Hi,

I saw on one of your posts that you feed Arden Grange Premium (or it might have been Prestige, not sure) to your pups instead of the puppy food.  Did you mean that you actually wean them with it rather than the puppy/weaning food?  Do you also give this to mum?  I am wanting to wean this litter onto something decent (last time I used Pedigree - oops) and will change Mum over at the same time.  Just wondered what you recommend?  Also what age do you start weaning?  Pups are now 17 days old and are acting hungry.

Anyone else's thoughts/advice on this greatly appreciated too.

Regards Jo

I use Arden Grange and fed my bitch on Prestige but reared the pups on the puppy/junior as I didn't want the worry of changing over to the puppy food at 8 weeks when pups would have gone to their new homes.  They do a puppy weaning food to take them up to 8 weeks. I spoke to Ness their nutrionalist (she actually rang me at home) and she was really helpful.  The only problem I had with the food was that it is very hard and so initially I had to put it in the blender so that I could soak it as it wouldn't mash down enough when for the pups were very tiny, but I only did that for just over a week.  I do start mine off on raw mince (frozen first) - this seems to get them interested then I mixed in a little with the sloppy arden grange.  Having used Pedigree, Eukenuba and Burns for past litters (in that order) I can not say enough how pleased I am with the results I had with Arden Grange.  Really lovely bone and great poos!!  The pup I kept is now nearly 15 weeks and he is still on the Arden Grange - he loves it and he's looking beautiful (although he has two raw chicken wings as BARF also interests me).  I don't start my weaning until I've wormed the pups so if you have done that perhaps you could give them a little mince for a couple of days until the Arden Grange arrives.  As a breeder member the food is much cheaper from them direct as long as you buy it in 15kg bags (there is no saving on the 7.5 size) but Berriewood also do really good prices.  If you give Arden Grange a ring and ask for advice you might be able to get a free sample.  The puppy packs are really nice too.  Cant recommend Arden Grange enough - quality product. 

Hi Jo, not sure on the whole weaning thing, but my two adults have been on Arden Grange lamb & rice adult for the past two months and I can't recommend it enough, I have seen such a change in them since switching over. Our Malamute has loads more energy, her coat is gleaming and she has lost weight (which we didn't do intentionally but she did need to!) Cavalier has less energy (in a good way as she is not as hyperactive) and again has a beautiful shiny coat which she didn't before.

Their poo's are really small and firm which I am pleased with - as you can imagine Malamutes do quite large ones but they have drastically reduced in size and don't really smell as much !! (Not that I go round smelling them or anything but you know what I mean!)

They were on Royal Canin before and neither of them were too fussed with it - but now Gypsy does a little dance on her hind legs when I fill her bowl up as she looks forward to her dinner so much!! I'm just trying to switch my third dog on to it but she has been used to a diet of sausages and burgers so its not the most appealing thing for her but we'll get there...

Good luck with the pups by the way :-)

Thank you for the replies.  I am definitely going to go for AG now.

OK, so if I get the puppy/weaning bag (that's the yellow one) then I can start with that.  But what I'm worrying about now is that is says the puppy/junior should be from 8 weeks, but that's just around the time they will be going.  They can't move home and change food all at once can they?  How should that work?

Also should I go for the normal puppy/junior or the large breed puppy/junior?  The breed is large (I don't think I'm allowed to say on here), but there doesn't seem a lot of difference in the nutritional information.

It's all very confusing.  I will get the puppy/weaning bag ordered now anyway, as they are all getting hungry!

Regards Jo

Thats why I chose not to use the weaning food but go straight to the puppy/junior as I wasn't happy about changing at that time.  I spoke to Ness at Arden Grange ref my concerns over the change and she said that is what some people chose to do.  So no messing about from weaning went straight on to the blue bag.  I also have a large breed but on her recommendation didn't use it just the basic puppy/junior.

One of my adults has a sensative skin and I have had problems in the past with hot spots.  He is on Salmon and Rice since last summer and has never looked better.

Yes, sorry, I understand now - I misread your first post.  Sounds like a good idea, and if they say it's ok, then it must be.  I am guessing the weaning food might be smaller/softer though?

Yes - Ness gave me a free sample at Crufts - it was tinier than the puppy.  When I next have a litter I will definately be doing the same again.  My girl thrived on the Prestige and the pups did so well on the puppy/junior.  Good luck with your puppies - they'll be grown before you know it.

See what you mean about my first post - I think I confused myself.  I was trying to say that although they do a weaning food you are then supposed to change them onto the puppy/junior range at 8 weeks.  As I wasn't happy about that as it is already a very stressful time for puppies and new owners can easily decide to change onto something completely unsuitable, I spoke to Ness at Arden.  She said I could just use the puppy/junior food from start of weaning rather that use the weaning range.  I was worried about doing it at the time as i couldn't really understand why they did two ranges which both did the same thing.  Anyway so glad I did - eight beautiful healthy pups - probably the best I've ever reared.  But I suppose you only get out what you put in.

Yes I wean onto the prestige soaked and mixed with puppy milk.  I feel that the weaning food is used for to short a period to be useful for my medium size bred,a nd prefer dam and pups on the same food to prevent upsets to Mum as mine continue to clean up as long as they can get to puppies waste before I do!

It is also a lot more convenient to only be needing two different main foods for all the dogs at a time.

Yes, that makes sense.  I rang AG and spoke to them.  They recommended that I go straight onto the puppy/junior (blue bag) as then I won't need to change their food just when they are going.  She said it's ok to feed Mum on that too.  Hope I've done the right thing.

i used the weaning food for my bc pups at about 2 and a half weeks, soaked and warm in a much, they loved it, they stayed on it for a few weeks then i moved them onto the blue puppy/junior, the ingredients are almost identical, and i i had no probs in changing them over either. i also gave nature diet to give them something different from time to time.
also if you have more than 3 dogs you can join the breeder scheme, you get the bags quite a bit cheaper, but in a brown bag rather than the pretty colours! down side is you do HAVE to buy 2 at a time, but can be delivered or picked up from a stockist, i have found it really good service so far, they also do puppy packs for people on the scheme too

I think you will be very pleased with the food. My puppies certainly thrived on it. 

The food came today.  They don't like it as much as the mince and a few of them have been sick.  Hopefully it's just a case of getting used to it.  I am finding the same as when I tried the Pedigree dried food last time - when I try to get it mushed down, it is sort of chalky and bitty - not easy for them to eat.  That's why I moved onto the Pedigree canned food last time.  I will persevere with this though, as it's better for them in the long run isn't it?

Did you put it in a blender to try and get it smooth before you added the water?  I add quite a lot of boiled water (not boiling) to it and allow it to thicken up slightly so that they can sort of suck it up and it wont stick to the roof of their mouths.  I wouldn't give them too much for the first few feeds as it will take their tummys awhile to get used to different food - I mixed in a little mince to it to get them accustomed to it.  Hope they (and you) like the food.

I haven't used a blender, no, but I will try that tomorrow.  I have been letting it soak and mushing it with water.  I tried not giving them much, but they all seem so hungry and their weight gain has slowed right down.

Mum is still going into them isn't she?  When I start to wean I don't let mum feed before a puppy meal but let her go in afterwards so that they can top up.  How many feeds are you doing?  I don't go straight into 4 or 5 feeds a day but gradually build up over a week so that by 4 1/2 weeks they are on 4 - 5 feeds and just topping up from mum.

Yes, Mum still goes in a lot although it has been less the last few days.  I think she is getting bored of it!  I'm just giving them solids twice a day at the moment.  I will step it up to 3 probably over the weekend.  I have just weighed them and they've all gained nicely again this time.  This litter is so much more up and down than her previous ones.  Or have I just gone more paranoid lol.  Anyway all seems well now - they are all sleeping.  They do seem much more noisy and demanding than past litters too.  Most of the time they are awake they are demanding - maybe they just want to get moving.  I think I might do away with the whelping box tomorrow because they can climb out (into the pen) but they can't climb back in.  I might put it away and get a large plastic dog bed instead.

The blender is great :-)  BUT they are not really very keen on the Arden Grange mush - they much prefer mushed down mince.  But I'm worried that if I just give them that, they will get fussy, and I'll never get them onto dog food. 

It was easy with the Pedigree tins - they just all tucked in, like they do with the mince, but the AG mush is clearly not as tasty!!  Should I give them just the nice stuff that they will eat, or persevere with the AG mush that they just pick at and walk off from?

If they really aren't that keen on the AG I would mix in a little of the mince and gradually reduce the amount you are adding over the next few days.  If you really want to use a wet food there are several on the market that are better quality than pedigree (less ectra's added)  I would have thought nature diet or something similar but can't offer any advice as I've never had a problem with them not wanting to eat it.  Although I do sometimes add hard boiled eggs to introduce soemthing new.