Feeding my puppy!

[Brecka]

I am brining my Labradoodle home on Thanksgiving and I feel like I don't know anything! I am most worried with how often and how much food I should be feeding her. She will be 8 weeks when I get her. Also, what are some good brands of food?!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Hi Brecka, congratulations on your new puppy.

It's critical that you not change anything about her diet for at least two weeks after she comes home. That means you keep her on the food and treats the breeder is feeding, even if they aren't so great.

Do not introduce any new treats or chews either. Keep her diet exactly the same as it was at the breeder's. 

Many, many doodle puppies come home with giardia and other parasites. Giardia has a 10-14 day incubation period, so it won;t show up in a fecal test right away. The excitement and stress of leaving the mother, the litter, and the only home the puppy has ever known can contribute to tummy troubles, too. And an 8 week old puppy has only been eating solid food of any kind for about 4 weeks, so the digestive system is very immature.

We have even had members whose brand new puppies had serious health issues resulting in digestive symptoms.

If you change the food before the dog has had a chance to settle in, and before any parasite issues have time to show up in a fecal test, and the dog has diarrhea, you will not know if it's caused by the food change, stress, parasites, or a digestive illness, and the breeder will blame it on the food change. Thus begins a journey of frustration trying to figure it out and an endless round of food changes. You also don't want to do anything to upset that delicate digestive system, as diarrhea can cause a young puppy to dehydrate very quickly, and is going to make housebreaking a whole lot tougher.

So you wait. If you leave the dog's diet exactly as is, and diarrhea develops, you have just eliminated any connection to food as the cause, and saved yourself a lot of aggravation. And of course, if the puppy comes home with diarrhea that doesn't resolve in a day, you know your breeder sent you a puppy with an intestinal parasite and you can probably recoup the cost of the fecal testing and the treatment, lol. (I personally would have a fecal done on any new puppy I got, along with a general once-over at the vet's office, but parasites may not show up right away.)

So wait at least two weeks. If, after two weeks, the stool is firm and regular and everything seems fine with the pup's digestion, you can start changing her over. Make only one change at a time. 

Young puppies are usually fed three times per day. The amount you feed varies with the particular food, your pupy's age, and her weight. There will be feeding guidelines on the bag. 

There is a very large and active group here on Doodle Kisses called The Food Group, where we help people make food choices and resolve food related issues. The Food Group keeps a current list of recommended food brands:

 http://www.doodlekisses.com/group/thefoodgroup/forum/topics/recomme...

We even have a separate list for treat brands: http://www.doodlekisses.com/group/thefoodgroup/forum/topics/recomme...

Once you have your puppy at home, come join us! 

[Brecka]

THANK YOU SO MUCH! That really helped me a ton :) 

[Lori, Daphne, Lucy & Pippa]

Karen gives the absolute BEST advice! I just had that very same problem with my daughter's new pup. She changed the food too soon and learned the hard way! Luckily for us, there were no serious problems and it was corrected with Karen's great advice. Two weeks…GREAT advice!

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

As usual, Karen covered all the bases! Congrats on your new puppy!

[F, Calla & Luca]

Yup.

[Nancy and Georgia Brown]

So I've been reading a lot....Maybe too much.

According to this if my breeder has not been giving anything but puppy food, all the treats for training in the first 2 weeks should be only the puppy food she is used to eating and not extra special freeze dried treats (for potty training) as is recommended in Ian Dunbar's book? 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

If the food is chicken based, small pieces of plain boiled chicken should be fine to use for treats. Do you know the exact formula of food the breeder is giving the pups? 

[Nancy and Georgia Brown]

It is Iam's puppy formula. The bag is bright yellow. I will obviously find out before bringing her home.

thanks.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

If it's this one, you're fine giving plain chicken for treats: http://www.iams.com/dog-food/iams-proactive-health-smart-puppy-orig...