# TOTW High Praerie, RC Large Breed Puppy, etc



## Konozis1 (Jun 17, 2010)

Currently I am feeding my 9wk old puppy Taste of the Wild High praerie formula, which a couple of people have said isn't a good food for puppies...I have another bag of Royal Canin Large Breed puppy formula, the following are the contents:

TOTW:
crude protein: 32%
crude fat: 18%
crude fiber: 3%
Zinc: 150 mg/kg
selenium: .4 mg/kg
vitamin E: 150 IU/ kg
omega-6 fatty acids: 2.8%
omege-3 fatty acids: .3%

First 5 ingredients: Bison, lamb meal, chicken meal, egg product, sweet potatoes

RC Large Puppy:
crude protein: 32%
crude fat: 14%
crude fiber: 3.3%
vitamin E: 500 IU/kg
absorbic acid: 200mg/kg
glucosamine hydrochloride:780 mg/kg
chondroitin sulfate: 220 mg/kg

First 5 ingredients: Chicken meal, rice, corn gluten, brown rice, chicken fat

Question 1: What are/where can I find the calcium contents?

Question 2: The puppy's father weighs 130 lbs and his mother 100 lbs...so he will be huge. I don't know if there is any such thing as a Giant breed puppy food, does anyone know of one?

Question 3: If not. What is another good puppy food?

I see Orijin is recommended but the protein concentration is 40 %, fat is 16% calcium is 1.5 % to 1.7 %...

Isn't this too much protein for a large growing puppy? Also I read that for very large dogs the calcium should be at around .8 %.

Any comments would be wonderful.

Thank you.


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## VChurch (Jun 14, 2010)

I was wondering the same question, as I have an eight week old GSD and I read a few threads on here and decided to put her on the Blue Buffalo Large Puppy Formula. There were a few many posts about this food on here somewhere and it appears to be a pretty good food for large breed puppies:

Blue Buffalo Large Breed Formula:
Crude Protein 28.0% min
Crude Fat 12.0% min
Crude Fiber 4.0% max
Moisture 10.0% max
Calcium 1.2% min
Phosphorus 0.95% min
DHA* 0.1% min
L-Carnitine* 100 mg/kg max
Omega 3 Fatty Acids* 0.25% min
Omega 6 Fatty Acids* 2.5% min

Ingredients: Deboned Chicken, Chicken Meal, Whole Grain Brown Rice, Whole Ground Barley, Oatmeal,......

However, a lot of people have also said that they switch their puppy to a large breed adult formula while still a puppy.
I have my adult mix dog on TOTW High Prairie Formula and was going to switch my GSD puppy to that, but decided on a large puppy formula instead. And as she gets older I may switch them both to a Blue Buffalo Adult Formula -- depending on the quality of it.
I think as she gets older I'll probably put both my dogs on the Blue Buffalo Wilderness - it's grain-free and looks to be a quality dog food.

Look back at this thread as it has some information about a couple of the puppy foods that people are feeding their dogs -- I found some useful information on the last few pages, although I'm sure the entire thread is helpful. And someone posted that the TOTW formula has about 2% calcium (although I'm unsure where they found this information).
A few of the recommendations I found are:
Solid Gold Wolf Cub
Blue Buffalo Large Breed Puppy Formula
Wellness


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## Konozis1 (Jun 17, 2010)

Does anyone have any scientific research on the appropriate calcium, protein and fat levels for a large/giant breed puppy?


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## jakeandrenee (Apr 30, 2010)

I fed Jake who is 4 months old BB Adult food....


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

i've never fed puppy food to my pups.
i feed them kibble and can food. their 
kibble and can food is always different.
i have 3 different brands of kibble on hand
most times. currently i have 6 different
brands of can food on hand.

i also feed my dog raw ground beef,
cooked boneless and skinless chicken
breast, raw egg (sometimes), organic
plain yogurt, organic flax seed oil,
cooked fish, veggies, fruit, rice,
table scraps (depending on what they are),
millet and quinoa (sometimes), roasted potatos,
i can't think of anything else.

i give him his kibble plain sometimes (only
with warm water. he eats his food with
vigor whether it's mixed with something
or not.

if you go to truthaboutdogfood.com they
will answer your questions about the percentages
of the ingredients and what percentage of the ingredients
are reccommended for your dog.


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## Konozis1 (Jun 17, 2010)

doggiedad said:


> i've never fed puppy food to my pups.
> i also feed my dog raw ground beef,
> cooked boneless and skinless chicken
> breast, raw egg (sometimes), organic
> ...


Thanks, I'll look into that site (edit: site doesn't seem to exist?). Question: Why do you cook the chicken and fish but not the beef?


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## Andrew (Jun 16, 2010)

Konozis1 said:


> Question 1: What are/where can I find the calcium contents?
> 
> Question 2: The puppy's father weighs 130 lbs and his mother 100 lbs...so he will be huge. I don't know if there is any such thing as a Giant breed puppy food, does anyone know of one?
> 
> ...


I called TOTW company once last week, and once today. 
The operator(s) both weeks gave me the "exact" %age calcium..

High Prairie: 2.1%
Ocean Pacific: 1.9%
Wetlands: 2.1%

Forgot to ask about Phosphorus.. maybe I'll do that tomorrow.

My 6month old Katie (jindo/shepherd) is currently on Ocean Pacific, and is FINALLY doing okay on it.. (Previously on Wellness Pup, and Innova Puppy).


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## Lucy Dog (Aug 10, 2008)

TOTW at those calcium % are too much for a growing large breed puppy. I'd get the dog off of it ASAP. 

I believe orijens max % is 1.7% and i wouldnt go any higher than that. Really, i'd keep it under 1.5% if possible.


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## roxy84 (Jun 23, 2007)

Lucy Dog said:


> TOTW at those calcium % are too much for a growing large breed puppy. I'd get the dog off of it ASAP.
> 
> I believe orijens max % is 1.7% and i wouldnt go any higher than that. Really, i'd keep it under 1.5% if possible.


i agree on both counts. i guess everyone has to draw the line somewhere, but when studies show Ca levels of 2.7% causing skeletal growth problems in large breed pups and around 1% being adequate, i tend to want to be at the lower end of the scale. foods with 2%+ Ca are where i draw the line personally.


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## WGSDlover (Mar 25, 2010)

TOTW does not have appropriate Calcium levels for a growing Pup. I believe that Orijen's levels are better balanced for a grainless type of food. If you wanna go with something with grain, I think that Wellness is a good choice. Orijen's protein levels are not too high. Grains are not usable by dogs in their diet. They are not able to get anything from it plus some dogs can have loose poos from the grains. I always try to go grainless. If you are going to supplement your dry kibble with anything dairy, do not use more than a teaspoon if at all. This will only increase their daily calcium level, which is something we are trying to avoid. I did find that Innova LBP had very low levels of calcium and phosphorus but they have been recently bought out so those levels could change.


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## Andrew (Jun 16, 2010)

WGSDlover said:


> TOTW does not have appropriate Calcium levels for a growing Pup. I believe that Orijen's levels are better balanced for a grainless type of food. If you wanna go with something with grain, I think that Wellness is a good choice. Orijen's protein levels are not too high. Grains are not usable by dogs in their diet. They are not able to get anything from it plus some dogs can have loose poos from the grains. I always try to go grainless. If you are going to supplement your dry kibble with anything dairy, do not use more than a teaspoon if at all. This will only increase their daily calcium level, which is something we are trying to avoid. I did find that Innova LBP had very low levels of calcium and phosphorus but they have been recently bought out so those levels could change.


Sorry for reviving a quite "old" thread, but a question about the yogurt issue. The plain yogurt I was putting in Katie's dog food had active cultures in it, but I totally missed the fact that it's also adding extra calcium..

What are some suggestions on other safe foods/supplements for probiotics/digestive enzymes?


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