Coming over to the dark side with 12 week puppy?

[Katie]

Bonnie is 13 weeks on Thursday, and eats Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed Puppy, and has an occasional raw bone.

We are whole food vegans and never eat processed food. Yesterday hubby looked at Bonnies kibble and said...why are we feeding her this? Answer...I have no idea.

Obviously as vegans we know all about Bramble (vegan boarder collie who lived to be 27 years old) and what she ate, but I don't mind cooking meat for Bonnie. Hubby is supportive and will help.

Is 12 weeks too young to do home cooking, it doesn't seem hard, meat and vegis in a pan with some stock. Serve with brown rice or other boiled grain. Add a bone now and again, some fruit for treats and all is good. Obviously mix up the fruit and vegis but I am quite up on the nutrient content of most fruit and veg, and I have read the list of 'not for dogs' food on the net.

But......Is this good enough for a baby? Should I make one meal a day kibble?

I live on the South Island of NZ, and don't have much choice of dog food ()hills, Nutro, royal canin is about it here) but I can get Orijen by mail order (at over NZ$100 inc postage for 6kg) and also Ziwi peak. Also K9 Natural make a frozen or dehydrated raw food. Orijen is going to be too expensive except for emergencies, and we still have half a sack of Nutro......

So home cooking would actually be the easiest option....local butcher, local grass fed meat is standard here...you pay more for grain fed I noticed in the supermarket!

But is she too young? What to do?

Switch to homemade food?
Carry on with the Nutro?
Mix both?
Take out a mortgage to buy Orijen?
Run screaming for the hills!

Katie

Ps on the beach yesterday she was tucking into fresh mussels like there was no tomorrow!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I would not homecook for a puppy, especially one that young. It can be done, but you have to add vitamin and mineral supplements to any home cooked diet even for an adult dog. For a growing puppy, it would be imperative to get a veterinarian-approved recipe with exact amounts of the supplements they need to be sure of meeting all of their requirements. It's also pretty expensive to feed an exclusively homemade diet, because a cup of homemade food usually has about half the calories of most kibbles, so  you have to feed about twice as much to provide the calories they need.  

If K9 Natural is an option, and it's less expensive than Orijen, that would be my choice any day over Nutro. 

[Katie]

K9 is easy to get hold of. I shall look into that. At what age can you start home cooking for your pup?

Katie

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

You can really start at any age; it's just crucial that the food contain all the nutrients necessary for a growing pup, and that can be very difficult to do. I know people who feed prey model raw diets and even they supplement puppies' diets with some kind of commercial dog food until they're finished growing. 

[sandy b]

You might join a facebook group called k9nutrition. It's all about home cooking, raw diets. The person who started the group has a phd in natural nutrition.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

If that's Lew Olson's group, she also has a very good book called "Raw and Natural Nutrition for Dogs" that's widely available and contains recipes. 

[sandy b]

Karen it is Lew Olsen. I've been thinking about getting the book also. We currently have Max on Solid Gold Holistic Blendz which is very low fat & so far he is doing OK but the protein is very low also. I would like to try a combination of cooking plus kibble. So maybe this book will help.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I'd also just like to mention, as a disclaimer, that there is really no recognized degree from any nationally accredited school or program in "natural nutrition", so take that part with a grain of salt. The only accredited veterinary nutrition degree program is a post-DVM specialty in nutrition. 

[Katie]

Thank you for the replies.

Just to clarify then.....its best to stick with the comercial stuff...getting the best quality one can...until your puppy is a year or so old.

But you can mix some quality home cooking, raw bones etc with a quality kibble diet as long as the quality kibble is the predominant food.

Once puppy has stopped growing you can home cook and just use the kibble for times you don't have the time/energy to prepare the dogs food.

Would this be correct?

Katie

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Yes, but I am not a fan of giving raw bones, especially to puppies. It simply isn't necessary and there is some risk involved. The sole benefit in giving bones to a dog who is eating any kind of nutritionally complete diet is for helping to keep the teeth clean, and there are better, safer ways to do that. 

[Katie]

Look what I found!!!

http://www.ultrapetfood.co.nz/products.html

Made in NZ, with NZ grass fed meat etc, affordable, not in pet shops, but distributed through health shops and local stockists (ie people with dogs!) and best of all there is a stockist less than 100 m from hubby's work!

Hubby is picking up a bag today. If all goes well I will drop the Nutro off at the dogs home, and move over to ultra pet.

Katie

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

All of the formulas contain ground corn. :( 

And some of the other ingredients aren't so great, a lot of animal meals with unnamed sources. 

The K9 Natural food mentioned above looked a LOT better to me. 

[Katie]

It's just as well hubby is as devoted to finding the right food as I am, or he would go nuts! I have texted him not to bother with ultra pet, and am looking up stockists of K9 as he is in town anyway. It's made in Christchurch so there are lots of places to buy it here. He can bring some home tonight.

It's this one

http://www.k9natural.com

Just to check this is the one you think is Ok.

I do appreciate your help with this. There is so much wealth of information on doodle kisses, and so many knowledgeable people here. A wonderful community!

Thank you
Katie