Hi

I have recently been claimed by an 8 week old farm bred Border Collie and am facing the maze of information relating to Nutrition. Of course I do not plan to change any foods for my pup until he is well settled but when I do change I would like to know that is the best possible food and alternatives in case he doesn't like the one I choose.
A good friend has recommended Burns pet food and I do like the whole idea behind the range, I have also read the extensive thread on opinions of it and got samples and leaflets from burns.
What is confusing me really is the conflicting advice on proteins and other nutrients. The information from Burns states that excessive protein in a young pups diet can cause problems later, and the food he is on now is high in protein...Barkers and James Wellbegood as per breeders diet sheet mixed on morning feeds with ready brek or weeatbix.
I would like to know others opinions on this and any links for any information relating to the subject.

Thanks
Carden

There is no one best possible food for ALL dogs; if your dog is allergic or intolerant of say chicken then any food containing that ingredient is not good for THAT dog, not necessarily ALL dogs.

If you are looking for a good commercial food choose one that has no artificial preservatives, colourings, added salt, sugar etc and one that has as few ingredients as possible.

If you want to compare protein levels between different foods then you must remove the moisture content from the food, divide the CRUDE protein on the packet by the dry matter and mulitply by 100 then you can see what the ACTUAL protein content is in each food and compare.

You can wean your dog onto one food eg straight onto Burns, there is no nutritional reason to feed weetabix or ready brek.  You would probably be better off choosing ONE food rather than two or more.

I was simply following the breeders diet sheet and he seems alot happier with his food with the ready brek in there - perhaps a little bit of home at this early stage more than anything nutritional.
Does anyone know more about the effect of protein on young dogs - Burns seem keen to push excessive quantities at a young age as a bad thing - tho I am cautious at this simply being selling material.

Moon
p.s apologies if I sign off as Moon - Moonmaiden is my normal net name but someone has beaten me to it on the boards here ;)

id not have a collie on a high protien food anyway,
if you want to feed dried food burns IMO is good & all my collies eat it,(BCs can be picky so any food that they will actually eat is a bonus).
alot of behavioural problems in BCs are made alot better by changing to a lower protien food.
ggood luck with your new baby!

I think type of protein is more important as regards hyperactivity than amounts. So saying, I've always been against these high growth rate puppy foods, preferring to bring my puppies along slowly. It always seems to me that we are seeing a far greater lever of such things as OCD since they have been around than in days of old. Puppy's growth rates seem to outstrip the development of bone. I'm not saying that the bone has not got big enough to support the puppy, just the opposite in fact. Bone seems to grow so fast that it is not given time to harden properly inside and the surface strips away forming the mice as seen in OCD.

Course, I may be completely wrong but that's by belief and the reason I feed as I do.

Regards, John

"I've always been against these high growth rate puppy foods, preferring to bring my puppies along slowly."

Quite right John, completely agree a view  completely supported by the proponents of raw feeding such as Ian Billingshurst and Tom Lonsdale.  Less is often more.......................... :)

Thank you for your replies...

So I need to find ONE food that gives my baby everything he needs. A food that is fairly low in protein so as not to cause problems later. As I said I like the look of the Burns and it has been recommended by at least one person I respect in the field of dogs and seen how happy and healthy her dogs are on it...not to mention the thread on these boards.

Will look to changing him over to Burns shortly then.

Hi there I too have two farm bred BCs and what a pleasure they are although very hard work.  Hope you know what you have taken on.

As to feeding I have with a senstive stomach and so they are both on burns.  Quite frankly I would not feed anything else anymore as it has done wonders for them.  I also feed naturediet with their evening meal for a bit of variety which IMHO is the best wet food and nearest to feeding BARF that you can get. 

Not all foods suit all dogs and it took us a while to get to burns but it worked for us.

All the best and hope you will be very happy together. 

Claire