What Is The Best Dog Food To Feed A 4 Month Old Havanese Puppy?
Filed under Care & Training Q&As
The breeder told me to feed her Eukanuba and Purina — my dog likes Eukanuba but she hates Purina. I suspect that there are other brands that are healthier than Eukanuba.
Related Havanese Training & Care posts:
Yup.
All dogs are different in what they like, and if it agrees with their stomachs.
Some good quality foods are :
Canidaehttp://www.canidae.com/
Wellness
Wellness COREhttp://www.wellnesspetfood.com/
Taste of the Wild http://www.tasteofthewildpetfood.com/
Blue Buffalohttp://www.bluebuff.com/
Solid Goldhttp://www.solidgoldhealth.com
Innova
Eagle pack Holistic
Chicken Soup for the dog Lovers Soul
Orijen
EVO
Merrick
Avoderm
Never get low quality foods like :
Cesar, Ol’ Roy, Purina, Pedigree, Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, BilJac, Nutro , Dad’s, Royal Canin, Mighty Dog
Or ANY grocery Store brand!
This website should be able to help you on picking out a good quality food. Stick on the 4-5 star range. (6 star has to much protein for a pup.)http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_…
Never get a dog food with Corn, Soy, and By-Products. But I would also suggest a wheat free dog food. When you change your dogs food to a better quality, you will notice these things :
Firmer Stool, Glossier Coat, and better overall health.
Raw Feeding is also good, but it can be pricey. Learn more at: http://barfworld.com/http://www.raw-dogs.com/http://www.rawfeddogs.net/http://www.rawlearning.com/
Purina and Eukanuba are both terrible foods in my opinion. I recommend that you look into http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com as it is a very informative website and it may open your eyes when it comes to what your dog is eating. I don’t think it is a good idea to base your entire judgment on the reviews there, but it definitely is a useful resource.
Blue Buffalo is highly recommended by many dog owners although it does contain quite a few grains; it’s still a very good quality food though, definitely one of the best you can buy at a Petsmart (though I prefer local supply stores myself).
GAG–
There are a LOT of brands healthier than EITHER Eukanuba or Purina! (Your dog is smart to not want to eat Purina!!)
Go to http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/ for more information on the very best, very healthiest pet food choices!
Or– do one better- start your puppy out right and start feeding a BARF Diet (Biologically Appropriate Raw Food)
FMI: http://www.barfworld.com/
Your dog will thank you for it!!
Eukanuba? Purina? YUCK. Try a high quality dog food.
Not all pet food is made equally. A lot of it is full of corn, by-products, dyes, unhealthy preservatives, filler grains and all sorts of nasty stuff. A lot of pet food companies are perfectly happy to the dump cheap leftovers and things that aren’t safe for human consumption (from human food processing plants) into their foods. Will it kill your dog? No, it has to be nutritionally complete and safe to even be marketed. Is it healthy? Not by a long shot.
Corn is a low quality ingredient you never want to see in your pet food. Corn and low quality grains are two of the biggest culprits when it comes to food allergies in our pets.
Thankfully, there are some excellent dog foods being made these days that include organic, human grade ingredients rather than trash not fit for human consumption.
Examples of low quality foods to avoid: Anything you can find in a grocery store will be low end, Purina, Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, Royal Canin, Pedigree, Kibbles n’ Bits, Beneful, Ol’Roy.
Examples of high quality foods to look for: Innova, Wellness, Solid Gold, Canidae All Life Stages, Fromm Four Star, Merrick, GO Natural, Nature’s Variety Prairie, Nature’s Logic, Artemis Fresh Mix, Timberwolf Organics.
Although the high quality foods are more expensive, you’re getting what you’re paying for. Less filler material and higher quality ingredients means more concentrated nutrients… this means you typically need to feed far less of the high quality food than you would of the low quality one. Which also means less poop!
Seriously on a budget? Two of the most affordable of the higher quality foods would be Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover’s Soul and Canidae All Life Stages.
Before following your vet’s food recommendation, keep in mind that vets get /very/ little nutritional training during their schooling. Besides that, what training they /do/ get is usually sponsored or taught by… you guessed it, the crappy pet food companies! They also often get kickbacks from the companies for pushing these products at their clinics (Science Diet, Royal Canin etc.)
A great option is to go with an entirely grain-free diet. Many of the high quality foods now put out grain-free formulas. Some good grain-free diets include: Innova EVO, Wellness CORE, Blue Wilderness, Nature’s Variety Instinct, Orijen, Horizon Legacy, Canidae Grain Free All Life Stages, Fromm Surf & Turf, Now!, GO Natural Grain Free, Sold Gold Barking At The Moon, Ziwipeak, and Taste of the Wild.
Some pretty decent foods can even be found in common pet stores. Petsmart carries Blue Buffalo products (such as the excellent grain-free diet, Blue Wilderness). Petco carries Wellness, Solid Gold, Natural Balance, Eagle Pack Holistic Select, Blue Buffalo, Castor & Pollux Organix, Pinnacle, and Halo.
If you can’t find a food, most of the high quality dog food brands have websites with store locators on them that will help you find the store closest to you which supplies their products. Simply type the dog food brand’s name into Google, go to their website, and type your zip code into their store locator.
Another option, if you can’t find anywhere around you that sells good foods, is to order your pet food online. Here’s an excellent place to do so: http://www.petfooddirect.com/store/
Remember that foods should be switched gradually (mixing the new slowly in with the old over the period of about week or so), especially when switching to a higher quality one, so as not to upset tummies. For example:
Days 1 & 2: 75% old food, 25% new food
Days 3 & 4: 50% old food, 50% new food
Days 5 & 6: 25% old food, 75% new food
Day 7: 0% old food, 100% new food
Another option for feeding dogs is to feed raw. This is something that should be thoroughly researched before being attempted:http://www.rawfed.com/ (RawFed)http://www.rawlearning.com/ (Jane Anderson’s Raw Learning Site)http://rawfeddogs.net/ (Raw Fed Dogs)http://www.rawmeatybones.com/ (Raw Meaty Bones)http://rawfed.com/myths/preymodel.html (Raw Prey Model Diet Vs. BARF Diet)http://community.livejournal.com/rawdogs… (Raw Dogs Livejournal Community, excellent raw feeding information on the profile page and overall helpful community for raw feeding questions)http://www.rawfed.com/myths/index.html (Myths About Raw Feeding)
Also remember that freefeeding (leaving food down) is the fast lane to canine obesity. Make sure to have scheduled feeding times loosely based on the feeding guidelines on your dog’s food. Adult dogs are typically fed two meals a day.
More on dog food:http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?… (Learn how to determine the quality of your dog’s food.)http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_… (Dog food reviews. Four stars is a decent food, five stars is a great food, and six stars is an excellent food.)
Darksong~
A puppy eats a lot of food. From 4 month of age, he’ll need to eat two to four times as much as an adult dog or cat to support all that growth.
nerally speaking, puppy food is higher in protein and enriched with vitamins, minerals, and fats essential for growth–that is, when compared to dog food made by the same manufacturer. Still, ingredients across brands can vary greatly.
Check this brand before going to any decision ——–> http://www.agritura.com/index.php/cat/c3…
its 4 months old so it needs good puppy food at least until its one or 2 years old. purina one is fine. the one in the red bag but purina in the yellow bag isn’t…it has too many fillers. my dogs turn their noses up to eukanuba. but at this age, any food she will eat that has a lot of protein and calcium will work. see a food is only good for her if she will eat it, otherwise its just decoration for the food bowl.
I know it’s hard trying to find the best dog food for your puppy. They need more nutrition because they are growing and maturing.
The best organic food I’ve given my puppies is Canidae. It’s organic, healthy and dogs love it. Canidae contains no fillers, such as corn or wheat flour, which many dogs are allergic to, which is good for a puppy. It is made of brown rice and chicken.
My dogs love Canidae. It is a rich food because it’s organic, so you may noy have to give your dog as much as if you fed them a lower grade food.
Also, I’ve found that even though it’s organic and a high grade food, it actually costs less than the other store brands. Look in pet supply stores or online.
I love the Havanese dogs. I know your puppy is adorable. They are such a beautiful breed. Of dog. Best of luck with your dog. Hope I helped.
There are several good foods out there but unfortunately there are more foods that are not as healthy as they could be. I recommend that you go to the site below to learn about dog foods and what you should look for as far as ingredients go.
I feed my Schnauzer Basenji cross Merrick. She loves it and its great quality food. Much better than Eukanuba or Purina. My dog loves the Grammy’s Pot Pie flavor.
Iams Puppy Chow.
nutro is better than eukanuba !!!!!!!