Our Boxer puppy is only 12 weeks old and we feed her a mixture of Pedigree Chum dry complete and tinned food three times a day. However, for the last week or so, she is often sick after about an hour of eating her food. I'm worried that may be it's the brand we're feeding her (I heard that PC was really rich).

She's got a really healty appertite and does eat her food really quickly, plus she's often running around straight after eating (can't stop her - she's a crazy pup!!). She has also got a taste for plants in the garden and we are constantly running around her trying to get them off her.

Would love to hear from anyone who's got advice on this.

Hi Sarah,
if your feeding complete food you don't need to mix it with tinned food. How much of each are you feeding? It may help others advise you :)

On the tinned food it says that we can feed a combination of tinned and the same volume in complete - she seems to like that. She's fed three times a day - third of a tin of tinned and 75g of dry.

From my memory of PC tinned food, it means mixer, not a complete food, to be given with it. A complete food is just that. PC used to do a box of mixer. Don't know if they still do. Is this what she was on from the breeder, or have you changed her diet since you got her? Is there any chance she's swallowed some foreign object (e.g. socks, etc)?
LynnT

Hiya Lynn, the poster is right about pedigree advance complete, it does say that it can be substituted in part by the pedigree puppy cans.

Does the pup eat very quickly? And is there any possibility that she is eating so quickly that she is getting down more than her tum can handle, and then running around on that? When she is sick is it in large quantities or just a bit? Possibly cut down the quantities that you feed her at each meal time? - and see if that helps? Maybe add in another meal if you are worried that she wont get enough food - but the amounts on the packaging are always too high anyway...
Hope this help! Cos i have the opposite problem in that my 14 week old wil hardly eat a thing!

Hi Alex, they hadn't come up with PC puppy food when I last fed tinned food, so you live and learn!:D
LynnT
ps. I hope your pooches are on the mend now. :)

Horrid stuff it is anyway - give them that and i have gas propelled doggies!

Thanks for askin - my 2 are fine now, wasn't KC, just some fluey thing they picked up... cleared up fine with the biotics, left it a few days and no coughs or sniffles - so we are out and about harrassing the local wildlife!

Yes, she bolts her food down, it's gone in seconds. I'll could try putting her on 4 meals a day and also cutting it down slightly - at the moment I'm just following Pedigree's guidelines based on an adult size of 30kg. As to eating other stuff, yes she keeps digging up bulbs and plants and scoffing them and we're finding it a nightmare to stop her. But she thinks it great fun me running round the garden after her!!

The breeder had her on PC. I wanted to change her to Arden Grange, but was worried about doing it when she seemed to like it and was so young. I'm still hoping to change her to this at about 6 months - what do you think?

I feed my Boxers on Arden grange and they are fine.
My pup has been on Arden Grange since she weaned from her mum.
You can change her diet, BUT please do it over a period of 5 days slowly decreasing the old food and increasing the volume of the new food until
on day 6 you have a bowl of the new food only. You can also add a teaspoon of natural live yoghurt to each meal. If you change the diet instantly you'll have a pup with the runs.

It is hard but keep her on a lead to take her outside to do her business (after feeding her)
and then let her have her mad few moments around an hour after she
has had her meal. Likewise don't feed her until she's been 'resting' for
an hour. So basically no exercise for an hour before or an hour after she's had her meal. This is done to cut down on the bloat/gastric torsion.
Also think about feeding her from a raised food stand. You can buy these from around the £10 mark.

Don't worry my Boxer who is now a year old also is a nightmare for eating things she shouldn't. She went through a stage of eating cats poo (yuk)
gets caught with countless things she shouldn't have. We've been down the vets a few times with the pickles she gets herself into (why you should always have pet insurance) We don't have any flowers within her reach (Hanging baskets only at the moment). She really lives upto her KC name of Ain't No Saint :) You just have to keep telling her no-chew (take away what she shouldn't have) and give her something OK to play with, it will eventually sink in ;)

Kind Regards
Kirstine

My boxer Pup had this similar problem I took her to the vet and had her checked several times and she got the all clear everytime.

She used to run about and throw up and just kkep running she even did it with water.

Conicidence or not I changed her diet to an all natural one and it stopped with in about a week or so and never returned.

Not saying this is the answer but just given some input.

Pam

Sarah, if you need more info on alternative diets for your boxer, there a wealth of threads on this site where different methods have been hotly debated. You might find the "canned food or dry" thread which is currently running of interest. Otherwise, a search on food will leave you realing. I'd love to try the BARF diet but I don't have any storage facilities for the fresh meat, etc, and I'm positive my husband would throw his hands up in horror!
As to your bulbs and the like, my dog is particularly partial to the flowers on my mum's Christmas cactus, and dandelions! We just don't grow anything else because it wouldn't survive!:D
Good luck.
LynnT
(Alex, glad to hear things are back as they should be!;) )

Hi, just a reminder some bulbs & plants are poisonous
Christine2

Try putting her back onto 4 meals a day before changing her diet, and I agree if you are feeding complete, only add water or gravy or if your feeding tinned add mixer. If dividing the food into 4 seems to help after about a week gradualy reduce one meal, usualy lunch, until you are back to 3 meals a day. Ja:)kie

Sarah, you must try to stop her running around and going mad after she has eaten (or even before she eats) for at least two hours. Have you never heard of gastric torsion or bloat? This is a life threatening condition that you need to be aware of. If you need any info on it, either try the search facility at the top of the page or type gastric torsion into google :-)