Saturday, December 4, 2010

Puppy Food

We started Oscar out on Iams because it was the food that the breeder had been using.  He didn't seem to like it much though, so I did some research by looking at ingredient lists and customer reviews for a variety of puppy food brands.  I don't know a ton about puppy food, but from what I have read and what I have been told by staff at the Humane Society when we were talking to them about what they used, the best indicator of a good dog food is its first five ingredients, and it's best if at least two of those ingredients are meat.  Corn and wheat should be avoided because they can apparently cause allergies.

I was quite impressed by Blue Buffalo, and we bought the Puppy Chicken and Brown Rice recipe.  The first five ingredients were deboned chicken, chicken meal, whole ground brown rice, whole ground barley and oatmeal.  I liked that the first two ingredients included meat, that there was no corn or grain and no meat by-products.  Oscar seemed to love it and devoured it every time we put it in his bowl.  I have read that other dogs eat all of the kibble but leave behind the small, dark "Life Source bits" which apparently contain vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, but he ate it all with no problem.

We just bought the Blue Buffalo Small Breed Puppy Chicken and Oatmeal recipe today and will be switching him over to it gradually.  The first five ingredients are deboned chicken, chicken meal, oatmeal, peas and whole ground barley.  My thinking was that the new recipe will be better for him because it is tailored for small breeds, but we'll see if there is any noticeable change after the switch.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Blue Buffalo is a wonderful food. I had a dog who was extremely allergic to multiple things, this food was the best for him and cleared up all his skin problems so quickly.

OscarBlogger said...

We never had any skin issues with Oscar, but shortly after we brought him home, his black hair started going tan and I have no idea why. After we switched to Blue Buffalo, it went dark again. I have no idea if the food was why his coat changed, but I thought the timing was interesting. I've read other people who have raved about the food - that it's good for dogs with sensitive skin, like you've mentioned, or dogs who are picky eaters. I'm very happy with it and plan to stick with it even when we switch him over to an adult dog food.

FANCY the Red Standard Poodle said...

Hi Y'all,

Came by to say "hi" and follow y'all's adventures. I want to see why my Human Momma loves minature schnauzers so much. I lucked out 'cause the Humans have always had retrievers and decided on me instead. Whew!! :)

Y'all come by now,
Hawk aka BrownDog

OscarBlogger said...

Miniature schnauzers are charming, but so are retrievers! We were considering a retriever too, when we were trying to decide what kind of puppy to get. I'm glad your humans chose you!

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