# Vet says to switch 1 year old to adult food?



## whitneyk1719 (Dec 2, 2015)

Ok so last year our vet suggested we consider switching Baron to adult food. He just turned a year old January 1st. While I'm not opposed, I know that I've read numerous times on here that most everyone waits at least until he's 18 months to 2 years before switching to adult. Currently we are feeding Fromm LBP. If we switch foods, which my fiancé thinks we should, I have been considering Victor Hi-Pro Plus. From what I've read, it is an all life stages food and has a five star review on dog food advisor. We are satisfied with Fromm LBP but I believe we should change it up and offer him something a little different. I guess I'm trying to find out what your thoughts and opinions are. Should we stick to LBP or switch to adult? What are your opinions on Victor Hi-Pro Plus? Do you suggest something different all together? Sorry for the long post and numerous questions!


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## cdwoodcox (Jul 4, 2015)

I switched all of mine to adult food at six months old. Per orders of my vet.


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## MishkasMom (Aug 20, 2015)

Same here, well "all life stages" it was called, vet said only feed puppy food till adult teeth come in. However my previous dog I kept on puppy food for over a year and both did fine so as long as its high quality food


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## eddie1976E (Nov 7, 2010)

I think its fine to switch at 12 months. I switched at 18 months. Mine was on Fromm LBP too. We switched to Dr. Tim's Momentum. I considered Victor also, settle on Dr. Tim's after talking with the owner personally. I liked that I could get him by email within 24 hrs. I liked that the Dr. Tim's protein is 92% animal sourced and is highly digestible.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

I wean puppies onto adult food. Large-breed puppy food is a racket. 

See, back in the day they had, dog food. Before that dogs ate people food, usually scraps. 

Then someone got this great idea, babies need different food than adults, so puppies ought to too. So they increased the protein and calcium and called the food, "puppy food." Great.

Then they started to notice that larger-breed dogs were showing some ill-effects when fed puppy food. They figured out that the extra calcium and protein were not necessarily good for larger breed puppies. So they removed them, they decreased the calories, so you would have to feed a lot more of it, and raised the price and called it "large breed puppy food." 

Many German Shepherd breeders do not feed puppy food at all, and wean puppies on RAW or adult food. If you did not switch your bitch to puppy food during pregnancy -- again something some of us do not encourage, while some vets do, then you don't have to worry about separating the bitch from the pups when your are trying to get them to eat their "special" food. 

A good all life stages kibble is fine for puppies and adults. And one can use yogurt, pumpkin, eggs, cottage cheese, raw chicken, and regular cheese, as additives or as treats. If a pup seems on the lean side, add an egg, hard boiled or fried to his kibble, once or twice a day. The egg is the perfect food for dogs. 75 calories, animal based protein -- great stuff. If the dog has a loose stool, back off a little on your amount and add a teaspoon or so of pumpkin to the kibble. If the dog has had a run of antibiotics, add a tablespoon of Dannon's regular yogurt (not low fat, not low calorie) with each meal for a couple of days, maybe a week -- will not hurt him. Want a little help in getting the ears to stand during teething, yogurt or cottage cheese, and raw bones to work on. 

I don't care for vitamin supplements. Giving your dog a pill with calcium in it. Calcium can effect hips and joints. And, you don't know where they are getting the calcium from. You want animal based calcium, like you can find in yogurt, cottage cheese, regular cheese, raw meaty bones, and ground egg shells. I can't be certain, but I doubt you will have as much trouble supplementing with these as with giving your dog so many IU in the form of a vitamin supplement. And in dog foods they have a vitamin pre-mix. They pretty much all do. So that added calcium in puppy foods is God knows what. You may be ok with Fromm, that is a top of the line food, and they may have bothered with their vitamin pre-mix, they may actually be adding whole foods to reach the levels of each vitamin they want. I don't know. But overall, I would feed an adult food that does not have an overage of calcium and if I want to give them a bit of a boost, I will do it with whole foods that are human grade.


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## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

I switched all of mine, except for the last one at 6 months or so. I switched to raw with all of them when my youngest turned 1.


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## JRC (Jan 27, 2016)

Dixie just turned 14 months.She is on Fromm LBP.I called Fromm back in October and they said switch her at 16 months.So that's my plan.


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## Dainerra (Nov 14, 2003)

another person who here doesn't feed puppy food any longer. Even when I did, I didn't feed it past 4-5 months old.


Selzer, a lot of people believe that baby food is a racket too lol What did babies eat before Gerber started putting mush in jars? They ate their parents food, just chopped fine or with some extra sauce to make it runny. I only used jar baby food for convenience when we're going to be out in public somewhere.


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## Julian G (Apr 4, 2016)

Funny, because many on here don't feed puppy food past 6 months or so. It makes them grow way too fast, not very good for their bones from what I hear.


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## Jenny720 (Nov 21, 2014)

It depends what food is being feeding you have to look at the labels. Fromm large breed puppy food is a formula that can be fed over six months. Some dog foods recommend you switch at 6 months. Fromm recommends to feed till 14 months. There are people feed this food that choose to switch to adult earlier. I don't see harm on doing either or.


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## whitneyk1719 (Dec 2, 2015)

eddie1976E said:


> I think its fine to switch at 12 months. I switched at 18 months. Mine was on Fromm LBP too. We switched to Dr. Tim's Momentum. I considered Victor also, settle on Dr. Tim's after talking with the owner personally. I liked that I could get him by email within 24 hrs. I liked that the Dr. Tim's protein is 92% animal sourced and is highly digestible.



Thank you! I'll look into this one!


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## sebrench (Dec 2, 2014)

I fed Asher puppy food until he was around 4 months old, which is what his breeder recommended. 

I didn't feed Levi puppy food at all. I didn't want him to grow too fast. He came home at 12 weeks and I started him on Fromm grainfree, adult, after weaning him off the breeder's food. Our vet didn't seem concerned at all. 

I think your boy will be fine if you switch to adult.


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## whitneyk1719 (Dec 2, 2015)

selzer said:


> I wean puppies onto adult food. Large-breed puppy food is a racket.
> 
> See, back in the day they had, dog food. Before that dogs ate people food, usually scraps.
> 
> ...



Thank you so much! This is awesome info! I think we will switch to an All Life Stages food regardless. I thought I had done enough research when we switched to Fromm LBP but I should have dug a little deeper. Next pup we will be using an All Life Stages food from the get go. Thanks again!


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## whitneyk1719 (Dec 2, 2015)

llombardo said:


> I switched all of mine, except for the last one at 6 months or so. I switched to raw with all of them when my youngest turned 1.



I one day hope that I can feed raw. I am just not confident right now to make that switch. That and it hurts the bank account a little more than his kibble lol. I've been doing research through here and other sources and have started a binder of notes. Maybe one day!


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## whitneyk1719 (Dec 2, 2015)

Julian G said:


> Funny, because many on here don't feed puppy food past 6 months or so. It makes them grow way too fast, not very good for their bones from what I hear.


I've read some here and there say switch at 6 months, but the vast majority said 18 months to 2 years. I wish I had done more research and switched earlier though.


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## Galathiel (Nov 30, 2012)

I don't think I've really read much about waiting until 18-24 months to switch to an adult food. I've heard to wait that long to neuter. I switched around a year old, but that was just a personal preference. I could have switched him earlier. He was on a large breed puppy food so regular adult dog food isn't that dissimilar.


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## whitneyk1719 (Dec 2, 2015)

Thank you all for your input! I think we are actually going to try Victor Ocean Life for now just to give him something other than chicken and beef. Hopefully it all works out! I just want what's best for my boy.


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## Ken Clean-Air System (Feb 27, 2012)

My 5 year old was switched to ALS (All Life Stages) food at around 5 or 6 months old. Our next will be weaned directly from what the breeder is feeding to the same ALS food as our adult as soon as he comes home. 

As long as the ALS food you choose has appropriate Calcium and phosphorus levels for a large breed puppy then it is fine for even a young puppy. The only thing you may need to do is slightly adjust the daily amount that you feed for a growing puppy.


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## Gunners (Oct 14, 2016)

Have been feeding Gunner 1.5yr old Victor Hi Pro Plus. It is good for all stages.


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## Glaicer (Aug 6, 2016)

I feed puppy food for the first 8 months, and then switched to an adult food. My current pup will eat the same ALS formula that everyone else is eating now.


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