# LB puppy vs. all life stages foods



## Honeybee1999 (Mar 2, 2006)

I have been thinking about this since before bringing Ruger home two weeks ago. His breeder feeds an all life stages food to the puppies and sent home a sample bag with him. When Iris was a puppy 10 years ago we fed her a large breed puppy food. I was curious if an all life stages food is adequate for a growing puppy, so I looked into what the differences are in labeling an all life stages food vs. a maintenance food. An all life stages food can be labeled such as long as the nutrient profile is sufficient for the growth stage, rather than maintenance only. 

This got me thinking that perhaps an all life stage food is not a good choice for a large breed puppy since the mineral ratios may not encourage slow growth of the skeletal system, as a LB puppy food is supposed to do.

Any thoughts?

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## Dainerra (Nov 14, 2003)

personally, I'll be feeding an all-life stages food from now on. the #1 first recommended step for pano is to switch to adult food. So, if the cure for a pup growing too fast is to switch to an adult food (many of which are all life stages), I'm not sure you could argue that it doesn't give the slow growth. 
If anything, you would be more likely to need to worry about there not being enough vitamins etc to maintain a fast enough growth rate for a puppy. 

That's just my opinion, of course. I have never fed puppy food past 4 months with any of my dogs


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## ausdland (Oct 21, 2015)

Agree with previous. ^
I fed my puppy a lbp kibble ( Royal canin maxi ) per the breeder until she was 8 months old and I regret that. She grew too quickly between 4-6 months IMO. Perhaps I fed her 1/2 cup/day too much, I don't know. She has elbow problems that will hopefully resolve which I had attributed to over excercise (fetch) but I believe her rapid growth contributed. At 8 months, she was pretty well grown and her vet said to get her off of puppy kibble. I transitioned her to an all life stages kibble (victor lamb and rice) and she hasn't put on any weight in 2 months. I don't recommend that kibble for a lbp since it has 11% ash. I just transitioned her to Annamaet encore which has low ash, calcium and phosphorous percentages which is what's important for a lbp. If I could do it over I'd have fed the Annamaet all life stages a long time ago. Perhaps she would've grown a little slower?


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## Honeybee1999 (Mar 2, 2006)

Good points. Thank you for your replies. I feel better about feeding an all life stages food, then. I have an email in to the company to ask about the calcium to phosphorus ratios since that's the main concern. From what I've read, the ratio needs to be between 1.1:1 to 1.3:1 for a LB puppy. Also, body condition score is important, so I will make sure I am not overfeeding as well.

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## ausdland (Oct 21, 2015)

If you've only had him two weeks it might be a good idea to feed him the same food for another two weeks at least as he's still dealing with the stress of getting acclimated to his new environment. 
In my research I found food recommended for a gsd puppy is ash below 8% calcium below 1.3% and phosphorous below 1.1%


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## MT523 (Jun 16, 2016)

I've been debating which I should go with when I get my puppy next month. I'm definitely leaning toward all life stages. Like Dainerra said, I'm just a little worried about not getting her the vitamins and nutrients she needs as a puppy.


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## Honeybee1999 (Mar 2, 2006)

Update: I emailed the company to ask about their Ca ratio and it is 1.31:1.07 for the Original Recipe. So I think that is close enough to ideal for a LB puppy. I have continued feeding him the same food and he loves it and is growing well on it. I am feeling confident that this will allow him to grow at an acceptable rate. 

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## Chip18 (Jan 11, 2014)

"Marketing" is the answer and you got it right. Most dogs are not "Large Breed" dogs, we have members on "BoxerForum" feeding "Boxers" that "stuff???" In what "Universe" is a "Boxer" a large breed dog?? Like the GSD ... (well not mine) a GSD is a "Medium Breed Dog."

But I guess *"Large Breed"* tested better than *"Medium Breed"* for "marketing purposes so ... let's go with that.


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## E.Hatch (Sep 24, 2013)

A large breed dog is one that will be at least 50-55lbs as an adult as I've always understood it.


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