what to feed puppies?

Question

Got two labrador puppies last fri night. From the breeder, they gave us the food that she were feeding them on, which is pedigree complete mix. One of them loves it and one of them doesnt! The one who doesnt isnt eating much and is very skinny.(and has diahera) We took her to the vet and she said it could be an infection, so gave some antibiotics. And to feed her chicken and rice as the pedigree is too rich for her tummy. She didnt like that either. One of them has gained 5 lbs in a week, and the one who doesnt eat has gained 1lb. They are both fed the same amount. What do I feed the fussy one? Just before she was sick, so her tummy is epmty again. help! She really needs to gain some weight!

Answer 1

Take her back to the vet (or find a different vet!) with a stool sample. She may have intestinal parasites. Even if they've checked already, try again as subtle infections are easy to miss.
Since you have two pups at once, it may be that the dominant pup is not allowing the other one to eat. Try feeding them seperately.
The Pedigree should not be too rich for the pup. I would stick with the same food as switching foods around can also cause diarrhea. You could try moistening the food with a little warm water. Some pups just have trouble with dry kibble until they get a little older.
If you still have problems, and your vet isn't finding a solution, get a second opinion. There are many reasons for failure to thrive, and it may take a specialist to find the cause.

added: I know many will disagree, but by-products are not evil. Roadkill is never found in pet food. Neither are feathers, beaks, or any other indigestable products. Corn, wheat, etc. are perfectly good sources of protein and carbohydrates. Muscle meat alone does NOT provide all the essential fatty acids and amino acids needed for an animal (or human, for that matter).

Also, the problem here is NOT the type of food that is being fed. There is something else going on with that puppy, as the other puppy is doing perfectly well. She may have parasites, she may have a disease such as parvo (even if she has received her vaccinations) or she may have various diseases such as a portosystemic shunt (liver shunt), or intestinal problems that cause her body to not absorb nutrients properly. She needs to go back to the vet to figure out what is going on.

Answer 2

Pedigree is not a good food. Stay away from foods that contain wheat, corn, soy & beet pulp. Find a good quality food for these puppies>>> Canidae, Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul, Wellness, Solid Gold, Innova just to name a few.
In addition to a better food you can also try mixing some good quality canned food, cottage cheese, plain yogurt,shredded cheese, chopped chicken, boiled hamburger into the food.
I would recommend having the vet do bloodwork, a fecal test etc on the puppies, especially the one that isn't thriving as well.There could be something very wrong and puppies can go down hill very quickly.I would also check with the breeder to see if any of her dogs have become ill or if any of the littermates have had problems.

Answer 3

I am also a labrador breeder. Pedigree is junk food loaded with meat by-products and preservatives. Start your pups out right. The best food for young pups is science diet puppy small bites. Its not too rich and digests well. You have to change over gradually. Change food by 25% per day or so, you should take a week to change over. If the skinny one has stopped the diaherra. Give her the the new food with some imas souce on it you can get it in the grocery store. It helps with finiky eaters. If she still has tummy problem use boiled ground beed instead of chicken and leave the rice watery, not sitcky. You can add a little sauce to that. If that doesnt work get some baby rice cereal make it runny and mix that with some boiled ground beef. You may have to do that until she starts putting on weight then gradually switch over to solid kibble.

We feed science diet until a pup is 12 weeks old then we switch to blueseal puppy LCR thats a lamb and rice. Its rich and they all love it. If you need to contact me though my site and I'll try and help you further. burdicklabradors.com

Answer 4

You want to stay away from foods with ingredients such as corn, wheat, fillers, beef and by products. All of those ingredients are hard for your dog or puppy to digest.

Some bad foods are Iams, Purina, Alpo, Science Diet, Pedigree, Kibble and Bits, Diamond and Bil Jack.

Some GOOD foods are Natures Recipe, Nutro Max, Lassie Natural Way and Royal Chain.

I personally recommend Natures Recipe. It is an all natural food and extremely healthy for puppies and dogs. It leads to a shinny coat and a healthy body. It also cuts down on shedding, bad breath and the amount of stool your dog produces.

Natures Recipe had different bags for different size dogs and ages. Right now you want them on puppy food.

It will say on the bag how much and how often to feed them.

Also leave their food down for 15 mins and if neither of them eat then pick it up. Wait about an hour and repeat. They will get the hint I either eat now or I do not eat.

Also you may want to try and put them in different rooms as one is bigger then the other.

For the smaller pup the rice is great it will help her gain some weight. Just mix it in her food. I would also offer a tablespoon of wet food mixed in as well. Just until she starts gaining weight then take her of the wet food.

As wet food should not be a part of a daily diet. In your situation she should get it till she starts doing better. As for the other one just keep on dry food.

Before switching foods you want to check with your vet and make sure your dog or pup has no health problems.

After that you want to switch him or her slowly otherwise it will make him or her sick.

For the first week do 25% new and 75% old
Second week 50% new and 50% old
Third week 75% new and 25% old
Then they can have all new food starting the forth week.

You can find those healthy foods at your local Pet Smart or Pet Co.

Also stay away from rawhide and human food as neither are healthy for your dog. Stay with his dog food and Natural or compressed bones.

I would also recommend training classes for these guys. Labs make wonderful pets as long as they are trained at the right age.

Answer 5

Try this.
Have a strict feeding schedule. Have 2 mealtimes a day (proven to be best for digestion), put the food down, and leave it for 15 minutes then pick it up. NO FOOD, TREATS OR SNACKS until the next feeding. The "finicky" pup will learn to eat when the food is down, and will actually eat better and gain more weight than if allowed to nibble all day.

Also, switching foods upsets their tummies. You will make them sicker by switching foods. Pick one and stick with it.

Answer 6

Sounds like she needs a little help here. I'd go for white rice with some chicken broth over it. Rice is good to calm their tummies and the broth makes it taste better. I would also pour some chicken broth over her dry food until she starts eating better on a regular basis. She will probably catch up in weight as she ages but she does need to get some nutrition in her right now.

Answer 7

We had a hell of a job to get our lab pup to eat the pedigree kibble - but she really really does love bakers puppy food. Sometimes it can be a little too dry for them so you can mix in a little bit of the special gravy they make for dogs. As special little treats try small cubes of cheese and sausage they love that - little bits at a time is best our girl's a little greedy thing now and she'll make herself sick if she wolfs it down too quickly

Answer 8

Call your vet - let her know your dog is still refusing to eat. When you change a dog's diet, you should do it in stages...giving one-half new and one-half original...then make it two-thirds new and one-third original, tapering off to 100% new. If you keep changing foods without giving your pup time to get used to it you're going to keep having problems.

To help with the diarrhea, give your pup a chewable Imodium AD. I've done this with my cockers and it helps - and this treatment is approved by vets.

Also suggest you read up on natural foods available rather than the junk they sell in grocery stores. I use Merrick, but there's other companies that use natural products rather than roadkill. You can't get natural products at your grocers - and Science Diet is right up there with the other offenders.

Answer 9

She might not be fussy, she might be ill. Its very rare for pups to refuse food when there is another pup eating. It usually spurs them on. The fact that she has loose stools is a sign of illness, not fussiness. I agree with taking a stool sample to the vet.
Give her Farex baby rice or very well cooked white rice and cooked chicken, and make sure she has plenty of fresh water at all times.
And get her back to the vet. Somethings not right.

Answer 10

Ask the Vet for some prescription diet food for puppies. I would have said pedigree puppy as I've always used it but if its upsetting her and she won't eat the chicken and rice you might need to try prescription diet for a while.

We used to give our elderly toy poodle fish - just steamed white fish cooled and mashed up sometimes with a bit of rice. She usually kept it down (except for when she ate it too quickly) and really enjoyed it.

My other little toy poodle, who I had from a puppy, used to have scrambled egg.