# Should I feed a Large Breed Puppy Food?



## goldenfuzzball (Jun 19, 2014)

I have been reading so much about dog food that I feel like I am losing my mind between all the threads here, dog food advisor, reviews from other buyers on amazon, what the vet says vs what Great Dane Lady says, etc...

I currently have a 5-month old puppy and was wondering if I should be feeding a Large Breed Puppy food. My girl had a very sensitive stomach when I got her a few months back (breeder had her on Kirkland), tried to switch her to TOTW but her stomach issues got even worse, but we ended up on Merrick's grain free puppy food and she did wonderfully on it. I ended up doing a VERY slow transition on the TOTW and that's what she's eating now, although I think her poops looked better on the Merrick (really can't complain, though!)

Her stomach issues seem to have gone away by and large, and I'm just trying to figure out what I want to feed her next. I was leaning towards the Whole Earth Farms puppy food (breeder insisted I feed her a grain-free food, but she's been doing great on treats with grain in them, and it's less costly than the Merrick so I think it's worth a try), but started reading about how protein and calcium requirements are different for the large breed puppies and that large breed puppy food is formulated specifically for these needs.

Any thoughts? My girl is 5 months and around 35 lbs, and it's never a challenge to get her to eat anything.


----------



## rabernet (Feb 24, 2015)

I think you're going to get all kinds of opinions on that, because no one food is right for everyone. 

We transitioned our boy over to Pro Plan Large Breed Puppy when we got him and I have also driven myself crazy reading about other dog foods and what might be "better" for him, but he's thriving on it (also 5 months old) and many people use and love it, so I think we're going to stick with the Pro Plan food beyond puppyhood. I haven't really decided when to switch from the LBP food to an adult or all stages food. I'm leaning towards keeping him on the LBP until he's at least a year old. That said, it's not grain free that I'm aware of. I haven't been convinced that grain free is the end all to be all, personally.


----------



## BuddyinFrance (May 20, 2015)

As rabernet says you will unfortunately go round in circles on that question.. puppies are so different. Just to prove rabernets point our Puppy was also raised on the Pro Plan Large Breed on the breeders strong advice but after 7 months I felt that he wasn't doing great on it, lots of tummy upsets, lack lustre coat and he didn't even seem to enjoy eating it! Switched and am now much happier! So a bit of trial and error needed!


----------



## dezymond (May 3, 2012)

If you think she's fine on TOTW then I'd stick with it. She's had stomach issues in the past so why gamble some more? 

A friend's dog has a super sensitive stomach and what's worked for her dog is Wellness brand. She figured out Wellness worked great for her dog after months of different foods and remedies. To this day though, if her dog gets a small treat that her stomach doesn't agree with then it's just about a full day of upset stomach and sometimes vomiting.


----------



## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

At 5 months, she could be eating adult food. My youngest was switched at 4 months... from regular puppy food.


----------



## Cpc1972 (Feb 23, 2015)

I agree feed what she is doing well on. At five months she is past and grown enough not to need a large breed puppy. Now there is large breed adult foods. But if she has had a sensitive stomach stick to what works.


----------



## goldenfuzzball (Jun 19, 2014)

Thanks for the responses! 

I had a discussion with my vet today about it, and the vet encouraged me to have a look at the large breed puppy foods, especially if there is one in the same brand that I am feeding (there is not.)

At this point, I guess I'll buy a small bag and see if I can transition her onto it, and if there are tummy troubles I will just put her back on what I've been feeding her now, since I know that works for her.

I don't think either way any of this will be the end of the world; however, she hasn't been getting much exercise in recent weeks (she fractured her toe a few weeks ago and has been confined to the house), so the lower calories from fat in a large breed puppy food might actually be ideal at this point.

Vet has said she doesn't want her on an adult food until she is about a year old.


----------



## Cpc1972 (Feb 23, 2015)

goldenfuzzball said:


> Thanks for the responses!
> 
> I had a discussion with my vet today about it, and the vet encouraged me to have a look at the large breed puppy foods, especially if there is one in the same brand that I am feeding (there is not.)
> 
> ...



Try a lamb based large breed puppy. Is has less calories then a chicken based. Chloe is on nutro large breed puppy lamb and rice. It doesn't have that many more calories then then the adult formula.


----------



## Rkaymay (May 12, 2014)

I fed Zelda TOTW until she was a year old. She did fine on it. I switched her to Purina ProPlan when she turned a year old.


----------



## goldenfuzzball (Jun 19, 2014)

*More info!*



Rkaymay said:


> I fed Zelda TOTW until she was a year old. She did fine on it. I switched her to Purina ProPlan when she turned a year old.


You know, I decided to sit down this afternoon and really analyze all of the information available about Large Breed Puppy foods.

First, I checked all of the ones out that Great Dane Lady recommends. While they sound like good foods, none of them are available locally, which is a deal-breaker for me. I also phoned a couple of local stores- they recommended Orijen and Acana (sounds wonderful but they are out of my price range and I know there are supply issues at times.)

Then I read the Dog Food Advisor article about choosing Large Breed Puppy foods here: How to Choose the Best Large Breed Puppy Food | Dog Food Advisor

They have a calculator tool at the bottom, and recommend that Large Breed puppies eat an AAFCO-compliant food that also has 3500 to 4000 kcals per kg of food, 3 grams of calcium per 1000 calories of food (not to exceed 4.5), and a calcium to phosphorous ratio between 1.1:1 and 1.5:1. 

I pulled the metrics from the Merrick Grain Free Puppy Food bag and it does not look like an ideal choice for a Large Breed puppy based on these guidelines. It had fewer kcals per kg than recommended, and 5 grams of calcium per 1000 calories which exceeds the upper recommended limit. The calcium to phosphorous ratio was acceptable. While it's not hugely inadequate, there are probably better choices out there.

There was not enough information for me to analyze any of the Whole Earth Farms foods, and I checked a couple of the other Merrick puppy formulas but there was either not enough information or they didn't meet the criteria either.

However, I also looked at TOTW High Prairie Puppy which is what I'm feeding now, and it looks like a better choice for a Large Breed puppy food. The kcals per kg are right in the recommended zone, and the calcium is at about 3.8 grams per 1000 calories and the calcium to phosphorous ratio is just fine too (1.4:1.)

I think I'm going to stick it out on TOTW then and maybe mix in a little something here or there to keep it interesting. I still really love Merrick as a brand, so maybe I'll re-evaluate how much I want to spend and the nutritional content when she switches over to adult food.

Edited to add: For some reason I didn't even see the Wellness food recommended above. I live really close to an Unleashed store that carries Wellness, so I may just look into that one. TOTW is not impossible to find locally but it's not super convenient to find either, and Wellness has a very similar price point.


----------

