# recomended chow chow puppy food?



## ChavasRegal (Aug 14, 2013)

Well were only a few days away from picking Teddy up and were slightly overwhelmed with the amount of puppy food out there.
We've been looking at fish & rice based dry food and are gearing towards James Wellbeloved Puppy - Ocean Fish & Rice.

James Wellbeloved Puppy - Ocean Fish & Rice 7.5kg £26.99 spend over £30 for free delivery

We intend to cook him meals when he's a bit older but if any experienced chow owners have any suggestions it would be appreciated &#55357;&#56842;

Thanks.


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## BeauNoir (Sep 16, 2012)

Keep him on the food he breeder gives you for about 2 weeks, then it is a minefield!

If you want to stay on kibble, I would recommend a grain free one, if you want to go and pick one up easily, then fishmongers at [email protected] is a good quality for the price, if you want to order online, maybe look at Applaws.

There are other choices, such as raw, prepared raw, home cooked.

There is a wealth of information on this site including the dry and wet food lists by Sixstar.


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## ChavasRegal (Aug 14, 2013)

Thanks for the feedback, we were intending to change to the new food over a week or two, the puppy is currently on pedigree which after doing research doesn't seem to be the best for a chow chow that's why were wanting to find something more appropriate.

Were intending to keep him on dry before adding in some rice, eggs, cottage cheese and roast vegetables.


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## Born to Boogie (Oct 1, 2010)

My understanding is that Chow's have specific dietary requirements. They are so much more, than just another dog :001_smile:
JWB, F&R, sounds a good starting point. I have a feeling, they do well on white meat/fish. I've recently changed my boy to Burns, Fish (Shock! Horror!). He's never looked so good.
If there's no one, on here, with Chows, you could contact the breed clubs.


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## lullabydream (Jun 25, 2013)

I changed my pup over to my chosen food in just over 2 weeks. I did it like this, ( after she had been with us for 2 weeks). 

5 days, 75% original food, 25% new food
5 days 50% original food, 50% new food
5 days 25% original food, 75% new food.
Then 100% new food.

If home cooked food is the way you want to go, surely you can start this after a settling in period. Still introduce it slowly as above.

I tend to choose fish flavour foods too, also lamb and duck. No idea why since I do not like fish, duck or lamb. Definitely food hell for me. But my dogs seem to love them.

James Well beloved is usually a good first food since it is a single source protein. Many people swap flavour on James well beloved too with no upset tums. Unless their dog has a problem with the specific food.

Good luck with your gorgeous new puppy


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## ChavasRegal (Aug 14, 2013)

Born to Boogie said:


> My understanding is that Chow's have specific dietary requirements. They are so much more, than just another dog :001_smile:
> JWB, F&R, sounds a good starting point. I have a feeling, they do well on white meat/fish. I've recently changed my boy to Burns, Fish (Shock! Horror!). He's never looked so good.
> If there's no one, on here, with Chows, you could contact the breed clubs.


 They suffer skin problems with high animal protein foods so were looking to go fish based and plenty of rice, good job we eat lots of fish here we can cook him a meal when we do ours once he's big enough &#55357;&#56842;

Glad fish worked for you, might look in to the Burns I've read good things about it.

Looked on the chow specific forums but they are very quiet compared to here. :crazy:


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## lullabydream (Jun 25, 2013)

Burns dog food is usually lower protein than most, so it may suit your puppy. 
I currently use burns to manage one of my dogs liver condition, she needs a low protein food and so we opted for burns.

Currently feeding my puppy burns too. She's gaining weight nice and steadily. No stomach upsets. Seems to enjoy meal times.


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## cinnamontoast (Oct 24, 2010)

Raw might be good if you want to rely on fish. 

I don't personally rate James Wellbeloved or anything that contains grains. This version looks ok, but I hate that they add in loads of stuff to make the dog's coat look good so you think the food is amazing!  Lots of linseed and olive oil, I'm not sure they're the best sources of calories and they're very high upon the ingredient list. 


JAMES WELLBELOVED (cereal free, ocean white fish & vegetable)

Price (10kg): £42.49
Suggested daily amount: 250g
Daily feeding cost: £1.06

Ingredients: Ocean white fish meal (26%), pea starch (26%), potato flakes (20%), tomato pomace, whole linseed, fish stock, fish oil, olive oil, peas, sugar beet pulp, alfalfa meal, natural seaweed, carrot, chicory pulp, potassium chloride, parsley, nettle, chicory extract, sodium chloride, calcium carbonate, glucosamine, chondroitin, yucca extract.

Who was it saying that the dog dropped condition on Burns as it's so low protein?


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## Born to Boogie (Oct 1, 2010)

Maybe give the secretaries of the clubs a ring. Their contact details are on the KC web site.
Good luck :thumbup1:


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## ChavasRegal (Aug 14, 2013)

Thanks boogie, I'll go pester them &#55357;&#56842;


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## stance (Nov 18, 2013)

ChavasRegal said:


> They suffer skin problems with high animal protein foods so were looking to go fish based and plenty of rice, good job we eat lots of fish here we can cook him a meal when we do ours once he's big enough ��
> 
> Glad fish worked for you, might look in to the Burns I've read good things about it.
> 
> Looked on the chow specific forums but they are very quiet compared to here. :crazy:


Hi, i see this is a bit old but wondered how you were managing home cooking for your chow baby. 
I am an experienced chow owner and am currently owned by Mimi. Fish is good with Chows OR equally meat is as good with a small percent of offal. If you are home cooking with the rice make sure its wholemeal rice, not plain white, white rice can ferment in the gut. Rice with sweet potato is the best option in my opinion. Rice must be really cooked well, if not its not digested easily.
Fruit and vegetable along with the proper calcium Phosphorous ratio is essential for home cooked food to make sure its balanced. Herbs and supplements are added too for their various benefits. if you are cooking the food it will have lost many nutrients/vits/minerals so you need to be mindful of that, even careful steaming will trigger a loss. Goodness leeches out very easily.
The food needs to be weighed so you feed the appropriate amount.
Always cook eggs, hard boiled is best, its most nutritious when hard boiled.
Loads of research needs to be sought to enable one to make a well balanced nutritious cooked meal for a dogs needs. I never found it an easy option. I think raw would be easier and best to feed but i've never had the freezer room so never been able to go full raw.
I know a breeder who feeds his chowdren raw and they are all in excellent shape.!
Its all about being a well balanced menu and IMO a lot harder than it sounds. 
A chow chow is a meat eater, i heard claims they are not as in their homelands they were fed rice and veg by poor peasants, this is true but they also had the ability to get hold of wild animals and eat them, and be sure this is what they did,
I have never fed a chow dry kibble, if i did i would moisten with boiled water though. I find naturediet trays a very good food for the chow, but every dog is different so as always to trial a food is the way to go. I've had a few chows and only one of them ever had a hot spot and i put that down to herbs i always add to their food and always keeping them groomed down to the skin and clean. daily grooming is needed with a super groom every five or six days, By super groom I mean grooming tiny sections over the whole body which takes me about two hours to be done correctly. 
A photo would be great.. EDIT...Oh seen your pics now, lovely red chow chow, real cute little teddy bear. if i had a £ for every time someone has said to me when we're out and about "look a real teddy bear" I'd be rich!


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## stance (Nov 18, 2013)

I should have included this in my post but forgot, I was a little tired.
A great way to add calcium to a home cooked diet if you are not feeding RMB's is to wash dry egg shells and grind them up.
For a 50lb dog you would probably need about 1250 mg calcium so about 3/4 of a teaspoon of the ground eggshell. (please check with a dog nutritionist or a vet for though for the correct amount for your dogs weight)

Also what ever you are feeding, be it cooked, raw, kibble, trays you could add fresh spinach cut up into tiny pieces and add that to the food for five days of each month. I was told this is a great way to avoid hot spots, I think its always worked with the chows.


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