# calcium level



## triordan (Dec 5, 2008)

so i have reading about too high calcium and how it can be bad fro a growing pup, we finally found a food that he likes and his scratching has stopped 90%, i was also looking into how we can help improve the chances of his ears going up, and someone said that teething takes alot of calcium from them and you may need to suppliment, so I checked my food and it has 2.2% calcium, is that too much? BTW he's on California Natural lamb and rice puppy food.


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## DianaM (Jan 5, 2006)

Don't worry about calcium in kibble so long as the kibble is either designed for puppies or designed for all life stages. The problem is when people think it's a good idea to add extra sources of calcium on top of what's already being fed without regard for the balances required for proper calcium intake. Cali Natural is a good food, I would stick to that, but many people feel it's better to feed an adult food rather than a puppy food, I'll let other people chime in on that one.

The reason why many people recommend not feeding a puppy food is that pup food can contribute to faster growth whereas adult food yields slower, more even growth.


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## triordan (Dec 5, 2008)

thanks Diana, do you think it would be bad to suppliment more calcium with yogurt or cottage cheese? I've also read that vitamin E helped someone with their pups ears but i don't know how much to give


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## BlackGSD (Jan 4, 2005)

Personally I wouldn't feel comfortable feeding that to a large or giant breed puppy becaue of the high calcuim content. (But to each their own.)


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## DianaM (Jan 5, 2006)

Tracy, I agree, if I had to feed kibble I'd feed an adult kibble that's not really high in protein but thankfully I do raw.



> Quote:do you think it would be bad to suppliment more calcium with yogurt or cottage cheese?


That's exactly what I was talking about; it gets really bad when people have foods already loaded with calcium and then try to supplement on top of all that. Let your pup chew plenty of good chew toys and raw bones to strengthen the muscles instead.


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## triordan (Dec 5, 2008)

he does chew a lot, and he's on the california natural cuz everything else made him itch..... breeder had him on iams, we switched to nutro LPB (which we used in the past with other GSD), tried Orijen(he didn't eat it) so that's where we are as far as food goes...any other suggestions for food??


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