Friday, July 31, 2009

My mom feeds the our dog puppy food?

I just wanted to know.
My mother is feeding our 3 year old poodle puppy chow and apparently is may make your dog bigger? Like, gain weight?
Thats good and all because our dog is skinny and cannot gain a pound to save her life. (When we put her in a kennel when we go on vacation, no matter what kennel she is at, she losses weight so dont even try to think that we do not feed her because her bowl is filled all the time.) We have changed her dog food before and this is the best she is eating. Side effects...well, embarrasing but she farts alot. And its the smelly kind.
But i was wondering if it is ok if she eats puppy dry food.
Thanks alot :]
Answers:
Rather than puppy food, I'd try a "performance" type diet. She doesn't need the extra calcium and such in puppy food, but does need a high calorie digestible diet for an active adult dog. Poodles can be notoriously picky eaters if you allow them to be, but they are also easily trained to eat what you feed them. Mine get their measured ration of dry food (I feed Pro Plan), to which I add about a tablespoon of canned Pedigree. I buy all the different flavors of the canned food, so they think they are getting new food every couple days. They eat when I feed them, or it gets picked up until the next mealtime. A dog's digestive system is not really built for "grazing." Food will "stick" better if eaten as meals.
Any food that contains soybeans in any form can cause flatulence. Look for a dry food without any soy. It's one of the reasons I switched to Pro Plan foods 25 years ago. It has no soy, and they make a performance formula. I'm sure there are other choices, do some research.
Check into Iams dog food food
Puppy food is okay to feed adults and it sounds like she needs all the nutrition she can get. Have you taken her to the vet to see if she needs wormed? That can make a dog skinny and have a lot of flatulence. Some doggy vitamins may be a good idea also. They are inexpensive and found in most grocery stores and Wally World.
that's something to ask the vet. puppy food contains a lot of protein for the growing puppy. while it will put weight on her, there might be another reason for the weight loss, like worms. ask the vet.
It might make it gain weight, but is not healty. The reason that puppy chow makes it gain weight is becuase it is supposed to provide PUPPIES with fat to start off with. Your 3 year old is not getting enough nuitriants it needs. (Which will result to less energy and possibly sickness) You can still give your dog the chow, just mix it with regular dog food.
Puppy food and adult food is all the same, it just have different nutrients in it. If your dog is gaining weight, you should keep her on the same food, especially if she likes it. But keep her active so that she stays healthy. Dogs are just like people and need just as much food as exercise. If she stops eating it, or it appears to make her sick, gently wean her off it. try mixing it with a different food everyday until she is completely switched.
As far as not eating at the kennel, your gog is probably lonely.As far as the puppy food, maybe the extra nutrition is what it needs. Check with your vet.
It really won't hurt the dog. It has a lot of nutritional stuff that an adult dog does not need and you have already witnessed the smelly side effects, but other than that it should be fine.

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