ATTN: PUG OWNERS
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I'm just saying that the holistic food is the best, I had so much freaking training on it.....my cats eat iam's
Much appreciated, I'm reaaaally thinking the Wellness Core Puppy is the best option, and probably will be as close to raw as I will be able to get haha.
You know there are also the raw patties which don't take up much space, right? Stella and Chewy's makes some... you have to go to a specialty dog shot (ie not petco, petsmart) but if you're so stuck on "close to raw" why not do the premade raw food?
Because once again, the freezer is TINY. think apartment size fridge freezer on top combo, and it still has to house our own food. There just isn't the room for it. I'm going to have to rearrange enough to fit in the food that we're being given. We just do not have the space for anything else in there. We also travel, she will be coming to the cottage with us any time we go, and transporting and storing dry food at the cottage will also be easier.0 -
I feed raw and I don't have a big freezer. I get some food from Blue Ridge Beef. It comes in 2-5 pound tubes that fit nicely in a regular freezer (my dogs' get their own shelf). I mix it with a tiny bit of greens and supplements. You can also buy pre-made mixes where you just thaw a few cubes or patties as needed. Very simple and easy. Pricey for large dogs but not bad for small guys.
I am a firm believer in raw food. Over the winter I got lazy and started feeding Blue Buffalo Wilderness (grain-free, super-premium food) dry and canned. In July, my boy started having trouble with stairs and wouldn't jump on the bed anymore. A month of glucosamine supplements did nothing and Zen would occasionally yelp when I picked him up or when he was getting out of bed. I put him back on raw and a week later he was back to launching himself halfway across the room onto the bed, racing down the stairs and tormenting his sister. Except for his gray face you'd never know he's a 10 year old boy with bad hips.
Another big plus is that their poop doesn't smell so bad and their breath is better.
ETA: I can fit a month of raw food on half a shelf in a tiny freezer. Actually my beer fridge, slightly larger than a dorm fridge.And I fed raw when I lived in an apartment.0 -
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I have a puggle. He's awesome.
I feed him string cheese, milk bones, pasta, dry food, whatever. He's a fatass0 -
I have puggles... went through about 5 different foods before I found one that worked. They were VERY sensitive to lots of meat products and it caused some crazy health problems. I ended up giving them Blue - Turkey and sweet potato. They love it.0
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I'm just saying that the holistic food is the best, I had so much freaking training on it.....my cats eat iam's
Much appreciated, I'm reaaaally thinking the Wellness Core Puppy is the best option, and probably will be as close to raw as I will be able to get haha.
You know there are also the raw patties which don't take up much space, right? Stella and Chewy's makes some... you have to go to a specialty dog shot (ie not petco, petsmart) but if you're so stuck on "close to raw" why not do the premade raw food?
Because once again, the freezer is TINY. think apartment size fridge freezer on top combo, and it still has to house our own food. There just isn't the room for it. I'm going to have to rearrange enough to fit in the food that we're being given. We just do not have the space for anything else in there. We also travel, she will be coming to the cottage with us any time we go, and transporting and storing dry food at the cottage will also be easier.
I don't think you understand how LITTLE space it takes up. My 80# dog eats 2 patties a day, they are the size of a hamburger. Your 15# dog will not eat that much so you buy less... We put the patties in a small freezer and take it with us.
But if you want kibble, check out the website I posted. You're not going to get an equivalent to raw doing kibble so just find one that has good ingredients - lotsa stars on the grading scale0 -
Okay, so I'm going to rearrange our freezer and see if I can possibly fit food in there, if I can then I'll buy from our breeder, if not it looks like we're going to try Wellness and go from there. Thanks for all the input guys!
our puppies litter, you can't see much, but she's the one with the purple band. her name is Pippa. 0 -
We feed 'Natural Balance: Potato and Duck'. Our three pugs love it and do beautifully eating it.
Congratulations on your new addition! Pugs are wonderful!0 -
I have cats, but I've been feeding one of mine Oryjen and the other two Acana for a long time.
You can now buy raw foods at specialty pet stores in small quantities that wouldn't take up much space at all.0 -
You can`t beat a raw food diet for Dogs...
I have less than zero storage for a raw diet. It's unfortunate, because we would purchase from our breeder if we could keep it but our breeder is 2 hours away, and we have a tiny freezer.
Out of curiosity, have you looked into getting a deep freezer on Craigslist? People are practically giving them away, and occasionally you can find someone who is ACTUALLY giving them away. If you really want to do a raw diet but don't have the storage to freeze it, that very well might be the way to go.0 -
The best foods you can feed your dog:
A) Raw. Yes, 100% uncooked meat, with a mixtures of fresh (or frozen) veggies. Supplement with cranberry powder and a couple of other supplements.
Orijen. Grain-free, high protein, 100% Canadian ingredients, unless you're getting fish, 100% of the ingredients come from Alberta. Expensive? Yes. Worth it? Totally.
C) Acana, the "budget" version of Orijen.
Other great brands: Holistic, Evolve, Fromm, Merrick, now!, Solid Gold, Urban Wolf, go!, and Innova
Wellness is an OK product, but for what you get is horribly over priced.
Foods to avoid: Canine plus, Eukanuba, nutram, Nutrience, Nutro, Royal Canin,and Science Diet.
Why should you avoid these foods? Because they're made out of crap that a dog simply cannot even digest. Science Diet is insanely over priced too! Do you know why Vets suggest it? Many vet schools are sponsored by Science Diet. That's why you also find it in most vets.
To really make this simple for you, when you visit a pet food store, pull a bag off the shelf and read the ingredients. If the first 5 are not some form of meat, put it back and grab another one. If it includes any corn, or barley, or any other grain, put it back. Dogs cannot digest grains.
After you go through all this, keep this in mind: The #1 most important thing you can do for your dog is give it a variety. Every time you go buy some dog food, get it something it has never had, or something it hasn't had for a long time. Dogs need variety as much as people do.0 -
I have 2 pugs and we feed them Natural Balance or Nutro. They easily get runny stools if we don't use either of these two. Their digestive systems get used to a particular food and changing can be upsetting. I haven't read all of the responses here, but our vet said that if we need to change foods for any reason, we should mix 1/3 of the new food with the old, then 1/2, then 3/4...and so on so it isn't such a shock to their systems. We've had good results with this method of introducing new feeds.0
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I feed my two pugs Blue Buffalo, small breed formula.0
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Throwing my 2 cents in here.
I do not own pugs.. I do currently have a 19 month old femal Boerboel (south african mastiff) and a 9 month olf Tosa Inu (Japanese mastiff). When feeding a mastiff you have to be carefule not to feed them crap that will mess with their joints.
with previous mastiffs I had, I did go raw, and it was painstaking at times.
Currently I am feeding my femal Canidae and my male Wellness. Both are good foods.
If you are going to feed dry, which I do, try to find ones that are grain free, and where meat is the first 2,3 or 4 ingredients, actual meat, not chicken meal, but deboned chicken or fish. Grain free foods will cost a little more but will keep you dogs healthier and give them a longer more active life.0 -
To really make this simple for you, when you visit a pet food store, pull a bag off the shelf and read the ingredients. If the first 5 are not some form of meat, put it back and grab another one. If it includes any corn, or barley, or any other grain, put it back. Dogs cannot digest grains.
I agree with this completely. Keep in mind that each "brand" usually has multiple flavors/versions. We use a Nutro feed that doesn't have any grain. Most decent brands have a "no grain" or "low grain" version of their feed.0 -
You can`t beat a raw food diet for Dogs...
I have less than zero storage for a raw diet. It's unfortunate, because we would purchase from our breeder if we could keep it but our breeder is 2 hours away, and we have a tiny freezer.
Out of curiosity, have you looked into getting a deep freezer on Craigslist? People are practically giving them away, and occasionally you can find someone who is ACTUALLY giving them away. If you really want to do a raw diet but don't have the storage to freeze it, that very well might be the way to go.
I don't have the space for a deep freezer
lol we do live in an apartment, and while it's a nice size, there isn't really any space for a deep freezer. I am definitely going to try to sort out our freezer and see if we can keep Pippa on the raw diet she will be used to. 0 -
I have been wanting to feed my little ones better food as well. So Iams is commercial, does that make it a no-no? Right now I give them Purina Little Bites and once they finish the bag, they won't get any more of that.
I wouldn't give my dogs anything that contained animal digest because it can contain euthanized shelter animals. FDA tested foods containing animal digest and found sodium pentobarbital, but no DNA (Wal Mart's Ol' Roy puppy food had the highest amount!). I wish I could find the list again so I could post it here. A vet told me that once the food is processed, you won't find the DNA. Doubtful the dog food companies are arbitrarily putting the chemical that puts your pets to sleep in their food. Also, Iams paid for animal testing, so any company owned by them is off my list, too. After seeing video of beagles laid out on the floor with pieces of their thigh cut out, and hearing a tech telling another tech to just shake them if they stop breathing, that was enough for me.0 -
I have a Puggle and we started him on Nature's Recipe puppy formula, it didn't bother him, but made him extremely gassy. I just recently switched to Natural Balance which my sister, who works with dogs for a living, suggested. So far, I haven't noticed gas, but once.0
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I feed my 10 yr old pug Science Diet small bites. Any time we switch she gets sick so we are sticking with it.
Warning about pugs: They shed so ridiculously much that had I known, I may not have gotten one. They are very sharp hairs that plug your vaccum, stick in your couch, and even give your splinters. You also have to get their anal glands squeezed (YUCK!!!) or they will smell! And mine can't be walked because she has serious trouble breathing in the heat and long distances. Other than that they are great!
I knew all about the shedding, we were very impressed with our breeders dogs, they didn't shed at all on me when we were at the breeder, and their house was spotless. Our apartment is small and I'm used to having dogs (my mum breeds poodles, and when I was a kid we had labs, also high shedders). I made sure to find a breeder who's dogs had more of a muzzle and less wrinkles.
we're very excited to bring her home!
What is wrong with getting a pug from a rescue? Or a mutt from a rescue? Millions of dogs are killed each year just because there are not enough homes. Why support bringing even more into the world?0 -
I have been wanting to feed my little ones better food as well. So Iams is commercial, does that make it a no-no? Right now I give them Purina Little Bites and once they finish the bag, they won't get any more of that.
I wouldn't give my dogs anything that contained animal digest because it can contain euthanized shelter animals. FDA tested foods containing animal digest and found sodium pentobarbital, but no DNA (Wal Mart's Ol' Roy puppy food had the highest amount!). I wish I could find the list again so I could post it here. A vet told me that once the food is processed, you won't find the DNA. Doubtful the dog food companies are arbitrarily putting the chemical that puts your pets to sleep in their food. Also, Iams paid for animal testing, so any company owned by them is off my list, too. After seeing video of beagles laid out on the floor with pieces of their thigh cut out, and hearing a tech telling another tech to just shake them if they stop breathing, that was enough for me.
Yikes! OK, this is great info for everyone.0 -
ksdgdk skgsori glksigs omg0 -
I have been wanting to feed my little ones better food as well. So Iams is commercial, does that make it a no-no? Right now I give them Purina Little Bites and once they finish the bag, they won't get any more of that.
EDIT: I don't have a pug, but I think all of us who care for our pets want to give them the best.
IAMS is commercial, but it is one of the better ones. Meat needs to be the first ingredient(s) and try to aviod ground yellow corn. Diamond Chicken and Rice is a pretty decent one without getting into the more expensive brands like Blue Buffalo.0 -
I feed my 10 yr old pug Science Diet small bites. Any time we switch she gets sick so we are sticking with it.
Warning about pugs: They shed so ridiculously much that had I known, I may not have gotten one. They are very sharp hairs that plug your vaccum, stick in your couch, and even give your splinters. You also have to get their anal glands squeezed (YUCK!!!) or they will smell! And mine can't be walked because she has serious trouble breathing in the heat and long distances. Other than that they are great!
Try switching to raw. Shedding is reduced (hair splinters happen regardless of breed, just ask a groomer). The bones in a raw diet produce very hard poops that squeeze the anal glands so you don't have to. Another thing I noticed in my attempt to feed regular dog food was that my girl got impacted/infected anal glands on commercial food.0 -
I feed my 10 yr old pug Science Diet small bites. Any time we switch she gets sick so we are sticking with it.
Warning about pugs: They shed so ridiculously much that had I known, I may not have gotten one. They are very sharp hairs that plug your vaccum, stick in your couch, and even give your splinters. You also have to get their anal glands squeezed (YUCK!!!) or they will smell! And mine can't be walked because she has serious trouble breathing in the heat and long distances. Other than that they are great!
Try switching to raw. Shedding is reduced (hair splinters happen regardless of breed, just ask a groomer). The bones in a raw diet produce very hard poops that squeeze the anal glands so you don't have to. Another thing I noticed in my attempt to feed regular dog food was that my girl got impacted/infected anal glands on commercial food.
Great info! I didn't know that about the anal glands and the bones in the raw diet. Hmmmmm, sounding like I need to try to make room! One thing I'll say is that when at the breeders, NONE of their dogs smelled. You wouldn't even know they had dogs, the raw diet they're on doesn't seem to make them gassy, or smelly at all.0 -
I agree with this completely. Keep in mind that each "brand" usually has multiple flavors/versions. We use a Nutro feed that doesn't have any grain. Most decent brands have a "no grain" or "low grain" version of their feed.To really make this simple for you, when you visit a pet food store, pull a bag off the shelf and read the ingredients. If the first 5 are not some form of meat, put it back and grab another one. If it includes any corn, or barley, or any other grain, put it back. Dogs cannot digest grains.
Another thing to remember is to check the carbs. You don't want white potato or rice high up in the ingredients either. You want low carb, moderate protein, high fat. I know that sounds counter-intuitive but it's what's best for dogs. Carbs will make them fat and hyper. Fat will not make them fat.
If you're traveling, look around for freeze dried raw food. I know I've seen it online. There's at least one company that sells frozen raw food and a freeze dried version of their patties. That would be perfect for travel.
Find some marrow bones. My grocery store sells big chunks for soups. I keep them frozen and then give them to my guys when I leave in the morning. They have to work to get the scraps of meat off the bone and will lick for hours to get the marrow out. When they're done, they're tired and they go to sleep. And tired, sleepy dogs are good dogs. Sometimes I refill the bones with their breakfast portion and refreeze it. I want them to have to work. And they seem to enjoy it.0 -
luv my pug/chi!!0
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I'll be honest, I didn't read all the responses. I did read the one about going to a breeder vs. resuce and I won't touch that, that is totally off topic. I am a strong believer in RESPONSIBLE breeding. Anywho.
You mention that you can get Purina for free. Remember, feeding dogs is much like feeding us. How many debates do we see on here everyday about carbs vs low carbs, organic vs not, clean vs whatever There are a million theories. When it comes to dogs, I believe in feeding what dogs do well on and what you can afford. I have had my dogs on "premium" foods, I have had them on what some people would consider not so premium food. I don't believe food containing a lot of corn is good, no. But does it mean corn free food is superior, no (unless your dog has an outright allergy). Some of the premium foods use fillers, just not corn.
My working dog has his food purchased, so we don't choose his food. He is on Purina ProPlan and is doing fantastic. My older GSD was on Purina One before I came on the scene. When I came around, we upgraded because I was obsessed with feeding the best. For a time he was on ProPlan, now he is on Taste of the Wild, as was my lab. Honestly, I am considering switching back to ProPlan. They all have better coats, better poops (sorry), etc. on what many consider a "lower quality" food.
Dogfoodanalysis.com is a good resource, but remember, it is one persons opinion on their views of dog food.
/just my 2 cents.
ETA - sorry not a pug owner, just a huge dog lover.0 -
I'll be honest, I didn't read all the responses. I did read the one about going to a breeder vs. resuce and I won't touch that, that is totally off topic. I am a strong believer in RESPONSIBLE breeding. Anywho.
You mention that you can get Purina for free. Remember, feeding dogs is much like feeding us. How many debates do we see on here everyday about carbs vs low carbs, organic vs not, clean vs whatever There are a million theories. When it comes to dogs, I believe in feeding what dogs do well on and what you can afford. I have had my dogs on "premium" foods, I have had them on what some people would consider not so premium food. I don't believe food containing a lot of corn is good, no. But does it mean corn free food is superior, no (unless your dog has an outright allergy). Some of the premium foods use fillers, just not corn.
My working dog has his food purchased, so we don't choose his food. He is on Purina ProPlan and is doing fantastic. My older GSD was on Purina One before I came on the scene. When I came around, we upgraded because I was obsessed with feeding the best. For a time he was on ProPlan, now he is on Taste of the Wild, as was my lab. Honestly, I am considering switching back to ProPlan. They all have better coats, better poops (sorry), etc. on what many consider a "lower quality" food.
Dogfoodanalysis.com is a good resource, but remember, it is one persons opinion on their views of dog food.
/just my 2 cents.
ETA - sorry not a pug owner, just a huge dog lover.
Thank you for such an honest response, I think for now we've decided to start with Orijen and go from there. Price point is no problem, it's just that if we do go to Purina, we will be getting it for free because my boyfriends dad is a director with the company.0 -
I have a Jack Russell mix who has been scratching for 3 years since I got him. It took him 3 days to start scratching. Last September and this August I had to take him in for cortisone shots. Switched to the flea pills which work great, but the vet suggested food elimination. Stumbled upon Natural Balance Duck and potato to have food he's never had before. Beyond no grains. Eliminate chicken, too and rawhide chews. He won't understand the no more rawhide, but his scratching is rediculous! Don't like meds for dogs, either.
Look at this link with testamonials from owners with pets with all kinds of conditions: http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/testimonials.aspx?productID=12&Page=3
I'm still doing the switch over so have my fingers crossed!0 -
My pug "Hudson" is over 5 years old and we've been feeding him Beniful and beniful soft foods his entire life. We found out the hard way he's lactose intollerant so we have to have a soy based that they have Healthy Harvest which is no milk. The vet says he's perfectly fine and doesn't need super expensive food.0
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