Hi

Which do you think is best for pups when its time for them to start eating solids wet (meat) or dry (complete biscuits) food. My bitch is currently on dry food but i used to feed her wet food until the vet recommended i put her on dry food after mating as it is better for her.

Darren

Vets always tell you that the dry, complete foods are better for your dogs, even when so many people use BARF diets on their dogs. By wet, do you man tinned food, or BARF? My puppies are started off on minced beef, chicken, lamb, tripe, etc, with dry, complete added later, just so that it isn't too much of a change when they go to their new homes. I stopped using tinned food a long time ago (over 20 years ago) as I didn't think it was doing them any good.

hi lindylou

i used to feed my girl tinned meat and mixer biscuits and then when i went to stud dog he recommended i go onto a dry complete biscuit rather than meat as it would be alot better for her and when i asked the vet she said the same so for the last 5 weeks i have been feeding her james wellbeloved and she loves it but should i feed the pups the same or start them on tinned or pouches of meat as im sure thats what most new owners might feed there new pup.

My 5 week old pups are having 2 meals of the starter puppy version of the dry food their Mom was having while she was pregnant, soaked in warm water and 2 meals of either Forthglade or Natures diet puppy per day at the moment.  I'm just starting to give them mince and mushed up veggies too.

I'm old fashioned and think that dogs are supposed to eat meat!!  I don't like the idea of a complete dry food, and it swelling up inside them.  So all my dogs get half wet, half dry.

Current puppies have access to Royal Canin mini junior (toy breed) and it is fed ad lib.  They have Nature diet offered 5 times a day at the moment.  It has a lovely smell and seems to encourage them to eat.

Once your girl has whelped you may well find that a dry feed is just not eaten, as her mouth gets sore from cleaning pups.  I would always recommend putting your girl on the puppy version of her dry feed for the last two weeks.  By this time mine are usually eating more meals a day, and I give fish, chicken, mince etc. in addition to the usual.

My HV bitch is on James Wellbeloved complete for one meal a day and a combination of tinned meat & mixer for the rest along with some rice pudding. I have just ordered 2 bags of JW Puppy to start her on (she is 7 weeks) and hopefully then the pups will be weaned on to that as well....
Luckily I don't have a particularly fussy dog but she is certainly slowing down now in the latter stages of her pregnancy (she usually eats so fast that I had to get a special bowl to prevent her doing so). She usually finished her food before our Terrier had decided which bit to eat first.... lol!
I really hope that she continues to eat well as she nurses her babies as you here so much about them nearly going of their legs as they give the pups so much. 

> i used to feed my girl tinned meat and mixer biscuits and then when i went to stud dog he recommended i go onto a dry complete biscuit rather than meat

the thing is the tinned food is not more meat than the Dry.  Only meat is really meat, LOL

I have always found my dogs have much firmer motions on the dry food or dry and real met.  bitches eating about 4 times their normal diet plus their litters waste products will often become a bit loose, so I certainly wouldn't' feed anything that gave that tendency already.

Definitely wouldn't fed any tinned food, as it is a very pricey way of giving water.

I find that my bitches will eat the puppy complete for a while, then go off it completely a few weeks prior to, and just after whelping. They are then put onto an anything I can get into them diet ;-) This includes raw mince, tinned creamed rice, chicken, tuna, in fact anything just to get them to eat :-p I have even resorted to tinned food mixed into their puppy complete, whch worked quite well for one bitch, but only for a week

It's a bit like pregnant women. We have cravings, and dislikes (I hated coffee with my last one ) and so do dogs. Unfortunately the only way they can tell us is by refusing the food. That's where the hair goes grey(human, not dog :-D ) ad the bank balance goes into the red :-)

Wow, mine are like garbage collectors from birth onwards, no gradual increase but straight onto about 4 times normal rations.  Basically I feed pretty much ad lib, worry about weight gain after, but it never lasts, by the time they moult they have gone back to normal weight and still need a bit extra to feed new coat growth.