Well I knew the mention of "game" meat was accepted, but in Tennessee "game" meat takes on a whole new meaning. I was gonna add rattlesnake, but I'd probably keep that for myself. Tilburyfarms.com
read Shannon's post about what she feeds pups. And chicken breastbones are one of the softest of a chicken. _________________________ Nikki Agrippina Mastino
So If a food has been designed spesifically for a giant breed puppy, wouldn't it already be low in protien and hi fat and all that good stuff? I mean its not like its just for any size puppy. I have my pup on giant breed Eagle Pack and she's done amazing. And it has cranberry for urinary track and lots of other things that are good. Cathy Cathy
I feed the same as Cathy to my dogs but now I give them the adult large breed Eagle Pack plus beef patty's with vegetables and fruits and they love pig ears lol Two pale figures ache in silence, timeless in the quiet ground... \\\"
The BEST pupy food is .........NEVER feed ANYTHING THAT SAYS PUPPY FOOD.......Feed them like adults , EXCEPT, make sure its a mash, ground bones , meat & soaked ie; mushy ADULT dog food . When pups are 4 months + then feed exactly like the adults . You want slow even growth..Also fresh air & sunshine are a big factor to proper growth too... Jaboa
The BEST pupy food is .........NEVER feed ANYTHING THAT SAYS PUPPY FOOD.......Feed them like adults , EXCEPT, make sure its a mash, ground bones , meat & soaked ie; mushy ADULT dog food . When pups are 4 months + then feed exactly like the adults . You want slow even growth..Also fresh air & sunshine are a big factor to proper growth too...
Very well said. My favorite is the Large breed puppy food to much protein!!! Doc Allevamento Del Vincenzo Click me
Have any of you actually seen a problem with feeding a puppy "puppy food"? I am a firm believer that puppies need extra. Even giant breeds. They are still puppies. I also believe that slow and steady is healthy, yet I have always started my pups on puppy food and judge when to switch them to adult according to the individual litter or puppy which is generally around 12 weeks. I have never had a pup grow too fast and get joint problems. I have been raising large breed puppies since I was a kid (I am 42)and giants for the last 7 years. I also feed puppy food to my pregnant and nursing bitches. I have tried many different brands of kibble with my mastiffs over the years and Eagle Pack is very good. It is very expensive in my area though and I have to drive over an hour just to get it, so that one didn't work out real well. Enhance recently came to my area and I have been using it for about 6 months now and it has been the best that I have found for mastiffs and the price is great. My EM's seem to be more sensitive than my Neos and will usually get the shits every time the wind shifts directions. Buy they all transferred to Enhance very easily and I think my dogs look great. My pups get puppy food and gradually go to Enhance Hunter's Edge formulla, which is 24/18. I also add cooked, deboned chicken and rice to there food and add vitamins. They are all at a healthy weight, have beautiful shiny coats and they have turds!! No more mush in the driveway. YIPPEEE!! My adults get 1 bowl of the kibble with the chicken rice mix and vitamins everyday, that way I know they are all getting the vitamins, plus I free feed plain kibble. None of my dogs over eat and they have food down 24/7. They pick and eat when they are hungry. I also free feed my new puppy litters. I start them on softened and they are on hard kibble by 6 weeks. I have had several breeders tell me that their pups are gluttins at feeding time and will fight over every morsel of food and blow up like beach balls. THEY WILL NOT DO THIS IF THEY HAVE FOOD DOWN ALL THE TIME!! There is no competition if the food is always there and they WILL eat just what their bodies need. Also, for the record for all of you that feed raw. Please don't think I am knocking it. I have seen many of your dogs and they look fantastic!! I tried to feed Maia a raw chicken thigh quarter once and she looked at me as if I was insane and walked away. I never tried again for fear that "the queen" would starve to death. lol SHELLY Click me
Joined: Tue May 06 2008, 10:54PM Location: Monroe, NY 10950 Posts: 116
Shelly, I agree with you. Slow and steady wins the race. RAW is great and if it works for some, more power to you. I have a deep respect for everyones opinion and right to do their own thing. We have owned well over 300 Neapolitans over thirty years to date and never ever had a problem with any of our dogs concerning bloat, imports included. We have always fed our dogs dry food only. Their food is left out all the time. There is no fighting for the most part as they know the food is plentiful. They do eat less as they don't huff the food and actually chew a piece at a time (which is also the main reason our dogs are not gassy). Less food means less waste and less to pick up after! When people come by to see our dogs, they are very surprised to see male right next to male sharing a dish and I have often been told my dogs eat like "gentleman", a Neo, lol... They eat like athlets, little handfulls multiple times a day and a lot of water. They realize the food is always there, the survival/dominant instinct over food diminishes. They were raised this way from the beginning and instinctively know when they had enough. Now try this with a dog that is not use to this method and you could have a problem, lol. Chances are it will eat non-stop and may be aggressive with others. Been there too. We do the same with our French Bulldogs and they eat right next to each other, no problems. My boy "Santino" Love the athletic Italian Bulldogs of the past. Happy to see many healthy examples here on this site.
We have always fed our pups Large/Giant breed puppy formula for the first 6 months or so, and we have had bullmastiffs for the past 10 years (we are relatively new to neos as we bought our first girl just 2 1/2 years ago). As far as free feeding ... some do well free feeding but I have had others that you just can't free feed because they will just eat as much as you put down and will grow to fast and get too fat. I would never supplement a pup with calcium though - only with vit.c, glucosamine, etc. My dogs have always gotten healthy table scraps also - left over pasta, peanut butter sandwitches, veggies etc. With three little girls it seems as though their are always left overs on their plates and of course the dogs always appreciate that.
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