feeding advice please

[Chuckaluck]

I have a 2 year old female, and I just got him a baby brother who is now 3 months old. the problem I have is at feeding time. the puppy wants the regular dog food and the 2 year old goes after the puppy food and vice versa. my question is, will it hurt the 2 year old to eat the puppy food? or could I blend them both? (I feed them Bil Jac) any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Xatra]

Bil Jac isn't a very good food. Here is a review of it. You can search there for other brands and find out how they're rated, and try to get something from the 5 or 6 star lists (Bil Jac is 1 star). Canidae is popular and highly recommended with 5 stars, and the same formula can be fed to dogs of all ages. It's also reasonably priced, about $35 per 40 pounds. I've been feeding it, supplemented with good quality human foods, for about two years and my dogs love and are doing great on it.

Dogs tend to prefer something different than what they're used to so if you keep feeding them different foods it might be hard to keep them eating out of their own dishes.

 

[gmacleod]

Consuming an adult food won't hurt the pup, providing the adult food is nutritionally adequate for growth as well as maintenance. Lots of manufacturers produce all-life-stages foods.

Xatra is quite right that Bil Jac is a very low quality product though. It's the sort of food that's inspired writings such as these: http://www.homevet.com/petcare/foodbook.html
http://www.api4animals.org/facts.php?p=359&more=1
If you're interested, there is some good information about how to choose a good quality dry food here: http://www.boxerworld.com/forums/view_choosing-a-good-kibble-dry-dog-food.htm No food can be better than the ingredients that are used to make it, and that page tells you what to look for, what to avoid, and why. With the two previous articles, it should help you to see what's so wrong with foods like Bil Jac. www.dogfoodanalysis.com is a good resource for information on various (+1200) foods and can be useful if you care to look for an alternative.

 

[billbgh]

I agree with all of the above said. I too had this problem(not to mention other problems that gmacleod suggested was food related-Thanks again) and I switched to Innova Evo ancestral diet, it proved to be too much for the boys systems, so now I use all Life stages from Canidae. Apollo is a picky eater(he too liked the puppy chow) and he'll eat this readily. Rocky preferred adult chow(when he was smaller) and so instead of meal time being a hassle, I just switched to Canidae. This was better for the boys and saved me grief. Good luck and reap the benefits of better food

Erin
Apollo & Rocky's mom