Please can anyone advice, my 11 weeks old lab is currently on Burns minibits as recommended by his breeder but he dosen't appear to be gaining much weight, He's just 5kg. This wasn't really apparent until we meet another lab the same age at puppy classes and now his breeder as contacted me asking if I'm still using burns as the other pups were not gaining weight and their owners have changed foods.  Also the breeder is finding that her labs are also looking a bit lean and when she tries to increase their food, they are getting the runs! Burns have advised her to supplement the foods with eggs, tuna and potato's etc but if your paying this sort of money you shouldn't need to supplement. 
Can anyone suggest a healthy alternative, preferably a dry food.

What I want to know is, why are Burns advising supplementing the food?  If it's good enough, it should need nothing added to it!!  I feed Arden Grange and have had to cut down the ammount of food I'm feeding!

Sarah.

Both of my dogs lost weight on Burns too, I found I had to feed double the amount to one of them, the other will not eat a large quantity of food so just lost weight.

I have now taken them off of it.

Sandra

Hi Sandra

What did you change to, there's just so many to choose from!  I really liked the idea of the holistic approach it seemed to make sense, but I don't think it's doing Max any good.

I liked the idea too, but unfortunately it didn't work for me either.  I now feed Royal Canin, but it is not an easy food to get hold of.  I pick mine up from shows.

I would also recommend Nutro as a quality food, which is easier to get hold of.  They have a website www.nutro.co.uk as does the former www.royalcanin.co.uk

Sandra

I think to be correct you mean that Burns is not suiting your dog, not that the "holistic" approach is not.  Holistic approach is not exclusive to Mr Burns and his food! :)

I don't think I said the Holistic approach didn't suit my dog 

I thought it was quite clear that it was the 'Burns' that my dogs lost weight on.

I really liked the idea of the holistic approach it seemed to make sense, but I don't think it's doing Max any good.

Sorry I was replying to Donna's post, this system never seems to put the posts in the "right" order :(

I've looked through various doggie mags and the only food with an holistic approach is Burns which is what the breeder originaly recommended, what would you suggest I try?  Nutro has been mention quite a few times in other boards but it's all a bit new to me.

Hi,

Try James Well Beloved,Iknow it may not suit everyones dogs,
We feed at present all our Goldens this  and i'm very pleased with (JWB PUPPY)and we personally find this to be an excellent complete food ,dogs in great condition,less poo doesn't smell either .Sometimes I also feed green raw tripe this really does put "body"on a dog,but don't let your dogs get fat especially in pups too much weight on the joints etc.

Briony:-)

Green Raw Tripe!! Sounds lovely but I bet it doesn't smell as bad as the fish treats from Burns! where can I buy it from?

Bet it does!!

Oh yes it does! Tripe smells just like strong cowpoo! Those Ocean Bites are very mild in comparison.
:)

Just got off the phone from Burns and they suggest that I should put Max an 11 week old choc lab onto theire Canine extra for larger breeds.  What do you think?

Looking at their website, the Canine Extra is for large breed puppies, your is a lab, so I see no reason not to try it.  Buy a small bag and see how you get on. 
You shouldn't need to supplement their food, but when I wanted to bulk mine up a bit, I put a sweet potato in the oven and added that to her complete food, leave the skin on, it won't do any harm.

Sandra

My favourite Is Arden Grange.  I always used to feed pups the Prestige,a nd Adult to the others.

Now that I am
feeding half raw and half complete I feed the Classic range which doesn't have Fresh chicken, just chicken meal, and a little less meat protein overall, but as I am feeding raw meat and bones, then I was happy to feed this range now.

Poor Donna, you must be really confused by now. Everyone has their favourite, at the end of the day the choice is yours.

We have all been there and tried the different types, what suits one dog doesn't necessarily suit another, it will be a bit of trial and error I am afraid.

Sandra

Thank you all so much for your advice

I thought it through and I'm going to stick with the Burns but change to the Canine extra and if that doesn't work I'll look at a new brand altogether.

Thanks again, you've been a great help.

My bitch is now on Burns, but is quite skinny although I'm giving her more than the recommended amount. She was on Autarky before, and was fine on that so I'm very tempted to go back to that.
Cathy.

Hi there

Just thought I'd put my two-bits worth in. I have a Gordon bitch who has just turned a year old and we had a terrible time getting weight on her. A friend recommended Burns, so we thought we'd give it a go.  We now have her on adult food from Burns but she was on Canine Extra for a while. I do have to admit that she is lean but she has a decent covering over her ribs and looked much better after only a few weeks on Burns, she has started to fill out in all the right places and her coat is fabulous. In fact we thought it was so good that we have recently just finished changing our Irish over too.
Stick with it you might find the Canine Extra does the job.

Good luck with the pup.

Alli

If you want to stay on the "holistic" path,then go with a dry food called "eaglepack" i think there is a thread about it on the forum.
I couldnt rave about this food enough,it is absolutly brilliant!Dogs do put on weight with eagle,they also have a power formula which most of the sled dogs are fed on.

Christine

Dear Donna,

I work as a nutritional advisor for Burns Pet Nutrition and am concerned about your comments about your puppy.

In a lean, healthy dog (including puppies) you should be able to feel the ribs easily but not see them. Can you actually see your puppy’s ribs? If so, then I would agree that he is too thin. In which case, I would advise changing to Burns Canine Extra, our larger breed puppy food.

We do sometimes advise people supplement Burns. Although it is designed to be a complete food, it is not going to suit all 6 million dogs in the UK; neither will any brand of food. However, rather than increase the fat level in Burns (which could upset all the dogs doing well on Burns and be detrimental to other organ systems in the body) it is sometimes worthwhile supplementing for a TEMPORARY period.

Some dogs lose weight when they change to Burns from other brands, this may be because their previous food was higher in fat and sugar. If this is the case, we urge the owners to ring our advice line (0800 018 18 90 or 0800 083 66 96) and we may suggest either supplementing until the dog adjusts to Burns or taking a longer period to change to Burns (by mixing some of the old food for longer).

I hope that this has answered your questions and some of the other comments on the board.

Remember that recent 14 year studies on the health of Labradors showed that the lean ones lived on average 2 years longer and suffered less degenerative diseases than the control group (fed normal amounts).

Many Labradors are overweight, 40% of dogs in the UK are obese but more people will stop you in the street to complain about a slightly thin dog than an overweight dog. An overweight dog is far more unhealthy.

Best Wishes
Fiona Campbell
PP Burns Pet Nutrition

Further to yesterday's post about my very lean lab bitch - I actually weighed out the Burns, and discovered that my normally used large cup, which holds 100 gm of most dry dog foods, was less than that with Burns. The Burns is "lighter" so I need to use a larger mug to accurately measure 100gms. I wonder if this could account for some of the difficulties I and others have had?
Cathy.

Good point Cathy, remember weight does not necessarily equate with volume! :D  A ton of feathers takes up considerably more space than a ton of gold!

RE: Amounts to feed.

When we recommend an amount of Burns to feed it is always a rough guideline. Feeding amounts depend on age, sex, environment, exercise, whether the animal is neutered etc.

Although, an average tea cup holds about 4 ounces, it is always best to check the first couple of times you feed Burns, how much fits into one of your own cups.

Fiona
PP Burns Pet Nutrition

<i>"Remember that recent 14 year studies on the health of Labradors showed that the lean ones lived on average 2 years longer and suffered less degenerative diseases than the control group (fed normal amounts). Many Labradors are overweight, 40% of dogs in the UK are obese but more people will stop you in the street to complain about a slightly thin dog than an overweight dog. An overweight dog is far more unhealthy."</i>

Hi Fiona, well said! (Speaking in general, not in relation labs or to this 11 week pup). I despair at the number of people who want to put weight on lean but perfectly healthy dogs, particularly if they want the weight on for the show ring. People agonise about what to feed and I'm always tempted to reply 'as long as its a decent quality food the brand doesn't matter nearly as much as not feeding too much of it'. As you say obesity in dogs is an epedemic but the one of the few well proven facts about feeding is that lean dogs live longer by several years. I don't feed Burns but if this is the sort of advice given by Burns I'm now tempted to try it. :)