Help - I've been the owner of a DOUGE DE BORDEAUX for the past 5weeks and I;ve been today to pick up the 2nd sack of 15kg Eukanuba (Puppy / large breed) at the cost of 38GBP. I've got a couple of things running around my mind.
(1) His diet - Is he getting enough / to much to eat on a daily basis. He currently has two meals per day. 2 Large mugs of Euk mixed in with half a tin of PED CHUM Puppy food x2 a day.
(2) If he is getting the right amount of food per day - And Euk is the best for him - Does anyone know where this can be purchased on the WEB at a CHEAPER PRICE???

Regards

Carl  - New owner.

It sounds to me that you could probably do with some specialist feeding advice. These big breeds have specific requirements. Did you get the pup from a knowledgable breed specialist, I hope so. If you did, give the breeder a ring, you really should have recieved a detailed diet sheet from the breeder.

Otherwise I hope somebody comes along soon to help you get this sorted out.

Dawn R.

Hi Denty,
There is no need to feed a large/giant breed food,these foods such as junior,large breed,giant breed etc. etc. just gives the manufactures more shelf space and more sales :) then there's puppy large bred,puppy junior,puppy small breed! Do you get my point ?

You can feed a regular adult food with no probs to your dog :)

Rose are you saying not to bother feeding puppy food atall go straight to the adult version.

I feed my 4 month old DDB a good quality dried puppy food 1 mug morning one at tea time, and tuna in oil twice a week, as adviced by the breeder who has been breeding giant breeds for years, hope that heps.

Hi Denty.
Is your puppy a 'baby' puppy, because if he is surely he should be getting 4 meals a day. Not two! Even if he's a bit older, 4 months, he should still be on 3 meals a day until he's a lot older. IMO Eukanuba isn't the best food anyway for ethical reason :(
There are lots of other good makes of complete that don't test on animals.
Anne

IMO Eukanuba isn't the best food anyway for ethical reason :-(
There are lots of other good makes of complete that don't test on animals.

I fully agree with the above statement,but thats a whole other thread.

Sarstaff yes that exactly what i'm saying.There is no need to feed a puppy food to a large breed or a giant breed.Adult food will still have the same affect of slow growing etc.

http://www.greatdanelady.com/articles.htm

This woman has bred great danes for lot of years,she is also a canine nutritionalist.Her site contains tonns of info re: large/giant breed dogs and nutrition,you can also e-mail her with any of your concerns :)

If you need any other references please dont hesitate to ask :)

This is what pet food manufacturers want you to believe, but it is just a way to secure their customer base early on and increase sales. The more items in a particular line of food, the higher the visibility of their product on a store shelf - an of course the more likely people are to buy and stick with the brand through the whole life of the animal. Fact is that a food declared as suitable "for all lifestages" will feed a growing puppy just as well as a lactating bitch, an adult or a senior dog - just the amounts you have to feed will change. Puppy and senior food is often more expensive than the regular type of food of the same brand, yet does not differ much in nutritional value. Compare the guaranteed analysis and ingredient list.

I think there is reason to question large breed puppy food, we are hearing much disquiet about it from the breeders but for other breeds it would appear most breeders have found puppy foods entirely appropriate and indeed useful for inwelp and nursing bitches.  Again I find senior foods well formulated for the needs of older dogs, they don't all want to eat less :) so lower calories are a good idea and they often have a slightly higher level of vitamins appropriate for the elderly dog who does not absorb so readily. I have used them with very good results.  I don't see seeking customer loyalty as anything evil its a normal business occupation :) and, as we see frequently on this board, people will not stick to a brand that does not suit their dog and indeed frequently use different brands for different dogs in the household.

Again, selling dog food for seniors is a sales gimmick IMO. Before the advent of these foods, senior dogs did very well on normal dog food. I have never used a senior food and have had dogs live to very old ages. I spoke to my vet about this one time and he said as long as the kidneys are healthy they can eat normal kibble. If there are kidney problems then they need to go on a special perscription diet - not senior dog food.

There is no way I will support these types of food - small breed, large breed, senior food, etc. I will find what I believe to be a quality adult food and they will get that for the rest of their lives - baring illness.

You dont see wild pups eating differently to the adults,just more of the same thing,neither do you see senior wolves eating more high fibre and cereal which is what "senior dog food" mostly contains.Their dogs for goodness sake,not people!

The elderly dogs metabolism is different, nothing to do with failing kidneys, although they may of course have that problem as well certainly any reduction in fibre resulted in constipation for Nellie.  Individuals, as you say, have often lived long lives but its what the dog population as a whole do that counts and statistics show life expectancy has improved since the old days.  Many factors are involved so you could argue that specialised senior food has nothing to do with it but as it costs very little more I will continue to use it for appropriate dogs, my cocker is showing no signs of slowing down so she is continuing on normal adult food at the age of 10.
I don't think wild dogs or wolves ever reach senior citizenship so it would be hard to say whether they would benefit from a tailored food :).  The pups don't always survive.   I remember watching Animal Park a couple of months ago, there they leave the wolves to rear their cubs in the natural way.  We saw the cubs chewing at the adults meat but the entire litter died, which they said was often the case in the wild, and when they PMd the cubs they found they have died of malnutrition.

Just out of interest, does anyone know how long truly wild wolves live? Do they actually live as long as our domestic dogs?

JG unless they have a vet on call to deal with the little things before they get big then the answer to your question would be No,probaly not,but i'm sure you have already researched your question anyway ;)
However i have heard of wolves who have lived to 15 plus years,this was where food was plentiful and the winters were not too harsh :)

Not sure how our domesticated dogs would go left out in the wild to their own devices!

<<<<<<<<<Not sure how our domesticated dogs would go left out in the wild to their own devices! >>>>>>>..

It is man who has domesticated the dog species and bred them to various different sizes & weights, so in doing so man has produced various diets for the species he has domesticated.    No doubt if you put a dog back into the wild it would become very thin until  the real desire to hunt to survive kicked in but then no doubt it's temperament would change too & it would become very suspicious of man as it's forebearers once did.  Man made the dog what it is today.    Most dog species originated from the African continent.
I have said this before...the jungle fowl (From where our chickens come from today) originated in Asia, dog & fowl would never have met in the wild so why do those who feed BARF and claim it is 'more natural, better for the dog, more like it's original feed etc'. feed chicken?

No I haven't researched the question at all, rose, as I only just thought of it and threw it into the arena in case anyone did know.

Luckily my breed is unexaggerated and generally are pretty good hunters, so I think (I hope!) they'd survive all right.
:)

But even dallies have a short coat - they wouldn't survive too well in harsh winters, would they ?

Daisy

It's short but very waterproof - and as they're believed to have originated in the Near East/Egypt region, a thick warm coat like a labrador's wouldn't be appropriate!
:)

Denty,
I have a St Bernard bitch of 5 years now and her breeder had her on Euk large breed also, and she didnt put on any weight so I moved her onto another food. and started feeding her mince, tripe and chicken. Her complete until very recently was PAL Complete, she did well on it and filled out, atho i found out what goes into it and now have changed to a more nutritional feed.
Hope this helps

After speaking with the St Bernard breeders most of them feed puppy food til 5/6mths and then move onto Adult mix, where the protein levels are much less.
Karlai

I've previously spoken to the breeder and he advised that I should feed the dog (now 15 weeks) twice a day(morning / evening). And to increase the amount as the dog gets older. When I collected him at 9weeks, he was on 3/4 of a mug of Euk and half a tin of PED CHUM puppy food. On the breeders advice, I've gradually increased the amount of Euk. As mentioned previously he's currently on 2 full mugs of Euk half a tin PC.

He does some time leave a little food, more often than not he WOLFS it down. He never looks for more, which suggests that he's getting his fill.

With all the talk on Whats best for our dogs - As a novice ownerof such a large breed, I need some help / advice to be pointed in the correct direction.

At 15 weeks old my St Bernard was being fed 3 times a day?
One in the morning, one at lunchtime and one at dinner?
I dont feed any tinned meats to my dogs as I find they make them fart a lot and not much else? There is a lot of water in those tins and thats what you are paying for?!!!!
I fed my puppy a lot of mince meat and tripe.
I dont know much about your breed but I would think chicken and beef mince wld be better than the puppy chum? Nutrionally its a whole lot better to feed Mince.

you could try naturediet which is a wet food and very good.

I would definately look into naturediet,it's a million times better than chum,shudder.then all you have to do is look for a decent dry food ;) :D