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dccnm

I'm getting a new pup!!! Dogfood suggestions?

dccnm
16 years ago

I'm getting a 5 month old rottie pup in a few days. I lost my previous rottie to cancer in December. I'm SO looking forward to gettting her--she's a beauty!

The breeder is currently feeding her Eagle Pack food. While I have not in the past fed my dogs natural or holistic foods, I am open to the idea. I do however want to limit my choices to foods that I can purchase locally rather than by mail. I have read the posts on the pet side of gardenweb relating to foods and visited many of the sites to read their material. I posted there as well.

I also have a 10.5 yo golden and to keep life simple, would like to feed them both the same food. Obviously I know that I will need to gradually make the change for both of them. The pup is currently on adult food since the breeder feels it's indicated during this growth period.

Currently I'm using ProPlan Chicken and Rice. No problems ever, but as I said, I'm willing to change foods if it's felt to be better for my animals (and from what I've read, that's true).

So, here are the brands I can purchase locally. Any experiences with any of them, opinions or comments?

Nature's Variety Prairie

Wellness

Back to Basics

Innova, Calif Naturals, EVO

Pinnacle or Breeder's Choice

Natural Balance

Canidae

I used the Greatdanelady website as a jump start to see which I could locate in my area.

TIA

PS We all start here for kitchen info. How many of us come back, or stay, for all the other wonderful knowledge that is available here?

Comments (18)

  • fairegold
    16 years ago

    Good choices. We fed Eukanuba, both the Adult maintenance for the older dogs (9 and 5) and performance formula for the high-energy young show dog. I would not feed your puppy and your old dog the same food. Give your older dog something with less protein. Look for a senior diet formula. It's a PITA to manage two different foods, and I wouldn't worry about it if the older dog were younger, but 10-1/2 is getting up there.

    Congrats on your new puppy!

  • goldgirl
    16 years ago

    Are you sure you can't get Eagle locally? I ask only because often feed or farm stores, or even some smaller pet food stores, can order it so you can pick it up.

    I feed Eagle Holistic Senior to my two old girls, Holistic Chicken to my two middle-age dogs, and Eukanuba premium to my two 18-month olds.

    I fed Back to Basics for awhile years ago and liked it until they seemed to change their formula. But as fairegold says, you'd be fine with any of the options. Remember, not every food is right for every dog.

    Be careful with senior formulas - companies often bring down the calories by removing nutrients and replacing them with fillers. Eagle is one of the few senior formulas I'll feed.

  • sigh
    16 years ago

    Oh! Naked puppy belly & eyebrow spots! Lucky, lucky you.

    I like Wellness a lot but it didn't agree with my girl so I feed Canidae. I think that the food is wonderful. Her coat is shiny & soft, she never has gas (rotties can be lethal, especially with no tail to wave everything away), no dog breath & no wet dog stink. Since foods like Canidae and Eagle Peak have no fillers you can feed the dog less, resulting in smaller piles of poop. My girl is 75 lbs and gets 1 cup of canidae 2x per day. A 40 lb bag will last us about a month.

    Since you've had rotties before you already know what you're in for. I'm truly sorry about you losing your other one. Sadly, rotties just don't live that long & cancer takes a lot of them (like my Smidgen). But I want to congratulate you & to point you towards a really great, informative rottie website.

    Best of luck with your new pup! And we expect pictures!

    Nina

    Here is a link that might be useful: rottweiler.net

  • flatcoat2004
    16 years ago

    Oh lucky you ! I adore rotties ! such great big mushes.

    I think your list of food is pretty good. I raised my Lab pup on Wellness until he was about 1, he grew beautifully and slowly (important in large breeds), but he had a very sensitive stomach on it. And his (um) solid waste was unpleasant on Wellness.

    After that we fed Natures Variety then Innova EVO for a few months each. He did great on these also, EVO especially (many fewer, and much nicer, solid waste emissions !). But I would be wary about putting such a young pup on EVO right away.

    EVO was a path to raw food for me. I came to realise the potential benefits of raw, and now feed meat and bones. My Lab is now 2.5 years old, and thriving. His teeth especially are in fabulous shape. He is an extremely active competitive performance dog (agility, obedience, rally and just starting tracking), and I am very happy with raw.

    Congratulations on your new pup, enjoy him/her while they are little and take lots of photos !

  • cat_mom
    16 years ago

    FWIW, we feed our two cats EVO dry for cats, and they are doing well on it. We feed them less than the recommended amount and give one cat 1/2 EVO and 1/2 INNOVA low-fat dry (we're trying to get her weight down a little, or at the very least, curtail weight gain). EVO is a very calorie-dense food, so you don't need to feed as much as you do food with a lot of fillers.

    Congrats on your new furry one!

  • kim_okla
    16 years ago

    Isn't it a rule if you mention a pet we have to see pictures? LOL

    I lost my apx. 13 y.o. rescue January 05. I still feed Proplan chicken. If you can get Rottweilers to 12 and 13 years old it can't be that bad.

    Congratulations on the new girl.

  • flatcoat2004
    16 years ago

    Ooooohhhhhhh Kim how beautiful he/she was ! I am so sorry for your loss. What a wonderful face.

    OK since we have to show pictures, here is my very best boy ...

    I'll give you three guesses for where we live :-)

    I wanna see pics of the new Rottie pup ! dccnm ???

  • dccnm
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    I promise I'll take pictures this weekend! I've had her for a week today. She is SO beautiful and sweet as can be. She's also going to be a handful to train. She's very smart, very mischievous and quite impressed with herself--as she should be!

    I got her from a breeder that is actually a rottie judge. She had kept the pick male and female to see who was going to be the best. To my good fortune, the boy won. So she is a great specimen of a rottie to boot! My previous girl was wonderful but quite clearly "pet quality".

    Her name is Scarlett. She came with it, it fits and we kept it. My nearly 11 yo golden is less than thrilled but she's coming around.

    And if anyone cares, I decided on the Canidae food. She eats like she'll never see food again so clearly it doesn't make a difference to her. It's so interesting to see how alike and yet different she is than my last rottie. Rosie picked at her food throughout the day and didn't care at all if anyone else ate it. This one inhales it! Better for the garbage hound golden's waistline--no leftovers now.

    Beautiful dogs above. Kim--13 yo for a rottie? Amazing! And such a handsome fellow. And that flatcoat! Not only is he gorgeous but what a shot! That's magazine quality.

    What are flatcoats like personality wise? I've always imagined them to be like a black golden. Is that accurate?

    Thanks for everyone's input and interest. Puppies are a lot of work, but what joy! We're going to have a lot of fun with her.

  • sigh
    16 years ago

    the problems with trying to photograph a dark dog inside a dark house! I have some great ones from when I attempted to photograph her & my 10 m.o. son for Christmas cards. Amber was a total supermodel but my son...well let's just say that Amber was very, very tolerant. Sadly I think they're much too dark to try & post. Here's one of my rescue Amber along with the rest of her family. She's definitely more goofball quality than show quality.

  • kim_okla
    16 years ago

    We'll post pics until dccnm gets some. I love to see people's pets. It is hard to photograph a black dog. That was Bud up above, the rescue. This is Murphy I got from a family that couldn't keep her. I lost her at 12 from bad hips. This was a prof. photo.

    Now I have Bo a Rottweiler mix with a tail that I got from the pound.

  • sigh
    16 years ago

    Excellent idea, Kim! I love the picture of Murphy, she looks like she's so ready for cake. Do you still have that one of Murphy & Buddy "cute-ing" their way into the picture of a chair? And you realize we need pictures of Bo, too.

    BTW- flatcoat, what a GORGEOUS boy! He looks so spiny & so pleased with himself.

    Anyway, here's Christmas '04. Tip # 1- do not place black dog in front of black fireplace screen:

  • kim_okla
    16 years ago

    I do. How do you remember that? I said the best way to photograph dogs is try to take a picture without them. They cuted their way into every picture. (I can't make it untiny)

    {{gwi:1547303}}

    Here are the new kids Roxy and Bo.

    I know Amber too from somewhere when you called her supermodel.

    Sorry dcc, I didn't mean to hijack the whole thread...while we're waiting.

  • dccnm
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Okay, here she is about a month ago--photo compliments of the breeder.

    I'm sorry but I don't know how to put the picture into the message but click below and you'll see why I'm in love :-)

    Here is a link that might be useful: Scarlett

  • dccnm
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Yahoo photos changed their system and I didn't make the photo public the first time. Sorry!

    Here is a link that might be useful: Scarlett

  • sigh
    16 years ago

    Oh that face! Scarlett is gorgeous and her markings are beautiful but that face is a heartbreaker. I can't wait to see her grow into those paws. I'm so glad that the Canidae agrees with her. I was giving Amber her morning scritches today and was marvelling over how soft and shiny her coat was. I don't know if I can give all of the credit to Canidae or genetics (maybe the poor girl actually got something good out of the puppy mill that she must have come from)but I do know that she isn't greasy like my last beloved Rottie Smidgen was.

    I can just imagine your golden's reaction to the young upstart! I hope that the food is agreeing with her as well.

    Kim- Sometimes I think that I'm stalker like when it comes to exceptionally adorable pictures and the one of Murphy & Buddy stuck in my head because I thought it was such a crack up & a typical rottie thing...like "you REALLY meant to be taking a picture of me, right?" Nearly every picture of my kitchen has a big, dopey, dog face poking in somewhere. I love the picture of your newest two and Bo's got such a mischeivous face. Love it!

    dccnm- I'd like to suggest some great cookies/treats for Scarlett. The Canidae snap bisquits are excellent and each biscuit is scored to be broken into smaller pieces. I've found the smaller pieces to be great for stuffing into a Kong. Innova's biscuits are wonderful too and come in two different sizes. Old Mother Hubbard (Wellness) makes a bunch of good treats in a variety of sizes. I tend to use these for our everyday around the house training or rewards (or the ever popular Kong)& save the high value stuff like hot dogs or chicken for when we're out in public or in class.

    Good luck with your new girl!

    Nina

  • kim_okla
    16 years ago

    Oh my gosh she is cute. Since I got all of mine as adults I love to see puppy pictures. Love her name too.

    You're going to have a fun summer.

  • flatcoat2004
    16 years ago

    dccnm - oh Scarlett is DARLING ! I hope she is settling in well and giving due respect to her senior Golden sibling.

    LOL, my guy is a funny-lookin' Lab, not a Flatcoat. :-) Yeah, I know my handle is confusing ... I nearly got a flatcoat pup in 2004, but it didn't work out. The handle just kind of stuck with me. The Flatcoat is definitely a breed I will have in future, they seem to be big ol' clowns and very puppyish their entire lives. The thing that makes me hesitate is the unfortunate predisposition to early cancer. I love my dogs so much that the prospect of parting with them early is too much to bear.

    Of course, a Rottie is on my list of "must own in future" too !

  • snookums
    16 years ago

    We feed Natural Balance. They have an all-age all-breed formula and we started using that when we had both a puppy and a full-grown, and have kept using it.