I've been pondering puppy food. I've got a number of weeks to ponder it (keeping everything crossed)! I'm going to be feeding Arden Grange Puppy/Junior or Prestige (will make mind up soon), but I'm wanting to add 'real' food in as well. Sorry, to raw feeders, I'm not going to be going totally raw, but am wondering what other people add to their litter's food and how frequently you would add it.

A friend got a pup last year with a food list from the breeder ... there was so much variety of freshly prepared and cooked food, it was unbelievable, in fact I didn't believe it ... so I'm just thinking of adding to the kibble or one meal per day!

I'm now a dab hand at cooking (and even preparing) coley :-) so they'll probably get some of that.

I tend to have a variety/raw meal as/part of one of the four meals from 4 weeks.

My litter are 8 weeks old and from 2 and half weeks they were getting raw mince (thats the first food they get)  now they are on 4 meals a day 2 of which are half Royal Canin and half raw mince mixed in they also get 2 meals of scrambled eggs etc.  I don't personally feed complete food to our own dogs so I find this is a good way of giving the new owners the choice of raw or complete and also lets me change whatever puppy I keep over to raw feeding without too much hassle, and the same if new owners want to do complete, the puupy is not getting too much of a change in diet.

Not much help with a litter of pups, but mine have been raw fed since pups, and I intend to raw feed any pup(s) I keep if I ever get round to taking a litter of pups from Tau. 

I feed a mix of green tripe, raw chicken carcasses, raw lamb, raw lambs heart, beast heart, cooked liver/kidney (I find liver can tend to make them loose if fed raw, and it's also very high in vit A), tinned fish (they seem to be prone to regurgitating raw fish and eating it again), raw eggs, occasionally they get cottage cheese, goats milk, and any appropriate left overs.  I also give mine blended vegetables, to which I add nuts, turmeric, garlic, mint, fenugreek, kelp and apple cider vinegar, all promote different aspects of health, and/or help to deter unwanted hitch hikers.  What I don't add in any way, are any fillers or bulking agents.  I have a diet sheet based on feeding my Labs, from puppy hood to adult, if you want a copy just send me your email address.

I do think as breeders we do have to remember that even if we are knowledgeable about nutrition and capable of feeding raw or a home cooked diet, the vast majority of new puppy owners will not be.

During those vital early months with it's incredible rate of growth and development, we cannot afford for them to experiment and get it wrong.

For this reason I think, no matter our own preferences it is important to feed a litter or at least by the time they leave, a mix of foods, including commercial diets.  Even with my complete foods I feed a mix of my prefered brands, and some that I know a new owner will be able to source easily.

Hi, thanks for comments. I don't and wont be feeding a total raw diet to my dogs, nor pups, but it is interesting to know what people feed as an addition to the commercially available foods.