Sorting through food options
 

Hi Folks!
I am so excited that in a few weeks I will have a new baby running about our new house! It has been years since I lost my dear Harley and thus I've been out of the game for a while. Providing the health testing is clear my little Zarco will be home March 3. Also Harley had severe food issues so I'm trying to retrain my brain to not panic about food. So I know many things have changed in the last 7-8 years.

So...
Zarco will be coming home with royal canin which is going immediately after he comes home (gradually of course) I've had many bad experiences with this food and do not want to buy more once it runs out.

1. Is Go! Still a good food? Then which one to choose? I'm leaning towards Go! Because they have limited ingredients and grain free options. My thoughts are to pick one that matches the same protein in the food he comes home with. Also given Harley was allergic to everything I gave him as a puppy, I'm going to reserve a few proteins just in case an allergy comes up.

2. To grain or not to grain? When I had Harley we fed grain free. I've seen some mixed info lately where certain grains are being recommended. Thoughts?

3. Raw or not? Again Harley was on strict elimination diet so he only got freeze dried raw lamb. I fed K9 Naturals and loved it, but at the time it was one of the only ones on the market. There is a part of me that would love the convenience of a dog on kibble. But I also know raw has great benefits. Thoughts?

4. Mixing raw- I was instructed by a holistic vet back then that dogs digest raw and processed foods at different rates and therefore they should not be mixed. I'm seeing a lot of people who mix raw or use raw as a topper to kibble, has the science changed? Would this be a good way to get benefits of raw while keeping the kibble convenience?

5. Raw and puppy. If I do opt for raw I've noticed very mixed reviews on raw for puppy. What age should I switch if I do go raw?

Looking forward to everyone's thoughts. I'm super nervous right now cause I just want a healthy and happy pup (Harley spent 3 of his 4 years very ill). I've done extensive research on this breeder and we are health testing up the wazoo, so now it's time to get ready for his arrival and set him up for success.

Royal Canin, Purina and Hills are the top brands. Grain free is just a fad that has seemed to cause many to have heart issues. Raw is not recommended by Vets and really is not a safe option. Most raw diets are not balanced either. Even if you wash the outside of your dogs mouth with soap and water they will still contaminate everything they lick, their water, you, toys and so on.

Here are some links
https://wsava.org/wp-content/uploads...on-Toolkit.pdf
https://vetnutrition.tufts.edu/2016/...gredient-list/
https://vetnutrition.tufts.edu/2022/...SpHfK-NLrQr5So

I feed Farmina ND, mostly the grain inclusive one with spelt. It's great quality kibble and they offer lots of protein options.

Mike eats 50/50 - homemade (gently cooked) for breakfast and kibble for dinner. Homemade takes lots of research and time consuming, but worth it in our case.

If we'd have something like BalanceIt, I'd look into it and give it a try, but we don't have anything like this where we live :)

I'd still go with puppy kibble up to 10 months old and then switch to other options, simply for nutritional purposes. For example puppy kibble + some protein toppers (some sources say up to to 15%, others up to 20% of the total daily intake is okay to not disturb the nutritional balance of the kibble).

My dogs all eat Royal Canin...some are on the Yorkshire Terrier kibble and a couple on their RX foods.
I have never had a problem with RC food.
Personally, I would never feed raw. Too many risks for my liking.
As to a puppy, I urge you to consider puppy food....if I were you (of course I am not) I would continue with the RC that the puppy is used to.
This is a great website that is run by board certified veterinary nutritionists....they answer questions.....
https://www.petdiets.com/Ask-the-Nutritionist

I also want to add that you should never immediately change a puppies food because then if they get diarrhea or other issues you wont know if it is stress, sickness or just from the food change. Give them time to get use to things.

The problem with this is that 50% not being balanced is going to cause issues because it is not balanced. Bone loss is a huge issue in dogs with non balanced food and in a lot of cases that can mean bone loss in the part of the teeth under the gums which requires the tooth to be removed because it will end up loose. I have seen multiple dogs with non balanced food ending up with the loss of most of their teeth as well as bones in other areas that break very easily. With a puppy that is growing it is even worse to not have them on a balanced food with only 10% of their intake being other stuff like treats or toppers or you could be looking at deformed puppies.

Stay away from Grain Free food. As lovetodream stated they have caused heart issues in many dogs.

Is there particular ingredients in the grain free that caused this or is it the lack of ingredients?

Thanks.

Taurine. Generally because peas, lentils and potatoes are high and of abundance in the ingredients. There is no health reason to go grain free either. Almost everything that has been said about grain free food is a myth. I hope you took the time to look at mine and Linda’s links. The years Vets spend in school is much more then a person with an agenda trying to sell their products. You will find that most things put out about grain free and in support of raw feeding are don’t by companies selling something. Vet associations are very against raw feeding and for good reason. We need to start trusting these vets more and not seconded guessing them because of some other personas opinion.

Sure. I must have added the homemade food he eats is indeed balanced. However, even feeding a balanced homemade diet as you may have seen in my reply I didn't recommend it to the OP until puppy reaches adult age.

To be brief, grain free food adds Legumes such as peas, lentils which is high in Taurine. Dogs body makes its own Taurine, so no need to add to food.
It was thought grain free with added Legumes were causing heart issues.
That is still in debate with the FDA.

Two, maybe 3 years ago there were many articles to stop feeding grain free kibble due to the legumes being added causing more Taurine being added then a dog requires and causing heart conditions.
At that time my dog was on grain free due to food and Environment allergies, my vet told me to get him off grain free food due Taurine being added.

Since these articles appeared 2, 3 years ago more research has been done, the FDA still cannot say if grain free food causes heart issues.

In any case, grains are not bad for dogs, in fact, since changing my dogs food to regular food, his allergies has declined greatly.

Thanks. This explanation is helpful. With my last boy he was allergic to nearly everything and his vet put him on a strict diet so now that I have options it's a lot of information to wade through. It's also been 8 years.

Do you own roller-skates? you may need them to keep up with zooming puppy lol. I am so happy and excited for you. 8 years is a long time but you will adjust fast I am sure lol.

I was just going by the fact you said you didn't have anything like balance it and the food by itself can't be balanced with out added supplements so if I misunderstood sorry about that.