What type of dog food should I feed my new Great Pyrenees puppies?

The "breeder" was feeding puppy chow so that is what I bought. I am not sure if this is the best food for my Pry's. I know that expensive dog foods do not mean that is the best food for them so I'm wondering if there are any Great Pry owners or breeders here that are using a brand that is good for the breed.

I have just read on the Pyrenees web site that I should be offering 1.5 - 2 cups of food for each pup 4 times a day. WOW that seems like a lot of food but I have little Lhasa Apsos so that's all I have to compare it to.

Here are a few photos of my pups and any advice for a high quality feed is appreciated.

I would feed them the best you can afford. A good, meat based food for large breed puppies would be my first choice. Look for corn in the first 5 ingredients. If its there, Iwould look for something else. Not all expensive brands are good. Read the labels.

Meat should be the first ingredient. If you get a premium food, they actually don't eat as much and produce less waste because of less fillers, because their body isn't starving for nutrients. Their coats will shine and they will live longer etc. And ya, don't even get anything with corn in it. You could also consider a partially raw meat diet or all meat diet but do your research. Some dogs are overbred and have lost the ability to handle it, and not all dogs even in the same breed have the same nutritional requirements. Two good books to read are "Food Pets Die For," and "Shock to the System."
With most puppies on the right healthy diet, they should not be too limited with their intake of food.

A good quality dog food of your choice that is specifically formulated for giant breed pups or regular grown up dog food. Do not feed large breed pups regular puppy chow because it will make them grow too fast and cause pano or possibly other problems. I raised my puppies on Taste of the Wild fish and Potato and they did great!

I found this page from our local rescue group helpful .... http://bigdogshugepaws.com/nutrition

I also made a spreadsheet from their score card for dog food if you are interested.

Our feed store is a dealer for Purina so, we feed them their Exclusive brand, large breed formula. The price is close to $1/lb. One thing you want to look at is how much you need to feed the dog based on the dog's weight. It seems that the cheap brands, like Puppy Chow, must contain significant amounts of fillers because you need to feed the dog alot more food per pound of dog compared to the better brands.

Jim

also, you don't want just "meat" as the first ingredient. You want meat MEAL. To be made into dog food, the meat is cooked and dehydrated. Some companies will cut corners by weighing the fresh meat because it will be "heavier" with the water still in it. then, when the food is cooked, the meat will actually drop to 4th or 5th on the list.

4Health from Tractor Supply or Kirkland from CostCo are both good foods for a lower price.

A good, economical food is sold at Tractor Supply. It's called 4-health and it's reasonably priced. Costco sells one too, called Kirklands. Kirklands and 4 health are made at the Diamond dog food plant and may be the same food but I don't know that....it's just a guess. I am feeding 4-Health to my Anatolians and they are doing great!! Right now, they each get 4 cups of food, twice a day. On days when we process a deer, they get meaty bones and organs instead. A Raw diet is honestly the best diet you can give your dogs but does take some getting used to and some creative shopping. If I lived closer to town or a slaughter house or deer processor or even a taxidermist it would be so much easier for me to get meat for my boys.

We always fed them the puppy chow, that is what the breeder fed theirs....

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Wow Jim that is a great site! I am looking at Innova large Breed puppy feed, we have a PETCO in the next town over and I think I am going to pick up some tonight and throw out the Puppy Chow. I started feeding them the higher amounts of feed yesterday and this morning there was a huge pile of upchucked dog food for me to clean up and very runny diarrhea. I am not sure if the food caused this or if the shots they got on Sunday did. I feel like the puppy chow is the culprit as they were doing fine after the shots and the change came when I upped from 2 cups a day to 5 cups of this horrible feed. Maybe their systems can't take the poor ingredients?

I would be interested in the spread sheet. Innova is VERY expensive. If I can score various feed I come across and get close to the same numbers at a lower cost I'd be a happy camper. I want these girls to grow up with the best possible chance at being healthy and feed is the place to start.

Thanks so much to all of you who have posted! I think I will take the recommendations and score them to see if they are viable options for me.