# TOTW too much calcium?



## Rachell2313 (Feb 6, 2013)

My shepherd was allergic to the eukanuba we fed her upon he arrival to our home. My vet told me to take her off and find something without the ingredients eukanuba had in it, after several trial and errors with food I have her on TOTW pacific stream puppy food and its a miracle that she actually likes it and has ceased the constant scratching. But now I've been hearing it has too much calcium in it? Ugh! I don't want to contribute to fast growth which can cause problems but I definitely need opinions before switching her AGAIN


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## Lucy Dog (Aug 10, 2008)

The puppy formula is fine for her.


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

Lucy Dog said:


> The puppy formula is fine for her.


I agree. 1.4% calcium, 1.0% phosphorus is fine. Most of their adult formulas are over 2% calcium. It also has a bit lower protein than the adult formulas which seems to be optimal for the pups.


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## Rachell2313 (Feb 6, 2013)

Thanks! She's four months now, so I should keep her on this for a while longer? Because I was thinking of going to the adult formula when her bag was done 


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## Lucy Dog (Aug 10, 2008)

Wait until she's at least a year old. If it were me, I'd wait until around 18 months to move to a higher calcium food.

If the stuff is working, why the need to change? Don't fix it if it's not broken.


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## Baleato (Apr 10, 2013)

"Foods containing 23- 31% crude protein (6.4 - 8.8 g/1--kcal ME) do not have any deleterious effect on skeletal development and they support optimal growth provided Calcium and energy levels are appropriate.
Foods for large to giant breed puppies should contain 0.7 - 1.2% DM calcium, and the food should provide about 3.5 kcal (14.6 kJ) ME/g DM"

These recommendations are from 'Small Animal Clinical Nutrition, 4th Edition by Hand, Thathcher, Remillard and Roudebush'

Just in case anyone else has similar queries about calcium content


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

Looks like an interesting book (saw it on Amazon) with a newer (2000) date than the AAFCO stuff.

It is a fine dance - taking into account the calorie content as well since the higher calorie foods (your food is 3.6 kcal/g) You would feed a little less quantity so the slightly higher CA percent (1.4%) is not as significant as it would be in a lower calorie food. But so many other factors play in - including that fact that a lot of dietary statistics for dogs are based on grain based foods that can have a profound effect on nutrient uptakes - Here is more info.

http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/feeding-our-puppy/163201-feeding-puppies.html


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