Just wondered if anyone else had fed their pups on BETA puppy food. A friend of mine says its horrible stuff and her puppies were ill with it. With my last litter I fed then the same brand of puppy food that my adults dogs were on but this did upset their bellies, so we put them on James Wellbeloved. At first they did eat it but then got bored of it and would just pick at it, so I thought I might try BETA. I want to do the best for my babies and Ideally would put them on an raw meat diet ( they do get lean mince for one meal ) but am just worried that new owners won't like it and just change them on to puppy food for convenience. I am just thinking of the pups wellbeing when they leave home. All this worrying and thier not even born yet, let alone eating solid food!!!!!

Any advice would be fantastic,

Kerry

All my dogs are fed on Burns, I use canine extra when in whelp and feeding, pups are weaned onto Mini-bites, always had lovely strong healthy pups with this.  Of course it may not agree with all dogs, but my lot have done great on it!

I raised a litter on beta puppy food and they did cracking on it. Continued to feed the pup I kept on Beta til she was 11 months old and you know how much energy boxers spend!! She kept a lovely weight and a lovely shiny coat.

The only thing I would say that it takes some soaking !!! to make into a porrage. I started to wean at 2 1/2 weeks coz mum was loosing interest and I found thay liked it really sloppy to start with and by 6-7 weeks I was mixing some unsoaked with the soaked for added texture.

I would recommend it and I will use it again for my next litter.
Good luck x

Thankyou, I soppose it depends on the individual, I think I may give it a try, I needed to make a decision as mum is on day 42 and I like to start giving her some food that the pups will be on at this time.

I also have fed burns to a pup before. Where I live a bag cost about £38 a sack, now for me the cost isn't a problem, I would pay £50-£60 pound a sack if that was the price, but once again I worry that new owners will not pay that sort of money and just put pup on a cheaper brand, say like beta, £25 a sack, so I would rather start them off on that and know that they won't get changed ( hopefully anyway ). I do give a diet sheet and intruction on how to cahnge the diet if they HAVE to, but even the most caring new owner may think they know better.

Hope that all made sense, I know what I mean even if everyone else thinks I'm crazy!!!!!!!

All my pups left here on Burns and I think only one person has changed, I think people consider the health of their new pup and continue to feed it what it is doing well on.

Burns are very good, if you ring them and tell them how many pups you have, providing you have been buying you food from them anyway, they send you a 2kg bag of mini-bites per pup free of charge for when they leave you along with a puppy pack and money off vouchers!

I have reared a couple of litters on Beta very successfully.

I would not feed Beta puppy.  I've read here sometime ago that puppies reared on it had   probs (renal?) , not sure now it was a while ago. You could do a search on here to find out.

I recommend Burns too, they have a fab breeders scheme where you can get a free 15kl bag of food from them for every new owner that feeds their puppy on it if they buy it direct from Burns ( free delivery). I have had two free bags already this year ( thats about £60 worth) and expect another 3. 

Wonderful though Champdogs is if we stopped feeding everything that someone on here had claimed caused a problem we would be feeding our dogs on thistles :D

I'm not entirely sure thistles are safe, Isabel. I believe the sap contains a chemical which is reputed to possibly be implicated in an animal vomiting ...

;) :D

Blast, it's down to fresh air then :D

Hi all

I actually bought a bag of beta puppy yesterday. Last time I saw beta it was very dark, almost black in colour and looked very hard, but it has changed and is light brown and looks a bit softer.

I offered my bitch a handful and she ate it then tried to stick her head in the bag!!!!! So at least she likes it.

One problems I found when I fed my last puppy on burns was that ( and sorry to be graphic !!! ) his poo was very sticky, maybe it was just him,  but when it was time to put him on adult burns, and I did this slowly over 2 weeks, he had an upset belly again and just wouldn't settle on it. When he was a small puppy he was on JWB but didn't like, now he is on a food that I think is horrible ( its called oscar's) but someone told me to try it, so out of depriation I did and he loves it. Athough he gets raw meat and a bone as well and is now starting to put weight on.

I thank you for all your advice.

Ah but that is fullof toxins too, but it is supposedly free :D

I dare say it is, but its the only thing that he is happy on, he has been much more of a happy dog, but saying that it could be the raw meat and raw bone he gets every day, so seriously considering putting him on the barf diet, So many people on here seem to feed it with such good results.

A friend of mine's Lab bitch was reared on Beta and she carried on with it because the bitch puppy did so well on it. There were thirteen pups in the litter and they all looked fabulous and the mum was doing really well. If anything she was rather overweight :)
I even started to give mine it for a while and it seemed to suit my problem dog fine, but like everything with her, things are great for a while and then I have to find something else. (Digestive problem :(  )  Not Beta's fault though. Just her :) AAhh Well. dogs. Who'd 'ave 'em
Good Luck with your choice