[Cathy756]

Hi all, scratching my head with food options so many differing opinions. I think we’ll stick with one the vet recommended which are Hills Science, royal canin, purine pro plan or Eukanuba. Any help choosing would be greatly appreciated.

 

[PeggyTheParti]

Farmina has been the overwhelming winner for us. It is a high-quality kibble and doesn't take much to fill Peggy up. I top it with a little Weruva Chicken & Gravy.

For low-value training treats (the kind I use for indoor distraction-free session) I use Honest Kitchen kibble. It's human-grade.

 

[PeggyTheParti]

This site does a good breakdown and analysis of ingredients. Just plug in the name of whatever food you're considering:

Dog Food Reviews and Ratings | Dog Food Advisor

The Dog Food Advisor's unbiased dog food reviews and ratings searchable by brand or star rating. Find the best dry, canned or raw food for your dog.

www.dogfoodadvisor.com

 

[Dianaleez]

Farmina has been the overwhelming winner for us. It is a high-quality kibble and doesn't take much to fill Peggy up. I top it with a little Weruva Chicken & Gravy.

For low-value training treats (the kind I use for indoor distraction-free session) I use Honest Kitchen kibble. It's human-grade.

Do you stick it in your cheek like the handlers at dog shows sometimes do? : )

Our vet recommended Royal Canin for poodles.

 

[Rose n Poos]

I think these all will meet AAFCO guidelines, which is a label to look for on the bags/cans. They are
"The Association of American Feed Control Officials is a voluntary membership association. It’s a multidisciplinary group comprised of federal and state officials, veterinarians, scientists and more.

They are tasked with identifying safe ingredients, outlining pet food label requirements and building nutrient profiles based on the latest findings in pet nutrition research. States use AAFCO’s guidelines as a baseline when creating their pet food regulations."


Another thing to look for on the manufacturers website is if they have a Veterinary Nutritionist on staff advising and creating the foods composition and for the various life stages and situations.

Grain free foods are very commonplace but really not advisable unless there's a diagnosed physical reason to avoid grains. They've been linked with some cardiac issues but primarily due to Taurine deficiency.

Study: Grain-Free Diet for Dogs Leads to Canine Heart Disease

Study: Popular grain-free, legume-rich dog diets cause a nutritional deficiency and canine heart disease known as taurine-deficient dilated cardiomyopathy.

todaysveterinarypractice.com

Without looking at the labels of each, and assuming that they all meet the various guidelines, it comes down to a matter of taste, what your pup prefers.

Of my two mpoo boys, one is a vacuum cleaner the other is a diva when it comes to food. I started them with Blue Buffalo puppy food, which the diva ate grudgingly. You may assume the vacuum cleaner eats any of them . I kept them on puppy food til they were about a year old, fyi.

At a year old, I switched to varying two different protein sources from Blue Buffalo and Merrick, with similar results from both. There's a few good reasons to consider varying the foods. Look up Rotation Feeding or changing protein sources. I don't do that, but I offer different proteins as toppers to their kibble.

Reading thru PF and learning all this info, I'd see Purina Pro Plan recommended repeatedly so I finally decided to try it. To my great surprise, the diva is now also a vacuum cleaner. All this time, he just didn't like what I was feeding him. I felt so bad,

I know that the big box pet stores and also Chewy will allow you to try foods, that is, if you buy it and Pup won't eat it, they'll take it back willingly. PetSmart also has the occasional Sample Saturdays, offering trials of specific brands.

If you do your part by making sure he's getting high quality food, then let him choose for flavor 🐔🦈🐏🐄🦃

 

[Cathy756]

Thank you for the help

 

[Rose n Poos]

Nearly forgot, the recommended amounts are also just guidelines. Puppies will usually need near the suggested amount spread over three daily meals. It's pretty uncommon to need over that amount and not uncommon to go under, especially as they get older.

That amount suggested is usually for total daily intake so keep the kcal content of treats and snacks in mind.

Somewhere around here there are references to size, age, activity level and the corresponding kcal number to keep our poos healthy.

 

[PeggyTheParti]

Do you stick it in your cheek like the handlers at dog shows sometimes do? : )

Lol! NOPE. Sorry, Peggy. Love ya, but...

I like that they're human-grade because I feed these in high volume, probably about a quarter of her day's calories. And I don't feel the need to compulsively wash my hands after touching them, so they're perfect to fill my pockets with.

 

[PeggyTheParti]

If you do your part by making sure he's getting high quality food, then let him choose for flavor 🐔🦈🐏🐄🦃

Yes to this! Poodles can be picky. I went through a ton of samples, just using them as treats until Peggy said, "THAT ONE!!"

 

[Whoiscoconut]

my poodle always loved royal canin. its super hard with dog food choices. Just be careful when using the internet scoring databases. we had a husky and we always heard taste of the wild and it was ranked very highly. without going into detail the company was putting some not so great things in the food that resulted in illinesses and death. the wouldn't respond to consumers which fueled a lawsuit. our family was a victim of it and as of recently it was still very high on the great food lists. After that happened I started calling the company of the food first to see if they're responsive before even trying their product.

 

[Whoiscoconut]

* the company wouldn't respond.

 

[Porkchop]

Lacey, at 10 months, seems to eat just enough to get by and isn’t into her Fromm puppy gold kibble. She also isn’t a fan of any of the Fromm gold canned foods, I’ve given her every flavor to try and she turns her nose up at them.
I’m gonna transition Lacey to the farmina kibble and see how she does. I’d like her to be eating twice a day every day and get closer to the amount of calories she should be eating. @PeggyTheParti, do you know if any of these bags come with a resealable ziplock? I couldn’t find any info on that. What do you store Peggy’s food in?

 

[PeggyTheParti]

@PeggyTheParti, do you know if any of these bags come with a resealable ziplock? I couldn’t find any info on that. What do you store Peggy’s food in?

We store the open bag in our pantry, which stays pretty cool. We just fold the top over tightly and clip it, filling an airtight food storage container every couple of weeks for easy scooping.

I've read that kibble's good for up to 6 weeks.

If Lacey likes the Farmina, but still isn't especially excited to eat, try this:

Weruva Paw Lickin' Chicken in Gravy Grain-Free Canned Dog Food, 14-oz, case of 12 - Chewy.com

Buy Weruva Paw Lickin' Chicken in Gravy Grain-Free Canned Dog Food, 14-oz, case of 12 at Chewy.com. FREE shipping and the BEST customer service!

www.chewy.com

We just put a little scoop on top, so each can lasts about 5 days, and finally it feels like we have a normal (or at least normal-ish) eater.

Shifting her to lunch and dinner instead of breakfast and dinner also helped, but it's not especially convenient. She gets a handful of Honest Kitchen clusters at bedtime so she doesn't get an upset stomach from not eating for so long.

 

[VanessaC]

I’m also a proponent of rotational feeding and variety in my dogs’ diet... It isn’t for everybody and it can cause digestive upset if you’re not careful, but it gives me peace of mind to know that if one brand has some sort of nutritional imbalance it’s not the end of the world because that’s not all they’re getting for years or their whole lives. At the very least, switching up different proteins within a brand can be beneficial. I find it helpful to transition slowly until you know how your your pet is going to react and to pay attention to the fat to protein ratio (more similar usually means faster transitions are ok) when switching brands.

 

[Rose n Poos]

Lacey, at 10 months, seems to eat just enough to get by and isn’t into her Fromm puppy gold kibble. She also isn’t a fan of any of the Fromm gold canned foods, I’ve given her every flavor to try and she turns her nose up at them.
I’m gonna transition Lacey to the farmina kibble and see how she does. I’d like her to be eating twice a day every day and get closer to the amount of calories she should be eating. @PeggyTheParti, do you know if any of these bags come with a resealable ziplock? I couldn’t find any info on that. What do you store Peggy’s food in?

I've used this type of storage since I first bought bird seed in one years ago. The 8 qt size should hold an 8lb or smaller bag of food. The 6qt size holds a 5lb bag. It's not ziplock but the kibble stays fresh. I'd bought two of the 6qt size when the boys were on a kibble that came in a 4lb bag. Now they're on a kibble that comes in a 6lb bag so I split it.

 

[Whoiscoconut]

Porkchop, another option for toy poodles that a vet told me when I had our tiny toy was topping the food with baby food (chicken,beef or turkey) Or there’s also a squeeze tube called nutri-cal. It’s kind of like a gel paste and we mixed it in with her food.

 

[Porkchop]

@Whoisoconut Thankfully Lacey is at her adult height (I think?) at 13” and hypoglycemia isn’t a concern. She’s just picky every since she came home 8 months ago! She always has interest in treats or pines for the human food I’m eating. I just think she doesn’t like her kibble much, even with different toppers added.
She doesn’t like any of canned dog foods, even the shredded meat and gravy ones, so I’m not sure she’d be down for baby food!
I have a hunch she’ll like the farmina though.
Thank you for your suggestions though, because people with tiny toys definitely need their puppy getting calories throughout the day!
@Rose n Poos im totally going to order one of those containers along with Lacey’s new kibble.

 

[Johanna]

Many poodles are less than enthusiastic about dog food. I think they are born with the belief that dog food is for commoners, not for aristocrats. Take heart, though, I've never heard of a dog who starved to death being picky. We do tough love around here - I make gourmet dog meals with Purina Pro Plan, chicken broth, cheese, and blueberries for breakfast. For dinner it's Pro Plan topped with canned meat (all meat, no fillers). I put each dog's bowl in its place and dogs can eat or not - the Lab and/or the border collie/whippet will polish off anything the poodle does not eat. Too bad if she thought she's eat at a more fashionable hour.

I used to have a miniature poodle who discovered that if she faked a hypoglycemic seizure she was rewarded with delicious stuff. She learned this after just one real episode! After falling for her performance a few times, I became suspicious. So one day when she started staggering and frothing I popped her in her crate intending to go to the kitchen to get some NutriCal (before then I had picked her up and carried her to the kitchen while I got something for her). The "seizure" promptly stopped! From that time on, if she began her performance, I only had to tell her to cut it out.

 

[Whoiscoconut]

Many poodles are less than enthusiastic about dog food. I think they are born with the belief that dog food is for commoners, not for aristocrats. Take heart, though, I've never heard of a dog who starved to death being picky. We do tough love around here - I make gourmet dog meals with Purina Pro Plan, chicken broth, cheese, and blueberries for breakfast. For dinner it's Pro Plan topped with canned meat (all meat, no fillers). I put each dog's bowl in its place and dogs can eat or not - the Lab and/or the border collie/whippet will polish off anything the poodle does not eat. Too bad if she thought she's eat at a more fashionable hour.

This made me laugh bc my poodle wasn’t picky really but our yorkipoo is! I was doing blue buffalo but she digs out the little pieces and leaves them in random areas throughout my home. So I picked up whole hearted and royal canin. So far she hasn’t touched the whole hearted but my hubs spoils her with canned food so I think she just waits for it now 😂

 

[Porkchop]

That’s crazy your past mini poodle had acting chops and foaming on command abilities, @Johanna. It’s hard to believe dogs can fake being sick to get what they want.

I ordered farmina puppy kibble (and the storage container) from chewy. I’ll give an update after she’s transitioned to the new stuff (on my own thread).

@Cathy756 sorry to hijack your thread. I hope you found some helpful answers here. I would stick with whatever food the breeder was feeding them when they came home if they aren’t having any stomach issues from it and are eating it good.