[bz03m300]

Hello,

My labrador is 9 weeks. How often should I feed her and what kind of dog food do I feed her that will prevent her from doing the #2 a lot?

[cigwyllt]

There is no one food that will change her toilet habits overnight. She is a young pup in a strange situation and that will affect her bowels. Also a change in food can upset the system anyway. Here in the UK a decent breeder would have told you what food she was on and how much and how often to feed her and recommended that any change in food should be done gradually over the course of a week or two so as to give her system time to adjust. As it is you have to find out by trial and error what suits her and her body.

I guess if you are in the States I can't help much with specific foods as I am in the UK but wherever you are it is best to buy the best quality puppy food that you can afford. It is generally true that dry food creates less waste than wet or tinned food so that is something to remember. Go to a good pet store and ask what they recommend. For a puppy it needs to be high in protein. And you want something as low as possible in artificial additives and colourings.

The manufacturer will give you some idea of how much and how often to feed. If you find she won't eat the whole amount cut back on the amount of all the meals you give her. I always find that the amount they say on the packet is way more than any of my dogs would eat anyway.

If in doubt give her smaller meals more often than larger meals further apart. Over feeding is a cause of diarrhoea so don't be tempted to feed more just because she has eaten what she has been given.

[Todd]

Here's my responce I use for these questions. Hopefully it helps. You have a large breed pup so don't feed high protein/grain free puppy food until the dog is over a year old or it can cause rapid growth and bone problems. After a year grean free/high protein foods are ideal.

Have you considered feeding a raw diet? How bout a home cooked diet? In my opinion, these are your best options. If this is too inconvenient, I'd suggest choosing a high quality kibble. Most of the foods you see on television commercials and sold at the grocery stores aren't the best choices. Look for a high quality, natural food without artificial preservatives, colors, additives, fillers, corn, wheat, or soy as a initial rule of thumb. Grain free is the best way to go, which generally has high amounts of meat protein. If price is an issue, don't sweat it. There are plenty of good foods out there that are priced the same as poor quality foods. Here is a great site to learn more about what foods are the best and the worst, and their pros and cons. The 6 star foods are the best and the 1 star foods are the worse. I'd at least try to feed 4 star foods, but of course 6 star foods would be ideal. Here are some brands I'd recommend off the top of my head;

Best (Don't use these foods until your dog is an adult/done growing. At least until one year or more, maybe even less, depending on breed. These foods have too high amounts of overall nutrition and cause larger breed dogs to grow too fast and develop bone problems. Wait until adult)

EVO
Taste Of The Wild
Origin
Timberwolf Organics
Canidae Grain-Free Formula
Wellness CORE

Very Good

Innova
Wellness
Canidae
California Natural (Great For Dogs With Food Allergies)
Solid Gold

Good For Best Quality On A Budget

Fromm
Premium Edge
Natural Balance
Diamond Naturals

*Don't forget to consider home cooked or especially raw (which is EXTREMELY cost effective). Let me know if these interest you and I can give you more info. Good Luck!

Great resource for kibble reviews: Dog Food Analysis - Reviews of kibble

[Yogi]

There is no way to prevent this from happening. This is a puppy and while energetic, it's system is going to process normally. The foods, no matter what has no bearing and are not going to change the process it is going through. Anyone who has ever bred or raised a puppy knows that this is normal until adulthood when their metabolism will change.

[cigwyllt]

But wouldn't you agree there are things that can make it worse? Overfeeding, constant changing diet, too many additives.

[Todd]

The better quality food the less stool he will produce to a degree in general.

[Yogi]

Originally Posted by cigwyllt

But wouldn't you agree there are things that can make it worse? Overfeeding, constant changing diet, too many additives.

Overfeeding is a given but as for dietary, not so much with pups. They are prone to process on a schedule based on their feeding and energy level. Metabolism is what will generally kick the system into gear. The less active, less they need to go. More active, more the metabolism increases thus needing to process and go. But yes, the more they are fed only increases the need to go as the body is continuing to process what it takes in.

Originally Posted by Todd

The better quality food the less stool he will produce to a degree in general.

This comes from what experience with raising litters and puppies? I have many years raising dogs and litters. This sounds like it makes sense to the layman but in fact is not really true. They process based on their intake not really what it is. The increase or decrease is based on how much they take in. The digestive system is not up to snuff so to speak yet. They therefore rely on their activity level to determine when they go. When mine are young and are in their pen they go minimal, when they are out and running around, within only a matter of a few minutes they go. Whether I give them puppy food or adult mixed, it does not change. Raise pups for a few years and then feel free to comment on what you have experienced. I think you will see a lot and learn a lot about the differences in puppies and dogs. Trying to control how often a puppy goes makes no sense as we do not expect an infant to do this. They go when they need to go. This is how things are and is redundant to think we are suppose to change this. That would be like taking away their water since we want to control how often the urinate. The organs need to work in order to be healthy. Trying to cap this is asking for more problems.

[Todd]

Originally Posted by Yogi

Overfeeding is a given but as for dietary, not so much with pups. They are prone to process on a schedule based on their feeding and energy level. Metabolism is what will generally kick the system into gear. The less active, less they need to go. More active, more the metabolism increases thus needing to process and go. But yes, the more they are fed only increases the need to go as the body is continuing to process what it takes in.


This comes from what experience with raising litters and puppies? I have many years raising dogs and litters. This sounds like it makes sense to the layman but in fact is not really true. They process based on their intake not really what it is. The increase or decrease is based on how much they take in. The digestive system is not up to snuff so to speak yet. They therefore rely on their activity level to determine when they go. When mine are young and are in their pen they go minimal, when they are out and running around, within only a matter of a few minutes they go. Whether I give them puppy food or adult mixed, it does not change. Raise pups for a few years and then feel free to comment on what you have experienced. I think you will see a lot and learn a lot about the differences in puppies and dogs. Trying to control how often a puppy goes makes no sense as we do not expect an infant to do this. They go when they need to go. This is how things are and is redundant to think we are suppose to change this. That would be like taking away their water since we want to control how often the urinate. The organs need to work in order to be healthy. Trying to cap this is asking for more problems.

The reason I mentioned it is merely because when I fed Lucky lower quality foods as a young pup she went poo quite a few more times than when I switched to higher quality foods soon after and eventually raw.