Please help!

I have been following the guide set out by my BT breeder and am currently giving Jasper the following...

weetabix with milk in the morning, a 'handfull' of Hills Science puppy with a level tablespoon of Kit-e-Kat (Why am I feeding a puppy cat food?) soften with hot water. At three PM he has milk followed at 5PM by another bowl of Hill's and Kite kat. This is repeated at 8PM and he then has a dog biscuit half an hour before bed.

This seems like far too much food and I have read/ been told that milk can give him runny poo ( though this hasn't been a problem until today!!) I spoke to my vet about his diet but he thought it was fine (?!)

I have tried to follow the table onthe Hills packet but am confused as how much to give over the day as Jasper weighs less than the guidelines (currently 3.6 kilograms)

Please give me some advice or the name of a good diet book as I want to feed Jasper properly.

Desperate!, Buff

Hi, what a strange diet!! As you have Hills and he is used to it I would increase the amount and decrease the amount of weetabix so that in a week or so he is on just Hills. As he is used to sloppy food I would put a days worth in a bowl and just cover it with water just off the boil, so that it is well soaked. I feed puppies this age as much as they want to eat, but like children one day they polish off everything and want more and then maybe the next day they may eat less or leave most of a meal. Dont worry about weighing food - just give him as much as he will eat, but only at mealtimes for now.
Cat food is flavour enhanced to make it very appetising so fussy cats wont refuse it, and it works with dogs too but not a good idea long term. You can still feed a little meat "to get his nose in" but I would use either Butchers Tripe (in tins - but do use the tripe rather than tripe and chicken as I find this makes my pups tums loose - the plain Butchers is fine) or Pedigree Chum Puppy Food (again in tins and usually in packs of three) Either can be bought in most supermarkets. I mash it up really well ,maybe even with a tablespoon of milk/water so that its more like gravy and mixed well through the food he wont be able to pick it out.
I would feed at 8,noon,4 and 8pm, but in a few weeks time he will naturally drop to 3 meals so then 8am 1pm and 7pm. You can try giving his lunchtime meal dry every now and again as the sooner he gets onto to dry food the better and eventually most pupies prefer it and refuse soaked food.
Once this diet is established and he is doing well I would consider changing over to a different complete puppy food as Hills is a prescription diet for dogs with health problems and the expense is not really justified in a perfectly normal healthy puppy with no special needs imo.
Its up to you if you want to give him a little milk to drink - he wont need it though when he is on 100%complete, just watch his poos - if they get loose stop the milk.

Hi there!

Thanks for the advice! Jasper is my first dog and I worry that im not doing things right!!!

I will reduce the amount of milk he has as he is having runny stools. Having 4 distint meal times would also be better as I think the milk at 3 and the bisciut before bed is not really necessary.

Thanks again, Buff

personally if you want to make it as simple as possible get a bag of complete puppy food and feed as per instructions on the bag, if he is getting fat reduce and if to thin increase.a 10 week old pup should get 4 meals per day and if you must add a little meat use puppy food again .cat food is developed for cats,dog food for dogs and puppy food is balanced for pups.good luck

By BT do you mean Border or Bull Terrier?
We were advised to give cereal but not Weetabix. Have you tried chicken or scrambled egg instead of Kit-e-Cat. Or even tinned puppy food ? I would not give cat food as it has different vitamins etc

If the milk is causing the problem try goats milk rather then cows. A spoonful of bio yogurt should help settle the tummy. Personally I would lose the cat food and stay with scrambled egg or chicken at least until the tummy settles down.

Sandra

Hi cooper. Are you advising the poster to change over to another brand while the puppy has runny poos? I dont think thats a very good idea!

hi

cat food does'nt that give him the runs? butchers tripe also made my pups stools a bit loose i now give a pedigree chum adult as i also found that the pup chum was too rich and also made her loose,using adult is ok as her main food is james wellbeloved i just coat it in a bit of chum to make it more interesting! weetabix has no vitamin value for a dog what so ever it just fills them up i would cut it out completely ,and if you want to give milk although theres no need, try watered down evaporated.

j