canine plus lifetime...puppy food

[CarolynInPEI]

Hi, does anyone have any experience with Canine Plus Lifetime dog food? I was looking at it today when shopping for puppy food

It's for puppies and adults? I thought puppies needed different amounts of protein than older dogs?

Just looking for some info!!

[kandy]

I can't find any nutritional analysis on the food so you might want to check the fat content. Since fat is fairly high up on the ingredient list, it could be too high for alot of dogs. The ingredients themselves don't look terrible, a touch grainy IMO but there's definitely worse out there.

Foods that pass certain criteria can be labeled for all life stages. Some puppies should not be on a puppy food very long, like large/giant breed puppies - but if I remember right it's because of the calcium & phosphorous levels. Of course they do make large/giant breed puppy food too but the newfs were on adult food by the time they were about 5 months old. While I haven't done any comparisons, I'd say the puppy food would probably be higher in fat, and in calories along with higher calcium and phosphorous.

[rainbow]

I agree that it is fine to feed a puppy an all life stage dog food. Here is some info from www.dogaware.com ....

You should always feed puppies foods that are approved either for puppies or for all life stages. If you feed a food that is approved for adult dogs only, there will be inadequate amounts of protein, and improper levels of calcium and other nutrients. Large Breed Puppy Formulas may not be the answer, as they often replace protein with carbohydrates. Protein and carbohydrates contain exactly the same number of calories per gram, so reducing protein in favor of carbohydrates provides less needed nutrition without reducing calories. High protein diets are preferred, as puppies need protein to thrive and studies have shown that high protein does not lead to developmental problems, but high fat diets may contribute too many calories, leading to rapid growth. See the following articles for more information:

The website for Canine Plus Lifetime is www.nutreco-pet.ca but it is currently being updated. I got this ingredient list from http://www.acreaturecomfort.com/lifetime.htm ....

Ingredients: Chicken Meal, Oatmeal, Whole Barley, Chicken & Turkey Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Canola Meal, Whole Brown Rice, Flaxseed, Natural Flavours, Herring Oil (source of DHA/EPA), Sodium Chloride, Potassiom Chloride, Calcium Carbonate, Dicalcium Phosphate, Mannanoligosaccharides (MOS), Chicory Inulin (FOS), Choline Chloride, Yucca Schidigera Extract, (Vitamins) Vitamin Supplements (A,D,E), Niacin, Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Biotin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Vitamin B12, Vitamin K, Folic Acid (Minerals) Zinc Sulphate, Ferrous Sulphate, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite, Chelated Minerals (Zinc, Copper, Manganese, Iron), Manganese Sulphate, Copper Sulphate.

I would like to see more meat protein in the ingredients but you can always add some of your own to compensate. Flaxseed can be a problem for some dogs so something to watch for if your dog doesn't do well. Canola Meal is a low quality source of linoleic acid. I would also ask the company what type of Vitamin K they use. Vitamin K1 is the natural form and okay but Vitamin K3 is synthetic and believed to cause cancer and is banned for human consumption. Check out www.dogfoodproject.com to read more about it.