New Puppy with feeding questions...

[Pumba]

We recently acquired our first Frenchie. We've always had Golden Retrievers before this and want to be the best Frenchie owners we can be.

The breeder fed the puppy Orijen puppy food. We fed our puppy Orijen. When our puppy was on Orijen, we had to add sweet potatoes to her food because of loose stools. The sweet potato helped a lot. Then we recently transitioned over to Primal Raw Frozen Venison formula. She seems to like it and her stools have improved. Being used to feeding Goldens, we don't seem to have a grasp on what a reasonable amount of food to feed is. Our puppy is almost 5 months old and she is about 19 lbs. The vet says that her weight is correct for her build. Primal recommends that we feed her 8 - 1 oz nuggets twice a day. A pound of food every day seems a lot to me.

I have seen that many of the forum members like Fromm's Puppy Gold formula. I was leaning towards a raw diet but if the Fromm's is a better food choice for our puppy, I'll gladly transition over.

I'm open to any advice/suggestions on food recommedations and quantity recommendations. I want to be sure that I do my best to feed our puppy the highest quality foods that will hopefully help avoid allergies. Also, I read, on this forum, that Frenchies can develop protein allergies if you don't change their protein on a regular basis. How often should I change up her protein?

Finally, I know that I just need to keep an eye on her weight and that should give me a sense of the amount of food to feed her but are there any thoughts on when I should start reducing the amount of food fed, since she's a puppy to the amount I should feed her as she matures. Also, should I reduce the amount of food that she's fed, after she's spayed?

Sorry for all the questions, but we just want to do the best for her.

Thanks everyone!

 

[davidh]

Well I don't know anything about the food you are feeding, because I feed our pups FROMM Puppy Gold. But a good rule of thumb is, use the poop method, if their poop is soft, decrease their food intake a little, if it is hard, or normal increase a little until it becomes soft, then decrease just a bit until it becomes normal and that's the amount to feed. But you will need to increase their intake a little as they grow until they get to be one year of age then to can decrease just a bit to maintain their proper weigh. I would rather feed a pup too much food as they are growing and developing than not enough. You should not easily feel their ribs, but don't want them to be too chubby either. Now I hope I didn't just totally confuse the issue.

 

[2bullymama]

david gave you great advice.....

 

[Julie Stevenson]

Welcome to the site! I'm like you and have always owned Golden's and this is my first frenchie. We have a golden too, ca't really see myself without one. I feed Blue Buffallo Freedom Puppy Chicken Formula and I'm very happy with it. Ollie was on the raw diet and he had lots of problems when we got him so I had to switch his food five different times before we found something that works for him. I won't change him now. I would stick with what the bag recommends on amount to feed and watch his weight. If you feel he's not getting enough increase it a little, or if he's getting to chunky then reduce. That's my best advise.