Can anybody recommend what make of puppy food we should feed our 8 weeks old Boxer. She is currently on tinned food, but we'd like to change her to dry complete food.

Thanks, Sarah

My 12 week old boxer pup was weaned on Beta Puppy and we have carried on with it after bringing her home. She is doing really well on it and is also a reasonable price. They reccomend it to be moistened down with young pups.
As everyone would probably tell you anyway, any change must be done gradually and you might end up going through a few to find one your pup likes, so buy small bags just in case.
Good Luck :D
Ali
PS What is your boxers name ? Colour ? etc. Am very interested as I love Boxers. My baby is a Brindle/white called Ruby. :D :D

Ali C

Thanks for the advice. Our little puppy is called Casey and she is brindle and white.

hello Sarah , I would think to start changing your pup's food this early on is unecessary as she has been through a big change coming to live with you and this would only unsettle her ? I would consider keeping your pup on the food the breeder has weaned them on to and worry about changing on to a complete diet at 6 months or so. I have had many problems with people changing diets all the time and to be honest it causes the pups to be fussy, have upset tummy's. A complete diet like Hills/Eukanuba/walfcol would be ok a bit later on but be careful with trying loads of different brands as this just causes problems. What food is your pup on now ? has your breeder given you a diet sheet ? I would contact your breeder and ask her opinion.

Chloedog

We bought our puppy Casey from a pet breeder who has been feeding her Pedigree Chum tinned puppy food three times a day. I've had dogs before, but never a boxer, and I've always fed them on dried food. Do you think I should keep her on this then until she is older?

you could try adding in some pedigree chum complete with the tinned food, just a small amount and she if she likes it, I would do it very gradually though. Does she like the tinned food ?? when i changed my girl from tinned to dry she totally refused to eat it !! dry is better for teeth etc but i would wait a little bit longer before changing her completely,
forgot to say congratulations on your new baby ! good choice ! there are a lot of boxer lovers on this site im sure they will be along soon !!

Hi Sarah,
Chloedog is correct, there are lots of us Boxer lovers around here. I have a 12 week old brindle/white bitch named Daisy Jones. She was weaned on to Beta and is fine with it.My concern is not what your choice of food is really, but at 8 weeks a pup should still be on different things with a little bit of 'proper puppy food' at different times. Did your breeder give you a diet sheet (as someone else asked)?
My Boxer eats scrambled eggs, wheetabix, raw meat, rice, all sorts of REAL foods. I quess this is a personal choice, but I have read quite a bit re: pet diets and this works for many folks. Dogs need bones and meat. I think it's called The BARF diet, (bones and real food)?Daisy's fave are raw chicken wings. Yummy.
Basically, they are what they eat and if you plan to breed, as we do, a bitch needs the best diet you can afford to give her.
Enjoy your baby clown dog, they are SUPER!
Megbel

Thanks for the tip - sounds a good idea - I'll try adding Pedigree Chum Complete to her food slowly, as she seems to have no problems with this brand.

I feed my Boxers Arden Grange complete food.
I fed my puppies on the AG puppy and then graduate.
My pup is now almost 11 months old and is weaning over
to Prestige slowly.
My adult (mother to pups) was on Prestige before mating and
during pregnancy & lactation then returned back to Adult formula.
I am changing her back to Prestige shortly.
What ever diet you change to you should always change gradually,
over a period of 5 days slowly increasing the amounts of the new food
and decreasing the amount of old food. Til at the end of the five days you are feeding all the 'new' food. I also found giving a teaspoon of live natural yoghurt on the food also settles their tummies.
What ever you do don't keep chopping and changing the diet as you can make your puppy a fussy eater. I learned the hard way with my first Boxer, we went through countless changes of diet as she'd eat one brand for a few days and then decide 'I don't like this one anymore'.
I found that the Boxer normally does well on a good wheat gluten free diet, Boxers can have quite sensitive digestion and can suffer with colitis.
Although you may be lucky and have one of the 'dustbin' variety with 'iron stomach'. I know a few of those too :)
Hope you have lots of fun with your new Boxer puppy.
Kind Regards
Kirstine

Hi Sarah good luck with your new puppy, you are right to worry if your pup has only been given tinned food on its own this is definately not adequate, also although Beta puppy is a good food we have heard and experienced a lot of Boxers who have a reaction to the type of protein content it is one of the foods alot of Breeders go with because it is Cheaper than the top rung brands, we breed for the show ring and through bitter experience (other peoples and our own) we have found you only get the best out of your puppy if you put the best in. We always base the foods we wean on what the mother can tolerate and ask if the father has any food reactions our last litter was weaned on Hills Science and we have good results on Eukanuba (some can react to this) Boxacrazy has sound advice as we tend to feed Gluten free after a persistent runny tummy problem with a couple of the older ones. There are many good foods out there a lot is personal preference. Be very wary of introducing a food you are not 100% happy with.

I am a bit worried now that I am not feeding Ruby what she needs. The breeder had weaned her with Beta Puppy and advised me to carry on with it.
Sauceboat/Boxacrazy---- What do you suggest that I feed my boxer pup on? Price is not a concern and obviously if a Gluten/wheat free diet is best for Boxers then I will most certainly change. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Ali :) :) :)

Hi Ali don't worry too much if she continues to do well on Beta it does have what she needs in there. Our first Boxer was fed on Beta puppy when we had her but we noticed after a while she was getting the runs regularly and she was a little thin I was advised by a top breeder that this was the protein content and to either change her food or to step her up on to Beta junior as the content of protein was lower when we changed her food to Eukanuba she virtually blossomed overnight and the runs stopped instantly this food I know doesn't suit everybody as I have heard of Boxers showing symptoms of Colitus when reared on it but they are few and far between, this may look expensive but you feed a lot less so it lasts longer than some other brands . As you may have heard the food intollerence problem seems to happen regularly in some lines of our breed in which case a gluten free diet can be very helpful, one of our bitches goes in to over drive and is totally hyper when not on gluten free we have tried all manner of foods for her and she is doing very well on Davis Ranger chicken and rice gluten free (not the most expensive) it may not suit all dogs but it suits her and that is the key. The main thing is enjoy your puppy and don't get too hung up on the brand of food unless you come across a problem.

i feed both my boxers omega cassey is 2 years old (am waiting to see if she is pregnant will be 3 weeks on friday if she is) and moochie is 15 months still with no sign of her first season..

15 months is not unduly old for a Boxers first season one of our girls has just had her first at 18 mnths and my freinds went to 20 so don't worry too much, if you want to try to bring her in season get her on to vitamin E tablets this usually does the trick sooner or later our bitches do tend to bring each other in though so perhaps she just isn't ready yet.

thanks sauceboat she is rather a slim boxer and vet and i was hoping when she came into season this would help her gain weight as we have tried everything else ,she does not seem to have a big appetite,but she is not underweight for her age just out of proportion a very large head and a slim body...

Chloe took ages to come in to season the 1st time around i think she was around 15mths, my vet also thought it was to do with her weight as she is also very slim (she was until she had pups now she is doing a Geri !) I put her on to Hills performance and she put on weight and came in to season !
What does everyone think about tripe ? I have been advised by several boxer breeders that it is good for putting on weight ? Chloe loves it !

Hi chloedog, Im afraid I cant give advice with feeding tripe to boxers as Ive never had one, but I have been feeding tripe to my hounds for the last twenty years. It is not the most pleasant thing in the world to feed, very smelly, dosnt store easily etc, but the hounds have always thrived on it. It is good for puttting on weight, its easy for them to digest, and it has no additives or preservatives in it. I feed mine mixed with a greyhound meal. I wouldnt put tiny pups on it, but my Wolfhound babies start on their tripe diet from about 7 weeks of age. Obviously with this breed they grow very quickly anyway, so the low protein content suits them fine. I have never had any skin, joint or growth problems with the dogs. Lots of people dont like the idea of feeding tripe, and its too long and complicated to go into why I think it is one of the best diets going, and it would probably cause an uproar on the board ( dont want to be responsible for that ;) ) I can only tell you if has always suited my lot, and I am a firm believe in the saying..."If its not broke, then dont fix it"

i was feedind green tripe to my boxer ,but vet said not to giveher it as some dogs loose weight rather than put it on i have even tried science food at £45 a bag and that never helped either...

Hi Phil, I like green tripe too because the protein content is ~20% and the calcium/phosphorus ratio is almost balanced. Do you feed tripe & biscuit only, and do you add any fat to the mix for the more active dogs? Also, how much would you give a large adolesent male wolfhound? As you know Lewis isn't getting exercise, was a bit overweight and is very greedy. So I've been keeping him a shade hungry, but he has lost all the excess poundage now and I'm wondering if I'm keeping him too short. He is a shade over 36" and weighs ~140lbs.

Hi Sharon, I think this post should be entitled " how to upset the board in one easy go" Sorry folk, but I just have no time for convenient , clean , handy, non smelly dried, boring food!!
Sharon, they ALL have tripe and biscuit with nothing added. The only exception I make is a bitch in whelp in the last three weeks of her pregnancy. She then gets Vit.E, red meat, and vegetables added and thats it. I expect lots of posters will reply to my next comment,but its worth thinking about. If you ever watch a wild life programme, wild dogs or big cats at a kill, whats the first thing they eat? Rump steak...no. Nice bit of flank...no. The first thing they rip open and eat is the stomach and its contents. Now someone will post and say, yes but they eat the fur and bones too, and quite correct you are as well. My dogs eat bones, graze grass, chew on herbs ( through choice) and eat as naturally as possible. If it is within my power to do so, I keep them away from additives and preservatives, colourings etc.
Sharon, all my dogs have a 50/50 mix at meal times. The Wolfies get 2lbs of tripe and 1lb of biscuit a day, divided between two meals. The lurchers get 1lb tripe and 1/2lb biscuit. The greyhound mix I use is 24 percent protein which I find is high enough to keep everyone happy. I would imagine by the size of Lewis, and taking into account his enforced rest at the moment, that the same amount would be just about right for him too. Blimey, having just read this back, Im rambling again, sorry folks :)

Icant see anything wrong with that Phillipa lol Mari

Hi Mari, Thank you for that. I was fully expecting to get hung, drawn and quatered, but there is still time!! lol :)

Hi Phil, evidently great minds think alike (etc :D). Lewis is getting 2lbs tripe, though adding in his hard supper biscuits he has more like a pound and a half of biscuit. You won't upset me, because I used to feed a totally 'natural' diet (not just tripe) to all of the dogs. The younger working dogs still get that, but the very old ones now get tripe+hound biscuit alternating with a cheap VAT free lowish protein complete food. I've no idea whether my home cooking is anywhere close to the modern BARF. I think of it as the Granny Simpson hound diet, with Betty Murphy variations :-). Not that I'm a 'natural diet' fanatic. For short periods I've fed the adults totally complete food, and hand on heart I didn't see any difference in health, condition or activity (though teeth needed more attention). So I often wonder if the houndly 'home cooking' is done mostly because my coursing grey addicted granny would be turning in her grave if it wasn't :-).

LOL Sharon, that posting pulled me up short for a minute, as my surname is Simpson too.:)

Phil, mum tells about a new Minister arriving when she was a kid. The Minister's wife was in a dither because she was sure that she'd never learn everyone's name, but was told it was easy. All she had to do was call everyone either Mrs Simpson or Mrs Ellison, and she was sure to get it right quite often. Come to think about it, wonder if inbreeding has anything to do with my little eccentricities .... :D.

LOL Doubt it Sharon, its just the nature of the beast :) :)

Ah well, there goes that excuse :-)