyes area, and I think this is going to be better.
chi

Hi Linda and Congratulations on your new baby(name??)I've always used the Eukanuba small bites for puppies which is recommended by my Vet.but will be changing as soon as Bailey is 1 year old - next month. I plan on going to ProPlan of BilJack. My Vet feels the Eukanuba is fine for puppies but for Adults there is too much fat and calories. Good Luck with your new fur baby.
Robin D.

My Chloe has eaten Purina Puppy Chow from day one. I have never had a problem with her tear staining. I asked the vet about other foods and he said to keep her on the Purina for now. I know she has grown while eating it and seems pretty happy.
annie

First of all, congratulations on your new puppy! You are in for a wonderful time. Here are some good web sites which describe kibble ingredients which should help you make your choice:http://www.aloha.com/~wolfepack/food.html http://php.iupui.edu/~ebreeden/kibble.html Have great fun with your little one!
JoanG

It is my opinion that " Science Diet" is one of the WORST foods you can feed a puppy or an adult ! Just read the ingridients .....Pro-Plan & Bil-jac are middle of the road and are considered "good", Pedigree dry is " junk", Nutro Max makes all of my dogs sick although the ingridients sound good, they have admitted to using moldy grain etc. in the past, claim they have cleaned up their act !? Natures Recipe seems pretty good too ! I've fed Eukanuba for many years, they still use rubber stabilizer as preservative, which supposedly causes cancer ,and by-products, I have quit using it too as well as I'ams, which is made by the same company! Eagle, comes very highly recommeded by Westminister, the only problem is you can't get it but in a very few places ! Purina Puppy Chow ( they also make Pro Plan & One) is o.k if you can't find anything else, # 1 ingridient Corn by-products and lots of fat ! I feed mostly Pro-Plan,all my dogs like it and they are healthy with gleaming coats !
Renee

Linda, congratulations on being a new mommy! Of the three choices, I've heard the most positive comments about BilJac. In the meantime, do lots of research. My 7 month old Rudy gets California Natural. He wouldn't eat the puppy food, so I'm feeding him the dog food. It's amazing... I can look at his coat and tell when he started eating CA Natural. There's about an inch and a half of new growth that has a definite sheen to it. Good luck with your new little furball!
Marie

Thanks everybody...there is a lot of contreversy on this one! I know when my first maltese was on Nutro and I had heard good things about Natural Recipe everyone (vet, store people, friends all said not to switch since she was eating and happy). Natural Recipe offers a vegetarian diet. Since there does not seem to be any regualtion of dog food and since diseased and discarded parts of animals seem to be standard it was an appealing choice. However, I did stay with Nutro. Right now my puppy seems to pick out the kind of food he likes from the current mixture! By the way, Robin, his name is Bailey (the licker) Bear (similar to your Bailey)! He was almost Polo Bear, and actually we have not quite finalized his name ( 4 people must come to a consensus)! I am not sure which food I'll switch to ! Wish I could try several, but I know consistency is important - especially this young. Thank you all again!
Linda