Pedigree Chum, good or bad?

[bambino chicino]

Hi everyone!
I am brand spanking new to the online forum and my hubby and I are brand new owners of a beautiful golden cocker spaniel called Charlie!
I wont bore you with personal details and I'll keep this short as Im sure I'll be posting lots of other questions in different topics!
Basically, Ive read lots of negative things about Pedigree Chum. We are feeding Charlie on a mix of Pedigree Puppy tinned food and the dry puppy mix as it was what his owner was feeding him and so we wanted to make his transition to his new home as easy as possible.
We've had him two weeks today and Im worried that what we are feeding him is leading to hyperactivity and also making his poo very squishy. Its not runny but it is not easy to pick up. Im not panicking because he's only a pup and I read in another discussion that puppies can suffer diarrhea when settling in their new home, but if we can help him on his way by changing his food we would do it.
Obviously everyone has their favourite brands and types of food that they prefer to give their dog, but we were thinking of changing him to Bakers Complete Dry Puppy as it would also help us regulate how much we are feeding him however I welcome your opinion and suggestions.
I look forward to any advice and also to chatting with you all.
Kind regards from Amber and Charlie (And hubby too!!)

[Patp]

Hi and welcome to COL! (by the way photos of your lovely fur bundle are compulsory) 

There are many good foods on the market, but I believe that Pedigree Chum is not one of the best evidenced by the consistency of poo's - of which you will soon become and expert at.

I am owned by Jinley, a 2 year old little orange roan girl, who is now raw fed.  However she loves Eden dry food as well, but not sure if they do a puppy range and is only available online unless you are lucky. 

There are a few complete foods on the market which are used here, Arden Grange, Burns to name but two.  They all have different effects on different puppies and what suits one does not always suit another, so much of it is trial and error unfortunately.  If you have a local Pets at Home, you could ask for some food samples.  Personally I would always make sure it had a high protein content with only a small amount of cereals and always suitable for a growing puppy.

You will get plenty of advice on here soon.

Did I mention photos?

Pat

[elaine.e]

Hello and welcome to COL

Looking forward to learning more about Charlie and also seeing some photos too please

You're right in thinking that Pedigree Chum is not a very good food, but neither is Bakers, which is full of additives, colours and basically rubbish ingredients . Feeding Pedigree Chum or Bakers is likened by some to feeding a child on McDonalds every day. But don't worry, there are plenty of good foods out there so you just need to do some research and find the one that suits Charlie's digestion. Hopefully a good quality food will improve things in the poo department and should make him less hyper too, although Cocker puppies are generally very lively anyway.

This link http://www.whichdogfood.co.uk/ is worth looking at to give you some ideas. It's a few years since I've had a puppy but there are plenty of puppy owners on COL and I'm sure some of them will help by recommending some good foods.

[scrumpycocker]

We were given a couple of bags Pedigree Chum Puppy Vital Protection chicken and rice Kibble which we used for about two days before we went back to using Wainwrights, the reason was our Puppy Lola had such runny poo's and went a bit hyper.
Within a day of changing back her poo's and energy levels were fine again.

I have also been told by someone who works with rescue dogs they use Pedigree products as they get a lot donated to them which also has the same affect on their dogs but as it is free they can't turn it down but advise a change in diet when the dogs are re homed.

[butterflywings21]

Hi and welcome. When I got Fully she was fed RD and mince tripe and some birthplace. This combination find`t work fir her and us. We changed her into burns puppy which she loved but still wasn't quite right. We slowly moved her onto Naturediet and haven't looked back since. We do put some Scans kibble on top but only about ten pieces and we use it also fir training treats.

[MIN]

hi
 squishy, thats a new one. is that better or worse than a mr. whippy 

[butterflywings21]

I meant forth glade

[bambino chicino]

Hi everyone!
Thank you firstly for the warm welcome :-) I will soon post some photos of our gorgeous little dude as we are very much in love with him!
Please bare with me if some of what I say ever sounds silly or a little obvious as everything regarding our pup is new to us.
Reading some of the brands in some of the posts, they dont sound like Supermarket brands that I recognise? Is this right or is that I am just used to the brands that they advertise on tv and that there are many more available on the shelves, or do you advise more shopping for pet food in pet stores?
And squishy? Yes, definitely squishy!  Its more like a melted Mr Whippy!! x x

[elaine.e]

Hi everyone!
Thank you firstly for the warm welcome :-) I will soon post some photos of our gorgeous little dude as we are very much in love with him!
Please bare with me if some of what I say ever sounds silly or a little obvious as everything regarding our pup is new to us.
Reading some of the brands in some of the posts, they dont sound like Supermarket brands that I recognise? Is this right or is that I am just used to the brands that they advertise on tv and that there are many more available on the shelves, or do you advise more shopping for pet food in pet stores?
And squishy? Yes, definitely squishy!  Its more like a melted Mr Whippy!! x x

Supermarkets tend to sell a limited range of pet foods, so if you have a nearby Pets At Home or Jollye's or independent pet store you'd be better going there. I'd advise against asking for nutritional advice at Pets At Home as I've overheard their so called trained nutritional advisors giving out some terrible advice.

Don't buy a big bag of anything until you're sure it suits Charlie and he likes it. But once he's settled on a brand it's worth looking at online sites like Zooplus as it might be cheaper to buy online. Some of the big manufacturers like Burns and Arden Grange might send you some free samples if you contact them online or by phone. Even if you don't use their food ultimately you can use the samples for training treats.

[Jessie_Pup]

Might be worth having a look on this site  http://www.whichdogfood.co.uk/


Erica

[Mudmagnets]

Has Charlie seen the vet yet (for jabs etc.)? if not it might be worth mentioning Charlie's poo probs, as there may be an underlying medical reason - My Minstrel had colitis  when I first got him home and he was having food/poo related probs. He had some anibiotics and a week or two on rice based meals, together with some prokolin, is now thriving on Nature Diet Puppy (a wet food)

He came on Beta puppy dry food which did not suit him at all.

I am not in any way suggesting that Charlie has got medical probs, but that it may be a good idea to get it confirmed.

[HBP]

Hi, we're having a similar problem! The breeder was feeding the pups on Purina Beta Puppy - and assuming it was a good quality food and not wanting to give him too much change we duly went out and bought 30kg of the stuff!! I've since read some appalling reviews of it and feel incredibly guilty about essentially feeding my beautiful pup on junk! His poo is also squishy... I think it's the high cereal content which they struggle to digest?

[Mudmagnets]

Hi, we're having a similar problem! The breeder was feeding the pups on Purina Beta Puppy - and assuming it was a good quality food and not wanting to give him too much change we duly went out and bought 30kg of the stuff!! I've since read some appalling reviews of it and feel incredibly guilty about essentially feeding my beautiful pup on junk! His poo is also squishy... I think it's the high cereal content which they struggle to digest?

Gosh, please don't feel guilty - we are all advised as new pup owners not to change their food for a couple of weeks at least when we first take them home, & I expect for the majority of pups this is good advise, it is only when things go wrong that we have to question this - and is normally the result of some breeders not feeding quality food.  

[HBP]

He seems okay on it to be fair... apart from the squishy poop...

[scrumpycocker]

He seems okay on it to be fair... apart from the squishy poop...

it is so much better cleaning up a nice firm sausage poo then a wet walnut whip