Best food for my 6month old female pug

[mischa0310]

I am needing some advice for getting my pug on the best food. Originally from the breeder she was on a mixture of Royal canin and natures diet but I switched her onto Burns. I found burns to be really good as her poos were great but I don't think she particularly enjoyed it as she would wolf down other food eg treats but would pick at her Burns. I have since changed her onto Wainwrights but I feel it is too high in fibre for her as she is doing at least 6/7 poos a day in short spaces of time. Her poos are soft whereas on Burns they were firm. With being on Wainwrights she has lost weight which I can't have as she is an active pug. I work in a dog kennels and so she is with me everyday racing around with other dogs and she is surprisingly fit, will spend a morning down the beach playing. I'm interested in Skinners field and trial or Arden Grange. Any suggestions would be extremely helpful. Thank you!

[COASTER]

Welcome to the forums....

We currently have 2 Dogs in household. - one is a Pug. He came to us at 6 months old on d.i.y. raw and was on a lot of it daily. He would tear through large raw chicken wings as if  they were treats. Not wanting to continue on d.i.y we made an easy to make change onto raw complete minces with Nutriment which he did fine on.  For ease of feeding and to avoid defrost hassles we switched the Pug to Wainwrights grain free trays. He did okay on these but he could be, windy shall we say. Output was looser although energy levels & condition seemed fine. The duck seemed to be better in agreement than lamb or chicken with salmon & porato best. I am talking in terms of solid and gas outputs ! Condition wise he seemed fine on all compositions.


At that time the other dog here,  (working line Lab) , was on various kibbles (JWB then Arden Grange, Burns, Chapel Farm, Skinners F&T & lastly Akela....we also trialled Simpsons & some higher end CSJ products).

A few months ago we switched the Lab to raw complete minces (currently on nutriment) . At the same time the Pug was put into raw complete also. Both dogs do fine on this in terms of condition, energy and waste/gas output.

Pug gets 250g per  day of nutrient. Mainly salmi and chick or salmon & turkey. We drop in some others so as to avoid creating intolerances and so as to reduce bone content every few days.

I have posted elsewhere my loyalty is to the dogs & not individual food types or manufacturers  that remains my stance.

Pug here is active and runs around (or tagging behind) the Lab.
 

Pug here not likely to waste away. I tweak feed amounts relative to size/weight/body condition. The 250g per day (2x125g) on 3-3.5 % body weight. That little Pug will walk 4 or 5 miles in milder weather without any issues. He is not wasting away but is relatively lean yet with good muscle coverage. I often get positive comments re his overly & body condition relative to some others. Stools are far reduced in overall daily mass output - firm and relatively oddour free.

I have never fed the pug kibble other than as training treats in past....both dogs now has dried raw treats only.

If feeding a kibble I would probably keep clear of rice. Personally I think Pugs can be a bit sensitive to feeding & I would not want to stuff mine with expanding conventional kibble.

I have prior considered cold pressed foods but stopped short of switching....these foods seem kinder on dog digestion
& that is a sensible consideration  for me with smaller breeds &/or deep chested breeds.

It really is a case of trial and error as what might suit one Pug might not suit another. They are individuals in more ways than one.

Hope some of the above of interest/use.

[Dottie]

Hello and welcome to the forum.  It is not really possible for us to say what the best food is for your pug.  All dogs are different, as are their owners and circumstances.  There is a section on the website here that explains much about what to feed, how much etc etc.  It is a clear, concise article that is well worth looking at. 

The amount of poo does seem excessive and it should be firm, not soft.  Some useful articles on this here and here.   

You don't say which Burns product you were using but it seems a shame that you were doing well on the food but changed it due to the dog becoming picky.  One way of overcoming this pickiness is to use a topper.  This is becoming increasingly popular with users of kibble, probably because it adds taste and moisture.  Burns do some wet foods, the one that comes to mind is Penlan Farm.  All you would have to do is reduce the kibble slightly and top up with the wet food. 

Alternatively (arguably a better option) would be for you to perhaps consider topping up with suitable home cooked food.  Protein rich foods would balance the Burns quite well e.g.chicken, fish, sardines, minced beef. A small amount of suitable cooked vegetables and some fruit such as blueberries might also be acceptable to your pug.   Check out our home cooking section for more information about this.  The other thing that you can do to tempt the dog is to soak the kibble and add warm water immediately prior to serving.  As we all know, scent is extremely important to dogs and this releases the aroma of the food, therefore making it more interesting to the dog.

Edit: Forgot to say that overfeeding can result in copious and soft stools so it might be worth checking that the amount you are giving is correct for your dog. It is useful to weigh food, using a digital scale in 1g divisions. Please could you post back to let us know the amount of Wainwright's that you are giving?