Another food question

[daisy_0107]

I still have some time to figure out food as puppy is only 3wks old.
The breeder uses hill's healthy advantage puppy large breed. I have heard such mixed reviews on this food.

I have been suggested two food I could try.

Acana Puppy large breed
or
Pulsar


Thoughts?

[Doreen Davis]

Most folks recommend keeping the puppy on what the puppy grew up on and not switch for some time as the pup is having enough major changes, leaving mom, littermates and all that he's ever known.

One of the breeders can add what they consider a reasonable length of time. Anthony kind of ate anything as his breeder is a vet and there were lots of samples! Stella is a rescue and she was on Beneful:-)

Today they are both on Fromm grain free.

[ZoeysMommy]

You are going to want to keep the pup on the breeder recommended food until at least 6 months old

If you are purchasing from a reputable breeder then you should trust that they are feeding what works best for there puppies. Reputable breeders feed specific foods for specific reasons, speak to your breeder and find out why they feed this food, perhaps an explanation would help you

[Abulafia]

Yes, absolutely keep the puppy on what the breeder recommends, at least for the first half year or so.

We had bought puppy food (Taste of the Wild—sounded sort of good, and we knew nothing) for Hoku before picking her up. A week before getting her, the breeder sent the "puppy package," that specified ProPlan. Bought the ProPlan. Returned the Taste of the Wild. End of story.

As the breeder—a hugely respected breeder of Labs in this area, who has been breeding for close to three decades—said, "Listen, after the first year, feed her what you want. Until then, please keep her on what I know works best for my dogs."

I think that's very​ wise advice. And I'm glad we took it.

[soberbyker]

The breeder uses hill's healthy advantage puppy large breed.

My pup came home with this too, I guess it's a good food?

[daisy_0107]

The reason the breeder is using Hills is because the vet she uses pushes the product. Did the same thing to my parents. Yet another vet said no don't use that use this product...

[Annette47]

In my opinion, Hills food is not great, but it certainly won’t hurt the pup to stay on it for a while until the pup is a bit older and has transitioned comfortably to your home. Generally I would recommend getting at least one big bag of whatever they come home on and going through that before changing.

I think breeders are like vets in that some are better informed about food choices than others. Always ask WHY they feed what they do ... it may be because their lines do well on it, or they may have other reasons and their dogs may do just fine on a variety of things. When Chloe came home, we had to switch her pretty quickly because she was raised on Kirkland brand from Costco and we had no Costco anywhere near us. The breeder said she fed it because “it was a decent food for the price”, and didn’t have any qualms about us switching her to Pro-Plan and in fact she did just fine.

[JenC]

I don't know anything about the Hill's food and I wouldn't want to keep my dog on it either, even though there is a reason why you keep the pups on their food from the breeder. At 7-8-10 weeks, their tummies are pretty simple, and anything going in that's different than they are used to will give them loose stools. Also, moving to a new house is very stressful, and the ONE thing you can control is keeping their diet the same as they are used to. One problem I see happening a lot is that folks want to feed what they perceive as the "best" food, but many times those brands don't have a proven track record with pups, have too high of a calcium/phosphorus ratio, or are just too rich for a simple puppy tummy. You can probably transition easy to sometime like Pro Plan Puppy, Kirkland Puppy, Royal Canin Puppy without much problem. And then once the dog is over 6 months, you can research and find a different food if you find a good reason to switch from one of those brands.