switching to adult food

[Ryan_V]

I have an 8 month old GSP female that I just had fixed....I was told that I should switch her over to adult food now, they said she doesn't need the extra calories since she doesn't have her "girl parts" anymore. does this sound right?? I always thought that you were supposed to wait until a year.

I can't wait for fall!! She's the best dog I've ever had, she shows lots of promise for the hunting season!!

[Ralph Wiggum]

I wouldn't get too caught up in it. I was told anywhere from 6 months to a year by our vet. As long as she's not getting chubby, I'd wait till a year.

[SJU70]

Everyone has a different answer to that question. When we got our first golden retriever, the breeder, who was known for her smaller goldens, told us that after the first bag of puppy food, we should set her to adult food, as it was her opinion that the extra protein in the puppy foods caused the dogs to grow to be too large. We more or less followed her advice, with a slow weaning onto adult food, and the dog was a smaller golden, but then, that could have been genetics. The dog lived to be a happy twelve years old. The veterinarians in our family say that the most important thing is to slowly mix the adult food in to avoid gastrointestinal problems (despite the fact that the dogs eat anything they think smells good, dead snakes, baby rabbit, etc...)

[grousehunter]

Its not them growing to large, but rather their bones growing to quickly. It can cause problems in large breed dogs. I also just fed a high quality adult food right away for my chessie. I would say you could make the switch anytime you want. Make sure to make the change slow by mixing food as mentioned above.

[Todd Caswell]

I think if you look at the calorie intake from a puppy food to a good 30/20 adult food there pretty close.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Its not them growing to large, but rather their bones growing to quickly. It can cause problems in large breed dogs.

This was the thinking in the past (most Great Dane breeders still hold onto this notion and insist upon no puppy food). With recent advances in dog food, there are some good large/giant breed puppy foods that are tailored to the needs of large, fast-growing pups.

[grousehunter]

Originally Posted By: grousehunter

Its not them growing to large, but rather their bones growing to quickly. It can cause problems in large breed dogs.

This was the thinking in the past (most Great Dane breeders still hold onto this notion and insist upon no puppy food). With recent advances in dog food, there are some good large/giant breed puppy foods that are tailored to the needs of large, fast-growing pups.

Marketing scheme .

I didn't switch Drake to 30/20 until he was older because of how close it is to puppy food.

[Bryce]

30/20 from weaning until their last breath and all stages in between. Portion size adjusted to activity level and physical needs. Has worked well for 3 generations of our labs.