Hi all,

I have a 14 week old St. Bernard pup.  I have been feeding him 2 cups of kibble (1 cup adult, 1 cup puppy) mixed with 1/4 cup brown rice, 1/3 cup vegetable (such as carrots or green beans), 2 tbs cottage cheese and 1/3 cup of meat (such as ground turkey or chicken livers).  I am giving him this meal 2 times per day, once in the morning and once in the evening.  As I have never owned a giant breed puppy, I have been doing substantial online research and getting such varying results.  This diet was one that was suggested to me by a friend, as puppies of these size cannot have straight puppy kibble nor too much protein for fear of growing too fast and developing bone and hip problems.  I am also giving him glucosamine and fish oil. 

My question is am I doing the right thing for him?  Am I feeding him enough?  Too much?  Anything anyone can tell me with be greatly appreciated.

Hi,

I once had a St Bernard, and when he was a pup, I was told to give him a tablespoon of bonemeal daily by his breeder who was well known in the breed.

I'm not experienced with giant breeds, I'm on my first Mastiff, but I would have thought that at 14 weeks old a St. Bernard would be better off on 3 or 4 meals per day (my pup was on 4 meals per day at that age) ??

What did the breeder recommend for diet & feeding frequency?

Hi Christileann

If you were happy enough with the breeder that you bought your puppy from (as you obviously were as you bought the puppy :) ) and were impressed by their dogs, I really would recommend that you contact the breeder and ask their advice. 

On a personal note, I don't feed liver daily, just a couple of times a week.

I was impressed by the breeders dogs, and the pup is guaranteed against hip dysplasia, but after I bought the pup and the breeder gave me a couple days supply of the food he was weaned to, she told me it was a combination of Atta Boy and Purina large breed puppy chow.  Obviously her dogs do wonderful on this combination, but I just feel I can do better for him.  Should I just stick to the dry, grocery store bought food?  She said out of nearly 200 dogs she has bred, only 4 have come back with hip dysplasia.  I am not too familiar with dog breeders or the breeding process, is this a low number?  I always thought breeders fed thier dogs premium food?

>the pup is guaranteed against hip dysplasia

As HD is multi-factorial, there's no way anyone can guarantee that a dog won't develop it, I'm afraid, even if both parents had perfect scores. (What were the parents' scores, by the way?)

Giving supplements to growing puppies, especially calcium (bonemeal) for giant breeds, is potentially risky and can cause more problems than it's supposed to prevent.

Why not contact the St Bernard Breed Club and see what they recommend?

> the pup is guaranteed against hip dysplasia

did the breeder say this to you? if so i'd be a bit concerned. as JG said there are many factors that influence the appearence of HD. granted genetics is probably one of the major contributers and appropriate screening of parents can dramatically reduce the incidence or severity of the problem but there is NO guarentee that a dog will not suffer from HD

on the food, for a developing giant breed you wat to keep the protein lower than for most dogs as a fast growth is a bad bad thing! ditto calcium.

there are lots of very good premium foods (wouldn't suggest your average shop stuff though), there are loads of threads on good kibbles if you search for them.  

>Atta Boy and Purina large breed puppy chow.  Obviously her dogs do wonderful on this combination, but I just feel I can do better for him.

Yes i agree,you could do much better,especially with that atta boy,blah!

You Live in America,right? You have access to literally dozens and dozens of super premium foods,you dont have to feed grocery store bought food.

>I always thought breeders fed thier dogs premium food?

If they have lots of dogs,and/or especially of the giant breed,it would cost a fortune to feed them a super premium food.Yes they should be feeding a top quality food but unfortunately to some, food's just not that important..

As for the feeding,i would drop the brown rice there is an overabundance of grains and cereals in the dry foods you are already feeding.VitE must always be given alongside fish oil,as the latter depletes E from the body,and they also compliment each other.

Do you have any pet boutiques,groomers,feed stores(hay and grain).health food stores or holistic pet stores near you?If so,these places are where you are going to find the good foods.Places like petco and petsmart carry the usual mediocre brands.Blue buffalo is probably the best petsmart carry and Natural balance from petco,a small handful carry innova which is a super premium. http://www.naturapet.com

I'd suggest also you contact the breed club - you can find contact information by checking the AKC web site.

For the kibble, I would suggest that you select any good (generally not supermarket) brand that has a large breed puppy variety.  In contrast to what Ktee says, Petco and Petsmart do carry lots of brands of dog food and you will find premium foods - although perhaps not the variety Ktee prefers.  What they stock in the store depends on the demand in your area.  

There are also dozens of online shops you can buy premium foods. 

Especially with giant breeds, I strongly recommend you get advise from a reputable breeder.   Your comment that  your breed "guarantees" her dog against hip dysplasia quite frankly makes me suspicious - because that is simply impossible. 

I hope you breeder also told you how important it is to limit exercise for a giant breed while their bones are developing - no jumping, no stairs, and nothing that would put too much stress on their joints.

Does anyone else hear alarm bells when hearing that the breeder has bred 200 pups? Seems like an awful lot.

>Giving supplements to growing puppies, especially calcium (bonemeal) for giant breeds, is potentially risky and can cause more problems than it's supposed to prevent.

and I second that one, as I've said before on a previous post, calcium excess can cause deposits in the joints and is believed to be a contributing factor to bloat and gastric torsion. 

>Does anyone else hear alarm bells when hearing that the breeder has bred 200 pups? Seems like an awful lot.

I didn't want to give the OP too much bad news at once. :-(

If the breeder has been breeding for 10 years and every year has 2 litters (from 2 different bitches) with an average of 10 pups per litter that is 200 pups. 10 years isn't long in the terms of experienced breeders, so even if they only have 1 litter per year of 10 pups, over 20 years that would be 200 pups.

ETA average litter size from following link
http://www.petstyle.com/dog/breed_profile.aspx?id=684

200 sounds a lot, but when taken over 10 to 20 years then there is a difference to producing this number in say 3 yrs. However, I would suggest its not the quantity (am I right in thinking they have large litters) of puppies produced (in this country the larger show kennels produce sometimes 4 litters or more a year, from health checked shown and succesful parents) but the quality of the breeder and the dogs she produces. Her success with these dogs in the show ring, the certificates she has to prove all possible recommended health tests have been made with the parents and any other dogs she may own that are in the pups pedigree. How many of this breed are owned, where do they live is it clean and are all the dogs well cared for. Does she have many breeds of dogs there or just this breed. What are her reasons for producing a litter. As to the hip thing, well she may be quite proud of her puppies growing to have good hips (although unless all 200 had been scored the true facts cannot be known because HD is not always that obvious) and was trying to put the OP's mind at rest regarding this by saying she only knew of 4 that had developed HD. Silly thing to say unless put in the right context as in 'I only know of 4' rather than a guarentee.

Only the OP can clarify the breeder/kennels etc and she may not want to go into this which is understandable, she did only enquire re feeding :)