# Large Breed Puppy Food?



## marshab1 (Aug 28, 2006)

You'll get lots of varying opinions on this one! I was told that puppy food was very important for puppies but that for a golden it needed to be a large breed formula so that it didn't cause them to grow too quickly. 

Many people to counteract that switch them to an adult formula pretty early on. But my vet told me not to switch until my pup was at least 8 months old. I would check with the food company. This is a question they should be able to answer and should be able to tell you the reasons for their answer.

Oh and welcome!


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## KatzNK9 (Feb 27, 2007)

Hello and welcome to the forum. Great to have you with us. I had one heck of a time finding a puppy food that Ozzy would eat consistently. I "dressed up" his meals with some table scraps, canned foods, and Natural Balance Dog Food Rolls grated & mixed in.

If I had it to do all over again, I'd start with what he is eating now (Canidae All Life Stages) and keep mixing in the taste tempters.


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## Goldilocks (Jun 3, 2007)

I came across a GR breeder that only guarantees their puppies health if they are fed "an approved food" and they recommend Fromm Salmon al la Veg for the first 6 months after the puppy goes home. The Fromm Salmon formula is 25% protein, 16% fat. The website for Fromm is: Fromm Family Foods - Four-Star Salmon À La Veg Holistic Entree

This food is not a "puppy" specific formula but they feel that the nutrient ratio is correct for the growth of a large breed puppy. This food is about $8 more per 30lb bag then Wellness. I have used both Wellness Super 5 Lamb and Super 5 Chicken and the Fromm Salmon for our adult dogs and really like the Fromm.


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## Oaklys Dad (Dec 28, 2005)

I'm no food expert but my breeder had Oakly on adult food from the git go. I just continued on with adult food from the day I brought him home. She was a big believer in the slow growth and felt that the higher protein in the puppy food could interfere with proper joint growth.


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## TheHooch (May 9, 2007)

I ask mine to keep on large breed puppy for 6 months.

Hooch


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## TheHooch (May 9, 2007)

Dang I forgot the most important part. Welcome to the forum. LOL

Hooch


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## Elway&Prince (Sep 6, 2007)

Well this is from awhile ago but I'll add what I think. I don't like solid gold one bit. Sure maybe it is a good food but we tried it for awhile and our dogs HATED it and they had constant poop problems and horrible gas.

We never fed a large breed puppy formula to our dogs and always fed an adult food that was made for all life stages, not maintence formula. Right now we are feeding Innova but may switch to Timberwolf organics because we feed raw meats and bones and TWO goes better with a raw diet.


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## z&mom (Oct 7, 2006)

We started Z on adult food when she turned 5-6 months. We started with Eaglepack Lamb, then switched to Merrick Grammy Potpie. She had the run when she was on Merrick, and it never got better so we switched her back to EP Lamb (Holistic). She was doing fine but we found that she poops a lot, so we switched her again and this time to Timberwolf Lamb and Apple. The food smells a lot nicer than EP, and she has smaller stool. So we are sticking to Timberwolf, we alternate the flavors (Lamb&Apple, Salmon&Venison).


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## Swampcollie (Sep 6, 2007)

While there are minor differences in the protien and fat content, the major difference between adult formula and large breed puppy formula is the balance (ratio) of calcium/phosphorus. Adjusting this balance helps to control the rate of growth of the puppy. (It causes them to grow the framework first and fill out later when the structure is sufficiently developed to carry the loads.)


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## Elway&Prince (Sep 6, 2007)

z&mom said:


> We started Z on adult food when she turned 5-6 months. We started with Eaglepack Lamb, then switched to Merrick Grammy Potpie. She had the run when she was on Merrick, and it never got better so we switched her back to EP Lamb (Holistic). She was doing fine but we found that she poops a lot, so we switched her again and this time to Timberwolf Lamb and Apple. The food smells a lot nicer than EP, and she has smaller stool. So we are sticking to Timberwolf, we alternate the flavors (Lamb&Apple, Salmon&Venison).


 
We had the same problem with the Merricks! Our dogs loved it but it didn't love them back :lol:. I also didn't like that they said there is so much fruits and veggies mixed in and in the larger bags (we went through 3) there was none. The smaller bags were loaded with it though. I'm definetely going with Timberwolf though I like the Dakota Bison formula.


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## ravenchow (Apr 3, 2007)

FYI--Not to threadjack...

Somebody mentioned Eagle Pack. We were researching a new food for our pup since he'd been having ongoing diarrhea issues. Some of the Eagle Pack foods have fat as one of the first several ingredients. Fat is a possible contributor to bloat. I had looked at Eagle Pack at a store, but I got into a disagreement with the store owner & left without picking a food. It gave me time to do some more reading on Dog Food Analysis - Reviews of kibble. I don't think all the Eagle Pack dry foods are like that, but some of you may want to check. Just thought I'd offer that piece of info I just learned this past week. It also caused me to skip over another food after reading the ingredients (but can't remember the brand right now).

Jody


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## Swampcollie (Sep 6, 2007)

I have my doubts that fat would be a strong contributer to gastric torsion. 

You probably found a bag of Eagle Pack Power Formula. It's a performance diet for hard working dogs (sled dogs, hunting dogs, dogs in training, etc.) The Power Formula was developed for Sled Dogs and their energy needs while working. 

(Most Mushers add even more fat to their dogs' diet on top of the Power Formula they're already feeding.) 

The drawback for the Power Formula is shelf life. That high fat content means the food can't sit around for very long before it starts going bad. If you're only feeding one dog, it may become undesirable to the dog before you reach the end of the bag.


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## ravenchow (Apr 3, 2007)

Swampcollie said:


> I have my doubts that fat would be a strong contributer to gastric torsion.
> 
> Actually, I've read several references to high levels of fat being a contributor to bloat--not just at the site I've noted below. This info comes from Dog Food Analysis - Reviews of kibble . I just wanted to pass along the info I read about Eagle Pack because this was news to me as I shopped last week for something new for my diarrhea proned pup.
> 
> ...


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## Elway&Prince (Sep 6, 2007)

ravenchow, have you tried looking at Timberwolf organics? We had a dog with horrible diarrhea she couldn't eat Innova, Eagle Pack, any canidae's, natural balance or solid gold. We finally tried Timberwolf organics dakota bison and she firmed up within a week. We had good luck with the dakota bison. The company ships for free off their website as well if you can't find a nearby store.


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## KylesGR (Aug 30, 2007)

I broght my 8 week pup home 3 days ago and she was eating Dads... which is horrible and i now feed her Canidae All Life Stages and she loves it. Welcome to the forum


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## ravenchow (Apr 3, 2007)

Crazydog said:


> ravenchow, have you tried looking at Timberwolf organics? We had a dog with horrible diarrhea she couldn't eat Innova, Eagle Pack, any canidae's, natural balance or solid gold. We finally tried Timberwolf organics dakota bison and she firmed up within a week. We had good luck with the dakota bison. The company ships for free off their website as well if you can't find a nearby store.


Thanks Crazydog. I think the store where I hand over my paycheck does carry Timberwolf (at least I saw it there previously), but I was a bit overwhelmed with all of the number of choices & had the store person helping me. I ended up settling on Pinnacle's Duck & Oatmeal. So far so good. And, I swear he's starting to fill out just a bit. He was so anorexic thin that it was really disturbing me. He's been fed since Saturday so hopefully we're good. But, Canidae & Innova started off fine too, strangely enough, so I don't want to say too much & ruin our success this week  If this doesn't work, I'll look to that one next. Thanks!

Jody


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## Elway&Prince (Sep 6, 2007)

ravenchow said:


> Thanks Crazydog. I think the store where I hand over my paycheck does carry Timberwolf (at least I saw it there previously), but I was a bit overwhelmed with all of the number of choices & had the store person helping me. I ended up settling on Pinnacle's Duck & Oatmeal. So far so good. And, I swear he's starting to fill out just a bit. He was so anorexic thin that it was really disturbing me. He's been fed since Saturday so hopefully we're good. But, Canidae & Innova started off fine too, strangely enough, so I don't want to say too much & ruin our success this week  If this doesn't work, I'll look to that one next. Thanks!
> 
> Jody


No prob! Although I'm thinking of switching off of the Innova and now I'm looking at the Pinnacle food as well! About how much do you spend on a bag of it? If it's similar priced to the Innova I may switch them over to that.

For our one dog we had she never had firm stools on anything and we tried A LOT of stuff for her but after getting her one the Timberwolf it was basically instantly within I want to say two days her poop started firming up and then at the end of the week it was completely solid and I was SO happy (not something NORMAL people get happy about though I guess:lol.


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## ravenchow (Apr 3, 2007)

Crazydog said:


> No prob! Although I'm thinking of switching off of the Innova and now I'm looking at the Pinnacle food as well! About how much do you spend on a bag of it? If it's similar priced to the Innova I may switch them over to that.
> 
> For our one dog we had she never had firm stools on anything and we tried A LOT of stuff for her but after getting her one the Timberwolf it was basically instantly within I want to say two days her poop started firming up and then at the end of the week it was completely solid and I was SO happy (not something NORMAL people get happy about though I guess:lol.


LOL! Yeah--you know you really love your dog when the focus of your life becomes poop. :yuck: The Pinnacle was $51.25 & I think it was only a 30 pound bag. I remember Innova being more expensive than Canidae, but I don't think it was THAT expensive. It's going down fast because we've been feeding him 2 two cup scoops a day. I wanted to buy a smaller bag to start with, but the only other size at this store was some little dinky thing. It looked like it would only last a few days. I was horrified by the price--but our diarrhea wasn't just diarrhea. It was being done in the middle of the night (or during a nice night out to dinner) IN his crate & sometimes he stepped on it & tracked it around. It was awful. I'll pay anything to just make THAT stop.....Actually, I don't think our German shepherd's stool is firm on Canidae--but we're not concerning ourselves with him right now since we're trying to fatten up the pup & find something that won't make him go in the middle of the night. The shepherd can wait until we get the pup settled. Of course, the shepherd is hardly thin from his diet. He does not appreciate that the pup gets fed more than he does  Well, basically he doesn't appreciate that the pup has anything that he doesn't (including my attention) & would be fine at sticking the pup out on a street corner somewhere 

Jody


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## Elway&Prince (Sep 6, 2007)

ravenchow said:


> LOL! Yeah--you know you really love your dog when the focus of your life becomes poop. :yuck: The Pinnacle was $51.25 & I think it was only a 30 pound bag. I remember Innova being more expensive than Canidae, but I don't think it was THAT expensive. It's going down fast because we've been feeding him 2 two cup scoops a day. I wanted to buy a smaller bag to start with, but the only other size at this store was some little dinky thing. It looked like it would only last a few days. I was horrified by the price--but our diarrhea wasn't just diarrhea. It was being done in the middle of the night (or during a nice night out to dinner) IN his crate & sometimes he stepped on it & tracked it around. It was awful. I'll pay anything to just make THAT stop.....Actually, I don't think our German shepherd's stool is firm on Canidae--but we're not concerning ourselves with him right now since we're trying to fatten up the pup & find something that won't make him go in the middle of the night. The shepherd can wait until we get the pup settled. Of course, the shepherd is hardly thin from his diet. He does not appreciate that the pup gets fed more than he does  Well, basically he doesn't appreciate that the pup has anything that he doesn't (including my attention) & would be fine at sticking the pup out on a street corner somewhere
> 
> Jody


 
Yeah our one dog was the same way too she just couldn't hold it and it was so bad I don't think she even realized she had to go until she was going.

Our dogs weren't too firm on canidae either, they were at first but then it just got soft so we switched to Innova but I'm having the same problem about keeping weight on both my dogs. I mean they look really skinny and they eat a ton of food but just can't gain, or keep, weight on them.

Our golden puppy is the one that would like to boot our older dog to the curb, he doesn't feel the house is big enough for the both of them:lol:!

That's not a bad price, it'll probably be similar priced here but we pay $45 for the 33 lb bag of Innova so what's another $8! If it lasts close to a month though I'll be happy the Innova lasted us a month about I'm pretty sure.


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