When to switch from puppy to adult food

Jungerland

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Jul 31, 2011
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Hi I have Winston on about 1 1/2 cups of Purina pup chow in the morning and another 1 1/2 in the evening. Winston is 10 months old, but when should I switch him from the pup chow to an adult chow. Also what are your opinions on Purina, as well as recommendations for maybe a better food for bullys. BTW Purina is the food the breeder had him on when I took him home, she said I should keep him on the pup chow until about a year if i remember correctly.


Thanks,
-Jared
 

JAKEISGREAT

.................
Mar 25, 2011
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I think I read a post from you about allergies? Well this is what we think of purina..:eek:.. He should already be on a quality dog food. We have a food ratings page here and I'm sure you can find lots of choices for Winston. I believe Purina might be a 1 rated food..which is the lowest rating there is!! Don't blame yourself..I'm sure you are doing what the breeder told you. But now you can make the correct healthy choices your Winston needs! My Jake is nearly 1 ..he gets Fromm Beef Fritatta..1cup in am and pm. Now..what works for one bully sure doesn't work for all..it's the hardest part of a healthy Bully! Whatever food you decide to try..make sure you do a slow transition. Otherwise Winston will probably have an upset tummy! Please read the article about dog food ratings..then explore all the great choices you have!
 

anatess

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Jul 26, 2011
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Usually we start switching from puppy to adult formula at 18 months of age. But, I suggest to switch him out of Purina now to a different puppy formula as suggested in the list [MENTION=2092]JAKEISGREAT[/MENTION] linked to above to help prevent problems with your bulldog later. Then you can switch him out to the adult food when he reaches 18 months.
 

JAKEISGREAT

.................
Mar 25, 2011
14,802
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Jake
Usually we start switching from puppy to adult formula at 18 months of age. But, I suggest to switch him out of Purina now to a different puppy formula as suggested in the list [MENTION=2092]JAKEISGREAT[/MENTION] linked to above to help prevent problems with your bulldog later. Then you can switch him out to the adult food when he reaches 18 months.
We went to an all stages food at 10 weeks with Jake..my vet says no puppy food needed..and it's different with all vets! But he has done great...all things considered. At 10 months..no way would I change to another puppy food now..but that's my opinion...plenty opinions to go around! Lol
 

Davidh

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We change ours off puppy food around 10 to 11 months. Some of the other breeder friends we have do the same. As far as the Purina, I would not feed my bully that food either. Please check out the food rating article here. Also how about some pics of Winston please. :)
 

anatess

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We went to an all stages food at 10 weeks with Jake..my vet says no puppy food needed..and it's different with all vets! But he has done great...all things considered. At 10 months..no way would I change to another puppy food now..but that's my opinion...plenty opinions to go around! Lol
We change ours off puppy food around 10 to 11 months. Some of the other breeder friends we have do the same. As far as the Purina, I would not feed my bully that food either. Please check out the food rating article here. Also how about some pics of Winston please. :)

Most of my dogs didn't do puppy formula. We go straight to Blue Wilderness from 8 weeks on. Our dobermans though used the puppy formula because of the intense growth spurt dobermans go through. Puppy formula is designed to support the growth spurt in dogs with extra calcium support for bone building and the high calories needed for the energy expended by a puppy's growing years. A puppy formula is designed to be used until the dog has reached 90% of its adult weight and is close to maturity.

Generally, most breeds of dog reach this stage at around the 12-month mark and reaches maturity not too long after that. The English Bulldog breed's average growth chart, though, extends past that 12-month mark and they don't usually reach maturity until past 18 months, therefore, all my research on the breed has pointed to using the puppy formula until 18 months of age. Of course, that only applies if you opt for the puppy formula route. You don't have to especially if you're using the high quality high protein stuff.
 

Davidh

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[MENTION=2874]anatess[/MENTION] we can debate dog food all day long, but I'm not going to do that, but we have had several bulldog vets and different breeders tell us that the bully puppy the way their bodies mature and their growth pattern they do not need puppy food that long because of the extra calcium and protein, it can give them joint problems. One breeder I know takes theirs off puppy food at 6 months. Everyone has their own idea as to what to do, and you can ask several vets and get different answers. I just said what we do and it works well for my bullies, you do something different and it works well for you. Dobermans and other breed of dog need puppy food longer, because they grow different than bullies. Everyone has their own idea as to what to do.
 

anatess

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[MENTION=2874]anatess[/MENTION] we can debate dog food all day long, but I'm not going to do that, but we have had several bulldog vets and different breeders tell us that the bully puppy the way their bodies mature and their growth pattern they do not need puppy food that long because of the extra calcium and protein, it can give them joint problems. One breeder I know takes theirs off puppy food at 6 months. Everyone has their own idea as to what to do, and you can ask several vets and get different answers. I just said what we do and it works well for my bullies, you do something different and it works well for you. Dobermans and other breed of dog need puppy food longer, because they grow different than bullies. Everyone has their own idea as to what to do.

Debating dog food is always futile because each dog is unique even within the same breed. My vet recommends Science Diet which, to me, is crap food. I don't debate him because he has lots of healthy patients following his recommended diet regimen. I normally don't go by vet recommendations when it comes to dog food. I do my own analysis by matching all my research on dog food with all my research on the dog breed and coming up with the typical baseline and adjusting from there depending on my specific dog (determined by parentage and day-to-day observation). And, the 18-month standard is typical for english bulldogs according to their growth rate and body structure, matched with the puppy formula from everything I've read on the topic. Of course, we adopted our one and only bulldog at age 3, so we never had to apply it. If I was to get a puppy, I wouldn't bother with puppy formula and go straight to all stages food. But that doesn't answer the thread topic.

A Doberman is completely different. A Doberman typically achieves most of his weight and height before the first heat cycle. So that's typically 60 pounds and 24 inches by 6 months of age - a very rapid growth spurt - and they usually don't grow much more than that in the next 6 months, usually just filling out muscle, with a maturity level achieved by 12 months. Doberman baseline is only 9 months on the puppy formula and I always opt for the puppy formula for dobies due to this growth spurt, although we had our dogs on puppy food until 12 months because they were from what many would consider a "warrior" line and did not achieve close to their expected weight until then. Doberman do not have a weight standard - you may see AKC dogs between 60 and 120 pounds - which is different from english bulldogs who have a standard of 40-50 lbs. - so, it's not unusual to find dobies who stop growing at 6 months and others who stop growing at 18 months depending on the line.

So, all this spiel just to say - this is what's typical, then know your specific dog and adjust accordingly.
 
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speechmom53

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Feb 17, 2011
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we are switching tubs to adult food now. he just turned 1 october 16th. our vet said he should be on puppy food until he is a year old. we went though many different food changes (prism, nutro, avoderm) until we found one that works well for him. he is on blue chicken and brown rice. we are almost finished switching him to blue chicken and brown rice adult and it has been the easiest transition we have had thus far! no side effects this time at all. sorry for the poor typing....i have a bully sleeping on my left hand right now! good luck!
 

LillyNBruin

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Around 1 we started transitioning to adult food for both Bruin and Lilly. We're currently eating Nature's Variety, but like everyone said, every bully is different. Bruin did ok on Blue Buffalo for awhile and if he didn't have allergies (at least I think he has food allergies to grain) I would probably still have him on Blue. Lilly can and will eat whatever :)
 

Suzy2

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Apr 24, 2011
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Most of us in the uk change to adult kibble at about 6 months or later if below about 48lbs. To me you need to slow down the weight gain to support the joints, especially the shoulders. As these joints don't fully settle until the head enlarges, which is usually between 12 and 18 months. Puppy kibble, in general, tends to have more protein/calories than adult kibble ( with British foods anyhow)
 

2BullyMama

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Anytime after 6 months you can switch over and at 1 year you should drop to 1 cup 2x a day. Of, course talk with your vet and make sure your baby's weight and health are supported by the volume you feed.
 

cowsmom

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Apr 27, 2011
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i got sarah when she was one and put her right on adult food no problems. im not getting into the debate above but i would get my dog off of purina. there is a food ratings chart here with ratings of food. if you go with a higher rated dog food especially one with higher protein and such i would do a very very slow transition. a bullies system can be very sensitive and going from a lower rated food to a higher can even be more so. i would do it over like 2 weeks maybe. i feed sarah one cup in the am and one in the pm or sometimes less depending on the food im feeding. if you need help ive had sarah on many different foods over the last 2 years. good luck and welcome to the forum.
 

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