[Luvapup]

Has anyone tried Chicken Soup for the Puppy Lovers Soul? According to their website , some adult and puppy foods are the same, but additional nutrients found in their puppy formula such as DHA and antioxidants are important for development. What are your thoughts on feeding puppy formula - do you think its necessary?

[CorkyMax]

Originally Posted by Luvapup

Has anyone tried Chicken Soup for the Puppy Lovers Soul? According to their website , some adult and puppy foods are the same, but additional nutrients found in their puppy formula such as DHA and antioxidants are important for development. What are your thoughts on feeding puppy formula - do you think its necessary?

Wasn't going to reply to this post---I feed raw food and therefore would start a new pup that way----So I am not going to be much help to you about commercial dog/puppy foods. BUT do want to tell you that a puppy needs different food than a dog--full grown. Please use a puppy formula--They require that nutrition to be healthy--They are growing at a fast pace and need the right formula. You can actually damage a dog for life if you don't meet the requirements they need while they are growing!!! If the brand they carry (what you mentioned above) for puppies only has a difference of the DHA and antioxidents----Doesn't sound right to me. I can't quote their requirements right now but there is a difference in the amount of protein, and prob. fat in the requirements as well as the issue of calcium. They prob. require more calcium but that can be overdone too!! Actually too much calcium can eventually cause the dog's death, not to mention other bad things that can happen to do with their bones.--Not sure what I read but seems like it can make their bones grow too fast and become brittle/ maybe a connection here too about getting hip dysplasia!

[mrandrei]

A puppy should be on formula ONLY if he/she was not weaned properly from its mother- typically 7 to 8 weeks of age. It's not really necessary.

[CorkyMax]

Originally Posted by mrandrei

A puppy should be on formula ONLY if he/she was not weaned properly from its mother- typically 7 to 8 weeks of age. It's not really necessary.

Sorry about the misinformation . I was talking about puppy food and not the puppy formula!! Thank you for correcting me. Said I was no good on the crappy commercial stuff! But the info I did give is true enough---Just sub. puppy food for the word formula--although it wasn't what was being asked about

[Luvapup]

Thanks for the information! I think we are going start her with a puppy kibble does anyone have any suggestions. We are looking at Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul but I'd love feedback from anyone who has tried it.

[Lara's mom]

As someone who fosters puppies and kittens, puppy formula refers to the milk replacement that you feed them when their moms can't or won't feed them. Puppy food is a different thing. It is food especially formulated for the needs of growing puppies. I think that is where the confusion is.

[CorkyMax]

Referring back to my 1st reply in here where I had mentioned about calcium-hip dysplasia--too fast of growing-----Just found something to add to that:
Nutrition: It appears that the amount of calories a dog consumes and when in the dog's life those calories are consumed have the biggest impact on whether or not a dog genetically prone to hip dysplasia will develop the disease.

Experimentally, it has been shown that obesity can increase the severity of the disease in genetically susceptible animals. It stands to reason that carrying around extra weight will exacerbate the degeneration of the joints in a dog; including the hip. Dogs that may have been born genetically prone to hip dysplasia and are overweight are therefore at a much higher risk of developing hip dysplasia and eventually osteoarthritis.

Another factor that may increase the incidence of hip dysplasia is rapid growth in puppies during the ages from three to ten months. Experimentally, the incidence has been increased in genetically susceptible dogs when they are given free choice food. In one study, Labrador Retriever puppies fed free choice for three years had a much higher incidence of hip dysplasia than their littermates who were fed the same diet but in an amount that was 25% less than that fed to the free-choice group.

Feeding a diet that has too much or too little calcium or other minerals can also have a detrimental effect on the development of the hip joint. However, with today's complete and balanced dog foods ("complete and balanced--my butt!!") this has become a rare occurrence. The practice of feeding home-made dog foods is popular with some dog owners. These diets must be carefully monitored for proper nutritional balance; not only for calcium and the other essential minerals but for all nutrients. This is true, you need to do your homework but the commercial crap is 'not necessarily balanced either--High heat and inferior ingredients makes that crap not fit to feed!!!--not to mention many other reasons it is crap with no nutrition!!

Exercise: Exercise may be another risk factor. It appears that dogs that are genetically susceptible to the disease may have an increased incidence of disease if they over-exercised at a young age. But at the same time, we know that dogs with large and prominent leg muscle mass are less likely to contract the disease than dogs with small muscle mass. So, exercising and maintaining good muscle mass may actually decrease the incidence of the disease. Moderate exercise that strengthens the gluteal muscles, such as running and swimming, is probably a good idea. Whereas, activities that apply a lot of force to the joint are contraindicated. An example would be jumping activities such as playing Frisbee.