What Do You Feed Your Labrador?

bradleysmum · Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2004 3:47 pm Post subject: What Do You Feed Your Labrador?

We have been feeding our puppy Royal Canin since he was born, we have been advised this is quite a rich food to give and would probably be better to swtich his diet. So far, we have had no problems with his diet, he does get diarrhea occasionally, but then i think alot of puppys do. He has grown nicely, no sudden growth spurts, and his coat is in lovely condition, so i am thinking the food we are giving him is fine.

What do you feed your lab?

Any comments? Smile

All appreciated - thanks in advance.

vitomum · Posted: Fri Aug 27, 2004 3:31 pm Post subject:

Hiya
I feed my lab Purina Pro plan lamb and rice - he used to have Nutro lamb and rice but I have moved to Ireland and cannot get a supplier anywhere!

bradleysmum · Posted: Fri Aug 27, 2004 4:09 pm Post subject:

Hi Vitomum,

I've heard Purina Pro plan is an excellent food for labs, we too are limited on what food we can buy, as we are travelling in France at the moment, and only certain brands are readily available.

Does Purina Pro Plan contain lots of calcium?

vitomum · Posted: Fri Aug 27, 2004 4:55 pm Post subject:

Guaranteed Analysis:
Crude Protein (Min) 26.0%
Crude Fat (Min) 16.0%
Crude Fiber (Max) 3.0%
Moisture (Max) 12.0%
Linoleic Acid (Min) 1.2%
Calcium (Ca) (Min) 1.0%
Phosphorus (P) (Min) 0.8%
Selenium (Se) (Min) 0.30 mg/kg
Vitamin A (Min) 15,000 IU/kg
Vitamin E (Min) 460 IU/kg
Ascorbic Acid** (Min) 70 mg/kg

Ingredients:
Lamb, brewers rice, corn gluten meal, whole grain wheat, chicken meal, beef tallow preserved with mixed-tocopherols (source of Vitamin E), oat meal, pearled barley, fish meal, dried beet pulp, natural flavors, dicalcium phosphate, calcium carbonate, potassium chloride, salt, L-Lysine monohydrochloride, choline chloride, vitamin supplements (E, A, B-12, D-3), zinc sulfate, ascorbic acid (source of Vitamin C), ferrous sulfate, riboflavin supplement, niacin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, biotin, thiamine mononitrate, folic acid, copper sulfate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), calcium iodate, sodium selenite. H-4470

This is the list of ingredients from the packet (phew!!)
Vito is now 18 months and he is just perfect - glossy coat, small stools (nice and firm and he doesn't go a million times a day)
I feed him twice a day, morning and evening with just less than their recommended amount. Thriving!
You should be able to find it in France, no problem.

bradleysmum · Posted: Fri Aug 27, 2004 5:48 pm Post subject:

Hi Again Vitomum, Cool

Wow - Thanks so much for typing all the ingredients in, that must have taken you ages! It looks really good in its food content, i might just start Bradley on it when he's finished all his other food. We do sometimes wonder if Royal Canin is a little rich for him, although his coat is very glossy and he is growing nicely, his stools are sometimes runny. Mind you, this might be due to him trying to eat everything in sight including sticks, dirt etc etc! Our hands are always in his mouth emptying it! lol. Very Happy

I suppose this is because he is so young though, although i have heard labradors are in general very greedy and will try to gobble anything at any time!

I'd be really interested to hear about your lab, could you possibly put a post on the introductions page, that would be great. Vito looks absolutely gorgeous in his photos, what a beautiful lab you have.

Thanks again for the info... excellent stuff.

Chat to you again soon.

Julie
Bradleysmum Wink

vitomum · Posted: Fri Aug 27, 2004 6:16 pm Post subject:

Julie - if you want to change food, my suggestion is that you don't wait for the other to finish - start mixing in the new say 20% at a time till Bradley is eating just the new, over a period of say two weeks, as he is still a baby!
Will post agin later, byee!!!!

bradleysmum · Posted: Fri Aug 27, 2004 9:17 pm Post subject:

Hi Vitomum,

Great idea, break him in gently.. will have a look the next time i go shopping for it, and let you know how we get on. Wink

Bye

kanesdad · Posted: Sat Aug 28, 2004 3:58 pm Post subject:

Hi,

We got Kane just over 3 weeks ago now. He is 12 weeks old. The kennels had been feeding him Royal Canin but the lab we had before (Alfie) used to have Eukanuba. We decided to put Kane on the same as Alfie had been. We introduced it slowly as recommended but it still gave him the runs. We have now switched back to Royal Canin.

It has firmed up his stools. Didn't know there was an issue of Royal Canin being too rich.

Would you suggest waiting till he is a bit older & then try changing again?

Any advice much appreciated...

Brian

[url]http://www.thepollockfamily.co.uk/kane.html[/url]

Labdad · Posted: Sun Aug 29, 2004 2:33 am Post subject: Labrador food

Misty and Jack are adult dogs. I feed them Diamond Pet low fat dog food. Diamond at least here in the U.S. is a high quality but realitively inexpensive kibble.

Misty gets 3/4 cup of kibble and a 14.5 oz can of green beans 2x daily.
Jack gets 1.5 cups of kibble and a can of green beans 2x daily.

Because of the meds Misty takes we put them in a dollop of peanut butter on a saltine cracker. I used to pry her mouth open and wrestle her tongue only to have her spit the meds out. When we switched to the PB cracker, she tells us when it is meds time. If she does not get her cracker she gets very annoyed and demonstrative.

They also like carrots.

We do not give them table scraps.

Diamond also puts out a line called Premium Edge which is a bit more pricey. While Diamond appears to be available in Europe, Premium Edge may be available only in the US

Labman57 · Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2004 4:46 am Post subject:

I feed my 3 Diamond Lamb & Rice. They all get 1/2 cup of L&R plus 1/3 can of veggies twice a day. My BM Shadow has come down from 111# to 94# on this amount. He isn't the most active dog. Hunter maintains 58# & Buddy the BC is maintaining about 40# on that amount. All their coats are nice & soft. Cool