Hello, after some advice - I have 10 nearly 8 week old gundog puppies, (all sold to good homes) all strong and healthy.  Mum is still popping in to feed them when she feels like it and I don't really want to stop her.  They are on Royal Canin Medium puppy food but sometimes they hardly eat anything, I have tried raw mince or cooked chicken mixed in with warm water but sometimes they just turn their noses up and go to sleep.  Should I be concerned that they are not getting enough food, girls weighing in around 4.5kg and boys nearly 6kg,  Its really stressing me out to think I am not giving them enough of what they need to grow and develop, off to new homes in a couple of days

Royal Canine is pretty rubbish food I’m not surprised they don’t like it, try them on some raw tripe, feel sure you’ll have clean plates.

I'm not a fan of Royal Canin either; there are plenty of commercial foods out there with much more meat, but it's not a good time to change their food now. Leave that for the new owners to do in a couple of weeks, once the pups have settled into their new environment.

Something I do to give pups a boost if they're a bit smaller is to mix their kibble in with replacement puppy milk, and make it into a thick porridge, which they love.  I agree with the comments regarding RC, it's not a good food, and is very over priced.

Are the pups maintaining and gaining weight? If they are, it's likely that mum is doing more than just popping in to top up feed - because they must be getting their calories from somewhere and if it's not your food, it's got to be mum...

> Are the pups maintaining and gaining weight? If they are, it's likely that mum is doing more than just popping in to top up feed - because they must be getting their calories from somewhere and if it's not your food, it's got to be mum...

I went to that explanation.  I also wouldn't touch Royal Canin.

All pups doing well and gaining weight as they should so probably all down to Mum.  Have got some Forthglade chicken and tripe to mix in as don't want to change their food so close to going to new homes, if it works will give some to new owners too and will change the pup we are keeping over to something better over the next week.  Told RC one of the best - obviously not!

At the risk of starting a long protracted discussion what is the best commercial puppy kibble?

How long is a piece of string is the answer to that one.  I raw feed, but wean pups on to Simpsons Premium, which is easily available, probably half the price of RC and has good quality ingredients for the price.

I raw feed but also use a premium dry food called Essential.

I raw feed and I prefer not to wean to a kibble because I think it communicates the wrong thing to puppy buyers (that it's ok to feed kibble and it has my blessing kinda thing).

I wean to goat's milk and one of the raw food companies' 'weaning pastes' (very mushy mince without bone), then move to their Puppy raw complete a bit later. Everyone gets vouchers for free packs of raw with their puppy pack.