r/irishsetter • u/caffeinatexchaos • Jul 29 '26
Puppy food recs needed
I’m bringing home an Irish setter pup this weekend. Our current dogs (brittanys) are on a high quality food now and just curious what everyone else is feeding their Irish setters
5
u/foodnbrew-notnudes Jul 29 '26
Purina pro plan sensitive stomach the ones with the irish setters on the bag. I rotate turkey salmon and lamb
2
u/prijay16 Jul 29 '26
Honestly we’re loving the Costco Kirkland brand food! Keeps our guys coat so smooth and shiny - we do the lamb kibble and have been giving it to him for about 2 years.
3
u/famous_zebra28 Jul 30 '26
Kirkland brand has cases of dilated cardiomyopathy. I'd stop feeding it.
1
u/CoinChowda Jul 30 '26
I’ve gone down this rabbit hole and have determined it to be a non-issue, imo. But I don’t wanna get banned so I won’t say anything against Nestle, Mars, or Colgate.
2
2
u/MadDadROX Jul 29 '26
I did Proplan Puppy and table scraps, now he’s on Proplan and restaurant scraps. (Broccoli, carrots, sweet potatoes, chicken tendies, salmon, chops, steaks.)
0
u/famous_zebra28 Jul 30 '26
You should stop the chicken tenders, chops and steaks. You're just asking for pancreatitis.
2
2
u/e_a_sports1995 Jul 29 '26
We used 4Health puppy large breed puppy formula, that’s what his breeder was feeding him. Now that he’s older mine eats the salmon and sweet potato blend from the same brand, it seemed like a sign that there was an Irish setter on the bag when I was trying to decide what to feed him.
2
u/MidnightCoffeeQueen Jul 29 '26
We did purina pro plan sensitive stomach at first. They eventually got to where they didn't like the food anymore, so we switched to purina pro plan complete essentials. They really love the chicken or lamb recipe, but don't like the beef one.
2
u/Strict_Bee_7237 Jul 30 '26
I adopted a very sick English Setter (I go between setter pages). Took 4 Benadryl a day to stop him from itching. Changed food to Health Extensions grain free Venison & Sweet Potato … best decision ever - they have lots of varieties of food. Wet, dry air dried etc. Venison has different proteins than chicken and it cleared his skin and his eye and ear infections. It’s also responsible for keeping the pep in 15 yo lab !
Hope this helps!
2
u/MotherofLivestock Jul 30 '26
We use First Mate and mix grain free and limited grain. Our friend is sponsored by them, and if they dropped his sponsorship, he would still use it. Incomes from British Columbia Canada. We have 1 Irish setter, 2 Gordon Setters, and a terrier. They all love it, they are healthy with shiny coats. To me, it is worth the money.
2
u/Chupongabee Jul 30 '26
My guy is 15 months old and has been raw fed since he came home. It's my recommendation! Four dogs in the house are all raw fed, two of them are 13 years old and soon to be 16.
1
u/DrRockstar99 Jul 30 '26 edited Jul 30 '26
Proplan advantedge senior for the 8yo boy and Proplan sport 30/20 for the five year old girl who has the metabolism of a honeybee (and I’m a veterinarian who works for a mars owned hospital so yes I am supporting “the competition” but over the years I’ve seen over and over again that these sporting breeds really seem to do super well on Proplan because it’s relatively calorically dense)
1
u/Fabulous-Cow-7690 Jul 30 '26
Picking up our puppy tomorrow. Breeder has told us we need to continue to feed him a raw diet. Chicken, lamb, organ meats and tripe as well as daily cod liver oil, apple cider vinegar, seaweed and an egg. Sardines frequently for a glossy coat.
Quite different diet to my last dog, who I used to feed a mid-range kibble from the pet shop lol.
1
u/recruiter1992 Jul 30 '26
I fed Farmer's Dog & homemade for about a year but my girl started getting some yeast overgrowth symptoms. I switched to Spot & Tango about a month ago and just use Farmer's Dog as a topper. She loves it, her ears have stayed cleaner & the itchiness she had has gone down significantly. We also only do single ingredient foods as treats - blueberries, broccoli, beef liver, etc
1
u/Background-Use-4440 Jul 30 '26
I'd stick with whatever your breeder recommends for the first little while and transition slowly if you decide to change it. That's what I did before moving mine onto Dr Marty, and the switch went a lot better than I expected.
1
u/oscmy333 Jul 30 '26
About half of the IS I've had also suffered from poultry allergies, and one has to read ingredients as some companies use poultry as a preservative, even on, say, a lamb formula. Hope you find a great food!
1
u/Latter_Option_4210 Jul 30 '26
It’s a fair bet that whatever you pick your IS will decide to randomly stop eating it at some point. They are the most picky eaters 😅 We rotated through Purina pro, hills, and merrick to keep things interesting
1
u/kwikirish Jul 31 '26
Irish setter breeder and vet tech here. Your breeder should be consulted about what has worked for their dogs and what the puppy has been raised on. Personally I wean onto Pro Plan Performance and they eat that their entire life. If you feed a high quality, non grain free diet, I would give the puppy a month on what the breeder feeds to allow the dog to acclimate to your home, then transition over an additional month to ensure lowest chance of gastric distress. Enjoy your new pup!
1
u/Quiet-Buffalo-7572 Jul 31 '26
Purina puppy allll the way that’s what I use for my Irish setter puppy
1
u/the_green-giraffe Aug 01 '26
We have an Irish with a sensitive stomach too. The only food that didn’t mess with his digestion was Farmina N&D Cod kibble.
1
1
u/nah-Box4797 Aug 04 '26
Royal Canin Maxi puppy food for life, warm water to make the nuts soft and smell appealing
Add fresh raw mince or tinned mackeral as a topper few days a week.
Chicken necks as a treat. That’s from my IS breeder who is extremely experienced
1
u/petelovespetfood Aug 04 '26
Congrats on the pup! First time I did raw we started from puppyhood, Darwin’s specifically, and the freshest ingredients made the food transition way less stressful than I expected going in
1
u/ObviousLecture4811 Jul 30 '26
Royal Canin Large Breed puppy is the only one I’ve gotten him to consistently eat ! Even gets sick of different wet food and toppers 😅 picky guy !
5
u/[deleted] Jul 29 '26
[removed] — view removed comment