# Ok give me the lowdown on why you don't feed your puppies puppy food?



## chelle (Feb 1, 2009)

I've heard it mentioned here and there on the forums (wish I could remember the specific posts to go back and read) that many of you never bother with puppy food at all.

Why not?

Bailey is on Innova Large Breed Puppy. I also remember it was said if you're going to feed puppy food, it is very important to go Large Breed Pup. Why?

I'm contemplating a food change. Bailey has had some issues that don't have anything to do with his food, (me switching too fast when he first came home, coccidia later, etc...) but now he's constipated.. and well.. I'm just really leaning towards a change. I'm really fishing around about whether if I do change, I should go to adult or stay with Large Breed Pup of another brand.

Any insight is appreciated.!


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## sharkey19 (Sep 25, 2011)

The basic idea is that you don't want your large breed puppy to grow too fast, or else they can have problems with their bones and joints later on. So you want to control the calories and nutrients they are getting. With normal smaller breed puppies, the amount in the regular puppy food is ok for their growth, but too much for larger breed puppies.

A formula designed for large breed puppies or adult food is fine to feed your large breed dog.


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

sharkey19 said:


> A formula designed for large breed puppies or adult food is fine to feed your large breed dog.


However, there is basically no difference between the Large Breed Puppy formula and the All Life Stages formula within one brand. There's really nothing that makes a LBP formula *for* large breed puppies except marketing.


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## sharkey19 (Sep 25, 2011)

Emoore said:


> However, there is basically no difference between the Large Breed Puppy formula and the All Life Stages formula within one brand. There's really nothing that makes a LBP formula *for* large breed puppies except marketing.


Do you mean "All Life Stages" or "Adult"? Because they are formulated differently. I wouldn't be surprised if LBP was similar to adult food, but All Life Stages is formulated to meet needs of gestating mothers and puppies, so I would be concerned about getting a diet like that.


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## chelle (Feb 1, 2009)

Emoore said:


> However, there is basically no difference between the Large Breed Puppy formula and the All Life Stages formula within one brand. There's really nothing that makes a LBP formula *for* large breed puppies except marketing.


Well I like this... it is a lot less limiting to me in making choices if I honestly do not need to stay with large breed puppy formulas.


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

sharkey19 said:


> Do you mean "All Life Stages" or "Adult"? Because they are formulated differently.


I wouldn't feed a puppy *Adult* food without seeing the max cal/phos percentages. Come to think of it I wouldn't feed a puppy *any* food without seeing max cal/phos.


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## Jack's Dad (Jun 7, 2011)

Emoore said:


> However, there is basically no difference between the Large Breed Puppy formula and the All Life Stages formula within one brand. There's really nothing that makes a LBP formula *for* large breed puppies except marketing.


I was introduced to a distributer for one of the major quality brands. Not store or vet office brands. Off the record he said what Emoore said. It is marketing pure and simple. Makes people feel good.

He said whatever you choose, to feed more or less depending on the dogs or pups or senior's caloric requirement.

There are of course major differences in the many brands out there.


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## chelle (Feb 1, 2009)

Emoore said:


> I wouldn't feed a puppy *Adult* food without seeing the max cal/phos percentages. Come to think of it I wouldn't feed a puppy *any* food without seeing max cal/phos.


What are the maximums/minimums for calcium/phos content?



Jack's Dad said:


> There are of course major differences in the many brands out there.


TOOOO many!!!!!!! Something with the Innova just doesn't seem to be right. Not allergy issues, I don't believe - elimination issues. Constipation to be specific. I tricked some pumpkin into him and will work towards getting that better, but I need to consider different food... 

I read on this forum that some foods are just plain too "rich" for some dogs. I'm wondering about that ???


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

chelle said:


> What are the maximums/minimums for calcium/phos content?


This hasn't been studied and pinned down exactly, but I think the accepted wisdom is MAX 1.3% for calcium, and the same or less for phosphorus. If you stick with quality brands you shouldn't have a problem with minimums.


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## sharkey19 (Sep 25, 2011)

Emoore said:


> This hasn't been studied and pinned down exactly, but I think the accepted wisdom is 1.3% for calcium, and the same or less for phosphorus.


Eemore is right. 0.7-1.2% Calcium is good for large breed puppies.


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

i don't know the science of not feeding puppy
food but i never have. the breeders i bought my
pups from never fed puppy food. back in the 80's
i had a Vet that didn't recommend feeding puppy food.
my parents never fed puppy food.


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## JulieBays (Jun 26, 2011)

doggiedad said:


> i don't know the science of not feeding puppy
> food but i never have. the breeders i bought my
> pups from never fed puppy food. back in the 80's
> i had a Vet that didn't recommend feeding puppy food.
> my parents never fed puppy food.



Haiku at it's finest!!


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## TheNamesNelson (Apr 4, 2011)

I fed puppy food for 4 or 5 months but my dog started getting flares of Pano and the Breeder and vet both recommended I more him to adult food.


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## BlackGSD (Jan 4, 2005)

I don't feed puppy food because they don't need it. Nor do I buy into the whole "senior", "less active" ect...... craze. As was said, if its a puppy, feed it more if out needs it, if it's a senior or is less active and gets too fat, feed less.


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## chelle (Feb 1, 2009)

Emoore said:


> This hasn't been studied and pinned down exactly, but I think the accepted wisdom is MAX 1.3% for calcium, and the same or less for phosphorus. If you stick with quality brands you shouldn't have a problem with minimums.


Ok thanks. I'll check those numbers as I research more.


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## Lucy Dog (Aug 10, 2008)

If you look at large breed puppy foods and adult foods, it's pretty much the same thing. The ingredients and the GA are nearly identical. Adult foods really aren't even "adult foods", they're ALS formulas, but they're labeled adult. If you read the fine print, they're really ALS. It will say it right on the bag.

As sable would say... it's just a marketing gimmick.


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## ChancetheGSD (Dec 19, 2007)

BlackGSD said:


> I don't feed puppy food because they don't need it. Nor do I buy into the whole "senior", "less active" ect...... craze. As was said, if its a puppy, feed it more if out needs it, if it's a senior or is less active and gets too fat, feed less.


For the most part, this is true. But for MY senior I feed a "weight management" food by Avoderm. It's the lowest calorie non-prescription food I've found at 298 calories per cup. If I went with a regular food (which most tend to run an average of 350 per cup) then I'd have to literally starve her at UNDER 1/4th cup of food TOTAL per day. For a 14lb dog! With Avoderm I can feed almost twice that.


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