# Puppy Food Suggestions



## Luna&Me (Jul 23, 2016)

My puppy was on Royal Canin Puppy with the breeder but I know I want to transition. Our vet suggested we stay on a puppy kibble at least 2 out of 3 meals per day for now due to her small size..... she said I could stick with RC or go to Wellness or Fromm. This is very different advice than she gave with a prior dog who she suggest a homemade or raw diet for.... (just as an FYI)

I just picked up a bag of Fromm Puppy Gold tonight and I was disappointed that the puppy kibble is actually larger than their grain-free kibble :blush: it the size and shape of Call of the Wild but I have come used to the smaller size from Fromm with my Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. Also I am not sure about a Chicken base since my puppy is scratching consistently and fleas have been ruled out by the vet.... just the suggested to add fish oil.

Any thoughts / suggestions?


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## maddysmom (Mar 8, 2012)

You didn't mention how old your puppy is. With two of my girls I put them on sojos dehydrated raw for puppies at 6 months when I got them. We tried the Fromm but I noticed eye staining immediately after starting it, which is why I made the switch and sure enough the staining stopped. I'm not a fan of kibble but if I had to go with kibble, I wld do zignature and soak over night before feeding.


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## Luna&Me (Jul 23, 2016)

maddysmom said:


> You didn't mention how old your puppy is. With two of my girls I put them on sojos dehydrated raw for puppies at 6 months when I got them. We tried the Fromm but I noticed eye staining immediately after starting it, which is why I made the switch and sure enough the staining stopped. I'm not a fan of kibble but if I had to go with kibble, I wld do zignature and soak over night before feeding.


Good point, age does matter and I should have included that. Luna is 16 weeks she was just weighed at the vet and is 3 lbs 2 oz.

In switching her food I am hoping 1) she will stop scratching so much and 2) we can reduce tear staining. 

I did not realize there were dehydrated raw specifically for puppies.... I will have to look into that.

Do you feel Zignature is better than Fromm quality wise?


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## maddysmom (Mar 8, 2012)

UrbanYogini said:


> Good point, age does matter and I should have included that. Luna is 16 weeks she was just weighed at the vet and is 3 lbs 2 oz.
> 
> In switching her food I am hoping 1) she will stop scratching so much and 2) we can reduce tear staining.
> 
> ...


I think both Zignature and Fromm are very good quality foods. The reason I stay away from the Fromm is because of the chicken, which Zignature doesn't use in their products due to so many pets becoming reactive to it, ex. food intolerance, food allergy, skin allergy.

Sojo's, Stella and Chewys are dehydrated raw, along with other companies who make it and can be fed to puppies. S&C is too high in fat for my girls which is why I prefer Sojo's. I do feed the Honest Kitchen as well and I rotate proteins every 3-4 bags so my girls don't become intolerant to the protein.

Skin scratching can be from the other ingredients in the food and not necessarily the protein. Your fluff may be reacting to any of the ingredients. Also, it can be environmental allergies. It's really trial and error trying to figure it out but can be done.
I would start with the food first. It takes anywhere from 8-12 weeks before the allergen that would make a dog react rid from their system, so it's important to wait that long.
She is kind of young to have already developed a true sensitivity to the food but it's certainly possible, just not as common as one would think.
Where is she scratching? Is it all over? Is it really bad?


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## Steph_L (Jul 20, 2015)

Fromm Four Star is an all life stages food and there are grain free flavors. It's what Daisy ate until she was about 2 years old. The kibble was plenty small for her especially considering she is only 3.8lbs full grown. I do suggest soaking it and feeding multiple small meals a day for a puppy. Our breeder had us feed her 4 times a day until about 20 weeks and then 3 times a day, now down to 2. Just divide the daily food requirements by how many times you'll feed her. 

These are all Fromm Four Star grain free flavors. There may be more but this is just what we rotated amongst until we realized she's also allergic/intolerant to chicken:

https://smile.amazon.com/Fromm-Four...2376&sr=1-1&keywords=fromm+four+star+dog+food

https://smile.amazon.com/Fromm-Four...rd_wg=cns1E&psc=1&refRID=7CY9Z5QRSN7T6PXCMARX

https://smile.amazon.com/Fromm-Four...rd_wg=cns1E&psc=1&refRID=7CY9Z5QRSN7T6PXCMARX


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## Luna&Me (Jul 23, 2016)

Steph_L said:


> Fromm Four Star is an all life stages food and there are grain free flavors. It's what Daisy ate until she was about 2 years old. The kibble was plenty small for her especially considering she is only 3.8lbs full grown. I do suggest soaking it and feeding multiple small meals a day for a puppy. Our breeder had us feed her 4 times a day until about 20 weeks and then 3 times a day, now down to 2. Just divide the daily food requirements by how many times you'll feed her.
> 
> These are all Fromm Four Star grain free flavors. There may be more but this is just what we rotated amongst until we realized she's also allergic/intolerant to chicken:
> 
> ...


Did you experience increased tear staining with any of them? Also I noticed some on here feed the Salmon which is grain inclusive is there a reason for the salmon...?


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## Steph_L (Jul 20, 2015)

UrbanYogini said:


> Did you experience increased tear staining with any of them? Also I noticed some on here feed the Salmon which is grain inclusive is there a reason for the salmon...?


We had tear staining problems until she was 8 months old. She had retained 12 puppy teeth while still having her adult teeth so when she was 8 months she was spayed and had the retained puppy teeth removed. The tear staining stopped then and we haven't had a problem since. 

Not all dogs have grain sensitivity/allergies however Daisy does so we feed grain free only and now chicken free. The only symptoms of food allergies she had was itching and scratching, grain free got rid of that. 

We went chicken free after noticing some scratching and knowing it's a common allergy. She gained 0.2lbs right away and has a much healthier weight. She's a small Korean Maltese, 3.8 lbs full grown, so those last 0.2 lbs made a big difference to how she fills out her frame.


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## Kathleen (Aug 4, 2011)

We had tear staining with Fromms too but it was also while they were teething.


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## Luna&Me (Jul 23, 2016)

Thanks all for sharing your insights and experience!!!

I exchanged the Fromm Puppy for Fromm Four Stars Grain Free Salmon Tunalini which was slightly smaller kibble but my little fluff had no interest in it... she picked out the RC kibble from the Fromm kibble......  My prior dog (a Cavalier) loved Fromm Grain Free and thrived on it. 

I had not considered soaking it though.... so I may give that a try or I might just exchange it. I have been trying to give it to her as a training treat now to get her to like it more but soaking it might be the trick since it is significantly larger than the kibble she was on with her breeder. 



Steph_L said:


> We had tear staining problems until she was 8 months old. She had retained 12 puppy teeth while still having her adult teeth so when she was 8 months she was spayed and had the retained puppy teeth removed. The tear staining stopped then and we haven't had a problem since.
> 
> Not all dogs have grain sensitivity/allergies however Daisy does so we feed grain free only and now chicken free. The only symptoms of food allergies she had was itching and scratching, grain free got rid of that.
> 
> We went chicken free after noticing some scratching and knowing it's a common allergy. She gained 0.2lbs right away and has a much healthier weight. She's a small Korean Maltese, 3.8 lbs full grown, so those last 0.2 lbs made a big difference to how she fills out her frame.


The scratching is not excessive but it is several times a day - and I just want to ensure she is comfortable. Plus I will admit it is kinda of like nails on a chalk board to me when she scratches herself and I know I always pause a bit interacting with dogs that scratch a ton (I start mentally questioning if they have fleas) so I don't want her to be "that" dog when other interact with her. 

Luna is very much teething!!! Our vet wants to wait to see how her teeth do prior to her spay so we may delay the spay a bit so any teeth needed to be pulled can be done so at that same time. Should I just not try to work on her tear stains until after that?



Kathleen said:


> We had tear staining with Fromms too but it was also while they were teething.


I am so glad it is not just me Kathleen.


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## Luna&Me (Jul 23, 2016)

maddysmom said:


> You didn't mention how old your puppy is. With two of my girls I put them on sojos dehydrated raw for puppies at 6 months when I got them. We tried the Fromm but I noticed eye staining immediately after starting it, which is why I made the switch and sure enough the staining stopped. I'm not a fan of kibble but if I had to go with kibble, I wld do zignature and soak over night before feeding.


I looked into Sojos dehydrated for puppies and am so happy you mentioned it to me because I did not even know there was a dehydrated options specifically for puppies. Any suggestion for how much to feed my Luna is 3 lbs 2 oz.?

Any tips on transitioning?
How is their poop on Sojos? When I tried THK with my cavalier the food was messy and there was so much poop.


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## maddysmom (Mar 8, 2012)

Luna&Me said:


> I looked into Sojos dehydrated for puppies and am so happy you mentioned it to me because I did not even know there was a dehydrated options specifically for puppies. Any suggestion for how much to feed my Luna is 3 lbs 2 oz.?
> 
> Any tips on transitioning?
> How is their poop on Sojos? When I tried THK with my cavalier the food was messy and there was so much poop.


So glad it will work! I transitioned my pup over a 10 day period. Her stools are solid and I noticed that her energy is so much better than when she was on Stella &Chewys which she was on. She is 4 1/2 lbs and I give her 1/4 cup a.m and p.m, so 1/2 cup a day. I tend to go on the lower end of their guidelines which is the 1/4 cup each serving, even though she is active and walks a few miles a day.
Which protein are you going to try? I'm feeding lamb right now but will rotate back to the goat, which she absolutely LOVES!!


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