What's the best food to feed my MinPin puppy?

Question

I have a six month old MinPin. I have been feeding him Science Diet Lamb Meal and Rice puppy food because that's what his breeder was feeding him when I bought him. However, I've read some comments that this food is not particularly good for dogs because it doesn't contain enough crude protein and pure meat. Any opinions on Science Diet? What food would you recommend?

Answer 1

Science Diet is one of the worse foods out there. Here's some information on finding a high quality food, as well as some food suggestions.

Based on the research I've done over the last couple of years a raw diet is the best. But I also realize that raw diets just aren't for everyone. So here is some information to help you find a high quality food.

Here's some information in choosing a high quality dog food.

Anything by Science Diet is pretty low on the high quality foods list. In fact most of your better known brands are, this includes Eukanuba, Iams, Purina, etc.

Vets are great sources of medical information but they very POOR sources of nutritional information. Vets are required to take very little in the way of animal nutrition courses, in fact these are usually just an elective. The few classes they are offered are either taught by or sponsored by major dog food companies. No bias in that teaching huh? Vets also of course make money on the foods they sell, as well as recieve 'perks' from dog food companies for promoting a certain food.

So when looking for a high quality food, I'd stay away from your better known, highly advertised brands, and look for the following:

Here is some information on finding a high quality food for your dog.

Nothing you find at a grocery store is going to be a good food. High quality foods can be found at large pet store chains, or online. A couple of foods I like are Nutro Natural, Innova, and Cannidae.

There are other high quality dog foods. Here's how to spot them:

A high quality food will have little or no fillers such as corn, wheat or soy. These aren't very digestable for dogs, and are common food related allergens. Since you were seeing corn meal in the first few ingredients, those are not high quality foods. Foods list ingredients by content, with the ingredient it contains most of at the top.

A high quality food will not contain BHT, BHA or Ethoxyquin, these are all chemical preservatives that have been linked to cancer.

A high quality food will not contain by-products of any kind. Meat meals are ok as long as the source of the meat is listed, such as Chicken Meal.

A high quality diet should have meat as at least the first ingredient., and be made from human grade ingredients. Foods that don't use human grade ingredients often get their ingredients from less than desirable sources, such as meat from animals that were diseased, or euthanized.

There is another diet option other than dog food. Some people choose to feed a raw diet. This involves feeding the dog raw meaty bones and organ meat. However it is not as simple as throwing a couple chicken bones in a bowl everyday. If you wish to feed this type of diet, do lots and lots of research first. Switching to this diet without knowing what your doing can lead to nutritional problems for your dog. I'll give you some links as a starting point in research if you are interested in this type of diet.

http://www.willowglen.com/barf.htm.........

http://www.bestfrisbeedogs.com/diets.htm...

http://www.rawlearning.com/rawfaq.html.....

http://www.rawfed.com/myths/index.html.....

http://www.rawdogranch.com

What's Really In Pet Food
http://www.api4animals.org/facts?p=359&m...

Answer 2

Twice a day is appropriate once a dog is over 6 months old. Space the two feedings about 12 hours apart. And stop trying to entice them to eat, or you will create two picky little spoilt monsters that will always hold out for something better. Put the food down for 20 minutes, and pick it up at the end whether they ate it all or not. Repeat at next mealtime, and they get nothing between meals unless they are eating their normal meals well. It will not harm them at all to skip a meal (or even several days' meals) while they figure out you aren't going to give them something better. Add: Please also note that the feeding recommendations on the bag are usually far higher than is needed. My dogs are 11 and 15 pounds, and quite active. Both eat just over 1/2 cup good quality food a day. At 7 months, a small breed is almost done growing. They really don't need the extra calories and fat in the puppy formula because of that, but as long as you are feeding an appropriate amount and they are not becoming overweight (you should be able to feel their ribs with no pressure, but they should not be prominently visible), it won't hurt them to eat a puppy formula for a couple more months.

Answer 3

Here's the 2006 list from the Whole Dog Journal. These are highest quality foods. Most of these are not carried at large chain stores but you can usually find them at small pet stores, feed and grain stores, etc.

Artemis: www.artemispetfood.com
Azmira: www.azmira.com
Back to Basics: www.beowulfs.com
Bench & Field Holistic Natural Canine: www.benchandfield.com
Blue Buffalo: www.bluebuff.com
Burns: www.bpn4u.com
by Nature BrightLife: www.bynaturepetfoods.com
California Natural: www.naturapet.com
Canidae: www.canidae.com
Canine Caviar: www.caninecaviar.com
Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul: www.chickensoupforthepetloverssoul.com
Cloud Star Kibble: www.cloudstar.com
Drs. Foster & Smith: www.drsfostersmith.com
Eagle Pack Holistic Select: www.eaglepack.com
Evolve: www.evolvepet.com
Firstmate Dog Food: www.firstmate.com
Flint River Ranch: www.flintriver-pet-food.com
Foundations: www.petcurean.com
Fromm Four Star Nutritionals: www.frommfamilyfoods.com
Go! Natural: www.petcurean.com
Hund-N-Flocken: www.solidgoldhealth.com
Innova: www.naturapet.com
Innova Evo: www.naturapet.com
Karma Organic: www.karmaorganic.com
Lick Your Chops: www.healthypetfoodsinc.com
Lifespan: www.petguard.com
Limited Diets: www.royalcanin.us
Merrick Pet Foods: www.merrickpetcare.com
Mmillennia: www.solidgoldhealth.com
Natural Balance Ultra Premium: www.naturalbalanceinc.com
Natural Choice Ultra: www.nutroproducts.com
Newman's Own Organics: www.newmansownorganics.com
NutriSource: www.nutrisourcedogfood.com
Organix: www.castorpolluxpet.com
Performatrin Ultra: www.performatrinultra.com
PHD Viand: www.phdproducts.com
Pinnacle: www.breeders-choice.com
Prairie: www.naturesvariety.com
Premium Edge: www.premiumedgepetfood.com
Prime Life: www.ompetproducts.com
Royal Canin Natural Blend: www.royalcanin.us
Timberwolf Organics: timberwolforganics.com
VeRUS: www.veruspetfoods.com
Wellness: www.oldmotherhubbard.com
Wellness Simple Food Solutions: www.oldmotherhubbard.com
Wenawe: www.wenawe.com.uy
Wysong: www.wysong.net
Zinpro: www.lincolnbiotech.com

Answer 4

If the dog likes it and is doing well on it, why change. You can cause more problems than it is worth. If it was me however, I would switch to the Adult formula. MinPins have a problem with obesity, and are pretty well done growing by 6 months.

I think if people READ the ingredients, they would find that they NO longer preserve twith Ethoxyquin any longer. They have been using Vit E...mixed tocopherols for YEARS!!!!! I am not fond of Science Diet myself, but at least know what you are talking about before you go bashing a food. I am sure that is still what the propaganda mongers are sying, but it is not true!!!

Answer 5

I feed my Min Pin and APBT Purina Little Bites. If and when you do decide to change to another brand/type of food-do it gradually. Over the coarse of a week. Slowly start adding alittle more of the new food in with the old. Otherwise the puppy could get an upset stomach. The back of the bag of dog food will tell you how to do it.

Answer 6

I concider Science Diet a bag of feces and corn. It is NOT a good food! If go to www.lassie.com/naturalway you can order coupons for that food. It is very good and it is corn and By-product free. Every dog I had ever given it to has LOVED it! If you have extra money to spare though Innova Evo is also a great food.. He would probably do best on Lassie though until he is about 8 months old, or you could just stick with the Lassie. :-) Hope this helps.
Nutro is good too, just NOT Nutro max because Nutro max has corn.. Corn causes discoloration or the coat and it can cause cancer.. There are also a lot of dogs with allergies to it, so if you are going to feed it feed Nutro Natural Choice, not Nutro max.

Answer 7

I think science diet is fine, i know a lot of people disagree, because it has corn in it, which is a bunch of bull. Corn is fine for dogs, UNLESS they have an allergy to corn. Science diet is good, though it is not the best. In my experience Nutro Max is the best diet. It is what we recommend at the clinic where i work, and we all feed our pets nurto. You will notice a HUGE difference in your pets appearance, it really helps with the coat and skin. I hope this helps.

Answer 8

yes Science Diet is not a quality food.. it PAID for vet endorsment... clever marketing since vets recieve little or no education on food and ingredients

in Canda - NUTRAM or even ACANA

in USE - Canidae, Wellness, or Innova

also Science diet uses 2 particularly bad ingredients - the first is By-Products which are beaks feet and feathers and are a problem because they are preserved with a dangerous chemical pesticide ETHOXYQUIN which isnt on the lable because its part of the by-product.. anyhow you can research this chemical yourself

AND becuase it uses SOY - soy is known to be a problem causer in dogs - some it causes allergies and others it actually causes behavior problems...

Answer 9

If your dog is doing fine on Science Diet, I would keep going. At his age, you don't want to go changing his food.

Answer 10

To learn about dog food go here
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=main

Avoid food with by products, food dye and corn.
Get a food that starts with an actual meat/meat meal.