Puppy food suggestions?

[Jenny, Aidan & Argo]

Does anyone have a suggestion to what I should use for puppy food? Our breeder has them on Diamond Puppy Food. Should I keep him on that or change it eventually? Thanks :)

[F, Calla & Luca]

The food group has a list of recommended foods and tons of information. You can search for anything in the upper right corner search box.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Here is the DK Food Group's list of recommended brands: http://www.doodlekisses.com/group/thefoodgroup/forum/topics/recomme...

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 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. 

[Lori, Daphne, Lucy & Pippa]

Definitely join the food group here! You will definitely gain the most valuable information on feeding your furbaby!

[Susan & Henry]

We used Natural Balance for Henry and it was great but recently (he is 2) he starting haveing stomach issues and we had to switch him to a low residue food that we get from the vet.

[Jenny, Aidan & Argo]

Thanks for the info, I hope Henry is doing better! :)

[Jenny, Aidan & Argo]

Thanks everyone!