I am currently feeding Ellie my 13 week old newfie puppy on Beta puppy food ( lamb), my vet says thats fine whilst my friend who is very experienced with newfies says its not good enough for her and she should be on a good  giant puppy food.
Now there is the problem, every single food I have found aimed at Giant breeds only comes in chicken, and my baby definatly has a severe intolerance to chicken. 
Can any one recomend a large breed complete food with lamb and  with  NO chicken products in it at all.
If she is not geting what she needs from this food she is currently on would she be more benefited to go onto the adult food which I would have no problems geting in Lamb.
if not is there any supplements she needs in addition to her food

Hi Ellies Mum

Welcome to Champdogs

Many giant breed owners recommend never feeding puppy foods at all so moving to an adult food should not be a problem. Sorry, I am not the best person to advise on brands of food as my dogs (one of which is a 9 month old newfie) are fed on BARF but when I brought my pup home she was on Royal Canin puppy food and subsequently Autarky but I suspect it was exacerbating a mild skin complaint so stopped that one quickly. However, my other dog looked extremely well on it). Before switching to raw feeding I fed Naturediet for a time and both dogs did very well on that. Too pricey to feed two large dogs on, though ;)

Have you asked Ellie's breeder for advice? Also, if you don't mind me asking, how did you discover her intolerance to chicken? Was she tested? Just curious :)

Hi
when my newfi came he was on Royal canin large breed puppy food. I changed him to burns mini bites and he seemed to thrive on it. Are you sure it is the chicken that is causing a problem or could it be another additive that is the real problem.
Good luck x :D

no its definatly the chicken, when i got her from the breeder the welcome pack she came with was purina tasty, that was NOT the food that was in her pen as this was like a bran flake and the ones in the food bowl was a round ball, there was a feeding note that came with her and beta puppy had been crossed out, the breeder did say she couldnt get the usual so had got this alternative, after 3 days her tummy got worse so I went and got 3 bags of beta,  2 in chicken to keep her on the one she was supposed to have been on and one in the lamb just incase, by the end of the first week she was worse than ever and we took her to the vet, she had no temperature she was put on the kaoelin syringe starved for 12 hours then given home cooked chicken and rice, to be mostly rice handful at a time for the first 2 feeds then gradually increase to normal quantity over the next day, during the next day  increasing the  quantity each feed literally the more chicken she had the worse she got and after 4 meals she was doing nothing but running yellow water with bits of chicken in it the same as it had gone in. by then this was sunday night there wasnt anything else i could do till I could get out monday and her first feed of the day monday we switched her to the lamb puppy food for her first meal monday morning and it instantly cured the problem. Since then my daughter has dropped a very small bit of chicken on two occassions which ellie gulped down and both times it literally goes straight through her.
I phoned the breeder and she said that they were on beta puppy when i said that wasnt the size of the food i saw in the bowl she said it was some adult food in chicken but that could have been anything!
These two beta  foods have the same ingredients the only difference is one is chicken and the other is lamb.
I know more people with dogs that cant eat chicken than I do people with dogs that can and I cant beleive no one does a lamb puppy food for giant breeds! and the one that does is full of chicken fat.
The only food I can find which isnt chicken is salmon and potato and that seems a bit silly when she can eat the lamb fine, I dont want to switch her to adult food if there is a reason she should be having puppy I dont care if the size is wrong I am sure we can break it down, I also dont want to keep her on the beta if she isnt geting what she needs from it....... never thought feeding a puppy would be so much hassle lol!

Well, James Wellbeloved do a large breed puppy that is lamb & rice. However, I can't really recommend it as it was too high in protein for my Tibetan Mastiff puppy and gave him scurfy skin and horrible smelly poo. It may be okay for your baby though, if she's having no problems with the Beta which I think is about the same protein level.

This is a really controversial subject, what to feed giant breed puppies. If you were happy enough to buy your pup from a breeder on the strength of the quality of the parents and other stock, surely the best thing to do is take their recommendations on feeding. If she's on a complete food, do not add any supplement at all, especially not any form of calcium.

Aah, poor Ellie. Hope you find something that agrees with her soon. I would have no qualms about feeding an adult food to a giant breed puppy so if the adult lamb & rice works for her, then go for it. As Phoebe says, you shouldn't really add supplements to a complete as a good quality complete will contain everything she needs.

Good luck with Ellie. There are quite a few gaint breed and Newfie owners on here and we'll all be more than happy to assist if you need any help or advice :)

I've personally never fed mine a large breed puppy food as they tend to be higher in protein and it increases the speed in which they grow which is something you don't want.
Mine have been fed on adult foods mainly tripe and mixer and absolutely thrive, another complete i was happy with was JWB Lamb & Rice for adults but it got very costly for two large breed dogs.

Good luck it can get very confusing owning a large breed (foodwise)

:)

I would never feed a large breed dog puppy food,but for giant breeds i would avoid them like the plague! Beta isnt a food i would consider for any dog :(

My friend with the 2 newfies shares the same view about the Beta, My vet seems to think its fine BUT I prefer to go with the opinion of owners on this one!

The general opinion seems to be that It will be ok to switch her to adult food, any recomendations as to any foods that have what she needs or can any one point me in the direction as to what to look for as ingredients. ( cant be chicken based) lol I am an experienced dog owner, never had any dogs on a complete food before and this special needs food is so new to me.
I really appreciate all you help

Burns is a good complete food and is available in duck, venison and fish flavours as well as the usual chicken and lamb etc. I have fed my large crossbreed on it in the past and he did well on it. If you ring Burns nutrition line (0800 083 66 96) and explain your situation they will send you some free samples of their food. Their website is http://www.burns-pet-nutrition.co.uk/.

Many others on here would recommend James Wellbeloved too which also comes in a variety of flavours. Wafcol salmon and potato is usually recommended too but I'm afraid I don't have any first hand experience of these.

Finding a suitable food is very much trial and error with most dogs. You might have to try a few before you find one that agrees with Ellie so it might be prudent to only buy the small bags to begin with until you are happy with the results. Introduce the new food slowly, mixing it with the Beta and gradually increasing the quantity of the new food over a period of about 14 days so as not to cause tummy upsets.

Good luck with your search!

Hi Ellies Mom,

We to had the same problem with our newfs 3 owned each one of them who we fed chicken & rice to had runny poo and I mean runny, even had money back from large well known food company as they were promoting their food see a difference in 3 weeks or your money back. Well I had my money back. The best food that I have found that does not give them the runs and their coats are jet black not tinged which i have found can happen with some foods due to the colouring agents in them has been ( Burgess Sensitive Lamb And Rice Adult Food ). I would recommend it to anybody. We have used it for years when we had a different breed of dog and never had any problems and then when we had the newfs we  had the dillema of which food  as they are a giant breed and after trying a couple of really well known  expensive brands we went back to the good old faithful ( burgess ) and hey presto no more problems. Hope this helps.

>The best food that I have found that does not give them the runs and their coats are jet black not tinged which i have found can happen with some foods due to the colouring agents in them has been ( Burgess Sensitive Lamb And Rice Adult Food ). I would recommend it to anybody. <

Can I just second that! That's what I put my giant breed boy on after trying two premium brands. He's never looked back. My friend also feeds her entire kennel of showdogs on it.

Purina do a good puppy large dogs
SALMON AND RICE

Glenhafod-purina make Beta too.

Ellies mum i feed wafcol salmon potato,if i didnt feed that i'de probaly go with JWB.However i add either meat,fish,offal to their meals everyday.I just cant bring myself to feed just plain dry kibble to my dogs,for various reasons. I'm not saying you should do this,it's just something i feel is necessary for my dogs :)

Hi  H, yes you are correct, But I should have said
the Proplan Salmon and Rice there is a lot of
difference in the products, Having fed both,
Proplan puppy is  good for putting  bulk in to  a
growing pup, and I find the Salmon  is great for
coat,  I have Hounds And Terriers. I know it cost
more than Beta.

pedigree also do a compleat in most flavours that is good
but not as good as the Advance formulars they also sell.

Many thanks to every one for all your help and advice, I will be looking for an adult food now, my friend seems to think that you HAVE to keep them on the giant puppy food for at least 9 months, if it  will not  do her any harm to switch to adult then I will at least have more choice, I really cant understand why all the puppy foods all are chicken.
I do want to get her onto a better food than this beta she seems to be doing ok on it but I know most people do not recomend it.

Thanks for the recomendations for the brands as well as the help line numbers.

There are a few posters on here who do not like it for some reason or other although it does not seem to be ones that have actually tried it :) but an awful lot of people do find it very good, your breeder being not the least of them :) so I don't quite see why you are changing if your puppy is doing well on it.  Not all foods agree with all dogs so to start chopsing and changing on the basis of what a few posters on a web site say may take you down roads you wish you had not started on, particularly if you have a dog that has shown some intollerances.

Hi Ellies mum, if you PM me I will give you some advice about feeding...you've already had a lot of suggestions...personally I would keep a pup on Giant Puppy food till around 4 to 5 months, then put them onto an Adult version...Nutro do a Lamb and Rice food that is top notch...go to www.nutro.co.uk  I would like you to PM me though...for the Breeder and if you want more help and advise...I have owned Newfies a long time...beware of people that have themselves asked for help...only a few weeks or months ago on here..but seem to be experts all of a sudden??!!! :rolleyes::rolleyes: Are you a member of the Newfie or Northern Newfie clubs??? If you would like details on joining I can supply those too...all the best, Dawn :D :D :D

Newfie drool is kool

PS Forgot to say..sorry I only just picked up this thread!

Hi Ellies mum

I think you're doing the right thing, to stop the Beta.

If you want suggestions, like others here have said, James Wellbeloved make a Lamb and Rice kibble.  For a Giant puppy, they advise going straight to their "Large kibble" Adult food until 10 months old, then changing to their "Large kibble Light" from 10 months on.

If you go to www.wellbeloved.co.uk and then click on Dog>Lamb and Rice>Feeding Guidelines   you will see this.  If you click on "Ingredients and Analysis>Adult Large Breed (at the top of the page), then you will get the list of ingredients up.  (The JWB site has a funny menu along the top which most people miss, and it lists the various types of food they make for different age groups and gives you the ingredients.)

then changing to their "Large kibble Light" from 10 months on.

Are these the ingredients to the large light kibble? :rolleyes:

Rice, ground whole barley, lamb meat meal, fresh lamb, whole linseed, lamb gravy, sugar beet pulp, lamb fat, alfalfa, natural seaweed, omega-3 and omega-6 supplement, sodium chloride, calcium carbonate, D,L-methionine, lysine hydrochloride, threonine, zinc methionate. A special mix of chondroitin, glucosamine and herbs.

Looks like them to me - what's wrong with them?

Not sure about the barley idea, but to make it a light kibble they use barley to add fibre to it.