Newmom

We will be getting our new puppy April 16th and I was wondering about what people would suggest for a good food. We do live in rural Nova Scotia so we do not have a great amount of choices. I would love to hear some suggestions from all the experienced Basset owners. We now have a greyhound and feeding him is a whole different kettle of fish, no corn, only can eat lamb...extremely sensitve stomach...

roscolaylamommy

When I brought Rosco home as a puppy, I kept him on the same food the breeder was feeding him (I use the term breeder loosely because this was a farmer who had hunting bassets) and then gradually switched him over to Iam's puppy food. He did very well on that and didn't have any problems. You're going to get a lot of variation in opinions on what to feed your puppy (as to the quality of food) and I say feed him the best you can afford.

I think you're bigger challenge is going to be keeping your other dog with food allergies from eating the puppy's food. Congrats on the new edition and we can't wait to see pictures!

Newmom

The greyhound eats Iams lamb and rice, we have tried others even the more expensive lamb and rice foods but that is what he seems to do the best on. what ain't broke don't fix as they say lol. We will be trying the basset on that as an adult as it would be easier for both to be on the same food. I was also wondering about having him on large breed puppy food as well. That has been suggested before and is it something I should be looking for?

Mikey T

that is the best advice when it comes to feeding each dog is an individual what works for one may not for anouther. With a Basset puppy I would reccommend an larger breed puppy food. They have reduced calories and calcium and phosporous ompared to other dog puppy foods all wich is important to mitigate nutrional cause of growth abnormalities. Contrary to popular belief most of the common growth abnormalities in larger breed dogs are the result of over nutrion, to much food, too much calcium and phosporus. Do not suppliment especial calcium.

In the olded days befor large breed puppy food many breeder recommend switch at 6 months some times earlier to an adult food. this has some of the same effects as feed a large breed puppy food.

Many question if a baset is a large breed, In regards to bone mass they are. The have the largest bone mass compared to overall body weight of any breed so even though there overall size is marginal for being called a large breed developmentally they are.

Mikey T

for more specifics see The Growth of Large and Giant breed Puppies

Optimal feeding of large breed puppies
Dog Diet Do's and Don’t's


As you can see it is import to keep the puppy thin not the shape of the average basset you see walking the street.

Newmom

You have just described our greyhounds body, he is a great weight and we work hard to keep him that way. He is walked at least three times a day and has off leash runs in a totally fenced ball field at least twice a week. The puppy will be on the same regiment as soon as he is old enough. We do want to teach him to be active as we are. With a large breed puppy food, what age do you recommend him being on it until?

bubbad

Becareful exercising your puppy .If you go hiking do not take him,till he is ,in my opinion,about a year old. Take him for short walks and for scocialization periods.His bone growth is important especially in his legs.The joints can be overworked easily.Just take care and use some wisdom. Are you getting him Pat Kennedy? Just curious.

Newmom

I do plan on taking it slow with him, he will not be going anywhere too far for the first year, just like you said short walks and the ball field. The greyhound will be happy to have some company at the field. We are not getting him from Pat Kennedy although I would love to have a Newfie puppy lol. Go back to my roots lol.

mhvonalmen8908

We just fed both of our pups Iams puppy food. Doppler was four months when we got him so we didn't do anything special with his food. But Virga was 8 weeks old when we got her and her breeder suggested that we wet her food down to soften it until she got bigger. But both of our dogs are on Iams food and they're doing well on it.

__________________
Megan & Chris
-Mom & Dad to Doppler (2 year old Basset/Redbone/Golden mix) and Virga (1 year old Basset)

SophieB

Bubbad, you have said exactly what I would advise through being a lifelong Basset owner (third generation of having Bassets) and vets and reputable breeders have told us the same thing... do not over-exercise Basset puppies and keep them off stairs... going down stairs puts too much weight on the front leg joints!

Obviously your greyhound will be so nimble and agile compared to your Basset and possibly doesn't eat like a Basset would!

Have loads of fun with your new pup! Lots of pics too please!!