I will getting Fred in a few weeks. I am looking for some advice with dog food choices. Talked with a vet and he said I had to watch what Fred ate because Basset Hounds are prone to bloating. Fred will be 8 eight weeks when he comes home. Any advice would be great. Never had a puppy before or a Basset Hound. I always had older labs or dobermans.
Getting a new puppy
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Hello Tammy Ray!
I too am brand new to pups and certainly basset hounds!
I will be getting my first basset this Sunday!
Ill be watching this post in hopes some of the seasoned owners can help us with our new venture!
One thing I did, was asked my breeder what food they were already feeding the pups! They sent me the name brand so that I could shop in my area for it!
I had read that you should feed the same food, as they are already used to it!
If you wanted to change from that brand, then you needed to mix it 1/2 new food, 1/2 old food, till the pup was able to change over fully to the new food!
Maybe some others will chime in here soon!
I too am brand new to pups and certainly basset hounds!
I will be getting my first basset this Sunday!
Ill be watching this post in hopes some of the seasoned owners can help us with our new venture!
One thing I did, was asked my breeder what food they were already feeding the pups! They sent me the name brand so that I could shop in my area for it!
I had read that you should feed the same food, as they are already used to it!
If you wanted to change from that brand, then you needed to mix it 1/2 new food, 1/2 old food, till the pup was able to change over fully to the new food!
Maybe some others will chime in here soon!
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We feed my dog Fromm. It is a Wisconsin company. Charlie lovvesss it and ever since we switched her to it, I swear she lets me know when it is time to eat! She gets all in my face, literally!
To be honest though, some nice brands really aren't that much more expensive that the brands you see on TV (purina, Eukanuba, Iams, etc). If you look on dog food review websites, you will see that these brands score pretty low in quality. They just have a lot of fillers. They may score 1-2 stars on a 5 star scale. So, I find it worth it to pay a few extra dollars for a nicer food. To me, dogs are a member of the family and deserve some good quality food.
To be honest though, some nice brands really aren't that much more expensive that the brands you see on TV (purina, Eukanuba, Iams, etc). If you look on dog food review websites, you will see that these brands score pretty low in quality. They just have a lot of fillers. They may score 1-2 stars on a 5 star scale. So, I find it worth it to pay a few extra dollars for a nicer food. To me, dogs are a member of the family and deserve some good quality food.
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What a good decision to get a Basset... we have had them for many years in our family, a few from puppies (including two sisters I have at the moment) and a lot of rehomes. Two good Basset breeder friends of mine won't sell a Basset Hound to anyone who has no experience of owning the breed unless you have really read up a lot of information on Basset Hounds so my advice to you is to learn as much as you can about Bassets as they are 'hounds' and are different to 'dogs' and have a very stubborn nature!
Re the bloating, read up as much as you can about it... it can be a killer!!! Houndsbay Basset Hounds | Health | Bloat
I have always fed new puppies on the dried Eukanuba puppy food for large breeds and always moistened it with warm garvy or warm water to make it softer for when their teeth are tiny and you may like to do the same if you use complete food. I always add some meat (tinned Butcher's tripe or similar) or maybe some mince or nice gravy to make it a bit more tasty for my dogs.
I was always told never to feed a dog for at least an hour after exercise and never exercise a dog for more than an hour after feeding so you should bear that in mind.
When they are pups, Bassets should not be walked much, especially on hard surface like the pavements... some people say not to walk Bassets more than 5 mins per month in age and no long walks until 10months upwards so that their leg joints have time to knit together without being damaged. Keep bassets off the stairs... when they reach 60-75lbs, it's far too much weight on those little front legs and can cause joint problems.
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I second with at least starting with the breeder recommendation, they usual know what works best with their line
While there are no offical bloat statistics for basset given their confromation it should be on a par with dobermans and a bit higer than labs. There is not much in the way of food choices that have been shown to increase bloat risk. The biggy is wetting dry food that is perserves with vitamin C which increase bloat risk significantly.
The biggest things to minimize bloat risk are
1.genetics if bloat does not run in the line the risk for you dog will be smaller and of course the opposite will increase the risk
2. size of meals in volume the smaller the size of meal the less risk. Feeding more often had no effect when taking into account different meal size. But ofcourse, feeding smaller meals moreoften reduces risk, as does feed more nutritional dense feed general the more expensive brands that the recommend feed volume is less.
3. The speed the dog eats faster eater are more prone to bloat. There a bowl designed to slow down fast eater allong with adding supplement like canned pumpkin which is stick can slow down inhalers of dog food.
4. age the older the dog the more likely they are to bloat.
Common things often recommend to reduce bloat have not been shown to actual work when investigated using satistical analysis. Moisten Dry dog food, note moistening dry food preserved with vitamin C actual ingreased bloat risk significantly.
Not exercising befor or after meal, limiting water intake after meal.
While there are no offical bloat statistics for basset given their confromation it should be on a par with dobermans and a bit higer than labs. There is not much in the way of food choices that have been shown to increase bloat risk. The biggy is wetting dry food that is perserves with vitamin C which increase bloat risk significantly.
The biggest things to minimize bloat risk are
1.genetics if bloat does not run in the line the risk for you dog will be smaller and of course the opposite will increase the risk
2. size of meals in volume the smaller the size of meal the less risk. Feeding more often had no effect when taking into account different meal size. But ofcourse, feeding smaller meals moreoften reduces risk, as does feed more nutritional dense feed general the more expensive brands that the recommend feed volume is less.
3. The speed the dog eats faster eater are more prone to bloat. There a bowl designed to slow down fast eater allong with adding supplement like canned pumpkin which is stick can slow down inhalers of dog food.
4. age the older the dog the more likely they are to bloat.
Common things often recommend to reduce bloat have not been shown to actual work when investigated using satistical analysis. Moisten Dry dog food, note moistening dry food preserved with vitamin C actual ingreased bloat risk significantly.
Not exercising befor or after meal, limiting water intake after meal.
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Here's something you might like to read TammyRay!
You can see in the face of the Basset Hound, the laziness that doesn't allow them to please their masters. In fact they were born to please themselves. Training a basset hound will be the hardest thing in the world if you are unable to work along with his/her nature. They are intelligent breed of dogs so successful training requires a simple trick by convincing them that it's not the training or any kind of work but an exciting game where they are going to have lot of treats.
Basset hounds are notoriously obstinate and prone to "selective hearing". So never think that your Basset is too dumb to understand your commands. As I already said, she doesn't want to please her masters as other breed of dogs want to and perhaps it's because that she hasn't put your commands in her top priorities. It may be the reason why your basset hound seems too dumb and stubborn to you. To solve this problem as soon as possible, introduce her to the obedient class and teach her basic commands like "sit", "stay" etc to make things easy for you.
It's important to include exercise in Basset Hound training to keep her fit and fine. However, exercise is not something that she enjoys at all. Walking is much more her style than jogging or running. But if she smells the scent of a critter, then she's going to run and jump and be agile like she was never before. Whatever her like and dislike is it is important that she gets her regular exercise to avoid becoming obese because she loves eating as much as she loathes exercise.
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