[Barney'spal]

i've done alot of research on when to change barney over to adult food but everyone seems to have different answer. i realize that bassets have a somewhat different growth pattern than other dogs...alot of length..alot of bone. he's on chicken soup for the puppy lover..he's alittle over 5 months and on the 13th of july, he weighed 32 pounds. i'm worried about him ending up overweight and read that the puppy food has more calories than adult. i figured that if anyone could help me it would be you guys. you've been there, done that...and i always find help while lurking around on this forum.

 

[Mikey T]

It depends on the type of puppy food you are feeding which is why the differing recomendation. If you are feeding a traditional puppy food six month maybe sooner, but if you are feed a puppy food designed for large breeds then you can feed 12-18 months because it has reduced calories and reduced calcium and calciumto phosporus ratio which eliminate to problems of over nutrition from traditional puppy food. As a matter of fact it is better to stay longer term with large breed puppy because while adult food offers lower calories they are often quite high in calcium which is detrimental to proper bone growth at six month such growth diminishes but it is still a concern.


Keep in mind that controling the dog weight is not that diffcult it reality it is not about the calories in the food but how much of that food you put in the bowl. You simply need to feed less of a high caloric content food.


Dog Diet Do's and Don’t's


Traditional weght loss dog food formulas do not work well because they are heavy carbohydrate pased with a bit of extra fiber. There is know way to encorporate enough extra fiber needed to create a sated feeling in dogs In studies that have added extra fiber the amount it huge. It has be shown that the reduce protein levels in weight management formulas hurt in two way. First increase Protein appear to help satisfy dogs with limit extra calories especial when compared to fat or carbs. Secondly when you reduce protein it can have an effect on muscle mass. Muscle mass is critical to matabalism rate. The more muscle mass the more calories a dog burns simple doing nothing so when muscle mass goes down the dog need even less food which creates this cycle. HigH protein diet has been shown to improve weight loss in dogs. You will have far better success controlling a dogs weight simply by feeding less than by switching to a weight management or diet food.

 

[Wworm]

Yeah, we learned about large breed puppy food here on the forum too (prob from Mikey T).

I eat Solid Gold Wolf Cub Large Breed puppy food, and i loooove it. yummy! i'll probably be eating it until I'm 1 1/2 to 2 yrs old.

For weight control, my person avoids free feeding me (ie. putting a bowl of kibble and having me decide how much to eat). even tho i'd LIKE that, i would probably overeat.

I'm a tiny Worm, a little on the underweight side. 36 lbs at 1 year old. Sounds like you will be bigger, but definitely good to make sure you don't get overweight.
--Worm

 

[Esther]

wow wuh-worm. if you're underweight at 36 at one year i must be super-model skinny. i'm 28lbs and I'll be two on saturday.

 

[Wworm]

wow wuh-worm. if you're underweight at 36 at one year i must be super-model skinny. i'm 28lbs and I'll be two on saturday.

Happy Early Bday Estha!
watcha gonna be doing?

ummm... did ya lose weight recently? i thought you were around 35 lbs or so, too...

 

[mhvonalmen8908]

I just gauged my pups weight and that told me to change their food. I switched both Doppler and Virga over at around 9 months because they were starting to really chunk up. Doppler especially. We finished out their bags of food and started them on adult food. They eventually slimmed back down.

 

[Esther]

Happy Early Bday Estha!
watcha gonna be doing?

ummm... did ya lose weight recently? i thought you were around 35 lbs or so, too...

yeah. she said it must be on accounta my spade they got me.
but I'm also getting older and said maybe I should get 1-1/2 cups of food insteada' 1 cup twice a day.
*shrug*

long as I get to eat.
no real plans. he human has to run that morning and she human has to SLEEP that morning. but they promise they'll be up to take me somewhere. something about petco and a surprise.

 

[Scully]

You're right, there are so many opinions about this. For Ninja, I went with her breeder's advice and started her on adult food at about 6 months.