Dilemma about food for new puppy

lametisse

Hi all

Our newest member of the family will be coming next week but I still do not know what food is the best for him , the breeder is giving our Saint Bernard puppy at the moment Beta puppy but not loads of people are keen on Beta, I used to give Royal Canine to my dog before but some people do not beleive its a good brand of food for Saints, so what do I give him?

I have bought just 2 little bags of Betta but need to know what to give him afterwards, please help needed as I do not want to lose my puppy, he is already our little baby now. Does anyone know about obedience class around cork (mallow) also as he is a big breed and definitely would need some help with him.:pac:

andreac

Whatever you do dont feed a Giant or large breed puppy food with high protein as it can too much for their growing joints and they can end up with Pano (growing pains) from growing too fast with too much protein. It happened to my friends saint and he was lame for months due to too much protein too quickly.

Try just feeding a lower protein, maybe a junior food but not puppy large breed.
There are lots of foods out there, Burns, James Wellbeloved, Arden Grange, Red Mills and so on that would be a little better than Beta.

lorebringer

andreac wrote: »

Whatever you do dont feed a Giant or large breed puppy food with high protein as it can too much for their growing joints and they can end up with Pano (growing pains) from growing too fast with too much protein. It happened to my friends saint and he was lame for months due to too much protein too quickly.

Try just feeding a lower protein, maybe a junior food but not puppy large breed.
There are lots of foods out there, Burns, James Wellbeloved, Arden Grange, Red Mills and so on that would be a little better than Beta.

+1 on the lower protein food for giant breeds, and well done on wanting to get the best you can for your pup and not just settling! Any of the above names brands are good, and "junior" as opposed to "puppy" is a great idea. Even adult food would be fine for your pup, jsut keep an eye on the protein count. Don't worry about feeding a food that is designed for older dogs too soon - with a giant breed you need to be so careful to allow them to grow and develop slowly and your dog will have no problems digesting food designed for older dogs.

Just a note on the training classed front - pleased ensure your pup is fully vaxed (wait bout a week/10 days after last vax before bringing them into the big bad world) including Kennel Cough before bringing them to classes, you don't want your new baby picking up any infections. And be careful how much you exercises your pup per day - approx 5 minutes per month of age in total per day is enough because any more can stress growing joints (so, if your pup is 3 months - 5 x 3 = 15 minutes total per day!)

Good luck!

lametisse

thanks guys i will let you know when my puppy comes home next week its all excitement as if a new baby was about to be born!

Cherry Blossom

Hills Science seems to be the one of the decent brands with lower protein percentage so maybe try Hill's junior, (compare the protein percentages as I haven't looked at the 'junior') Yes Royal Canin has a very high protein content, too high even for my Westie, she was going hyper on it! :rolleyes:

lametisse

Ill have a look at hill's science as i think they have it in the petshops in mallow, i didnt see the connellys one though am also checking online on zooplus.ie and petstop.ie no sign of it!
Any help?

Cherry Blossom

lametisse wrote: »

Ill have a look at hill's science as i think they have it in the petshops in mallow, i didnt see the connellys one though am also checking online on zooplus.ie and petstop.ie no sign of it!
Any help?

This is it
http://www.petconnection.ie/acatalog/Red_Mills_Dog_Food.html

Farm supply stores and equestrian places tend to stock it as a lot of farmers feed it working dogs. As far as I know most places don't stock it in the smaller sized bags:rolleyes:

andreac

If you are going for Red Mills, i would recommend the Leader or Leader Supreme as they are the better quality ones.
The others wouldnt be of great quality to be honest.

tk123

+1 from me too. Our GR has had problems with his hind legs and I put it partially down to him being on Royal Canin Maxi - 32% protien(!) he's on Burns now which is 18.5%. Personally I wouldn't recommend Hills - our vet talked me into putting our guy on it to make him lose weight (from the weight that piled on from the RC) and he was pooping for Ireland on it and also broke out in hot spots. Also one of the trainers where he goes told me that most of the dogs they see on Hills are bouncing off the walls - our guy calmed down a lot when he went on Burns, stopped having a sensitive tummy and and he's lost weight too.
Whatever you do buy small bags of whatever you're trying - different foods suit different dogs so you may have to try a few brands to get one that suits. Also if you're trying different brands make sure you make the transition between the foods gradual over about 2 weeks - puppies have really sensitive tummys and if you switch too quickly they can get the runs.

andreac

I wouldnt recommend Hills either as my dog broke out in hot spots too on his face, awful they are and very hard to clear up unless you get steroids etc.

Vets get commission too for selling it hence why they are always recommending it so its not because they think its a good food, its because they benefit from the sales.

lametisse

I guess the only thing I need to do is check the amount of proteins in the food then and see what suits him , thanks for the advice about changing over the 2 weeks, i would have done it just in a week!

Its good to have advices one of my main fear at the moment there are some dogs in the neighborhood dying so I don't know what I should do will I let him outside in our back garden or no until he has his second lot of injections what should I do. Some people will say its just a dog but Its so hard its like losing a member of someones family when the pet die, I know what am talking about when my previous dog died it was like losing a child...it was so hard:(