# Puppy Food.....how long



## Killian10

Right now I'm feeding my 5 month old Blue Buffalo large breed puppy. I've heard some people say don't ever feed puppy food, I've heard some say only feed to six months old, and I've heard some (including my vet) say to feed puppy food until about 1 year old. 

So what is the general consensus on this topic and what is the reasoning behind it?

Right now Murphy eats about 6 cubs of this food per day. It's more than what's on the bag but he finishes it every day. Each feeding session he gets three cubs and about ten to fifteen minutes to eat it. He's very slender so while this is more than what is recommended on the bag I dont' see an issues with it since he does in fact finish it and he's not even close to over weight.


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## Emoore

There is no general consensus.  

My dog didn't get puppy food, I started him on all life stages food from the day I brought him home. Actually earlier because he was weaned onto an all life stages food from the breeder. At 17 months he's an excellent size and his hip and elbow prelims came back great. 

Others feed a large breed puppy food up to 1 year old and also have good results. 


The reason is that there's just very little to no difference between a good all life stages food and a large breed puppy food. If you look at protein, fat, calcium, phosphorus, etc. . . there's just not much difference.


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## 3ToesTonyismydog

When I got my first G.S.D. back in 1971 I asked my vet about puppy food and he highly recommended it back then. When I got Tony (2009) I asked the vet about puppy food, my thought was that the food made today is of a higher quality. Guess what, all these forum vets are all incorrect, you should always feed ""puppy"" food for at least one year. Came right from my vet, who specializes in Large breed dogs. Not some clown on the internet who thinks it is fine. I feed Orijen and the L.B Puppy food is a whole ONE dollar more, so it really wasn't a money issue in my case. But why even gamble, makes no sense to me. There is a lot more nutrient value in puppy food *for puppies* than adult dog food. Don't believe me, ask your vet or email a dog food company who charges the same for adult and puppy food.


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## selzer

3ToesTonyismydog said:


> When I got my first G.S.D. back in 1971 I asked my vet about puppy food and he highly recommended it back then. When I got Tony (2009) I asked the vet about puppy food, my thought was that the food made today is of a higher quality. Guess what, all these forum vets are all incorrect, you should always feed ""puppy"" food for at least one year. Came right from my vet, who specializes in Large breed dogs. Not some clown on the internet who thinks it is fine. I feed Orijen and the L.B Puppy food is a whole ONE dollar more, so it really wasn't a money issue in my case. But why even gamble, makes no sense to me. There is a lot more nutrient value in puppy food *for puppies* than adult dog food. Don't believe me, ask your vet or email a dog food company who charges the same for adult and puppy food.


Well, I am just an internet clown, but me and a lot of GSD breeders with decades more experience than I have do say not even to bother with puppy food, and we wean our puppies onto adult food. Why? Because it has what GSD puppies require, and they do well on it. 

Yes, I have heard the same thing from the brand-spanking-new vet about a month ago. They NEED puppy food. Oh, and if you want quality, you will need to go to Purina. 

I think that SOMETIMES, internet clowns might just have more information than vets. Vets have a couple of years of vet school, where they focus on how to treat illnesses and injuries in many, many species. They do not spend those years digging through ingredient lists, and experimenting with feeding specific types of dogs. They listen to the instructor in their nutrition course that tells them to insist on puppy food for a year. 

Why a year? GSDs are not necessarily full grown at 12 months. 

You pay an extra $1 a bag for large breed puppy food, but if you look at it, it probably has LESS calories than regular puppy food or adult food. So you are going to feed more because your puppy ought to be bigger and eat more, AND you are going to feed more because there are less calories. So that $1/bag just became even more. 

Diamond Naturals LBP 27% protein, 15% fat 342 kcal/cup
Diamond Naturals Adult 26% protein, 16% fat, 368kcal/cup

It is really not that big of a difference. 

Nutro was very similar too when I was feeding it. 

Feeding large breed adult or regular puppy might make a difference, the one lacking in protein and fat, and the other too high in protein, and probably calcium for large breed dogs. 

Back in the day there was dog food. You fed it to large dogs, small dogs, puppy dogs, old dogs. And someone got a bright idea to break it up into puppy, adult, overweight, and senior, cycle was the first I think. Everyone jumped on the band wagon. But guess what they found out. They found out that large breed puppies did not do good on formulas for puppies. These puppies did fine all along before this on adult food. But they introduced a problem with they made formulas just for puppies. So they recalculated and figured out formulas for large breed puppies. These formulas are so close to regular adult food that it does not make sense to feed puppy at all. 

But the vets will tell you too.

Because they are taught to.

By the food manufacturers.

I will go with the internet clowns and breeders who have experience with feeding MY breed, that and common sense.


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## maureen_mickel

3ToesTonyismydog said:


> When I got my first G.S.D. back in 1971 I asked my vet about puppy food and he highly recommended it back then. When I got Tony (2009) I asked the vet about puppy food, my thought was that the food made today is of a higher quality. Guess what, all these forum vets are all incorrect, you should always feed ""puppy"" food for at least one year. Came right from my vet, who specializes in Large breed dogs. Not some clown on the internet who thinks it is fine. I feed Orijen and the L.B Puppy food is a whole ONE dollar more, so it really wasn't a money issue in my case. But why even gamble, makes no sense to me. There is a lot more nutrient value in puppy food *for puppies* than adult dog food. Don't believe me, ask your vet or email a dog food company who charges the same for adult and puppy food.


Many vets have mixed opinions. My uncles gsd was having bone problems, vet said it was from the puppy food, it makes them grow way too fast and to feed regular dog food. So thats what ive done, not sure if its worked though. She has grown alot slower, wich is fine in my eyes. Iknow that animals out in the wild dont take different parts of a deer organized for puppies, seniors, adult ect.


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## Emoore

Many vets will tell you to vaccinate your 12 year old dog who has cancer, neuter at 4 months, and feed Purina.


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## Lucy Dog

3ToesTonyismydog said:


> There is a lot more nutrient value in puppy food *for puppies* than adult dog food.


Give one example proving this theory of yours. What's in a puppy food that's not in an all life stages formula?

And is this the same vet that told you purina gave your other dog cancer without any real evidence behind that either other than his/her opinion?

And I'm with you tony. I can't stand internet clowns either. We agree there.


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## Sunflowers

Clowns creep me out.


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## LuvShepherds

I didn't even ask, my dogs all get the same thing, right now it's an all-stages type food, grain free.I switched our youngest dog as soon as I was able. I won't have dogs on different diets, it's too confusing. When I asked later, our vet agreed with me. The puppy food has too much protein and too many calories.


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## Lucy Dog

LuvShepherds said:


> I didn't even ask, my dogs all get the same thing, right now it's an all-stages type food, grain free.I switched our youngest dog as soon as I was able. I won't have dogs on different diets, it's too confusing. When I asked later, our vet agreed with me. The puppy food has too much protein and too many calories.


The only thing you really need to be careful with is the calcium with large breed puppies. A lot of the grain frees are up there in calcium. Some too much for growing large breeds.

The protein thing is a myth. Most healthy dogs of all ages can handle high protein diets. They are carnivores after all... they're built for high protein diets by nature.

For calories, just feed accordingly. If there's more calories in a kibble, feed less. If there's less calories, feed more. I like the high calorie diets. Less coming in means less coming out once digested.


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## Rachel1422

Our 11 month old is still on orijen LBP. She will get one more bag and then I will switch her to adult.


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## Wolfgeist

Being on puppy food is not necessary.. feel free to switch when you are ready.


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## SRHdwn4Life

*I'm in disbelief no one mentioned this...*

Puppy food contains DHA!! That is why it is so very important to feed your puppy, puppy food!!

For those who don't know, before your puppy was weaned, he received this DHA from his mother. But your puppy’s brain continues to develop after he’s weaned. Puppies acquire 70 percent of their adult brain mass by the time they’re 6 weeks old, and 90 percent by 12 weeks of age. That means there’s a lot you can do to help your puppy’s nutrition between the time your puppy leaves his mom, and the time he is fully developed. Studies have shown that dogs supplemented at a crucial time in brain development showed increased trainability than those that did not get supplemented. If you feed your puppy DHA, he’ll likely socialize and train better; you may even find she’s easier to housetrain! With the right grooming and dental care, this fatty acid contributes to a shiny coat and healthy teeth and gums. And DHA also helps build a healthy nervous system and strong vision, playing a critical role in retinal development.

My GSD is now 7 months old. He has been too easy to train, is very aware, and learns VERY quickly. I couldn't have been blessed with a better dog poocharoo!! 

I will continue feeding my GSD Blue Buffalo BLUE Wilderness Puppy Food, which is a grain-free protein-rich food, until he turns 1 year old. 

People say that high protein is bad, because in encourages faster growth. This isn't completely the case, though. The real culprit in fast growth is calcium. Protein gets blamed because a food with high protein percentage usually has high a calcium percentage as well. Most recommend a calcium level of under 1.5% for large breed pups. 

Here's the nutrition information for Blue Buffalo BLUE Wilderness Puppy Food:

Crude Protein 36.0% min Crude Fat 16.0% min Crude Fiber 6.0% max Moisture 10.0% max Calcium 1.3% min Phosphorus 0.9% min DHA* 0.1% min Omega 3 Fatty Acids* 0.9% min Omega 6 Fatty Acids* 3.0% min

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## Kirra

*Nutrition Breakdown: Large Breed Puppy Diet Recommendations*

I found this very helpful: Large Breed Puppy Diet Recommendations
I like it because they break down the difference between puppy and adult food for large breeds in terms of nutrients (calcium (and vitamin D), energy and protein) and address the problems of bone abnormalities. 
This way you're able to judge the bags by what they're composed of verses the name and kibble size.

Also, DHA is a omega-3 so if the food has any cold-water fish oil (salmon, herring etc) it'll have enough DHA.


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