Wet food vs. kibble input from our vet for our puppy

[Raj and Teddy]

I have been a member of the food group for quite sometime and read quite a few posts to get myself knowledgeable about foods for dogs. I truly believe in feeding a healthy balanced diet to a dog and not necessarily look for cheaper solutions.
Based on our readings on the forum we are getting ready for a new puppy (F1B) on June 20 th and planning for his food needs. Our plan.

1. No change in food for first 2 weeks and continue giving what breeder has been feeding. We don't know as yet what our breeder feeds the puppies.
2. After 2 weeks, plan on changing the food and gradual switch to Orijen , Fromm or Acana (based on how the puppy reacts) along with 1-2 grain free treats. We will also use some of the kibble as part of training. We were also planning to add a mashed pumpkin occasionally.

Today we met with the potential vet for our puppy, he is literally 5 mins from our house, open 7 days a week and a number of people in our neighborhood take their dogs to him. In my discussions on food, I asked him about Orijen, Acana and Fromm, he did not seem to know a whole lot about them.

He recommended feeding the puppy wet food instead of Kibble as puppies teeth are not developed. Has anyone heard similar concerns , if so what kind of wet food would you recommend? Should we even go this route or stick to Keeble?

Thanks,

Raj

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

If you've been reading our discussions, you probably know that there is no nutrition curriculum in vet school, and what information vets do get about pet food comes from the Hill's and Purina sales reps. Vets study medicine, not nutrition or dietetics.

I never ask GP vets for advice on food, and I'd recommend the same for everyone else. 

I have never heard anyone, vet or not, say that a puppy's teeth "are not developed". That sounds ridiculous to me. Most breeders are feeding kibble by the time the pup leaves, and some are actually even feeding a prey model raw diet, which means they give the pups raw meat or poultry with the bones. Not something I would recommend, but the point is that very young puppies have teeth that are perfectly capable of handling kibble. They're not like human babies with no teeth who need mush, lol. 

[Raj and Teddy]

Hi Karen,

Yep I am aware of the "no nutrition curriculum in vet school", its amazing for me to see how these doctors (both for pets and humans) are at times the least knowledgeable in nutritional value.

I just was trying to validate and find out how knowledgeable the GP vet was when I asked him about all these foods. I would trust the inputs provided on these forums any day. I have a huge respect for what you contribute to this forum and provide a wealth of information. I don't have to repeat what foods the vet was recommending :-)

I was myself taken aback when the vet told us to feed wet food due to teeth not developed as I have read multiple books where kibble is fed to puppies right when you bring them and is used for training.

Thanks again for your feedback.

Raj

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Also, many canned dog foods contain an ingredient called carrageenan, which has been linked to gastrointestinal disease in dogs. Most vets don't know that, either.

[Kate, Mel, Tenley & Harper]

My parents rescued a cockapoo/mini doodle of some sort last year who was 6 months old at the time. When they picked him up, the shelter gave them his past vet records and they brought him to the same vet his previous owners had been using the next day for a checkup. The vet also advised them (as he did Caesar's previous owner) to feed only wet food as he was still a puppy (keep in mind at 6 months old he had a full set of adult teeth). Anyway, to this day (now 2 years old) Caesar won't eat kibble unless you water it down. Won't eat biscuit style treats or anything crunchy, either. It is really annoying and they're also finding that his teeth aren't as clean because he's not ever really chewing anything (he eats Acana). So, I wouldn't want to start that bad habit. Caesar is 22lbs and his teeth aren't much smaller than my 33lb Tenley, there is no explainable reason why he shouldn't be able to eat crunchy foods except that he wasn't conditioned to them young.