"Raising Jack Russell Terrier puppies is our greatest pleasure ~ Breeding the Irish Connemara remains our greatest responsibility”

Your Puppies Diet

We rear our dogs as naturally as possible, with little chemicals and CORE vaccines only. Puppies under one year, pregnant and nursing mothers are fed a higher fat/protein content and a slightly different diet. Otherwise, all of our terriers are fed a 50/50% combination, all natural diet including human food ingredients like raw meaty bones, chicken, beef, legumes, fresh fruits & vegetables with roughly 50% of their diet being a premium, grain free, lower protein kibble.

Some families will prefer to feed only a ready-made dry kibble to their pup from Connemara. We do support you in this decision and are happy to also suggest some alternative premium kibbles for your consideration. 
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BELOW IS A LIST WE HAVE COMPILED TO HELP WITH YOUR SELECTION

The dog food companies listed here are not marketing and multinational companies that sell (but don't actually make) their own food. They use fresh, regional ingredients, produced in their own facilities. They don't use commodity ingredients from suppliers they don't know and are willing to produce the sources for all their ingredients. All use "healthy oils", no grains (grain free formulas), no potential allergens like garlic or yeast and no unhealthy by-products, corn or fillers. We believe these brands are far superior to anything else on the market. Some of the mixes may not be appropriate for your terrier as some may not do well on the higher protein formulas, (usually over 30% is considered high protein). If you have questions as to which formula best suits your individual pet, please give us a ring and we can help you determine this.
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Brands/Blends we highly recommend for PUPPIES (under 10 months): *higher/fat & protein - All formulas are grain free

ACANA - GRAIN FREE (Regionals flavors)
BACK TO BASICS - GRAIN FREE
EARTHBORN HOLISTIC - GRAIN FREE (Primitive Natural)
FROMM - FOUR STAR NUTRITIONALS - GRAIN FREE
HOLISTIC BLEND - GRAIN FREE
MERRICK - GRAIN FREE
ORIJEN GRAIN FREE PUPPY (80/20)
ORIJEN 6 FRESH FISH

Brands/Blends we highly recommend for ADULTS (over 10 months):  *some are lower/fat & protein - All formulas are grain free

ACANA GRAIN FREE (Regionals flavors)
BACK TO BASICS - GRAIN FREE
EARTHBORN HOLISTIC - GRAIN FREE (Primitive Natural)
FROMM - FOUR STAR NUTRITIONALS - GRAIN FREE
HOLISTIC BLEND - GRAIN FREE
MERRICK - GRAIN FREE
ORIJEN ADULT (several options to choose from)
ORIJEN 6 FRESH FISH
ACANA and ORIJEN are made by the same company. Differences noted:
MEAT CONCENTRATION: ORIJEN has 75-80% meat, while ACANA has 40-65%, depending on formula.
PROTEIN: ORIJEN diets range between 38% and 42% protein, while ACANA has protein levels of 27-34%.
CARBOHYDRATE: ORIJEN is 18-22% carbohydrates, while ACANA is in the 28-30% carbohydrate range.
AMOUNT OF FRESH MEAT: ORIJEN has up to 40% of fresh meats. ACANA ranges from 9-15%.
FRESH MEAT VARIETY: ORIJEN uses a minimum of 5 fresh meats. ACANA contains 3 different fresh meats.
ORIJEN is probably THE best dry dog food made anywhere. Although lower in protein and total fresh meat content than ORIJEN, ACANA provides a great value and a price.
Canned food for any age:  
We have always been happy with MERRICKS three different versions of canned food:
MERRICK 5 STAR ENTREES (several flavors to choose from)
BEFORE GRAIN
WHOLE EARTH FARMS *All three formulas come in many flavors and can easily be found at your local pet food store… if not, you can order it online. *We don't recommend their dry dog food.

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Brands we would never feed:
GREAT LIFE Grain Free dog food (Beware: they have refused to say who makes their food or where they source ingredients. Why is it a secret?)
SCIENCE DIET (Corn & By-Products. As well, they have been pulling the wool over consumers eyes for decades with their smoke-and-mirrors tactics. $ incentives to vets to push their products.)
IAMS (Chicken By-Products & Corn Meal.)
EUKANUBA (Chicken By-Products & Corn Meal)
WYSONG (Several controversial ingredients)
ALL NUTRO'S LINES OF KIBBLE (even the new grain free ones)
Or anything listing by-products, corn or flour.
We also recommend avoiding grain based foods for the long term. Once your pup is roughly ten months old, move from a puppy formula to one of the foods we recommend above.

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SELECTING YOUR DRY DOG FOOD -  If you had any idea where meat-by-products came from, you would never feed them to your pets.  Rendered animal parts, to be exact.  Otherwise known in the industry as; "The four D's" - Dead, Dying, Decaying or Diseased.  I visited a rendering plant once. I won't go into the details...please trust me on this one.

In researching many of the dog foods on the market today, we came to find a few brands that stood out and away from all the others - We have already listed them above. Any of the above recommended dry kibble should be acceptable for your adult terrier. *Puppy formulas are listed as well. We do not expect everyone to agree with us or feed as we do. But at the very least, we will look for families that are health conscientious and will at least go the extra expense to feed a premium kibble.
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