Large Breed Puppy Chow

[lizbud]

Does anyone know for sure if larger breed dogs do better
on "Large Breed" brands on dog chow?Or is this product
"hype" to sell yet another choice of food? My pupppy is now
12 weeks old, and I'm trying to decide whether to switch to
a LB dry food, or a quality adult brand of chow.(The vet thinks
Smokey Joe is going to be a big dog).He's a Shep/Rottie mix
we think. I would really like to know others experiences
using or not using a "Large Breed" brand . Thanks. Liz.

[Logan]

Liz,
I have heard about large breed food. I think it is designed to keep them from growing too much, too soon. Unfortunately, I didn't know about it when Honey and Lilly were puppies! They 'grew up" on Purina Puppy Chow, and then I switched them later.
But I think going the "large breed" route is probably a good thing, or switching to adult food earlier than suggested on the label.
I'd ask the vet, to be sure, but in my case, my vet had very few suggestions regarding feeding. Recently, though, he said, "whatever you're doing, keep on doing it". My girls look wonderful and are having no allergy problems for the first time in their lives.
Logan

[Karen]

We always used "normal" dog food for our "large" dogs, and didn't have any trouble, but I don't think they made "large dog" dog chow ten to 20 years ago. Maybe it has extra calcium for those big bones they need to grow?

[DoggiesAreTheBest]

Liz, Large breed Dog and Puppy food have vitamins and supplements essetial for larger dog ie for joints, and other problems or special nutrition needs a big dog requires Drake is on Large Breed food and has been since he was a puppy.

[jennifert]

Duncan eats the large breed Iams also. Usually. If my roommate and I go halves on a bag, we get the regular because although Jack is a golden retreiver, he's not very large. I think it costs the same as the regular so why not go with it?! It can't hurt....

[Presley]

From what i understood from talking and reading to people is that LB adult food is a gimmick. Your dog is already finished growing and if you are buying it for the Glucosamine/Chrondritin the amounts in the food isn't even theraputic. You can buy the tablets and give them yourself at a level they will benefit from.

The puppy food is good because it does help them grow at a slower pace and like some others have said it does help with joints and so on... I did feed Presley LB puppy food but now she is on an allergie food which doesn't come in a puppy formula. She has done well on it.

[Cookiebaker]

From what our vet said, it sometimes can alleviate/prevent hip problems that are non-genetically related. We put Malone on L/B just in case, figuring it might prevent problems later on down the road.

[Stenograsaurus]

I had switched from Purina Adult Food to Nutro Large Breed Adult Food. I had switched because I wanted my dogs to get the glucosamine and chondrotin. Kilo (rotty) had developed arthritis pretty young. I fed him Purina Dog Chow. I either didn't know about the Large Breed Dog food or they didn't have it. I can't help but wonder if it would have made a difference if I had fed him the LB food. It can't hurt to try it. Let us know what you decide.

[mugsy]

Liz,

We use Exclusive Dog food. It's a super premium dog food without the cost. It's made with fresh chicken and has no preservatives. It's great food and you don't use as much because they use most of what they're fed (another bonus...not as much clean up). It's made by Purina Mills (NOT Purina Ralston...the checkerboard). There isn't any "chicken products" which translates to beaks, feet, and feathers and not a lot of grains...Science Diet's main protein source is peanut shells. I did a lot of research on food when Daisy had that HOD and I didn't find anything better for her than Exclusive. Ernie (who sells us ours) said that for large breed pups to start with the regular adult and then maybe switch to the low fat and they should grow very well. He knows what he's talking about too, he's been at this for over 25 years. He said he has a difficult time keeping the stuff on the shelf. They have regular Chicken and Rice, low fat chicken, lamb and rice, puppy formula, and senior formula. We pay $24.95 for a 35 pound bag, but they do have smaller bags, and after you buy 6 bags, the 7th bag is free. I checked on PMI's website and found some in Indy...the website is www.purinamills.com .

I found:

Ted's Feedstore
176 S Schaff St
Beech Grove, IN
317-786-9984

Riley Bros. Sales
100 N 1st St
Zionsville, IN
317-873-2559

Chuck's Wagon Feed and Nursery
6977 W. U.S. 36
Danville, IN
317-539-7031

If you go to the website, you can put your zip code in and it will give you dealers within so many miles of your house.

Let me know if you want more info and I'd be happy to help.

Oh yeah...it has glucosomine and chondrotin in it too.

[Karen]

Originally posted by Presley
From what i understood from talking and reading to people is that LB adult food is a gimmick. Your dog is already finished growing ...

Liz's new pup is only 12 weeks! He's certainly nowhere near done growing!

[Cincy'sMom]

I started sadie on Large Breed Puppy at the vet's suggetion. When we got Cincy we had to switch to Lamb and Rice cause Cincy couldn't take the chicken products. Did it do Sadie any good? I don't know. She hasn't had any problems, but maybe shouldn't would have anyway

[lizbud]

Thanks for all the ideas guys. Smokey Joe is eating Iams
lamb & rice puppy brand (dry) now b/c it was what they fed
him at the Shelter and I'd didn't want to switch his food.Don't
really care for Iams brands, but he was used to it, so...
One vet I talked to said to switch to large breed food at
3 months. Another vet (in the same practice) didn't offer
any suggestions at all about feeding, but when asked just
said a good quality adult food would be fine.

I'm thinking I'll switch to the LB food within this next month
so he'll be completely switched over from Puppy to LB at 4
months. (16 wks) Like a lot of others here, I had not even
heard of specific formulas of chow for large breed dogs when
Buddy was a pup. He grew very big very fast but I don't
think it caused his hip problems. I believe it was genetic.
His one hip bone would pop of of the socket sometimes
when he was still under 6 months old. Surgery helped him
but could not cure the displasia.
Smokey eats like there's no tomorrow all the time, and
I don't want him to get to heavy to fast.

[wolf_Q]

I just switched Nebo from Pedigree puppy to Nutro Large Breed Puppy. He seems to really like the food, and I'm no longer having those problems with the soft stools. Also his fur looks really shiny. As far as the large breed goes, I really don't know if it is a benefit or not....it seems to be though. I've heard of dogs having problems with growing too fast.

I think I'm going to put Nebo on Nutro Large Breed when he's an adult. I don't think there's much price difference between that and the regular adult...so why not.