# Wellness Puppy Foods



## BellaEnzo (Nov 1, 2011)

Originally I had been feeding Enzo Nature's Variety- Prairie Puppy food but he didn't seem crazy about it so I switched him to Wellness Puppy food. I originally purchased the Just for Puppy regular formula, in the yellow bag. I didn't realize how big the pieces were so I went back and got the Just for Puppy Small breed formula and mixed them together. The other night I was reorganizing the pups stuff and stopped to look at the feeding instructions again, that when I realized the difference in feeding instructions on both bags. 

The Just for Puppy regular formual states to feed a 3lb puppy, who is 3-4 months, 1 and 1/4 a cup of food daily.

The Just for Puppy Small Breed formula states to feed a 2-4lb puppy, who is also 3-4 months, 1/2 a cup of food daily. 

Now 1 1/4 is a big difference from 1/2 cup of food, so I thought maybe there was a big difference in the calorie content...
The reg formula reads 3,800 kcal per kilogram or 450 kcal per cup.
The small breef formula reads 3,790 kcal per kilogram or 480 kcal per cup. 
....That doesn't seem like a really big difference to me, am I missing something here? How much should I feed him now that I've mixed the two?

I was also considering switching both Bella and Enzo to Natural Balance LID but then I was reading the food analysis website and it lists most Natural Balance as 4 star and Wellness is a 5 star dry food. I know a lot of these sites are bias so I wanted to get everyones thoughts and feedback on the two foods and the different formulas.


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## michellerobison (Dec 17, 2009)

I fed Wellness large breed puppy ( blue bag) to my son's Rottie and lab mix and the kibble is small so what I had left,I fed to Rylee and he's only 4 pounds... Might want to check it out,it's really small pieces.... plus you can get the 33 pound bag and it will last a loooonnngg time!


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## BellaEnzo (Nov 1, 2011)

Interesting... Funny that the large breed would have small bites. What do you feed your Malts?


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## Sylie (Apr 4, 2011)

That is odd. I'm thinking that if there is a big difference in the size of the kibble you might have more weight content than volume content in one or the other. Do you have a kitchen scale to weigh our a cup of each and see if there is a difference?

I feed my kids Natural Balance, but the lower rating worried me, so I also bought some Wellsness. I thought it would be a good idea for several reasons to feed them two brands. The Wellness seemed to upset their tummies and give the poop butt..so I gave that away to a dog who does well on Wellness, and I bought Solid Gold small breed formula for their second food.


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## BellaEnzo (Nov 1, 2011)

Do you mix the two foods together or rotate them? Which formula of Natural Balance do you feed?

I was thinking it would just be easier to get them on the same food and then I wouldn't have to worry about Bella getting into Enzo's food and then ending up with loose stool.


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## Sylie (Apr 4, 2011)

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BellaEnzo said:



Do you mix the two foods together or rotate them?

Click to expand...

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BellaEnzo said:


> Which formula of Natural Balance do you feed?
> 
> I was thinking it would just be easier to get them on the same food and then I wouldn't have to worry about Bella getting into Enzo's food and then ending up with loose stool.


Both ways. I do feel more of the Natural Balance small bites duck and potato.


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## LJSquishy (Feb 27, 2008)

Feeding about 1/2 cup of food per day is probably about right. There is no way a toy breed (even as an adult) should be consuming 1+ cups of dry kibble per day.

My favorite dry foods are Now! Small Breed, and Acana Pacifica. Both are grain-free and suitable for all life stages meaning both puppies and adults can eat them. There is no need to find a specific "puppy" food if there is an all life stages food you like, and most puppy foods have grain in them which I don't like.

One of my Malts gets Natural Balance LID canned because she has trouble with her digestive system. I have thought about trying to mix in a few pieces of kibble of one of the LID dry varieties. I like the Sweet Potato and Venison one the best, but also rotate between Potato and Duck, and Sweet Potato and Fish. There is also a new buffalo one I want to try and also a chicken one.

Any of the 4-star foods are just fine to feed, although a 5+ star is even better...just keep in mind some of the protein levels are likely to be higher in those foods and not all dogs do well with that. Dogfoodanalysis.com is a great tool to use.


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## michellerobison (Dec 17, 2009)

BellaEnzo said:


> Interesting... Funny that the large breed would have small bites. What do you feed your Malts?


 
I fed them Royal Canin dental forumula until the vet changed to Purina One Dental. I do the large breed formula fo rthem, the more crunching they do,the mor ecleaning,plus how it's formulated too.

I still feed Rylee the Wellness large breed puppy ,for the extra calcium. The vet suggested it for him and he monitors his protein and calcium to make sure it's not too much.

Rylee only has a couple teeth and the kibble is small. They're 12mm wide, 6.5 mm thick. In inches..they're ½ wide,¼ thick and triangle shaped so pretty small. I think even a small puppy could eat them... Rylee is a small boy,about 4 pounds. Rylee probably eats ½ a cup per day.Somedays more,some days less,depends. If he eats a little less,I feed him again,later in the evening...

We had fed the Rottie and the shepherd lab mix, 2yrs old, the Wellness Large Breed puppy ,also because of the calcium since they both had hip dysplasia really bad... I was really surprised that it was small sized kibble, not what I expected...


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## Summergirl73 (Sep 18, 2011)

We are feeding Lucky & Bella Natural Balance and they seem to like the rolled kind the best, but I only use that for "special treats" for Bella. Lucky is older, so he gets it more often - basically it's a give him whatever he will eat (he's 15 with failing health). The kibble is loved by Bella, but her tear staining is starting to get really bad, so I've been thinking of switching her food (I generally lighten that area up in photos). She's teething, so that may be the cause. We are getting ready to have her spayed, so I'm not really inclined to switch anything on her at this moment. Are you having any tear staining issues?


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## BellaEnzo (Nov 1, 2011)

I am having issues with the tear staining but everyone tells me it's due to the tear staining. Are there specific foods that will help with the tear staining?

I picked up a sample of Natural Balance Fish & Sweet Potato and Bella went crazy for it, Enzo not so much, he seemed to have a harder time with the size of the kibble, so I may switch her to that and start working it into Enzo's diet little by little. I'd ideally like to get them onto a grain free diet.


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## Summergirl73 (Sep 18, 2011)

BellaEnzo said:


> I am having issues with the tear staining but everyone tells me it's due to the tear staining. Are there specific foods that will help with the tear staining?


 
I think teething is the likely culprit for puppy tear staining ~ at least that's what I'm hoping. I do give Bella Brita Filtered water and try to avoid foods with dyes and possible allergic foods. I don't think that there are specific foods to prevent the staining though. Seems like what works for one fluff won't necessarily make any difference to another  .


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## RE823 (Feb 11, 2012)

just switched from blue buffalo small breed to wellness small breed. Bentley did not touch the BB even with soft food mixed in. He gobbled up the wellness!! I was a little disappointed in him not liking BB, I hear so many good things about it!


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## Orchid (Sep 25, 2011)

I just started transitioning from Wellness Small Breed Puppy to Blue Buffalo Basics Limited Ingredients puppy food. My fluff is 8 months old but scratches and bites on herself a lot so I was thinking she has allergies.

Daisy was doing fine on the Wellness but now I'm wondering if I've made the right decision switching her to another food.


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## babycake7 (Jan 30, 2012)

I feed the Blue Buffalo puppy formula to Bella and she loves it. This is what I fed our Toy Aussie when he was a pup and he did so well on it that I automatically put Bella on it when we got her. She actually likes it much better than what the breeder sent home with us.


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## Snuggle's Mom (Jan 3, 2008)

Both Chrissy and Snuggles have been on Longevity (BB) which they both really love. However, since Blue Buffalo has just come out with a totally grain free food, I think that I might want to give it try and see how that works for Chrissy's tear stains. They both have the same amount of Protein (Longevity and Grainfree) so I was happy to see that. Both of them were a little bit on the "chunky" size and that has helped out with a food with less protein.


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## Orchid (Sep 25, 2011)

Just checked the Basics puppy with turkey and potato and it is not grain-free! Darn! Now I've bought and started transitioning her on something with grain! I just assumed when it said "no soy, no wheat, no corn," etc., that it was grain-free! Apparently the grain-free forumlas state that on the package.

Since the Wellness had sweet potato in it - maybe the Basics with regular potato will be better for tear stains. I think they both have tomato though.

Tear stains, allergies - it's tough to get it all right!

If anyone is reading this, when do you put them on adult food? My fluff is 8 mos.


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