Ryan Rubel wrote 05/10/2010 03:33 PM Higher quality food.. #275894 - 05/10/2010 03:33 PM
Ryan Rubel Webboard User Reg: 04-07-2010 Posts: 50 Loc: Offline	So I've been feeding Fromm's Family Large Breed Puppy kibble to my 13 week old male Rottweiler. According to online charts he is below average weight by about 10-15 lbs (currently 24lb @13 weeks). I posted about this last week and most people on here explained that he will probably hit a growth spurt. Since then I've had him at the vet and she said he's a bit skinny and that I should probably feed a regular puppy food (not large breed) for more protein. I bought some Orijen Puppy Forumla kibble and mixed a small amout with the Fromm's. This gave him diahrea so I lowered the ratio of Orijen and his stool hardened up. Should I slowly increase again? Will it take time for him to get used to it? After the first feeding he was literally like a spray bottle. I almost took him to the vet over it! Is the higher protein a good idea? I feed about 1 cup of Fromm's with 2 teaspoons of Orijen mixed in 3 times per day.
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Jessica Pedicord wrote 05/10/2010 03:53 PM Re: Higher quality food.. [Re: Ryan Rubel ] #275896 - 05/10/2010 03:53 PM
Jessica Pedicord Webboard User Reg: 10-29-2009 Posts: 610 Loc: SouthWestern PA Offline	I'm not a vet and not telling you to ignore your vet, but the reason there is "large breed" puppy food is for controlled growth. Too much weight gain too fast on soft bones makes for issues down the road. Personally I would rather have a thin pup than a chub. Large breed pups tend to go through a scrawny stage when they are stretching out so rapidly. Its normal. But like I said, I'm not saying you should ignore your vet. That's just my experience. Vets sometimes give people weird advice. Then again I once got into an argument with a vet over food. Haha. Guess I shouldn't be giving advice either! Lol
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Ryan Rubel wrote 05/10/2010 04:20 PM Re: Higher quality food.. [Re: Jessica Pedicord ] #275902 - 05/10/2010 04:20 PM
Ryan Rubel Webboard User Reg: 04-07-2010 Posts: 50 Loc: Offline	The only thing that makes me wonder is that the 'avg' rottweiler according to a common online chart says he should be 30-38 lbs at 12 weeks. He's currently 22 lbs at 13 weeks. He's not super skinny, just a bit skinny. I dont mind him being lanky right now because i know he's growing.. I just dont want to hold back his growth because I decided to give him a crappy food. The protein difference is pretty dramatic between the foods though.. Fromm's = 24% , Orijen = 75%, Orijen Lrg breed = 70%. What gives? Is Fromm's just really low?
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Spencer Martin wrote 05/10/2010 04:29 PM Re: Higher quality food.. [Re: Ryan Rubel ] #275905 - 05/10/2010 04:29 PM
Spencer Martin Webboard User Reg: 04-17-2010 Posts: 188 Loc: Arizona Offline	This isn't offering a ton of info but I feed solid gold "wolf cub" they sell it at petco. My pup is growing well with it. I want to say its at about 28% protein and I don't think there are any grains. Good stuff.
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Joyce Salazar wrote 05/10/2010 04:52 PM Re: Higher quality food.. [Re: Ryan Rubel ] #275918 - 05/10/2010 04:52 PM
Joyce Salazar Webboard User Reg: 02-28-2008 Posts: 2075 Loc: Dallas, Texas Offline	This is JMO, but Orijen is an excellent food to feed. You just might need to go slow with the transition period to get his stools firming up. Just start with only 25% of the Orijen to 75% of Fromms for a week, and then if you have a week of solid stools, you should be able to adjust it to 50/50 for the next week, then once you get a week of solid stools, 75% Orijen to 25% Fromms and so on until you are 100% Orijen. That should take at least three or 4 weeks. How many times a day are you feeding? I think the protocol for a pup at 13 weeks is three times per day. Just remember that too large a quantity at once can also make for diarrhea too. Joyce Salazar
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Ryan Rubel wrote 05/10/2010 04:57 PM Re: Higher quality food.. [Re: Joyce Salazar ] #275920 - 05/10/2010 04:57 PM
Ryan Rubel Webboard User Reg: 04-07-2010 Posts: 50 Loc: Offline	I feed 3 times/day right now and that works pretty well with my schedule. I think I was probably just giving too much food for a bit there! What do you guys think about treats? I bought some 'high end' cage free duck strips that he loves.. Should I just give him kibble as treats? He's ALWAYS hungry.. even after eating a meal he searches for more food.
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Joyce Salazar wrote 05/10/2010 05:04 PM Re: Higher quality food.. [Re: Ryan Rubel ] #275924 - 05/10/2010 05:04 PM
Joyce Salazar Webboard User Reg: 02-28-2008 Posts: 2075 Loc: Dallas, Texas Offline	My dogs love duck and chicken jerky, it is a good solid protein for them and as long as they don't have nitrates and no preservatives, I think it's great. You can use kibble for treats, but I have found that when you use a higher value treat, say a small piece of steak that has been cooked, your training sessions will go much better and faster. Kibble takes a bit longer for the dog to chew. Consider something softer that they can consume fast for training. My dogs love the Zuke's mini's for training too, but that too is a lower value than say steak or bits of chicken. Joyce Salazar
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Sonya Gilmore wrote 05/10/2010 05:25 PM Re: Higher quality food.. [Re: Joyce Salazar ] #275931 - 05/10/2010 05:25 PM
Sonya Gilmore Webboard User Reg: 02-12-2010 Posts: 328 Loc: Upstate NY Offline	I too am not a vet and have only raised half a dozen large/giant breed puppies and two things come to mind... Many vets don't know squat about diet and nutrition. Unless your vet is the vet for a couple giant or large breed breeders and has seen a number of rott puppies I would take it with a fistful of salt. I have NEVER fed a large puppy "puppy chow" or anything high protein.. you don't want them getting rocket fuel and growing too fast. Feed a good quality adult diet. TWO....your dog will grow to whatever potential and at whatever rate he is gonna with his genetics. If you aren't starving him he will grow. Often a large breed puppy goes through a spurt of looking starved. Also, that said, I tend to feed a 13wk old four times a day...maybe even five for a few days if he is acting starving. Big meals and too high a protein is gonna upset his digestion and certainly not gonna help him. He has three years to reach adult size, let him.
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Mara Jessup wrote 05/10/2010 05:43 PM Re: Higher quality food.. [Re: Ryan Rubel ] #275936 - 05/10/2010 05:43 PM
Mara Jessup Webboard User Reg: 12-28-2005 Posts: 2316 Loc: Offline	Quote: Ryan Rubel The only thing that makes me wonder is that the 'avg' rottweiler according to a common online chart says he should be 30-38 lbs at 12 weeks. He's currently 22 lbs at 13 weeks. He's not super skinny, just a bit skinny. I dont mind him being lanky right now because i know he's growing.. I just dont want to hold back his growth because I decided to give him a crappy food. The protein difference is pretty dramatic between the foods though.. Fromm's = 24% , Orijen = 75%, Orijen Lrg breed = 70%. What gives? Is Fromm's just really low? The protein content in Orijen is 40% - not 70%. Meat protein makes up 70% of the content of the food, but that is before it is dry. When you compare on a dry weight basis it is 40% compared to 24% for the Fromm K-9 Knitter
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Jessica Pedicord wrote 05/10/2010 06:47 PM Re: Higher quality food.. [Re: Mara Jessup ] #275949 - 05/10/2010 06:47 PM
Jessica Pedicord Webboard User Reg: 10-29-2009 Posts: 610 Loc: SouthWestern PA Offline	Another thing I learned with my current dog is to throw growth charts out the window. Different lines grow at VERY different rates. If you think he's too skinny, just add an extra small feeding per day. He'll catch up eventually. You will still end up with the same end result as far as growth is concerned. For the longest time I thought I was going to have a dwarf shepherd- because all of my friends' dogs did all their growing right away and were blimps by the time they were 6 months old. My dog is 10 months now- and still growing, growing, growing.... And I expect he won't be done for another year. The breeder told me he'd be 90-100 pounds. I thought he was crazy up until a month ago. Trust me. One day you won't be able to remember when your dog was little.
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