Food

Question
QUESTION: Hello. My name is Jamie and I will be picking up my bulldog puppy next month and will be starting him on his first food myself. I have read tons and tons of info on what type of food is best and a lot of people recommend purina puppy chow for the budget-conscious, though they also say not to feed him anything with soybean in it and purina puppy chow has soybean meal in it. What is up with the inconsistent messages? What is the best food for an enlgish bulldog that is also fairly reasonable in price? Thanks!

ANSWER: First of all, if possible, I would keep him on the food he's currently eating at least until he gets settled in his new home. Secondarily, Purina is in the dog food business. I've used Puppy Chow for as long as it's been around and I've never had any problems at all.  I recommend it to all my clients not only because it's affordable, but because it's easy to find and it's good. Some dogs are allergic to soy.  You don't know that unless your dog has a reaction. How do you know there's no soy in what he's eating now?

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: First of all, thank you for your time and help. Like I said before, I will be starting him on his FIRST food ever. He will just be turning two months when I go to get him and thus, will not have ate anything yet except for his mom's milk. Therefore, I wanted to make sure that I started him off on the right food. I just do not get why enlgish bulldog sites would recommend purina puppy chow while at the same time saying to make sure that none of his food has soybean in it. I just wanted to make sure that feeding him purina puppy chow is safe even with the soybean in it. Thanks.

Answer
No one in their right mind is going to allow a puppy to leave home that isn't weaned on solid food,especially at 2 months of age. I wean my puppies at 5 weeks. Check on this with whoever you're buying from. This sounds very bizarre to me. The amount of soy is what's important. Puppy Chow has a relatively small contribution.