we have a litter that in a few weeks will require to go on solid food. We bought a puppy last year and it was on nature diet puppy mixed with beta puppy and seemed to do well but what do all you others out there believe would be the best start, thanks

Pedigre puppy porage to wean and after that Nutro puppy.    Seems to produce what I want in terms of condition & health of my pups.

I use the puppy food that I intend to feed them on i.e. JWB, soak it and then liquidise it with some puppy milk powder, had no trouble with the pups taking it straight off. Just looks like a porridge. Then of course they have no trouble eating the puppy food when is in lumps as they and their digestive system is already used to the food.

Me too, I start off with what they are going to be fed on and just really mash it up. :)

Yep, I do the same as AlisonGold and Goldmali - never had any problems, and pups have always put on weight well. :-)

what brands seem to be good for pups these days and what do you think of beta and n-diet

When I reared my last litter, I was still using complete food.  I used Technical and was very pleased with how the pups developed.  I have also used Royal Canin in the past with success.  I personally didn't like Beta (very loose pups).  I would probably use some Nature Diet next time I breed as although I feed a BARF diet, I realise that not everyone is willing to follow this regime.

>what do you think of beta and n-diet<

You're mixing one excellent food with a supermarket quality one Naturediet has healthy ingredients,the other does not. IMHO if you are going to feed a premium wet food,go with a premium dry food too.

Some dry foods i can recommend are-

Arden grange- http://www.ardengrange.com

JWB- http://www.wellbeloved.co.uk

Berrimans- http://www.berrimans.net

Wafcol- http://www.wafcol.co.uk

Tecni-cal do one good dry food,it's the 'easy to digest'.The other formula's arent so good.