#1
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Adult Food
At what age do you normally start to switch your dog to adult food? I know that they recommend 1 year but I have heard of people switching at 10 or 11 months.
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"If you are a dog and your owner suggests that you wear a sweater, suggest that he wear a tail." - Fran Lebowitz |
#2
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I think it realy depends on the size and type of dog, your best bet would be to ask your vet. From what I understand they should be on pup food until they finish growing (up).
Although... Our vet recommended we put our pup (irish wolfhound X) on adult food at 8 weeks. She said something about him knuckling over - he had very huge feet and leg bones. The lady at our pet store who is also a breeder said the same. Personally I had never heard of feeding them adult food this young, so I mixed pup and adult food. I have done this for years with my Boston as he's not a big eater. This probably hasn't helped you at all.
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My Boys: Charlie (aka little pig) Boston Terrier Roscoe (aka big bad wolf) Irish Wolfhound X EH!! |
#3
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I agree with 10-12 months. I stopped at about 14 months, because I needed to get weight on Levi (I adopted him at 1 year and he was VERY thin). It might depend on the breed too, I'm not sure. Maybe ask the vet?
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"If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went." |
#4
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Spencer is a 13 inch Beagle.
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"If you are a dog and your owner suggests that you wear a sweater, suggest that he wear a tail." - Fran Lebowitz |
#5
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I don't know the guidelines very well but the smaller the dog, the sooner they can be transitioned from puppy to adult food. I think Spencer would be considered a small-medium breed so I think he should stay on puppy food until he's 12 months old when he'll definately be fully grown!
But I think it also depends on the quality of food you are feeding him (in addition to his breed, size and activity level). Dodger is 11 months old and I haven't thought about switching him yet but he's a large breed dog so I'll wait until 12 month-14 months I think. Melissa
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"Animals are reliable, many full of love, true in their affections, predictable in their actions, grateful and loyal. Difficult standards for people to live up to." |
#6
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I switched my Beagle over to adult food when she was a year old. At the time the vet said that was good. I have heard that it really depends on the breed of dog. The larger and giant breeds stay on puppy food longer than 12 months as they are still puppies and growing at that age. Smaller and medium sized dogs can be switched to adult food sooner.
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#7
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Many breeders of large breed dogs recomend NOT using puppy food at all.
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#8
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My GSD's were switched to adult at 6 months.
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"A dog can express more with his tail in minutes than his owner can express with his tongue in hours." |
#9
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Our breeder (newfs) actually puts in the contract to switch them to adult food at 6 months. She said that if you feed too rich a food, or puppy food for too long you will increase their chances of developing bone/joint problems later on. While I was researching dog foods, I found that most commerical puppy foods have lots of calcium in it (supposedly to help the bones grow) but for a large/giant breed puppy, they can't have as much calcium because their bones will grow too fast. I found that some companies make a large breed puppy food that has less calcium to control the growth rate. I've ordered the Wolfcub Large Breed puppy food and I plan on feeding it til Hazel is at least a year, maybe more. When I asked the breeder about it, she said that would be fine - she puts the clause in her contract for people who don't feed a good food specifically designed for large/giant breed puppies. I've always heard that no matter the breed, you should feed puppy food til their bones are done growing (which for smaller breeds would be sooner than large breeds).
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Kandy Livin in a Newfie Drool Zone |
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