# Baby Food?



## Dream Brandy (Aug 20, 2017)

When I picked up Echo his breeder gave us a small bag of food of course but she also gave us a couple jars of baby food she said to give a couple pieces of dry food with a small spoon full of the baby food. I planned on switching him to raw or maybe canned food only. I fed him like she said he ate maybe 8 tiny pieces of the dry with maybe a little less than a tbs. of the baby food. Would it be ok to just feed baby food and/or canned he really loves the baby food? Do any of you feed baby food? I'm getting a weight on him later today so I can have somewhat of an idea how much he needs to eat in 1 meal. I know feeding dry I'll never be able to meet the requirements he needs since he eats so little.


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## pippersmom (May 21, 2012)

Maybe if you soak the dry food in warm water till it softens up he will find it more appealing and it also brings out the flavour more plus its better for him getting the extra water vs just plain dry kibble.


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## Dream Brandy (Aug 20, 2017)

pippersmom said:


> Maybe if you soak the dry food in warm water till it softens up he will find it more appealing and it also brings out the flavour more plus its better for him getting the extra water vs just plain dry kibble.


 I planned to do raw or canned food only now I was wondering would feeding only baby food work or would he also need canned food mixed in? He eats the dry food no problem but he eats so little just dry by itself would not be enough.


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## Dove's Mommy (Aug 10, 2017)

Dove would only eat one piece of kibble at a time, and very little in a setting the first few days. Then her appetite increased to what I think it probably was when she was with the breeder. Now she eats a good, healthy amount. I was worried the first couple days at how little she ate, relatively speaking. I went by the suggestion on the back of the bag of food and was comparing how much she ate against that recommended amount.

I have not switched her food yet, but may reassess since she is doing so well and has fully acclimated to her new home. I mix a little bit of wet food with the dry, but I like the above suggestion of adding warm water to the dry food - so I may just do that and eliminate the canned food. The wet food is an appetite stimulant.

I do not have experience with a raw diet, but with regards to the baby food, I would imagine just straight baby food would not have all the nutrients a puppy needs for his first few months of life. Maybe others who have experience with a raw/ baby food diet can chime in. Best of luck!


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## maggieh (Dec 16, 2007)

Is this human baby food? If so, I'm surprised at how much of that your breeder is feeding the puppy. Human babies and puppies have different nutritional needs and I would be concerned that a diet of mostly baby food (which is what it sounds like) might not meet those needs for a puppy. I would wean him off the baby food and if it's necessary to entice him to eat the dog food, make sure it's been soaked in warm water to make it soft and palatable.


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## Dream Brandy (Aug 20, 2017)

maggieh said:


> Is this human baby food? If so, I'm surprised at how much of that your breeder is feeding the puppy. Human babies and puppies have different nutritional needs and I would be concerned that a diet of mostly baby food (which is what it sounds like) might not meet those needs for a puppy. I would wean him off the baby food and if it's necessary to entice him to eat the dog food, make sure it's been soaked in warm water to make it soft and palatable.


 No it's just a spoon full mixed with his dry food since he eats such tiny portions there's no way he can eat enough of the dry to meet the recommendations. He has no problem eating dry and doesn't need to be enticed. His breeder's vet actually recommended feeding a spoonful of baby food mixed with his dry. I'm switching him to an all wet diet and was wondering if I can keep the baby food as part of his diet since he loves it so much. I was just seeing if anyone else had used baby food as a regular part of their pups diet.


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## mss (Mar 1, 2006)

I'm a label-reader, and due to a recent experience, I'd say do not continue with the baby food but look for a good puppy food that your pup will eat. I've only had one tiny puppy and was surprised how little they really seem to need to eat. I'd worry about upsetting the the balance of nutrition with baby food. 

Here's my experience: My very senior dog was recovering from a reaction to chemotherapy and stopped eating for days. At the vets, she was tempted with some baby food and then a "recovery" food. When she was allowed to go home, I gave her some baby food with her regular kibble, and she ate too much too fast and got miserably sick. That's when I discovered that the chicken baby food is half fat!  Half fat! 

So I wouldn't recommend it except very dilute in extreme circumstances for a very short period of time.


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## Dream Brandy (Aug 20, 2017)

mss said:


> I'm a label-reader, and due to a recent experience, I'd say do not continue with the baby food but look for a good puppy food that your pup will eat. I've only had one tiny puppy and was surprised how little they really seem to need to eat. I'd worry about upsetting the the balance of nutrition with baby food.
> 
> Here's my experience: My very senior dog was recovering from a reaction to chemotherapy and stopped eating for days. At the vets, she was tempted with some baby food and then a "recovery" food. When she was allowed to go home, I gave her some baby food with her regular kibble, and she ate too much too fast and got miserably sick. That's when I discovered that the chicken baby food is half fat!
> 
> ...


 thanks did not think to look at fat content I just looked over ingredients to insure nothing harmful is in it. Maybe the baby food is the reason he was a little chubby at his last weigh in with his breeder she cut back the free feeding and only fed him 3 times a day which seemed to help but maybe all she needed to do was stop adding the baby food. Does anyone know a good canned food? I think a wet diet would be better for him and I have some tiny organic dental bones he loves to chew on. I had a diet plan that I thought would work for him but I didn't know how small he really is in pictures he looks huge or how little he really eats. He's getting weighed today he was supposed to get weighed yesterday but an emergency at the vet caused his appointment to be rescheduled for today.


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## mss (Mar 1, 2006)

I'm sure that other members have some wet puppy foods that they like, so I'll bump this up to bring attention to your request.


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## Dream Brandy (Aug 20, 2017)

mss said:


> I'm sure that other members have some wet puppy foods that they like, so I'll bump this up to bring attention to your request.


 thanks right now we're doing trial and error so far Simply Nourish is good and seems to be a keeper he loved it and it didn't bother his tummy but that could be because he has iron tummy I don't know. Nature's Recipe seems to be a fail he doesn't seem to like it and is turning his nose up to it so we'll move on to wellness and see how that goes. Thankfully I can return the Nature's recipe cups I got and exchange it for a different brand.


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## Dream Brandy (Aug 20, 2017)

Wellness is good he liked it and no upset tummy. But I think Simply Nourish is his favorite so far, next we'll try Authority. I think I'm going to pick up some Blue buffalo and Call of the Wild just to give them a try just incase I need back up brands it's always nice to know which brands work and which ones don't.


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## maddysmom (Mar 8, 2012)

Dream Brandy said:


> Wellness is good he liked it and no upset tummy. But I think Simply Nourish is his favorite so far, next we'll try Authority. I think I'm going to pick up some Blue buffalo and Call of the Wild just to give them a try just incase I need back up brands it's always nice to know which brands work and which ones don't.


Honestly, I don't know how one would be able to figure out what agrees with a dog when trying several different foods in a week. One type of food should be introduced slowly over the course of a week to avoid gi upset. If he likes Wellness, I would stick with that and worry about backup if need be, IMHO.


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## Dream Brandy (Aug 20, 2017)

maddysmom said:


> Dream Brandy said:
> 
> 
> > Wellness is good he liked it and no upset tummy. But I think Simply Nourish is his favorite so far, next we'll try Authority. I think I'm going to pick up some Blue buffalo and Call of the Wild just to give them a try just incase I need back up brands it's always nice to know which brands work and which ones don't.
> ...


 I know because he has yet to get sick it's only been 3 different brands well really more like 2 since he didn't like Nature's Recipe. He doesn't have a weak stomach so no need to slowly introduce anything. Plus he eats so little there's no way to slowly add in new food to his meals he eats about 2 spoon fulls of food in one meal sometimes only 1 spoon full depending on if he had a lot of treats during training.


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## pippersmom (May 21, 2012)

maddysmom said:


> Honestly, I don't know how one would be able to figure out what agrees with a dog when trying several different foods in a week. One type of food should be introduced slowly over the course of a week to avoid gi upset. If he likes Wellness, I would stick with that and worry about backup if need be, IMHO.


I agree with what Joanne said here. You're always supposed to introduce new foods slowly. Even if only eating 2 spoonfuls you can still introduce it slowly. 1 1/2 spoonfuls of the old kind with 1/2 spoonful of the new kind and gradually increase the new kind so then he's getting half and half and keep transitioning it that way. My vet says to take 2 weeks to slowly transition over even if they have a stomach of steel. Also you said you only give one teaspoon of food if he's had treats...............I wouldn't cut back on his food because he had treats. He's not getting the nutrition a growing puppy needs from his treats.....he needs his puppy food for nutrition. If you're using the treats for training, just use itty bitty pieces at a time so it doesn't amount to much.


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## mss (Mar 1, 2006)

I agree, don't change too many times or too quickly, and go easy on treats. (Or use a good puppy kibble for "treats.").

To be fair, she did ask for suggestions of a good canned puppy food in this thread, and I haven't seen any suggestions yet. Does everyone all agree that Wellness is a good one to stick with?

Edited to add: I also see a new, separate thread she started where food is discussed.


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## Dream Brandy (Aug 20, 2017)

pippersmom said:


> maddysmom said:
> 
> 
> > Honestly, I don't know how one would be able to figure out what agrees with a dog when trying several different foods in a week. One type of food should be introduced slowly over the course of a week to avoid gi upset. If he likes Wellness, I would stick with that and worry about backup if need be, IMHO.
> ...


 He does fine with our feeding routine so I don't see a problem with doing it this way for him if he did have a weaker system I would take the time to transition slowly but he's fine and happy with the way his meals are going now. He's yet to have any G.I problems I think he loves the different meals he's always excited to see what his meal is going to be he does the cutest little dance as soon as we grab his food dish and doesn't stop until we are putting it back down. It's not a teaspoon it's just a regular human spoon we use maybe a little less than a table spoon I don't cut back his food though I still put the same amount depending on how he's feeling and if he ate a lot of treats he'll only eat about half if that of his meal and the rest he'll finish at his next meal. The treats we are giving is freeze dried raw food it's called RawNibs he loves it and we love it it's a lot healthier than the training treats we seen while shopping.


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## Dream Brandy (Aug 20, 2017)

Just to add not sure how I'm supposed to make canned food last 2 weeks once opened. you're lucky if it lasts 3 days without spoiling. I think the 1-2 week rule is only for dry food.


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## maddysmom (Mar 8, 2012)

Dream Brandy said:


> Just to add not sure how I'm supposed to make canned food last 2 weeks once opened. you're lucky if it lasts 3 days without spoiling. I think the 1-2 week rule is only for dry food.


Have you thought about dehydrated food? Once open, shelf life is still very long, a year on some compared to kibble, that can spoil, grow molds if not eaten within a month, maybe two if kept in the freezer.
Cans have never been cost efficient for me, unless all three were eating the same thing and even then, I ended up wasting a good portion of the can.
Or have you considered Raw feeding? That truly is the best, imo, if you have the time to prepare. You do have to supplement and its advised to work with a nutrionalist to keep it balance.


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## Dream Brandy (Aug 20, 2017)

maddysmom said:


> Dream Brandy said:
> 
> 
> > Just to add not sure how I'm supposed to make canned food last 2 weeks once opened. you're lucky if it lasts 3 days without spoiling. I think the 1-2 week rule is only for dry food.
> ...


 we do raw for our other dogs but we figured canned would be best for echo. Cost wise it's pretty good for us at the most his food comes to $20 a month some high end brands are $40 plus for a small bag of food. With cans I open them individually 1 can will last him 3-4 meals and they're the small 3-3.5oz bowls and cups. He never has a chance to get bored with his meals since he never knows what his next meal is going to be.


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## maddysmom (Mar 8, 2012)

Dream Brandy said:


> we do raw for our other dogs but we figured canned would be best for echo. Cost wise it's pretty good for us at the most his food comes to $20 a month some high end brands are $40 plus for a small bag of food. With cans I open them individually 1 can will last him 3-4 meals and they're the small 3-3.5oz bowls and cups. He never has a chance to get bored with his meals since he never knows what his next meal is going to be.[/QUOTE
> 
> Will you switch him over to raw later on as an adult? It's soo good for them. I wish I had the time but even at that, two of my girls have IBD/SIBO so raw is not recommended.


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## Dream Brandy (Aug 20, 2017)

We're not sure it just depends on his size if he finishes growing in the 2 pound range we'll keep him on canned if he gets to 3-4 pounds we'll give raw a try for him.


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## LOVE_BABY (May 5, 2015)

*Our food/feeding history*

When we first got our dog Baby they gave me a bag of kibble & he absolutely hated it. I tried other kibbles and he hated them too. Then I learned that a lot of kibbles are not good for dogs, bad ingredients. So I began home cooked using Just Food For Dogs.com diy recipes & their JFFD meal supplements. This worked out for a little while until Baby began rejecting the large amount of rice & potatoes in their recipes. He would pick the rice out & began to throw up after eating those meals. And also his urine test began to be too alkaline on the JFFD diet. So I stopped using it.

Then after that I found out that many believe that 'grains' are not something a dog should ever eat at all. So then I switched to 'Stella & Chewy's freeze dried raw dog food' and 'Primal freeze dried raw dog food' which contain no grains at all. Baby's urine alkalinity returned to normal. When I feed it every day I switch among the flavors to a new flavor for each day & then rotate them. My dog has never rejected the raw foods and seems to love them. He is very healthy. 

One word of caution about the freeze dried raw Stella & Chewy's is that the texture began to change from when I first started using it. I began to find large bits of bone over 1/4 in. long in the Stella & Chewys. Baby choked on it one day and I had to give him the Heimlich maneuver which was very scary. After that happened I called Stella & Chewy's and they told me they will be switching to a 'smaller grind' of bone. I'm guessing they must have had other complaints besides mine or why else would they be changing the grind? 'Bone' is a necessary & needed ingredient in dog & cat food but large pieces can be a choking hazard. To remedy this every day I pick out the larger pieces of bone & throw them away. Hopefully the new smaller grind will eliminate the need to remove the bone fragments. 

Another brand that I also use, 'Primal freeze dried Raw for dogs' doesn't have this problem with the bones, and has no large bone fragments in it at all. I'm not sure if a raw diet would be appropriate for a young puppy or not, how old is your dog? I started feeding the raw diet at about 1 1/2 years of age and he has been on it for about 3 years now & is very healthy & happy.


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## Dream Brandy (Aug 20, 2017)

LOVE_BABY said:


> When we first got our dog Baby they gave me a bag of kibble & he absolutely hated it. I tried other kibbles and he hated them too. Then I learned that a lot of kibbles are not good for dogs, bad ingredients. So I began home cooked using Just Food For Dogs.com diy recipes & their JFFD meal supplements. This worked out for a little while until Baby began rejecting the large amount of rice & potatoes in their recipes. He would pick the rice out & began to throw up after eating those meals. And also his urine test began to be too alkaline on the JFFD diet. So I stopped using it.
> 
> Then after that I found out that many believe that 'grains' are not something a dog should ever eat at all. So then I switched to 'Stella & Chewy's freeze dried raw dog food' and 'Primal freeze dried raw dog food' which contain no grains at all. Baby's urine alkalinity returned to normal. When I feed it every day I switch among the flavors to a new flavor for each day & then rotate them. My dog has never rejected the raw foods and seems to love them. He is very healthy.
> 
> ...


 I only buy raw from my local butcher who makes everything in house with 100% human grade ingredients it's the same meat, vegetables, fruits, etc. that I buy for myself just grinded up in a smaller package. I only trust raw from my butcher since I can personally see it made and know the quality first hand. My poodles eat raw from my butcher and they love it I even take them there with me to pick up their food and sometimes the worker will give me a great deal on Cornish hens and chicken necks for them.


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## LOVE_BABY (May 5, 2015)

Dream Brandy said:


> I only buy raw from my local butcher who makes everything in house with 100% human grade ingredients it's the same meat, vegetables, fruits, etc. that I buy for myself just grinded up in a smaller package. I only trust raw from my butcher since I can personally see it made and know the quality first hand. My poodles eat raw from my butcher and they love it I even take them there with me to pick up their food and sometimes the worker will give me a great deal on Cornish hens and chicken necks for them.


Wow how great that you have a butcher who makes a raw diet for your dogs! I tried giving Baby 'frozen' raw Stella and Chewy's but he rejected that, he only likes the freeze dried raw.


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## Dream Brandy (Aug 20, 2017)

Yeah my butcher is really pet friendly they even make raw for cats. When I was first starting raw the workers helped me understand a lot and they all feed their pets at home raw too I got to see how healthy and great their own dogs were doing on the diet before switching my pack over.


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## Dream Brandy (Aug 20, 2017)

Wellness even though it's a good brand seems to be a no it was causing a ton of face staining and tear staining. So looks like Simply Nourish is the best so we'll be sticking to that for now.


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