Suitable food for young lurcher

tee2green

Hi All, looking for some advise, I rescued a lurcher pup during the summer, and wondering what would be best to feed him.
I have tried Red Mills and Hills Science and his poos are always runny. My back garden is a mess from it.

I have tried Nature Diet puppy food and yes that has solved the problem but is quite costly about 80 euros a month. Any suggestions on what to feed him, my budget would be 50-60 euros a month.

Somebody suggested to me the protein content in the ones I have tried were too high, 27-28 %. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Roaster

I've 4 rescue lurchers and the only food that I found (through months of trying) that suits them all is Red Mills LEADER Sensitive. I've to get it specially ordered in as I'm the only one that buys it in the shop. I'll also give them sardines or cod liver oil in with their food.

tee2green

Thanks Roaster, Would it be ok for a 6 month old puppy do you think?

ra0044

Hi.

I had similar issues with our whippet when he was young. It turned out to be one of the treats we were giving him causing his bad stomach. Funnily enough he had gone off his food at the time and would only eat these treats. I put it down to his food and kept changing brands and types etc. but nothing worked until we ran out of the treats and low and behold it cleared up and he went back to eating his regular food.

Now I use very plain treats for training etc that I know wont go straight through him.

I feed ours a low protein food. ( 20% ) because unless they are racing dogs they don't need the extra protein when sleeping all day on the couch.

tee2green

ra0044 wrote: »

Hi.

I had similar issues with our whippet when he was young. It turned out to be one of the treats we were giving him causing his bad stomach. Funnily enough he had gone off his food at the time and would only eat these treats. I put it down to his food and kept changing brands and types etc. but nothing worked until we ran out of the treats and low and behold it cleared up and he went back to eating his regular food.

Now I use very plain treats for training etc that I know wont go straight through him.

I feed ours a low protein food. ( 20% ) because unless they are racing dogs they don't need the extra protein when sleeping all day on the couch.

So when would you reckon i could take my lad off puppy food? All puppy food seems high in protein.

Rommie

ra0044 wrote: »

Hi.

I had similar issues with our whippet when he was young. It turned out to be one of the treats we were giving him causing his bad stomach. Funnily enough he had gone off his food at the time and would only eat these treats. I put it down to his food and kept changing brands and types etc. but nothing worked until we ran out of the treats and low and behold it cleared up and he went back to eating his regular food.

Now I use very plain treats for training etc that I know wont go straight through him.

I feed ours a low protein food. ( 20% ) because unless they are racing dogs they don't need the extra protein when sleeping all day on the couch.

It's not necessarily the protein that he's getting his energy from, dogs are carnivores, they are built to use protein to build up their bodies and muscle, particularly as puppies. I would be more concerned with the quality of protein than the amount of it.

OP, have a look at the protein content, and the ingredients of what you want to feed. The main thing is that the first ingredient in a dried food is a named meat listed as either meal or dehydrated (meaning the 80% water content in fresh meat has been taken out so you get a proper weight of the meat in the food).

Have you considered feeding raw? A friend of mine has a few hounds and wouldn't go beyond it. The main thing is to feed what you think they can handle; overfeeding means less food gets digested and most comes out the other end.

Milly33

Just spotted hope you get sorted with the food... Lurchers are so sweet I hope you have a nice couch for it...

Just to note now and I swear I am not working there,but take a look at Zooplus online for the food (when you find a good brand of it that suits) they do very good deals and are cheaper than the shops...

Roaster

tee2green wrote: »

Thanks Roaster, Would it be ok for a 6 month old puppy do you think?

Sorry for only getting back to you now tee2green. They do a puppy version of LEADER. The youngest one of my lurchers would have been when I started to feed them this was 18 months old.