Hi everybody. I joined today and my name is Katy. On saturday I became the proud owner of  male chocolate labrador called max. He is 8 weeks old and so far he has been a little star. My problem is this. The breeder was feeding him on pro plan large breed puppy food. She was feeding him a cup full soaked 3 times a day at 8am 2pm and 8pm. I have tried to stick to this but sometimes he eats it all and sometimes he doesnt eat any of it. I have been leaving the food down for about 30 mins and then throwing it away. I have then been waiting till the next feed time as I dont want to be feeding all over the shop. Am I doing the right thing? Alsdo I cant get his particular brand of food anywhere! I hae tried all the vets and pet shops in and around the town. I have about 2 more meals left from which breeder gave me! What do I do??? All shops give different advice on which to give him and then the vet tried to tell me something entirely different but the food she reccommended only can be bought at her vets locally so I didnt really trust her opinion. I really dont know what to do can anybody help me?

Hi

Its very early days for the new pup, there are probably lots of interesting things to see and do in the house - rather than eat, you'll probably find hell settle down to his food in another week  Plus at 12 weeks you could go down to 2 meals per day if he is refusing one.  You should certainly limit the time the food is left down and re offer at the next meal - so don't change that.

As for the food, most big pet stores stock purina - i'm surprised you can't find any...
But if you do have to change his food do it gradually and not in one meal - otherwise he will have an upset tummy, and try to find a food high in chicken or lamb, preferably the meat should be listed as the first ingredient - look for meat or meat meal NOT meat derivatives.
Most of the quality foods are hard to find too, and would usually stock purina also, it is and ok food to feed.

Have to say also would try to get him to eat the food dry now too.  Also if it is dry you can save the food he leaves for the next meal.

Sharon

is pro plan purina? I am confused. I was wondering about feeding him it dry? The breeder said she soaks her food as dry food can be hard on the kidneys? I suppose it would be easier to feed it dry as less time to wait for it to soak and also can then save it so less waste. What does everyone think about this? Would he be upset if i just started to feed it dry when he is used to it soaked and what do i do about the fact that I am about to run out of the pro plan.

If you have been given a bag by the breeder is it in the original packageing if so there should be a help line number on there, they should be able to tell you your local stockist if it is Purina the helpline is 0871 230 2325.

Your dog would probably enjoy it dry since it would be crunchy, I would never sell any of my pups unless they were all on dry food, but thats just me. The only thing with dry make sure you do have water around at all times cause they need the water (I always have free choice to water day and night), were when soaked there is alot of water in it already. The reason why your breeder may of said that is because when they eat dry then drink water the food swells up in the tummy.

Edit: Forgot to say Welcome to the forum :)

"(I always have free choice to water day and night), "

Hi dollface, I was wonder what the above meant please.

Also, I prefer my do to eat dry food aswell, however he doesnt eat as much dry food as he should, so I mix half a tin of meat (I use winnalot) into it, and it all goes. Hope this helps. :D

Gonzo
What I ment by that is that my dogs/all my animals always have free choice to water, I never limit it...Then I never limit the food either they have free choice of that as well :D

I feed Nutro natural choice lamb n'rice....Just because one food works for one dog does not mean it will work for another :)

still confused! You are all going to get sick of me sorry!! Should I just start giving it dry then? Is it hard on kidneys? Food she gave me was in carrier bag she said it was pro plan large breed puppy food but cant get it where I live. Have now officially run out so have to buy something this morning!  Anyone?

If you are worried about giving dry food without soaking, although I'm sure that will be fine and you can also use it throughout the day for training, you could try Naturediet which is a very good quality moist complete food.  He would probably eat that more readily too because it is yummy - that is what my dogs said to say anyway. :)

so is he going to cope with the sudden change? I dont want him to have an upset tummy if I can avoid it?

If you google for 'purina pro plan stockists' you will find some useful information.

I always wet my dogs' dried food before I put it down because it requires a lot of extra water intake to be digestible, and this can indeed put a strain on the kidneys, and in breeds prone to kidney problems like mine this is something to be avoided.

If feeding dried food dry make sure, as dolface says, your pup has free access to clean drinking water 24/7.
:)

Jean,my breed is also prone to kidney problems :( How much water do you add? I know it's hard to explain but do you add enough just to make the outside soft,or more to make the inside soft aswell,just drizzle on or soak it and wait for the dry to absorb the water? This is one thing i have never been too sure about,when i feed dry food i usually just drizzle a bit of hot water on to bring out the smell.

christine

Ooh, it's hard to explain, Christine - it's all done by eye. I suppose for every cup of dry food I pour on about a quarter of a cup of hot water just before I put the food down - enough to make each piece wet but without enough time to let it go soft. As you say, it brings out the smell as well which the dogs seem to appreciate!
:)

somebody on this poll said that a pup should be eating dry food dry. i have a dog de bordeaux pup that is coming up 9 weeks old. she is on pedigree chum puppy dry,with milk. i was soaking the dry then adding the milk which the breeder told me to do. on the advice off here i stopped soaking and gave it dry with plenty of water to drink. my puppy nearly choked to death and i had to stick my finger down her throat to get the food out. i don think it would be wise if you are moving from moist to dry just to do it. do it gradually, put less water so some bits are crunchy and some hard. i certainly will not be putting her on dry again till at least 5 months, id have cried my eyes out if she died.

all my pups were eating dry food at 7weeks before they left me.

I feed dried food to the pups from about 4 1/2 week soaked down with water or oxo gravy, and by the time they go they are on dry at 8 weeks, that is the newfoundlands, BUT with the Dogue de Bordeaux pups I have found that they have been slower in all respects to all the other breeds that I have had over the years, at this time we are just starting to changing them on to the complete, but when I got both my Bordeaux at 8 weeks they were on dry complete, have you checked you pups mouth to make sure that all her teeth are all developed so she can crunch, If you are feeding tinned you will need some type of biscuit or mixer to balance her diet, we have a 4 month old Lhasa Apso that weighs just 1.5kg and she is fed on Burns complete neat not soaked and she has been since befor we got her at 8  weeks with no problems, the Bordeaux weigh over 7lb+ so I can see no problems. Do's your bordeaux chew bones ok or chicken wings.I would give her a bit longer and then try her again at about 12 weeks and feed her small amount at a time

I NOTICED THERE IS ONE TOOTH AT THE FRONT SHE DOES NOT HAVE BUT I DOUBT THIS OULD CAUSE A PROBLEM. I DONT GIVE HER CHICKEN BONES AND THINGS. SHE HAS NO PROBLEM EATING THE CATS FOOD APART FROM THE CAT TELLING HER OFF THAT IS. I WILL LEAVE HER TILL 12 WEEKS AND TRY AGAIN BECAUSE IT WIL BE EASIER WITH DRY. IM FEEDING HER PEDIGREE CHUM PUPPY COMPLETE AT THE MOMENT CAN ANYONE RECOMMEND SOMETHING BETTER.

I HAVE HEARD THAT DR JOHN SILVER IS SUPPOSED TO BE VERY GOOD BUT DO THEY DO IT IN A PUPPY AND WHERE WOULD I GET IT FROM.

SHE IS 9 WEEKS NOW AND ONLY WEIGHS 3KG IS THIS RIGHT, HOW MUCH SHOULD SHE WEIGH? I BOUGHT A BOOK ON BORDEAUXS SO I CAN LEARN AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE, BUT LITTLE THINGS I WORRY ABOUT DONT SEEM TO BE IN THERE.

well max is a 10 week labrador and he is 10kg! I would of thought your dog would weigh more than 3kg

That sounds very light for such a large breed pup.  My Elkhound pups weigh on average 9 to 11 pounds at 8 weeks, though I have had the odd pup heavier than that, and they are only a medium size breed bitches weighing 20kg as adults.  They are usually 10 to 16oz at birth.

Enter Dogue De Bordeaux into your search engine and try and find a dogue breed club throught he internet.I'm not sure about the weight issue but 3kilo sounds awfully light,my shih-tzu weighed 5kilo at 6mths. and now weighs 8 kilo and they are miniscule compared to your breed.Where is your dogs breeder???cant you ask her these questions as well?

chrstine

Same her but I did do it gradually moving from warm water soaked food with puppy milk to just warm water soaked food with milk to drink seperately, to just soaked with cold water, to just a little water put on to stop it flying about to completely dry.  they are are alw3ays eating it dry by the time they go to new homes, which saves a lot of food being wasted for the new owners.

My Bordeaux pups are only 4+ weeks old and they now weight 8lb  to 8lb 8oz which is not far off 4kg, even the smallest is 7lb 12oz which is well over 3kg , I would have your vet check her and make sure all is well, have you wormed her regularly, about every 2 weeks with a good wormer from your vet, not an over the counter pet shop wormer. I would definately say that her diet is not suiting her, how are her poo's, how many times a day are you feeding.My pups are on the pedigree chicken and rice complete puppy  lightly soaked ,as it suits them and they are thriving but it does not suit every dog, and some people prefer natural fresh food diet with veg and fruit with meaty bones, but I would be a bit concerned it my puppy's weighed any less and they are not 5 weeks until next sunday. If you would like to contact me again, I put you in touch with the Bordeaux Club on a different thread. I will not pretend to know if all about, the Bordeaux but with this being my first Bordeaux litter I am in touch with 3 other very experience Bordeaux people that also have litters, 1 litter 2 weeks ahead of mine and 1 litter 2 weeks behind mine maybe we could have a chat,  as if she is not getting the nutrition that she needs at this stage you may have problems in the future, she needs a good quality food, Doctor Johns is not a suitable food I would say, IMHO to give a puppy the goodness it needs, I do use Doctor Johns on my old dogs as a maintanance diet, and that is the gold. but not to the pups, they are having the chicken wings I give them to my older dogs, but this is the first time I have tried it with puppy's, they have there teeth and are managing well with one a day, supervised. If you want to contact me we could may be compare notes as my youngest male is only just turned a year.

i feed her 4 times a day starting at 1030am and last feed 730pm. she poohs at least 6 times a day and they are softish. she wees about 40 times a day. she eats all her food. it took me onnly 3 days to papertrain her now she wont go on the paper at all but on carpet and floor. its really bad

Email me if you want,  we usually do first feed out 8a.m. and the last feed about 11.00pm so we are not trying to get to much food into a short space of time, and the pups have a better chance to digest  their food,  the puppy is still a baby and she will still have set backs in her toilet training she is doing well being a bit paper trained so do not let it get you down, one day she will just cotton on to what you want her to do, if you want to compare notes just drop me an email chymera@tmastif.fslife.co.uk