# What age to switch to adult food?



## SwimFun (Mar 30, 2013)

We were at the vet yesterday and she asked me when I planned on switching to adult food. It kind of took me by surprise because I haven't been thinking about that at all. I still think my puppy is 8 weeks old sometimes! But he's 6.5 months right now. I have 1.5 bags of 30lb puppy food left, which will probably last him until he's 8 months old. She told me by 10 months he should switch to adult food. 

I guess I'm just wondering what ages everyone else switched their puppies to adult foods?


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## sunset (Mar 10, 2013)

Our dog is 6 months and on Fromm Large Breed puppy food. Our vet said to keep him on it until he is a year old, then we will put him on the From large Breed Adult food.


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## Max's Dad (Apr 23, 2012)

Max stayed on Eukanuba Large Breed Puppy Food until he was 15-16 months old. The Eukanuba bag said up to 24 months.


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## Sally's Mom (Sep 20, 2010)

My guys eat Wellness. Switch at four months and do not feed large breed...


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## Abby girl (May 26, 2013)

We had the same discussion with our vet. Abby is 6.5 months and our vet recommended we transition over at about 8 months. And if I recall correctly that's about when I did it with our old girl Sophie.:wave:


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## samralf (Aug 11, 2012)

Sally's Mom said:


> My guys eat Wellness. Switch at four months and do not feed large breed...


Why shouldn't we use large breed varietys? Which type of wellness do you use?


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## Deber (Aug 23, 2011)

We switched both of ours at 4 months.


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## graciemom (Apr 20, 2013)

Gracie is almost 7 months vet told me last week to switch her to adult food so we are now half puppy/half adult.

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## murphy1 (Jun 21, 2012)

my guys always switched at the age of six months but if i still had 30 lbs left i'd use it up then switch


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## Elvis (Sep 19, 2013)

I think the general consensus is between the ages of 8 to 16 months depending on the breed. The truth is that there's less difference between puppy and adult food than the dog food manufacturers would like us to know. If you don't want to worry about when to make the switch, you could start on an ALS food now. Many, many dog owners, breeders, shelters etc. etc. swear by good brand ALS.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

I started switching Bertie around 4 months (as suggested by his breeders, etc).... I had a big bag of kibble left and basically took my time weaning him onto adult food over the next month...

He was on regular puppy food and was weaned onto regular adult. I don't think they need large breed kibble.


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## Wyatt's mommy (Feb 25, 2011)

Both my boys were switched over to large breed adult food at 4 months.


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## CarolinaCasey (Jun 1, 2007)

Our dogs have both come home eating adult food/all life stages. If they hadn't, I would have transitioned at 4 months. 


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## SwimFun (Mar 30, 2013)

Thanks for all the replies! Looks like I will look into adult food once my bags of puppy run out


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Don't wait for them to run out.... keep in mind you need a couple weeks at least to wean from puppy food to the adult food.


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## SwimFun (Mar 30, 2013)

Yes! That is what I meant, not to buy any more puppy food but switch him over to adult food using these last bags


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## SMBC (Jul 31, 2012)

Sally's Mom said:


> My guys eat Wellness. Switch at four months and do not feed large breed...


Why not feed large breed? Really curious about this! Champ has been on Wellness Large Breed Puppy pretty much since we got him and he does great on it!


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## sunset (Mar 10, 2013)

Sally's Mom said:


> My guys eat Wellness. Switch at four months and do not feed large breed...


I also was wondering why not feed a large breed food.


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## Brave (Oct 26, 2012)

I switched Bear from large breed puppy to an All Life Stage food around 9 months, I think. 


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## chyna (Aug 21, 2013)

We still feed our Lucy (10 months now) Royal Canin GR Junior, but I was considering changing her food to adult and was advised by a few breeders on the last show that I should switch her now. One of the breeder's dog is the same age as Lucy and she is fed 50/50 junior and adult in order to switch to adult at some point. If your dog is a full size of an adult dog, then this is the right time to switch to adult food.

Btw. I would never feed a 4 month old puppy an adult dog food as the puppy is simply not fully developed.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

4-5 months is generally that time when the puppies have gone through their biggest growth and are starting to fill out. That's a good time as any to switch to adult food. 

While they are going through those growth spurts, I think it's helpful to feed them something that has higher protein, fat, and calories. Meaning regular puppy kibble (not large breed). And then you switch to regular adult food after the big growth spurts.

The large breed puppy kibble I looked at had the same protein, fat, etc levels as the _regular adult_ kibble the guys now eat. But costs more.


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## MyBentley (May 5, 2009)

To speak in terms of "puppy" food versus "adult" food is meaningless. I could show you 3 different kibbles: 1 labeled "adult", 1 labeled "puppy" and 1 labeled "all life stages" and they could all hve the same percentages of protein, fat and calcium.

You have to look at the guaranteed analysis on a company's website which is always more up-to-date than the bag. If you feed the appropriate amount of any dog food that is not less than 26% protein and 16% fat, but not more than 1.5% calcium; than that should work for any age of golden retriever.


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## Kylie's Mom (Jun 23, 2013)

We were following our breeder's recommendation to switch to Adult food at 6 mo. We started mixing the puppy food and the adult food at about 5 1/2 mo to make the change.


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