Dog food for puppy and adding meat

[AthenaClimbs]

Hi there,
What do you all think of Natural Choice's dry food for puppies (for large breeds). She's been eating that since we got her at 9 weeks (she's 4.5 months now).

Also, when do we start adding chicken (and other meats?) into her food. My dad adds some chicken canned food maybe once a day. He says it gets her to eat better.

What do you think?

[ChancetheGSD]

As in Nutro Natural Choice? I wouldn't feed it. I don't trust Nutro at ALL after it nearly killed Zoey during a NON-recalled time. Google "Nutro Reviews", the amount of reports of kidney/liver failure/damage after eating Nutro is kind of scary. I wouldn't feed it to a starving dog on the streets, much less my loved pets. :/ Not to put you down or anything, just trying to make a very serious point about how much I do NOT trust their company.

Also, I fully believe in adding raw meats to a dogs diet or at the very least, some canned food. Kibble is HIGHLY processed, your dog isn't getting their main nutrition from the listed food ingredients, they're getting it from the synthetic vitamins added so that they can slap a "complete and balanced" label on the bag. Raw meats provide FRESH nutrition to your dog. And even canned food (while not as great as fresh meats) is less processed than kibble.

You can also give raw bones to your pup to give them a good chew and help clean the teeth! (Though you should also brush the teeth too for optimal dental care)

[AthenaClimbs]

Eeep! Yes, that's the food I've been feeding her. Oh no!
Can you recommend a good pet food?

[jocoyn]

There are some sticky notes on the feeding our puppy section that have some very helpful links. You will find that people get very emotional about dog food and have very strong opinions one way or the other.....

I do think the main concern with growth stage is keeping the calcium and phosphorus in the right balance and not overfeeding them. IT is good if you can see their little ribs but not their backbone while they are at this age.

[doggiedad]

there's a lot of good food (can or kibble) out there.
you might have to switch foods several times before
you find one that works for your dog. i've never fed
puppy food to my dogs. when my dog was a pup
i added can food, cooked boneless and skinless
chicken breast, raw ground beef, organic yogurt,
salmon oil, pears, apples, blueberries, fresh fish,
canned fish (in water no salt added), fresh sweet potato,
to his kibble. my dog is 4 yrs. old and i still add things
to his kibble. when i'm being lazy i'll squirt
some salmon oil on his kibble and add warm water. at
other times when i'm being lazy i'll open a can and give it to him
with no toppings.

[ChancetheGSD]

I feed pretty much how Doggiedad does. :P My dogs eat most everything.

My base kibble is Sportmix 24/20 (Black bag) though. Unless I come across a REALLY good deal on kibble (ie. I bought 30lb of By Natures Adult for 5 cents the other week lol I've got five 6lb bags and they don't go bad until next year so I'll be feeding that off and on) I don't tend to switch up anymore. I used to rotate every new bag and spent HUNDREDS on those expensive brands. But Sportmix offers my dogs the nutrition they need to stay healthy. It gives soft, thick coats, clean ears, clear eyes, healthy skin, plenty of energy, small/firm stools, maintains a healthy weight, it's higher calorie so I don't have to feed as much as some other brands to keep weight on active dogs and it doesn't break the bank! I pay $25 for 50lb of it from Tractor Supply. It's EU certified, contains no GMO ingredients and it's also NEVER been recalled unlike a fair amount of other foods. (Nutros been recalled...numerous times) I do rotate canned foods though, I've always got at least 3-5 different brands on hand.

So that is what I'd recommend for kibble. Many people will disagree because the ingredients don't read as "pretty" as they'd like. (These are mostly the same people who wont listen to their vets for nutritional advice, but they'll listen to a human dentist and his rating website.) It's up to you to decided. I couldn't be happier with the dog food I feed, nor could the many people who use the same food for their working dogs. But I do agree with adding plenty of extras no matter what you choose to feed. Fresh food is so much better for our pets than processed foods. Just make sure you take into account the calories that come from the extras and reduce the kibble to make up for it so your pup stays a healthy weight.