# Puppy Food for 12 week old female GSD



## ghinchcl (Mar 2, 2017)

Hi All,


I was feeding my puppy Purina ProPlan and am in the process of switching to Diamond Natural. She is having loose stools now and i am going to switch to BLUE Wilderness Rocky Mountain Recipe Grain Free Puppy Food. I wanted to switch off of Purina because i know that is not a great brand and her loose stools are causing me to switch again. I know there have been recalls on Blue in the past. Does any one feed BB and like the brand?:laugh2:


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## Momto2GSDs (Mar 22, 2012)

Glad you are changing from the Purina and Diamond products!

There has been a lot of "gray areas" surrounding Blue Buffalo products.

Last week they recalled 17 varieties! RECALL ALERT: 17 Varieties of Blue Buffalo and Blue Wilderness Wet Dog Food Cups Recalled ? The Dogington Post 

Most dog food companies do not have their own manufacturing facility and are made by someone else. Blue Buffalo manufactures some of it's own food but they also use other "Co-Packers" for their food and will NOT disclose WHO else makes their food!



You may want to consider Fromm's. It is a family owned, operated AND manufactured food. *http://frommfamily.com/products/gold/dog/dry/#heartland-gold-large-breed-puppy** Store Locator: *http://frommfamily.com/retailers/usa/#progress=2 

Good luck with your pup!
Moms


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## Ken Clean-Air System (Feb 27, 2012)

I don't trust Blue Buffalo. Even before the most recent recall I wouldn't have fed or recommended it. Just last year they settled a class action lawsuit for mislabeled ingredients - selling food containing by-product meal when no by-product meal was listed in the ingredients. Shady company, there are better options.

I would look into: Fromm's, Orijen, Acana, Victor, Dr. Tim's, Open Farm, Annamaet ... all very good foods from companies I would trust much more than Blue.


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## dz0qp5 (Oct 12, 2004)

Pro Plan is an excellent food and Purina is a great brand. It is what most people who show their dogs feed them. You will probably notice as you already have to some degree that as you switch from the "poor brand" to the "good brands" you will generally get worse results. Most of the information on the internet about dog food is completely wrong. There is a strong bias against the larger companies, but my long term experience as a GSD owner is the larger companies foods provide superior results. Don't buy into the ingredients list fraud. The smaller companies started using this as a marketing method against the larger companies. It was the only way they could compete. But there is no way you can tell the quality of the food or the results you will get by reading the ingredients list. You have already proved that out. So don't risk your pups health and keep him on the Pro Plan, if it is working for him.

By the way most of the "good brands" consist solely of a marketing department. The larger companies have scientist, nutritionist, veteranarians R&D departments and spend millions annually on research and peer reviewed publications. They also do long term feeding studies to make sure most dogs digest their food properly and absorb the correct nutrients. This is why Purina "bad brand" knew exactly what was in Blue Buffalo's "good brand" food and Blue Buffalo had no idea. It is also why feeding problems were rare decades ago and are now very common. Most of the "good brands" since they are just a marketing company, don't do any feeding studies, and it shows up with loose stools, **** in eyes, poor coat quality etc.


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## Stevenzachsmom (Mar 3, 2008)

OP, you can do a search here to help you find a quality dog food. The food will be rated, along with an explanation as to how that rating was made. I would not feed my dog Purina. 

https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/


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## dz0qp5 (Oct 12, 2004)

dog food advisor is terrible,there is absolutely no science behind it. it is just one persons opinion. You just upgraded to a 4 star food from that site, how did that work our for you? Probably more than 90% of the information on the internet about dog food is just wrong. The more internet research you do regarding dog food, the more lies you will be fed.

If you want real science by nutritionally certified doctors go to petdiets.com it is actually, believe it or not run by veterinary nutritionists (doctors) and is based on science. It is not run by some wanna be internet nutritionists.(some guy in a basement with no qualifications that decides to start a website and gets brainwashed by marketing claims and starts to rate dog food)

My only motivation is i fell for all of this dog food crap, and kept switching from better brands to better brands and kept getting terrible resutls. As a long time GSD owner I remembered when I fed Purina or Iams, or Hills, I never had any problems, now I am feeding all of these 5 star foods and having all kinds of problems. So I switch back to the traditional foods and all of my problems go away. You just observed the same thing. Save yourself some time and money and just feed the Pro Plan.


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## ghinchcl (Mar 2, 2017)

Started the BB Wilderness puppy red meat yesterday pup seemed to love it. She had nice stool this AM. I will closely monitor her and if any issues take her off. I like the high protein. Yes there were recalls not on this line and this happened years ago with lying about the ingredients, do you think they would still lie? I do not. I plan on just using this during her puppy months and switching over down the road. So far nothing bad to say..


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## Dotbat215 (Aug 19, 2015)

dz0qp5 said:


> dog food advisor is terrible,there is absolutely no science behind it. it is just one persons opinion. You just upgraded to a 4 star food from that site, how did that work our for you? Probably more than 90% of the information on the internet about dog food is just wrong. The more internet research you do regarding dog food, the more lies you will be fed.
> 
> If you want real science by nutritionally certified doctors go to petdiets.com it is actually, believe it or not run by veterinary nutritionists (doctors) and is based on science. It is not run by some wanna be internet nutritionists.(some guy in a basement with no qualifications that decides to start a website and gets brainwashed by marketing claims and starts to rate dog food)
> 
> My only motivation is i fell for all of this dog food crap, and kept switching from better brands to better brands and kept getting terrible resutls. As a long time GSD owner I remembered when I fed Purina or Iams, or Hills, I never had any problems, now I am feeding all of these 5 star foods and having all kinds of problems. So I switch back to the traditional foods and all of my problems go away. You just observed the same thing. Save yourself some time and money and just feed the Pro Plan.



While I agree with not buying into hype and not believing everything you read on the internet, I do think DFA is a good starting point(not the end all be all). He is not just some guy in a basement, he is an educated professional with a science background. And he has given good ratings to many of the big box companies...foods that many here wouldn't be caught dead with. 

It's a little silly that you're touting research and science and yet pushing your one experience. The plural of anecdote isn't data. Pro Plan worked for you. Great! It doesn't work for everyone. OP won't know until he tries other things.

(And before someone goes "but he's not a real scientist/doctor, he's a dentist!"...I don't know if anyone has looked at the classes you take in dental school but it's no liberal arts picnic.)


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## wolfstraum (May 2, 2003)

Fromm and Earthborn are mainly what I use for puppies.....I did use a Blue on one litter and had terrible diarrhea - 9 puppies with the runs is a NIGHTMARE.....no Blue for me! Fromm has worked really well, I use it for pups as it has been good, and pretty much most of my people have been able to get it.

Purina? 40 years ago we had little choice!!! Purina, Friskies, Iams, Eukenuba....we know alot more now than we did then! There are many products from Purina that are good - horse feeds for example....but if you can afford better, get better.


Lee


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

dz0qp5 said:


> Pro Plan is an excellent food and Purina is a great brand. It is what most people who show their dogs feed them. You will probably notice as you already have to some degree that as you switch from the "poor brand" to the "good brands" you will generally get worse results. Most of the information on the internet about dog food is completely wrong. There is a strong bias against the larger companies, but my long term experience as a GSD owner is the larger companies foods provide superior results. Don't buy into the ingredients list fraud. The smaller companies started using this as a marketing method against the larger companies. It was the only way they could compete. But there is no way you can tell the quality of the food or the results you will get by reading the ingredients list. You have already proved that out. So don't risk your pups health and keep him on the Pro Plan, if it is working for him.
> 
> By the way most of the "good brands" consist solely of a marketing department. The larger companies have scientist, nutritionist, veteranarians R&D departments and spend millions annually on research and peer reviewed publications. They also do long term feeding studies to make sure most dogs digest their food properly and absorb the correct nutrients. This is why Purina "bad brand" knew exactly what was in Blue Buffalo's "good brand" food and Blue Buffalo had no idea. It is also why feeding problems were rare decades ago and are now very common. Most of the "good brands" since they are just a marketing company, don't do any feeding studies, and it shows up with loose stools, **** in eyes, poor coat quality etc.


 For which company are you working? The only frequent commercial ads I have seen are the supermarket brandsedigree, Beneful, Iams. You may have forgotten Alpo?


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## Momto2GSDs (Mar 22, 2012)

Healthy Ingredients????

Purina Pro Plan Large Breed Chicken & Rice: 
*Chicken, - Not “Chicken MEAL” (chicken meal is concentrated. Moisture from the chicken has been removed making the "meal") So, not much chicken meat in here.

*brewers rice, - Cheap Filler! “is the small milled fragments of *rice* kernels that have been separated from the larger kernels of milled *rice*. *Brewers*' *rice* is a processed *rice* product that is missing many of the nutrients contained in whole ground *rice* and brown *rice* thus reducing the quality.” Wikipedia

*corn gluten meal, is a byproduct of corn processing that has historically been used as an animal feed. Wikipedia

*whole grain corn, Used to boost protein mgs on label since there's not much chicken!

*poultry by-product meal WHAT Poultry? Which parts of the BY-Product Poultry are they using?

*whole grain wheat, 

*animal fat Appendix - Dog Food Samples Used in CVM Pentobarbital Surveys and Analytical Results = “There appear to be associations between rendered or hydrolyzed ingredients and the presence of pentobarbital in dog food. The ingredients *Meat and Bone Meal* (MBM),* Beef and Bone Mea*l (BBM),*Animal Fat*(AF), and *Animal Digest (AD)* are rendered or hydrolyzed *from animal sources that could include euthanized animals*”. (this statement has never been retracted to my knowledge)
From WHERE????? Zoo's, Shelters?????

*pea fiber, 

*fish meal WHAT Fish? FROM WHERE??? 
Unless a special license is obtained (by a dog food company) to preserve the fish with another substance, fish, at sea is preserved with ETHOXYQUIN!!! Per Department of Homeland Security regulations, bulk *fishmeal *is required to be preserved at 400 ppm; ethoxyquin is provided as an example preservative. Section 148.04-9 (c)_ “At the time of production of the material, it must be treated with at least 400 ppm antioxidant (ethoxyquin); in the case where the material contains more than 12 percent fat by weight, it must be treated with at least 1000 ppm antioxidant (ethoxyquin) at the time of production.” _ https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/46/148.04-9

-According to a document produced by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), “Dogs are more susceptible to ethoxyquin toxicity than rats, with elevated liver enzymes and microscopic findings in the liver occurring at doses as low as 4 mg/kg/day over a 90-day feeding period.” The “4 mg/kg” means 4 mg ethoxyquin per kilogram of the dog’s body weight (not the weight of the food). Whole Dog Journal

*dried egg product, 

*animal digest, Appendix - Dog Food Samples Used in CVM Pentobarbital Surveys and Analytical Results = “There appear to be associations between rendered or hydrolyzed ingredients and the presence of pentobarbital in dog food. The ingredients *Meat and Bone Meal* (MBM),* Beef and Bone Mea*l (BBM),* Animal Fat *(AF), and *Animal Digest** (AD)* are rendered or hydrolyzed *from animal sources that could include euthanized animals*”. Zoo's, Shelters????? From WHERE???

*fish oil, WHAT Fish & FROM WHERE????? Was it preserved with???? ETHOXQUIN???


UGH!
Moms


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## ghinchcl (Mar 2, 2017)

Moms - what food are you referring to?


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## Momto2GSDs (Mar 22, 2012)

Momto2GSDs said:


> Healthy Ingredients????
> 
> Purina Pro Plan Large Breed Chicken & Rice:


Some of the Purina Ingredients are the same in each mix. This just gives you an idea.

Moms


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## Ken Clean-Air System (Feb 27, 2012)

It's awfully funny how the big pet food companies, with all their dollars into research and nutritionists, are not only buying up the small "marketing department only" food companies (Proctor & Gamble buying Natura, Nestle Purina buying Merrick, etc), but also trying to emulate and market their foods like the small companies. All the big brands, Purina, Beneful, etc. all of a sudden marketing their foods as having meat as the first ingredient, and higher protein ... a real 'wild' diet. Unfortunately, as Moms demonstrated, even their 'meat as the first ingredient' foods are garbage, and mostly by-product and filler, with questionably sourced ingredients.

Can dogs live on the by-product filled and filler, Chinese sourced garbage that the big pet food companies sell? Of course they can, I remember feeding Chuck Wagon, and Gaines Burgers to my dogs growing up, but their was little other choice back then. Can we do better than that now? Yes, we can and the big pet food companies are scrambling to catch up while still keeping their profit margins high.


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## ghinchcl (Mar 2, 2017)

*Blue Wilderness Puppy - Red Meat*

Pup seems to be loving the Blue Buffalo puppy red meat food. Even my older Shipooh tries to come over and chow some down. Stools are getting more solid. Looks like i may have found my puppies food. only problem is it is not made for large breeds. Will my puppy grow to fast on this?


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

ghinchcl said:


> Pup seems to be loving the Blue Buffalo puppy red meat food. Even my older Shipooh tries to come over and chow some down. Stools are getting more solid. Looks like i may have found my puppies food. only problem is it is not made for large breeds. Will my puppy grow to fast on this?


I would prefer to put her on adult food if you like the brand. Too fast growth can really harm her. Also, keep her lean.


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## ghinchcl (Mar 2, 2017)

She started out really small. 11lbs at 10 weeks old but had since doubled in size, it looks like. Do you think she will grow too fast on this food. The father was 150 and mother around 100, I can't imagine her being that big. I also have been mixing her food with a large puppy brand as well from diamond natural


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