[poochie1059]

We are getting a puppy who will mature at about 35-40 pounds (mixed breed). We have been told to continue using Life’s Abundance Dog food for dogs and puppies. It gets a 4-star rating here. My question is – how can a food provide every thing a growing puppy needs and still be appropriate for an adult dog. Should I be looking at a better puppy specific food? I know I need to continue him on what he’s on now, but am considering changing him over to something else. Thanks in advance for any advice/experience.

[Jackie B]

/best-dog-foods/best-puppy-foods/ Read this article, all the way t the end. It explains how an All Life Stages food is right for both dogs and puppies. If you’re worried about it still, you can always switch to a puppy food.

[Hound Dog Mom]

Poochie1059 –

The AAFCO recognizes two nutrient profiles: “maintenance” and “growth”. Foods that meet the more stringent requirements of the “growth” nutrient profile may choose to advertise their food as being “all life stages” or for “puppies and adults.” So, in short, a food that is labeled as all life stages is a puppy food and is held to the same standard as foods labeled specifically for puppies. If you look into 5 star foods you’ll notice many 5 star foods are labeled all life stages, rather than having separate puppy and adult formulas.

[poochie1059]

Thank you Hound Dog Mom, for that clarification.

[Shawna]

Hi poochie1059 — I agree with everything Hound Dog Mom wrote. Many better quality foods are appropriate for puppy, adult and senior dogs.

I wanted to add, MANY of us here on DFA, including Dr. Mike, believe in rotational feeding. We switch our dogs food regularly. Some switch daily, some with each new bag of kibble, some every other month and so on. If you start when the dog is a puppy and feed the same quality of foods you can switch between foods without having to “transition”. Dogs should be able to eat whatever (that is appropriate) you put in front of them. By only feeding one food we actually create sensitive tummies.

I rotate with every new bag of food and buy the smaller 5 and 6lb bags. I rotate proteins as well as brands. I use a variety of 5 star “all life stage” foods for all the dogs in my home including the foster puppies the adults and the seniors (I have 8 dogs and foster for Boston and Papillon rescue). The foods I use include Acana, Orijen, Brothers Complete, Merrick, Earthborn, Nature’s Variety, Nature’s Logic etc.

Additionally, many of us put “toppers” on our dogs’ foods. The topper can include canned foods, dehydrated, commercial raw, sardines, raw or lightly cooked egg etc. All these add extra nutrition and variety — sardines as an example are a great source of extra protein and omega 3 fatty acids.

Good luck with and best of health to your puppy!!!

[poochie1059]

Thanks Shawna for some more great information. What an interesting concept – to rotate foods. It does make sense. So glad I found this website.

[theBCnut]

Rotation helps keep the gut healthy. A greater variety of flora can live in the gut if they get a variety of different nutrients and that makes it harder for one bad microbe to overgrow.

[pugmomsandy]

I even rotate foods for the fosters. They get a different bag every time. They get exposed to all different proteins and fruit/veg and different levels of micronutrients/vits/minerals. My one foster is only getting canned food and raw food but still gets different flavors of canned and different raw foods as it comes in a 2 lb bag and I have 4 different ones to chose from. My personal dogs get canned, kibble, freeze dried, and raw and occasioanlly dehydrated. I just don’t get feeding one food forever.

[Rambo and Fancy]

When you talk about rotation do you mean among brands or just varieties of the same brand?

[Hound Dog Mom]

Hi Rambo and Fancy –

Some people rotate between “flavors” of he same brand and others rotate between different brands entirely. I think the dog gets more benefit from rotating between different brands. While there may be minor differences between different “flavors” of the same brand, often the ingredients are pretty similar. Rotating between different brands entirely will expose your dog to a greater variety of ingredients.

[InkedMarie]

HDM: OT but can you go over to the Off Topic forum, to my new dog thread and tell me if you can see the pictures of Gemma? It’s from FB but I made it public, hopefully they can be seen by everyone. Thanks

[Rambo and Fancy]

HDM, thanks for the advice. I’m in the process of transitioning my 15 w/o chinese cresteds from the Royal Canin they were on when I got them to Blue Buffalo Wilderness. They seem to have no issues with the switch, I did just 1/4 of the new for only one day then switched to 50/50. I guess so long as I stay with a high end grain free we should be OK.

[Author]

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