question for the kibble feeders

[krtemt]

My little girl is almost 3 months old. i have been feeding her Purina Puppy chow. The problem is now is she barely eating it. I have had to move the cats food to a higher place and when I let her out to play with my cousins Australian shepherd, I have to pick up her food dish. She acts so hungry, but barely touches her own food. My cousin feeds his dog Purina one healthy lifestyle, or something like that I just know its a Purina brand. Would it be ok to switch my little girl from the puppy chow to what my cousin feeds his dog? Or should i buy a bag of each and mix them?

[PaddyD]

I won't be the only one to tell you that Purina Puppy Chow is not very good dog food. Don't buy dog food at the grocery store. Go to a 'good' pet store and look for grainless or very low grain puppy food. It is more expensive but your puppy will require less of it and is likely to thrive more.
Good luck. Getting puppies to eat is one of the biggest challenges some people meet.

[Verivus]

I would not feed any purina product. They are very low quality foods. I would go to your local feed/pet store and look into something better.

[Riley3696]

You can get Victor Puppy food and its a much better dog food than what your feeding and its at a very good price. You should do some research on dog food!!

[Freestep]

The Purina Pro-Plan foods are a notch better than Puppy Chow, but Purina Puppy Chow is one of the worst foods out there, IMO... when I was 18 and didn't know any better, I started my first pup on Puppy Chow and she had the runs nonstop. I switched her to Wayne puppy food (not sure if it's still around) which was the cheapest decent food I could find--she did much better.

Pretty much anything you can get from a pet supply store or feed store is going to be better than Purina Puppy Chow. My dogs get Diamond Naturals, and I don't think you can get a better kibble for the price.

[Emoore]

No way in Hades I'd feed any dog I liked Purina puppy chow or Purina One. Go to Homeyer feed and supply in Caldwell, or K&S Farm and Ranch in Brenham, and get Victor in the purple bag. Or go to Tractor Supply Co and pick up 4Health Chicken and Rice, or Diamond Naturals Chicken and Rice or Diamond Naturals Large Breed Puppy. Switch your puppy over to any of these foods slowly so as not to upset her stomach.

[jwemt81]

Originally Posted by Verivus

I would not feed any purina product. They are very low quality foods. I would go to your local feed/pet store and look into something better.

I agree that Purina Puppy Chow is plain junk with horrible ingredients and it's not a food that I would ever feed any of my dogs; however, Purina Pro Plan is an excellent quality food that a lot of breeders, handlers, and owners of many breeds swear by. Many top show dogs are strictly fed Pro Plan. We use the Pro Plan Sensitive Skin & Stomach formula. It has no corn, wheat, or soy and all 3 of our dogs have absolutely beautiful coats, firm stools, and great energy levels on it. Our last GSD was on Pro Plan for almost her entire life and lived to be 12 with absolutely no health problems whatsoever, so I definitely wouldn't say that ALL purina products are bad. That would be kind of a blanket statement. I won't feed anything but Pro Plan because of the amazing results we've had with it. In fact, we tried our 2 golden retrievers on other "premium" brands like Innova, Fromm, Canidae, Orijen, and a few others and they had terrible coats on them and we had to switch back to Pro Plan.

[doggiedad]

my dog stopped eating his food on 2 different
occassions. i switched brands and both times
he began eating with no problems. i only use the premium
brands. i also add things to his kibble, organic yogurt,
beef, chicken, fresh fish, can fish (in water no salt added),
raw egg, can food, salmon oil (human grade).

[sable123]

Originally Posted by doggiedad

my dog stopped eating his food on 2 different
occassions. i switched brands and both times
he began eating with no problems. i only use the premium
brands. i also add things to his kibble, organic yogurt,
beef, chicken, fresh fish, can fish (in water no salt added),
raw egg, can food, salmon oil (human grade).

How many brands do you use? What is a "premium brand".

[chelle]

Originally Posted by krtemt

My little girl is almost 3 months old. i have been feeding her Purina Puppy chow. The problem is now is she barely eating it. I have had to move the cats food to a higher place and when I let her out to play with my cousins Australian shepherd, I have to pick up her food dish. She acts so hungry, but barely touches her own food. My cousin feeds his dog Purina one healthy lifestyle, or something like that I just know its a Purina brand. Would it be ok to switch my little girl from the puppy chow to what my cousin feeds his dog? Or should i buy a bag of each and mix them?

There's a TON of info on this forum about various kibbles... almost too much info, it's mind boggling! I would definitely get away; far, far, away from Purina Pup Chow.

Is your pup a GSD or other large breed? If so, you'd likely want to go with one formulated for a large breed pup.

Do some research on how to switch over. My puppy was on that same awful food, too and it took almost three weeks to get him properly switched without diarrhea. I went with what the general advice was on the mix but it was too fast for him and he ended up with diarrhea and we had to start all over. My pup is not on the highest end dogfood, but better than average, I think (Innova Large Breed Pup) and the difference between the cheap stuff and the new stuff was apparently pretty overwhelming to his system.

Just speaking from what we went through, don't do anything too fast, do your research and take it slow if you switch to a better/higher end food.