Hi everyone out there,

I am fairly new to this forum - I log on daily as I find it so interesting and everyone seems so supportive!

We have just got an eight week old BRT - she is absolutely beautiful!

I am in a quandry as to her diet - we have followed the breeders feeding regime - goats milk and a little bread in the morning , a handful of beta puppy food and a little grated cheese for lunch and chicken for dinner!

The goats milk does seem to give her the runs straight after - but her faeces are normal afterwards!

She was weighed at the vets on Wednesday and weighed 4 kg - which seems to be rather under for her breed!

I have just got a growth chart of the internet and for her age it seems she should be between 7 - 9 kg (15.5 -20lbs)

I know this is a large breed - but worry about feeding the right type of food - have read that with large breeds you have to be careful about overfeeding and too much protein and calcium - also problems with hip dyspasia!

Our vet said that he does not agree with all these extras in diet and that a good dried dog food like James Wellbeloved with have all that she needed!

She does look very lean and you can feel her rib cage - but apart from this she is a happy well adjusted playful pup!

I was wondering if any of you experts out there could give any advice and what you think of her diet from the breeders and whether you think James Wellbeloved is any good - have heard Autarky is very good - would it be any good for a large breed though?

Many thanks

Sybil

I use Autarky on my gundog breed but your pup is still a little young at the moment.  I will ahve a word with someone and see what they recommend as the weight does seem to be low for your pups age.

Many seem to be lovely dogs and a friend of mine had two which unfortunately she recently had to re=home due to no fault of their own.  As you say you do have to be careful as this breed does have HD.

I will PM you some time to advise you on what the person I know recommends.

Good luck with your pup, in the right hands they are a lovely breed :d

Hi Spanishwaterdog,

Many thanks for your advice - we have just been and bought some James Wellbeloved puppy food - vet recommended it and was on BRT forum earlier and someone on there fed there BRT it and said it was good!

Along the same lines as Autarky I think!

Look forward to hearing from you - on what your friend recommends!

Thanks for your support and response!

I've been feeding JWB for four years to my flatcoats with no problems.

Thanks for that info hopevalley.
It's nice to know other people who are using it having no problems - bought the Turkey and Rice Kibble puppy food for her - hope she will like it!

I think your doing the  right thing, and dont find  the puppy diet ample for a growing big breed, your vets right, your pup will do much better on a few feeds of quality food.

Hrmmm

Not what i would feed a puppy, irrespective of breed.

Cut out the bread and milk, dogs struggle to digest milk, even goats milk although it is marginally better than cows milk.
Bread is just rubbish, for both dogs and people.

Beta puppy food -- never fed it but its not one of the dry dog foods i WOULD feed anyway.

Grated cheese, mmm nice, my dogs have it for training treats -- im presuming for your pup this is to encourage it to eat the boring puppy food.

Chicken -- you dont say cooked or raw, if its raw then thats probably the best thing in the diet, followed at a distance by the puppy food.

MY last puppy ate :

AMP mince (either beef or chicken at first)
Raw egg
Chicken wing a la hammer (thats chicken wing, wots been smashed wif an 'ammer)
Blended veg (only a small selection of veg at first)
Giant cow bone to chew on

As he got older i introduced a bigger range of meats, fish, live yoghurt, more veggies and stopped smashing chicken wings wif an 'ammer.

If you dont want to do THAT route, id suggest feeding a decent quality food several times a day and hardening your heart to the inevitable fussy fits of a pup bored of eating boring food.

Burns is good, Autarky is good, Nature Diet is good, im sure there are some others.

Em