hi to everyone i bought a 13 weeks old japanese akita,his on bakers complete puppy,but i want to change him to a better food.can someone advise me on some good foods which might be suitable for him,there r so many to choose from dont knoe which is good,eg beta,hills,.very confused please someone advise me

i had him for aweek know and all through the night he is still growling.can some one advise me on that probelm aswell please.on how to stop him crying at night.thank u.

ash

Why do you want to change his food? My dog is on Bakers complete amongst others and it's fine, alot better than some carp you can get!

In my opinion, Bakers falls into the catagory of "some other crap" im afraid. It is a very comercial dog food and isnt actually very good.
Hills is brilliant, I believe Beta is supposed to be pretty good as well. Then there are cheaper brands such as chappie etc (which in spite of the fact that they are cheap..are actually pretty good....the head vet so to speak where I live totally recommends it. I think Nutro is supposed to be good too.
If you are thinking of wet food then Nature diet is very good..you might want to avoid pedigree as it is very high in protein and a lot of dogs find it a bit too rich.

Try things out on him, you will learn which foods he likes, and which he doesnt...and also which are better for his tummy, i.e, doesnt give him the runs.
Is Bakers what the breeder fed him? It might be an idea to not change just yet as he is very young and his stomach is still going to be very sensitive, chopping and changing foods is likely to affect him.
Wait till he is a little bit older, then do some experimenting. You could always go onto the different brand websites and ask for samples...save you buying big bags.
Good luck

edited to say...just read the bit about growling at night....could you be a bit more specific. Is it throughout the night or when you go over to him/put him to bed etc?, is it growling or crying?, Does heonly do it at night?, is there any aggression involed?. He is very young to start showing aggressive tendencies, the sort of thing you would expect to see at this age is a lot of puppy chwing/biting etc.
Can you join us and then give us more info, then we could hellp you a bit more.

hi thanks for reply
do u know if kucanuba puppy complete is a good food someone advise me use that.
yes his howling [crying] all night long and sometimes during the day.no aggression at all.when i bought him he was still with his mother.
thanks
ash

thanks to everyone who has replied to my message.

Hi Naz

Eukanuba (I presume you mean) is a very good foor, yes. But as I said, try him out on a couple of things (ease them in gradually). And remember, the expensive ones arent always the best ones.
R.E: Crying, yes. Ignor it. Im afraid it is very normal with pups, especially as young as he is. He will eventually stop, but if you go to him it will reinforce the fact that when he calls..you come. Try ear plugs for a couple of weeks :). No, but seriously, I dont think anyone on this board will have had a quiet puppy at night all the time. Be patient with him, he is getting to know his new home...it will take him a little while to feel totally comfortable, and he is wondering where his mum is too dont forget.

steph

In general if you trying to avoid possible problems with food it is best to feed something which has as few ingredients as possible. To minimise the formation of food intolerances/allergies I would recommend Naturediet, Natures Menu or Burns if you wish to feed commercial food. Try to avoid those with unecessary colouring, additives, fillers such as peanut hulls and sugarbeet pulp, yeast, soya, wheat and maize. The value of a diet is not necessarily reflected in price.

Hi Guest,
As to food, there are so many on the market, and some people like one type, some another. I personally didn't like Beta Puppy, as my puppy had the runs with it all the time, so changed to Oscars (dried complete) which was fine. Lately I have been giving him Naturediet, which is a completely natural food - meat, rice and veges, and I would definitely recommend it, though it is more expensive. Nutro dried complete is supposed to be good too.
If your puppy is crying at night (I can't think you can actually mean growling with aggression), then he is trying to 'call' his family - if you go to him, he will keep on doing it, because he is learning that crying brings someone to him. You're best to ignore him, painful as it is, and make sure you only go in when he is QUIET! Of course, he may still cry early morning if he needs to go out to do his business - with my puppy I was getting up about 5 am to let him out, but he was actually quiet (asleep) until that time. Good luck!
Hilda

Well as I have said elsewhere since I change to Burns I have found out just what good food is.

I'm with you all the way there Jackie Burns

I'd say Burns too! We've fed both Eukanuba and Hills in the past. Hills was ok, but I wouldn't ever use Eukanuba again - we fed our older boy on it initially and he just didn't do well on it at all. However, Burns is absolutely superb and I wouldn't feed anything else now.

Lesley

NAZ, advice on what food is 'good' or bad' is based on personal opinions but what you need to remember is that all dogs are different and what suits one dog won't necesasrily suit another. You need to gradually find what suits your dog and stick to it even if it takes a long time to get there. Don't change for the sake of changing though, if he's doing well there really is no need.

Hi Ash, I have a 14 week old Akita and she has been fed on Purina Puppy large breed. This was what my breeder fed her dogs and they are all amazing looking champion dogs!!

hi naz,i have a 5 month old akita-inu and she has been on royal canin giant puppy food from i got her and she is doing very well on it.it costs £39.95 from most pet shops but i was at the belfast championship show a couple of weeks ago and got a bag for £30 from a royal canin stall.

Just out of interest what makes Bakers complete crap? (genuine question, not being argumentative.) Is it the amount of proteins, carbs e.t.c compared to other foods? My dog eats bakers complete becuase we were advised to feed a complete diet with a lower amount of protein in it as she is hyperactive on too much. I have to say i have had no problems with it, but i have heard many times that it isn't very good.

Chloe and Jacki you have a convert. :) Thanks for the link I had a good chat with a vey nice man on the Burns freephone advice line and theyre sending me a sample. A big 15kg bag would last us 60 days and work out a lot cheaper than lower priced foods.

Hi Chloe, I'm looking at all the more "natural" feeding possibilities as my 3 are all from highly allergic breeds(Lab and 2 Bichon pups). I read about Burns but his puppy foods are quite high in protein and the breeder recommended I stick to foods with less than 20% protein as the Bichons will be more likely to suffer hot spots on a high protein diet. Any thoughts?