Other Large breed or not?

[mer55]

Hi! I saw discussion on another thread and did not want to confuse the issue so I thought I would start a new thread. I did A TON of research for weeks on dog food before I brought Bogey home because I wanted to start off on the right paw!

I settled on Fromm's Puppy Large Breed and here is why: Any dog who reaches over 50 lbs at adulthood is considered a large breed PUPPY. It actually says this on the Fromm's site when choosing which puppy food to get. My vet explained that Large breed puppy is the way to go because it has LESS protein, not more as someone posted. Large breed puppy foods help in slowing the growth of bones so they will not have as many problems in adulthood. The misconception is that large breed puppy has a lot of extra stuff in it because the puppies grow so fast- actually the opposite is true- it is formulated to keep the growth down! The manager of the pet store concurred with this theory. This will help them in later years.

He also recommended that I switch to All stage adult food at 6-7 months, which I will do.

Hope this helps someone out there! It sure is confusing with all the different types of food! This site's Dog food articles were a GREAT help.

 

[bullmama]

Hi! I saw discussion on another thread and did not want to confuse the issue so I thought I would start a new thread. I did A TON of research for weeks on dog food before I brought Bogey home because I wanted to start off on the right paw!

I settled on Fromm's Puppy Large Breed and here is why: Any dog who reaches over 50 lbs at adulthood is considered a large breed PUPPY. It actually says this on the Fromm's site when choosing which puppy food to get. My vet explained that Large breed puppy is the way to go because it has LESS protein, not more as someone posted. Large breed puppy foods help in slowing the growth of bones so they will not have as many problems in adulthood. The misconception is that large breed puppy has a lot of extra stuff in it because the puppies grow so fast- actually the opposite is true- it is formulated to keep the growth down! The manager of the pet store concurred with this theory. This will help them in later years.

He also recommended that I switch to All stage adult food at 6-7 months, which I will do.

Hope this helps someone out there! It sure is confusing with all the different types of food! This site's Dog food articles were a GREAT help.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[2BullyMama]

Interesting.... I will have to talk with my vet next time we are in to get his point of view.

 

[Vikinggirl]

Thank you, this was very helpful and good information to have. I did not know that, I also thought Large Breed meant it had more in it for bigger dogs. I learned something new.

 

[TessaAndSamson]

Good information, thank you for sharing

 

[JAKEISGREAT]

I am the one who posted this..now..in fairness..I was NOT speaking of Puppy Food. But large breed food in general. Large Breed DOG food does support larger boned dogs. It has more protein than most commercial dog foods for this reason. If you read more of my post..you will see where my vet recommends slower growth for bully's because of the stress put on their bones with faster growth. for this reason..my vet also recommends A good All Stage Food over puppy food. I believe I also said..slow and steady is what my vet says. We have had Dobermans and Rotties over the past 30 years and they required High Protein food and extra things like cottage cheese etc to support their rapid growth. That is different than Bulldogs who take longer to mature.

 

[Davidh]

Good info, thanks.

 

[mer55]

[MENTION=2092]JAKEISGREAT[/MENTION]: You are 100% correct about the adult large breed food! That is why my vet wants me to change to all stage Fromm at 6-7 months. Once our pup reaches that age, it will be ok to have the all stage and he will be getting neutered at that age which will also slow his growth a bit. I did not remember who posted what on the other thread, just wanted to clarify the large breed puppy food. Someone else on here also recommended for me to use the large breed puppy (way back before I took Bogey home)

 

[ModernFemme]

I've been using all stage food from the get-go... Remi is already 40 pounds at 6 months. Hoping I did the right thing!

 

[JAKEISGREAT]

@JAKEISGREAT: You are 100% correct about the adult large breed food! That is why my vet wants me to change to all stage Fromm at 6-7 months. Once our pup reaches that age, it will be ok to have the all stage and he will be getting neutered at that age which will also slow his growth a bit. I did not remember who posted what on the other thread, just wanted to clarify the large breed puppy food. Someone else on here also recommended for me to use the large breed puppy (way back before I took Bogey home)

Honestly..I never used puppy food with him so never thought twice about it. I just knew why my vet wanted him on All Stage. Puppy food does have more calories which a lot of pups need. I do know Jake gained weight slower than most but ended up the same anyway. Now..I don't think I agree about all dogs over 50 pounds being large breed. Every thing I have read is Bully's are not considered large breed..but it really doesn't matter..I don't feed to a large breed food anyway.

 

[mer55]

[MENTION=2092]JAKEISGREAT[/MENTION]:

Funny thing is, I wanted to put Bogey on All Stage, but my vet AND the breeder talked me out of it! I think Jakes slower weight gain will be more beneficial in the end if we believe in the theory of slow growth! I may switch sooner than later! And you are correct, Bully's are NOT large breed dogs, I think Fromm uses the 50 lb adult weight to gauge whether your pup should be on large breed puppy food. I'll give it another month or two, then will go to the All stage. Thanks for your input!

 

[anatess]

Correction to the OP:

LESS PROTEIN is not what you want for puppies... well, for most dogs, in general. Excess protein is not the reason for developmental issues in dogs. Contrary to that, less protein leads to protein deficiency that causes skeletal problems in growing puppies.

Excess CALORIES and MINERALS (such as Calcium) are the ones to watch. You don't want to have your dog get too heavy before he has the bone structure to support the weight. You also don't want to have bones grow faster than their cartilege. So that, when you're looking for puppy food, you still want to get the puppy food that has significantly more animal protein than there are carbs but with lower calories and minerals.

So, large breed versus regular puppy food versus adult food versus All Stages - regular puppy food contains higher calories per cup and higher calcium than large breed puppy food. So, if you have a large breed that tends to grow very fast (i.e., dobermans, boxers, and the giants), you want to smooth out his growth with the lower calorie/lower calcium food. Adult food may or may not have lower calories but even the lower calorie ones may still have more calcium than what a large breed puppy needs. And All Stages food is usually medium calories and medium minerals that is sufficient for puppies as well as adults and even the old fogies.

An English Bulldog... although they can get to over 50 lbs, the AKC standard is 40 lbs for females and 50 lbs of males. So they are, technically, not a large breed dog. But, to know what kind of bulldog you have, you'll have to figure in the weight of his parents. Bulldogs have a different growth rate than large breed dogs. For example, a Doberman can get from a tiny peanut to its adult size and stop growing at age 10 months. So he grows quite rapidly and is done with it - he just needs to bulk up with the muscles. A bulldog takes longer to get to his adult size so you can keep him on puppy food longer. Of course, All Stages is designed for both puppies and adults.

And finally... regardless of what kind of food you're feeding, you really need to "play it by ear". You need to monitor the puppy's weight and body condition and level of activity in his growing years. This can change within that period of time and you will need to adjust the amount of food he is eating to balance it all out.

 

[JAKEISGREAT]

Correction to the OP:

LESS PROTEIN is not what you want for puppies... well, for most dogs, in general. Excess protein is not the reason for developmental issues in dogs. Contrary to that, less protein leads to protein deficiency that causes skeletal problems in growing puppies.

Excess CALORIES and MINERALS (such as Calcium) are the ones to watch. You don't want to have your dog get too heavy before he has the bone structure to support the weight. You also don't want to have bones grow faster than their cartilege. So that, when you're looking for puppy food, you still want to get the puppy food that has significantly more animal protein than there are carbs but with lower calories and minerals.

So, large breed versus regular puppy food versus adult food versus All Stages - regular puppy food contains higher calories per cup and higher calcium than large breed puppy food. So, if you have a large breed that tends to grow very fast (i.e., dobermans, boxers, and the giants), you want to smooth out his growth with the lower calorie/lower calcium food. Adult food usually have lower calories but it may have more calcium than what a large breed puppy needs. And All Stages food is usually medium calories and medium minerals that is sufficient for puppies as well as adults.

An English Bulldog... although they can get to over 50 lbs, the AKC standard is 40 lbs for females and 50 lbs of males. So they are, technically, not a large breed dog. But, to know what kind of bulldog you have, you'll have to figure in the weight of his parents. Bulldogs have a different growth rate than large breed dogs. For example, a Doberman can get from a tiny peanut to its adult size and stop growing at age 10 months. So he grows quite rapidly and is done with it - he just needs to bulk up with the muscles. A bulldog takes longer to get to his adult size so you can keep him on puppy food longer. Of course, All Stages is designed for both puppies and adults.

And finally... regardless of what kind of food you're feeding, you really need to "play it by ear". You need to monitor the puppy's weight and body condition and level of activity in his growing years. This can change within that period of time and you will need to adjust the amount of food he is eating to balance it all out.

She's Baaaaaaaaaaack! :D

 

[anatess]

She's Baaaaaaaaaaack! :D

Ahhh, Becky! You didn't roll your eyes on me!!!

 

[JAKEISGREAT]

Ahhh, Becky! You didn't roll your eyes on me!!!

I must be slipping!