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Puppy food help!

MissNeris

New Member
Hi everyone,

I am new to this forum and am so glad that I joined it! Such great reading and advice.

I have an ultimate mastiff puppy, 15 weeks old and am looking for some advice/clarification on eating. He is currently on Royal Canin Giant puppy which is good, but his stools have been inconsistent.
I have researched SO many brands of dry food and am currently thinking about switching Ralph to grain free. Tossing up between Wellness Core large puppy breed or Orijen large puppy formula. Every time I think I have made up my mind (both brands have great reviews) I come across something terrible- like grain free causes heart issues and sudden death, or there is a law suit or heavy metals found (Orijen). I would love some feedback about these brands, how your pup goes on them, and if grain free is the way to go.

We are also slowly transitioning him onto meat (currently has cooked chicken or beef with dinner), but would love some advice on how you introduced raw, what you began with feeding, and amounts. We are aiming to eventually feed kibble in the morning and raw at night, or possibly all raw.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I am at my wits end with researching dog food brands!!
 

Big Gus

Active Member
Welcome to the site.
My English Mastiff , Gus, was stared on the Orijen Large Breed Pup food that he did well on. Huge poles of poop and stinky gas. We fed him 1.25 cups 3 times a day based on an adult weight of 170 pounds
I have now switched him to a raw diet at 5 months of age. We started with 2- 1 pound feedings of raw and 1 feed of Orijen at night. He now gets 3 -1 pound feedings of raw. I have gradually introduced different proteins, beef, chicken, lamb, pork and turkey. He gets fish oil once a day too get the fatty acids for good joints. We also add apple or banana as well as some raw veggies a couple times a week. I get the raw food locally which is packaged in 1 pound packs which is very convenient. Below is where I get it here in Ontario, there is good info on the site as well;

There are many different opinions on raw. You need to do your own research and do what you feel is good for your pup and you. As many have mentioned, most vets tend to discourage raw, mine included, for what ever reason.

Good Luck, lets see a picture of your pup.

EDIT- I should add that the poop production is easily cut in half and the gas is less frequent and not so pungent….
 

MissNeris

New Member
Thanks so much for your advice! I will check out that website. I am in Australia though so will have to source meat from my butcher.

I am going to transition him to Orijen as he is also really itchy at the moment, so think getting him off grains may help. He has monthly treatments for fleas etc, but came to us with "puppy dandruff" so we have been using oatmeal shampoo on him. His dandruff is much better but the itching continues. I never even knew dogs could have dandruff!?! We are going to the vet next week so hopefully get some further clarification too.

I've done some more research on transitioning to raw and saw a great video where probiotics were introduced for a week prior to giving raw, so think we will try that too.

Thanks so much for your help, really appreciate it.
I will upload some pictures of Ralphie when i figure out how to make the pictures smaller- it won't upload them. He is 15 weeks and weighs 16kg.
 

MissNeris

New Member
Here are some pictures of Ralph...😍
 

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glen

Super Moderator
Staff member
Stunning pup, im in the uk so not much help with the food choice, we dont feed puppy food, or any chicken based kibbles, mastiffs seem to not do well on it, allergies especially. Origen is similar to our food, no grain, ours is lamb
 
My pup has stool issues also. I had him on 4 different foods and nothing seemed to help. Finally I tried Purina Pro Plan, Sensitive Skin and Stomach, and that helped his stool issues greatly. Also, my uncle is a Vet and insists that his patients stay away from grain free foods stating that they cause heart issues.
 

MissNeris

New Member
Stunning pup, im in the uk so not much help with the food choice, we dont feed puppy food, or any chicken based kibbles, mastiffs seem to not do well on it, allergies especially. Origen is similar to our food, no grain, ours is lamb
Thank you! He is so adorable...melts our hearts daily! I am looking forward to the Orijen (in the mail) and he has already been much better this week since we have been feeding him meat (chicken tenderloins, chicken mince and beef mince) each night. The quest continues! How did you find out it was chicken for your pup?