What age can I move new puppy(changed her name to Piper as she is a witch) onto tripe and biscuit as she goes nuts to try and eat Skyes dinner. She is put in her crate so she cant eat it. When I got her she was eating JWB puppy. She is almost 15 weeks now.
Thanks
Mary

Why not add tripe to her JWB? I'm not a big fan of biscuit,imo most of them are pretty much full of nothing.. Which brand of biscuit are you feeding,and is it one of those that is just wheat,cereal etc?

My 11 week old puppy has had tripe mixed in with her puppy complete since she was tiny. The breeders fed her that and she has carried on getting it now we have her. Both my older dogs are on it too.:-D

Its the one I was told to feed her terrier meal I think its called. Is there a better one or would I be better off adding tripe to a complete food?
Mary

Hi Mary :)

My pup, who is now 4 and a half months, has been raw fed since she was about 4 - 5 weeks old mixed with puppy kibble but since she was about 10 weeks old she has just had raw -  yukky tripe included :P

PS. we must do some catch-up, let me know what you've been up to ;)

My pups are weaned onto tripe so add it as soon as you like, gradually of course! I personnaly would not feed terrier meal as said why not add the tripe to her JWB?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I always thought that by adding any other "meat" to a complete food you would upset the balance of the "complete" food.

Yes you are probably right but my dogs are fit and healthy and do really well on a mix of tripe and Burns. I feed by eye, not instruction and if they look and are fit, healthy, active and hungry for their food then that's OK by me.
I also think the "Advised" quantities on bags of food are way out, if I were to feed the amounts advised for my girls, they would not be able to move, they would be so fat!!! any one else feel the same?

When I fed kibble I only used the quantity advice as a rough guidline ;) I'm sure I fed more than the amount stated.  I just go by what suits them, more if they need a bit of weight, less if they don't :)

even if they do look at me to say 'honest mum, I could eat more' :P

I feed raw now and have always gone by the "feel and look" of my dogs rather than quantities specified by the petfood companies.

>Correct me if I'm wrong, but I always thought that by adding any other "meat" to a complete food you would upset the balance of the "complete" food.<

This is a fallacy started by,i believe,the pet food companies.... Designed, so pet owners would feed their food and only their food,by mixing in extra's,one would also be reducing the quantity of kibble fed. Thus far i have never heard a valid explanation of why not to add meat to dry food.Us mere mortals are more than capable of feeding our dogs an adequate diet...Besides i honestly believe there is no such thing as a balanced commercial food for every dog.One kibble may contain the max of copper,another the min,one dog may require more A than the next,one food may be lacking in iron,the next one may have excess. Which is why i am so hard core on variety,variety,variety!!! :D

My dogs never get a bowl of plain,dry kibble,i have always done,and always will add extra's,particularly meat :)

I think you are probably right Ktee, as you say they all have different quantities of vitamins, minerals, meat etc. I now feed raw with no kibble whatsoever, so really just go on my dogs condition.

Please watch your tripe quantities with puppies as it is unbalanced in calcium to phosphorous.  I found this out the hard way with my, now deceased, first LM bitch.   I went down the tripe & mixer/complete way of feeding for a pup as did a friend of mine with a Ridgeback puppy.   Both pups ended up with shocking growth plate problems. The Ridgie's came on within weeks, he was loathe to move and squealed when he did.   My Asti became that way by 6 months old and it was only quick thinking by my vet, x-rays & calcium tablets that rectified her bones (They were almost transparent!).   She just went on to complete with NOTHING added - so it's not all fallacy.  And she lived until she was almost 14 & half!

My friend & I found out, not long after our pup's problems, a Wolfhound on a similar diet suffered similar problems too.

Thank you everyone, I think I will keep her on a complete food and give her a small amount of tripe to make it more interesting that an then maybe she will let poor Skye eat her dinner in peace.
Mary

Christine can you remember what the correct balance of cal/phos?I've gone completely blank on the figures!i think it's around 1.1 to 0.8 for large breed pups, and for small/madium pups it's around 1.6 to 1.1. Is green tripe unbalanced or just a touch low on these minerals?

Here's the GA for green tripe

Moisture   71.37%
Crude Fat   11.70%
Protein   15.82%
Ash   1.23%
Phosphorous   0.14%
Calcium   0.12%
Calories   756.35 cal/lb.
pH   6.12
Lactic Acid Bacteria   12,000 CFU/G
Linoleic Acid (EFA)   2.72%
Linolenic Acid (EFA)   0.37%

Perhaps someone could compare the cal/phos on their puppy food.

Ktee,

I have no idea.  I only went on what my vet's diagnosis was at the time (In 1991!) and I'm afraid I wasn't as interested in nutrition then as I am now!  :D   All I know was Asti had to have Calcium in large doses to rectify the opaqueness of her bones and the pain she was in.

Tripe is a problem if that is the ONLY food you use.  To feed a dog only one source of meat and type of meat can be a recipe for disaster when it is growing anyway.