[Newmom]

Our new puppy is far more interested in our greyhounds Iams Lamb and Rice formula then the puppy food. He is on Pedigree puppy for the simple reason that we cannot get any other kind of food around here. I would prefer something better quality but am still searching for the answer. He has not had any digestive upset since coming home. I expected some loose stool from the new home and such but he seems to have the cast iron stomach. Just wondering if I should be concerned about the consumption of adult. I do feel better about the Iams then Pedigree for sure, but it is not puppy food...

 

[roscolaylamommy]

I would try to avoid letting him eating eat a lot of the adult food. It won't hurt for him to have it as a treat but it doesn't have all the nutritional needs the puppy food does. You might try mixing a small amount of the iams in with the puppy food to make it a little more interesting. You can also try the tough love technique by not allowing him to eat anything but the pedigree. You will have to take up the iams or watch while the dogs eat and keep the puppy out of it. If the pup doesn't seem interested in his food at the time, take it up and give it to him a little while later. He will eventually get hungry enough to eat it. The final thing to try and make the food more interesting than the iams is to try mixing some moist puppy food with the dry puppy food.

 

[SophieB]

Like the last poster, I would also avoid the adult food for a young puppy as there isn't as much nutrient in adult food that pup will need for him to build him into a nice, sturdy healthy adult, with good bone structure and everything else needed to grow well.

 

[mhvonalmen8908]

I agree as well. Puppies need puppy food. The idea of mixing in some of the Iams with the Pedigree is a good one I think. But whatever you decide to do, eventually your puppy with get hungry enough to eat his puppy food. Good luck with it!

 

[Mikey T]

agree as well. Puppies need puppy food

That has never been the case in many cases puppy food does more harm than good. Many basset breeder have recoomend not feeding puppy food to them Puppy foods are calorical high becaus general a puppies stomach is small capacity they need a lot of calories in a dense package for growth, However for large breed dogs the biggest dager is growing to fast in which the weight and muscle mass out pace the growth of bones creating a puppy that is to heavy for its skeleton and creating all kinds of orthodeaic problems. The solution many though was to increase or supplement with calcium and or vitamin d to speed bone growth. Well in reality that just componds the issue. Excessive amounts of cacium cause the orthpeadic problems as well. It is now well understood the need to control cacium intake and the calcium phosporus ratio in puppies. Most puppy food deside for the average dog to small breed dog contain nore than the ideal amount of cacium and is calorical dense for large breed puppies. Adult food in most cases is a better fit than if a large breed puppy food can not be found in most cases.

Also most adult food is designed for all life stages which includes puppyhood the same can not be said for puppy food.
A high quality adult food is vastly superior for a puppy than a low quality puppy food

As far as getting Large breed puppy food, if not available locally one should invastigate the numerious mailorder pet food suppliers. Often, the cost including shipping is inline or better than local pricing.

petfooddirct being one of the largest



see
The Growth of Large and Giant Breed Puppies

It was discovered that preventing puppies from gaining weight too fast limited the emergence of osteoarticular complaints in large-breed dogs.

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More than 99% of the calcium in a body is fixed by the skeleton. A deficiency of calcium disrupts the mineralization of growing bones. Conversely, before 6 months the puppy is unable to protect itself against an excess of calcium: during weaning at least 50% of the calcium released in the intestine is absorbed regardless of the quantity ingested (Hazewinkel & Coll, 1991).​

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chronic excess absorption of calcium stimulates the production of a hormone, calcitonin, which re-establishes normal blood calcium levels. It does so by promoting the deposit of calcium in the bone tissue and limiting the uptake of calcium from bone. In the growth period the bone tissue is reshaped permanently: if the changes are slowed down, the reshaping of the bone tissue is inhibited, the structure of the bone becomes abnormal and skeletal deformations may appear.​

Dog Diet Do's and Don’t's [/quote]​

http://www.amrottclub.org/diet.pdf