Which food

[NBHunter]

New litter of pups. Feeding mom Eukanuba 30/20. Buddy tells me I should be feeding her a puppy chow. On the Eukanuba bag it says its for lactating dogs. He said I should be feeding her the same food I will feed them when they are weaned. Makes sense, so I'm looking for some help here. Thanks in advance.

[Rainmaker]

There's a bazillion threads on food and opinions to go along with them. If you want to switch her to the Euk puppy, wouldn't hurt. Others stay on the 30/20 for life with fine results. Just depends. Read up and make your own decision. I feed Fromm and switch my bitches to the puppy formula during pregnancy and continue that thru weaning, puppies get the same food mom does. What you really want to avoid is anything labeled "large breed" . http://www.eukanuba.com/en-US/puppy-...nutrition.jspx

[scully]

Kim,
Are you saying to avoid large breed food for mom, puppies or both?
Thanks
Tim

[MikeB]

I would stay with the Performance 30/20 your bitch is used to and the pups will do just fine on that too. If she has a large litter over 6 pups you can start feeding them at 3 to 4 weeks old. I use ground up 30/20 food with warm water in the blender to make a pourable mixure and put it in pie pans or other type of low pans so they can lick it up. Feeding that mixure twice a day to start will help the mom recover better at feeding times. What ever the pups don't eat feed to mom to clean up.

[Rainmaker]

Kim,
Are you saying to avoid large breed food for mom, puppies or both?
Thanks
Tim

Large breed food, whether puppy or adult formula, is contraindicated for pregnant/lactating bitches, most will say that somewhere on the bag or website, like Eukanuba: "NOT RECOMMENDED for feeding during pregnancy and nursing due to specially adjusted mineral content." I don't like large breed puppy for weaning pups either and most of the guidelines for large breed puppy formulas suggest using them after weaning.

[NBHunter]

I would stay with the Performance 30/20 your bitch is used to and the pups will do just fine on that too. If she has a large litter over 6 pups you can start feeding them at 3 to 4 weeks old. I use ground up 30/20 food with warm water in the blender to make a pourable mixure and put it in pie pans or other type of low pans so they can lick it up. Feeding that mixure twice a day to start will help the mom recover better at feeding times. What ever the pups don't eat feed to mom to clean up.

That was going to be my next question...the kibble is really big but grinding it up in a blender makes a lot of sense

[Bob Barnett]

Email Eukanuba. You will have a response within 24hrs based off of science not opinion. You will also get a couple of coupons to go with it.