[bradleysmum]

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?

All appreciated - thanks in advance.

 

[vitomum]

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]

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]

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]

Hi Again Vitomum, 8)

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.

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]

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]

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: :wink: :wink:

Bye

 

[kanesdad]

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

http://www.thepollockfamily.co.uk/kane.html

 

[Labdad]

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]

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. 8)

 

[bradleysmum]

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

http://www.thepollockfamily.co.uk/kane.html

Hi Brian,

Our friends, who have also owned a lab, told us about Royal Canin being too rich, which is why i am considering switching. However saying that, i've also heard excellent reports about it... :roll:

I think i'll wait until we get a few more replies on this subject, it's good to find out all about the different types of food, and get recommendations from the experts themselves

One thing about the runny poos.. i did mention previously that Royal Canin gives Brad runny poos. Well, i think we have found out why that is, we have been feeding it with water (also another recommendation!) but since we have stopped adding the water his poos have gone hard. Great stuff!

We also still have two sacks to get through...lol..so i think i'll watch and wait so to speak. :wink: I've also heard excellent reports about Eukanuba.

How's Kane doing anyway?

 

[bradleysmum]

Re: Labrador food

We do not give them table scraps.

Very sensible labdad, we too try to avoid table scraps and left overs, however great the temptation. Bradley sometimes used to long for a bit of chicken or whatever it was that we were eating, but now he has learnt that he doesn't get any and has stopped watching us eat. It's friends and sometimes family that give him nibbles when they see him, before i get a chance to ask them not to. :wink:

How often do you give your labs veg?

I've heard carrots are great.......

 

[twink]

the adult labs are on beat active and the pups who are nearly 6 months old are on beta puppy. scooby (border terrier) is on pal small dog complete with a pack of ceasar cause she is a fussy madam :twisted:

 

[Labdad]

veggies

How often do you give your labs veg?

Jack and Misty get 14.5 ounces (one can) of green beans with each meal.

Carrots for a snack.

Once when we ran out of beans I put carrots in with their kibble. Put their bowls down and started preparing their meds. Heard repeated thuds, turned in time to see both Labs flinging the carrots out of their bowls onto the floor. After they ate their kibble they then munched the carrots off the floor. Just another sign of the Labradork.

 

[kanesdad]

Hi there,

Kane is still on Royal Cannin & coming along great guns. Seems to be getting bigger every day. He did have the runs for a while but that seems to be behind him now ( )

He is also performing outside now instead of in the house. Seems to have happened over night. Quite the grown up little puppy now!

 

[bradleysmum]

Kane is still on Royal Cannin & coming along great guns. Seems to be getting bigger every day. He did have the runs for a while but that seems to be behind him now ( )

He is also performing outside now instead of in the house. Seems to have happened over night. Quite the grown up little puppy now!

Hi Kanes Dad,

So pleased Kane is going outside now for his toilet, thats excellent.

Our Bradley has gone back to having runny stool again, i have put him on a chicken & pasta & natural yoghurt diet for a couple days, and they have now returned to normal again. :roll: Not sure whether to change his food from ROyal Canin to something else... but i think maybe i ought to try for his tummys sake. Maybe it just doesn't suit all dogs..what do you think?

 

[rubber_soul]

That is one thing that i was advised on a while back, by a professional labrator puppy walker (from the guide dogs), that natural yoghurt settles their tummies brilliantly!

Also, for pups, so i was told, ice cubes are great for their teeth! It's extra fun for the pup too if you have wooden or tiled floors! :wink:

 

[Jakes_Pet]

Jake has a ridiculously sensitive digestive system and almost anything - especially canned food - gives him diarrhoea. He used to be on a "whole" dry food which he seemed to find boring, but we didn't know what else to do. Then we had an interesting discussion with a local dog breeder who suggested that we try "Chappie" canned food, which is designed for dogs with delicate tums.

Jake eats Chappie mixed with a complete dry food plus freshly cooked veg. He eats this more willingly than he did the dry food, but still eats the veg (which he loves) first, and then makes a fuss about eating the rest until we've added some scraps. We've tried withholding the scraps but he's quite capable of holding out for several days! :roll:

He's such a super-sweetie in every other way I don't mind spoiling him a little bit with his food and giving scraps - but I thought Labs were supposed be dustbins and not at all picky about their food!

Is anyone else's Lab a picky eater?

 

[bradleysmum]

Anyone else feed their lab on Purina ProPlan? I know Vitomum does... we are just about to change our Brads food... think we are going to go for Purina Proplan. Any more tips anyone?

Thx :wink:

 

[bradleysmum]

After alot of debate, we have now changed Bradleys food to Purina Pro plan lamb and rice. We have managed to find a supplier over here in France. We are going to try him on it for a while and see what happens. I think his lose stools on and off, might just be because he has a sensitive stomach, we'll see how he gets on.