Puppy/Dog Food

[Avla]

I get to bring my English Bulldog home in about a week, so I am deciding on what puppy food to feed him. I keep forgetting to ask the breeder what type of food she's feeding them, but I will ask tomorrow when I go to see him and depending on the brand I might slowly switch him to a different brand.
I want to get personal opinions and experiences.

My parents use Purina One on their dogs and their coats are always shiny and it doesn't seem to cause problems, my cousin's use Iams on their dog the only problem is their dog poops A LOT, now I am not sure if it's the food or what, but I don't want my puppy pooping as much as him if I am trying to potty train him. My Grandma uses Purina Pro Plan on her dog, but I don't really like it because it supposedly controls how much your dog poos, I don't even think that dog poos more than once a day if that. I read that pedigree isn't that great, but I've never used it.

Anyways, I just want to make the right choice - what dog foods do you use and what would you say would be the best? I want something that won't cause him to become overweight (which is a problem in bulldogs, but he will only be getting fed 3 times a day) and something that won't make him poop 50 times in one day and something that won't clog him up either.

I know I am picky, but this is my first dog that I am owning on my own and I want him to have the best.

 

[Cindiloohoo]

I just use regular old Dog Chow. If you want him to have the BEST, go raw. There are plenty of sites with dog food recipes that you can make for him.

 

[CoyoteMagic]

I'm currently using Taste of the Wild, I was using Earthborn but there seems to be a problem with getting it to the stores! I'm one of those people who would love to feed BARF/Raw but can't afford to do it all the time. I try to find the best food that I can afford to give her. Katie loves it. She's happy and growing. That's all matters.

 

[joeyg4583]

look for a food with meat as the first 4 or 5 ingredients and no corn. Wellness has a great grain free food. You cant go wrong with wellness.

 

[Riocotesei]

Wellness is a very good food, but for the money I'd say to go with Taste of the Wild. You can get it at tractor supply and other feedstores carry it too. Wellness cost more per pound than TotW. Wellness is listed as a 5 star dogfood compared to 6 star TotW.
Other things to look for is grain free foods and named meats (preferably in the first 1 through 5th ingredients) listed on the label.

I wouldn't suggest royal canin it makes their poop runny, and in general they don't eat it unless they have to. There are several bull dogs that come into the facility and several get the royal canin bulldog formula. It's no bueno. I wouldn't support Iams or Eukanuba foods either.

That said, all dogs are different and what works good for one dog may not set well with another. Some dogs appear to thrive on lower quality foods while others are more sensitive to what goes into their bodies.

There is a new purina food coming out and it looks better than other purina stuff. I think it is called infinia.... I don't really know much about it, but I thought I'd throw that out there.

Good luck and congrats on your new puppy! Have you chose a name yet?

 

[Crazyland]

Going poop once a day is normal on a good quality food.

A raw diet is excellent of course. I can't say anything bad about it as long as you do your homework first.

What your individual dog does well on will depend on him.

I tried TOTW and while I still love the food it wasn't right for us. I needed more calories for my dogs. My cats eat it though.

We in the end are using California Naturals Extreme Athlete. We supplement with some raw.

Personally I would join a bulldog group, a quality one, and ask them the protein amount that the pup should have to grow properly. With a dog like the one you are getting and the need for proper growth I would try very hard to keep him nice and trim to minimize any potential damage to his joints.

 

[Louieandthecrew]

My dad was a vet for fourteen years and he has always said that Purina is the altime best for cats AND dogs! If the puppy is under about a year old you can pour some water in the food and it will soften the food up for the puppy's little teeth! PURInA IS THE BEST!

This is my Boxer. We have fed him Purina all his life! He is now 6 years old!

 

[scrambledmess]

My dad was a vet for fourteen years and he has always said that Purina is the altime best for cats AND dogs!

Are you sure? I worked in a vet office for several years. We had more cats with urinary problems off Purina then any other brand.



To the OP: corn, wheat or any grain is not part of the natural diet of dogs and especially not cats. As someone else posted, look for a food that has the first few ingredients as some kind of meat. I feed Taste of the Wild as well. My dogs are doing wonderful on it and LOVE the taste!!! It is the cheapest in that quality of food. I priced it based on what you feed (what labels recommend) and it come out about the same as Pedigree in price when you see how much you are feeding.​

 

[bock]

No offense to you Louieandthecrew, but vets are not nutritional specialists, not that I am, but I have done a lot of research, and I made my own decision. I used to feed my dogs and cats Purina, but then I found out about all the corn and the problems it can cause, and I switch to TOTW. You wouldn't believe how much softer and shinier their coats are. Their poo actually decomposes into the ground, unlike those ancient corn poops out by the chicken cage, and not to mention they go a lot less. And my 9 year old Lab mix got all of her energy back. Nothing can ever make me feed my dogs and cats that garbage again!

 

[teach1rusl]

Right now I'm feeding Diamond Naturals, because that's what the breeder had been feeding my pup. He's almost 4 months now, and poops about 2X a day on this feed, so his body must be using it pretty well. Less poop is actually a good thing (you mentioned the once a day thing), because it means the dog's body is able to use almost all the ingredients in the food. When a dog poops a lot, that means it's body isn't able to process/use a lot of the ingredients. I have heard lots of positives about Taste of the Wild, but haven't tried it myself.