16ga.com ~ View topic

I know there was a post on this befor but I couldn't locate it.I'm wondering what you other hunters feed your pup. So far mine( the lab-gsp cross) has gone thru socks, tennis balls, napkins, he loves them, part of a blanket, tried one of the remote controls, oh yes he loves bark off of the trees as i'm cleaning up some dead trees and brush. Also any leaf he can find.He didn'e seem to like balsam fir though. One was knocked down when a dead birch tree fell on it. On the serious side, I tried purina puppy chow, seemed to come out of him as fast as it went in. Giant stools. I switched to IAM's puppy food. Then I noticed the specs are almost exactly the same as hi-protien food. I was wondering if just feeding the high protien would work? Then I could just feed it to both dogs. Any thoughts. [img][URL=http://freeshare.us]

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Joined: 13 Dec 2006 Posts: 694 Location: MN

One of the most important part of the puppy food formulations is the calcium/magnesium/phosphorus ratio so that bones don't grow to quickly. I would tend to keep the dog on the puppy formulation til it is a year old.
You might be able to put the older dog on the puppy food-probably wouldn't hurt.

Thanks JonP. That is a good point. In fact the old dog likes the IAM"s puppy food. I will do that. I'm going up to the local pheasant run this weekend so I'll feed them both the IAM's puppy food..

We feed our 2 dogs Kangaroo meat which the wife buys at the superemart .Which they absolutely love and if I've been out shooting I might bring home a tail with the original wrapper still on it , they love that.

good shooting
sbs470

Member Joined: 14 Feb 2007 Posts: 110

I've been breaking a cardinal rule of dog nutrition for years. My setters are probably 50% dry dog food (cheap stuff) and 50% table scraps (four kids in the house). It's a way feed the dogs (with non-filler food) and have no waste generated from the kitchen. I tend to think that setters, at least, are not candidates whatsoever for being overweight. And they are perfectly healthy and happy.

And so goes another against the grain post at 16ga.com.

[/img]http://m1.freeshare.us/view/?129fs3065821.jpg[img][/img]

Joined: 19 Jun 2004 Posts: 1480 Location: Mpls, MN.

My setters eat exactly what yours eat. They will get to be fat when they get older, if you don't keep them moving. I spayed an Irish setter at about age 6 (giant breast tumor came out at the same time) and she lost a bit of drive and got chubby. Made it to 10 years as a cancer survivor, however. Purina dog chow and a coupla spoons of whatever people chow is left over on the table, usually involves rice, beans or fresh meat as my wife is from South America. My Gordon made 15 and was fit as a fiddle right up until 14.
Best,
Ted

Joined: 15 Oct 2004 Posts: 787 Location: Indiana

If your dog has a heavy field workload in the fall, as my Golden does, it might be good to feed a premium food. We feed Purina Pro Plan Performance, which is a high protein ration. It helps an active dog maintain a high energy level, and you get fewer stools to clean up because there is less filler. This is not cheap food---but bird hunting is not a low cost activity if you hunt hard and often...