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Originally Posted by dottiesyrky  Congratulations on your soon to be puppy. I am sure the breeder will give you lots of tips on how to care for her, including diet. Most here suggest you feed what the breeder is feeding for some time to minimize changes the pup has to adapt to. Then you can slowly change to the new food of choice.
Dog Food Advisor for me is a good start and it does give lots of info on ingredients etcetera. However the star rating can leave a lot to be desired, so it is a good idea to research the foods yourself and take advice of those here and their food choices and experiences.
Good luck and please let us know when you get her, with pictures if you can do that.  |
I agree with most of above.....I strongly suggest you keep the puppy on what it is on when you get it....there are enough "new adventures" in the baby's life, without taking away the basic thing that baby knows since it was about 5 weeks old....you will get into an issue of confusion and refusing to eat at all....just wait until that baby is around 8 months old before you start messing with what this baby is secure with. There may be days where it will be confused and missing momma and what has been familiar since birth, and baby may not eat full meals, or may get persnickity at meal time...just dont change a thing or you are ADDING to the baby's confusion.....it will go back to eating when its emotions are getting under control.
I consider the Dog Food Advisor and that "Star Rating" as much a solid foundation of knowledge about dog food, as I would consider my shade tree auto mechanic qualified to make adjustments to a cardiac pacemaker......I would certainly NOT go to my local butcher, who has an extensive knowledge of cuts of meat, for my open heart surgery or my liver transplant. The Dog Food Advisor is a dentist. He assimilates information that he gathers from individual dog food companies, which he has admitted himself, and then he gives the information collected from the specific dog food companies, HIS rating as to what HE considers is good.....conflict of interest at a minimum in my mind. Do your OWN research....like everything else you encounter in life, it is more time consuming and involved when you do it yourself....the FDA has a site....get on the computer and do your own research about dog food and nutrition.....dont assume you will get an unbiased review from the dog food company you are reviewing.....you have to go above and beyond the dog food companies and what they say about their OWN product!
Before I lost my last computer, along with TONS of research and information, I had a folder with several unbiased sites that do NOT review individual dog food, but explain what your pet needs to be eating, at what age certain diets are best, and the breed requirements for specific nutritional requirements for definitive activities (hunting, racing, breeding, nutritional requirements for organ development, etc) during that dog's life. A ton of work and effort and accumulation by nutritionists, vet schools, etc.....lost. I am sick over that....but you can find it all with your OWN extensive research and effort......just go with Universities and educational foundations for opinions on what food to feed....dont depend on a dentist or an individual dog food company to give you unbiased information as your FIRST LINE of education about any dog food. When you get educated on what is actually necessary for a dog, doing what your dog will be doing, at your dogs age, with your dog's health outline, from unbiased university based educational information, then you can drill down into individual foods and approach that food with an educated assimilation of what are the nutritional requirements for your specific pet.